Jeremiah 25:27-29– Cherished, Even in Chastisement
27 “Therefore you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Drink, be drunk, and vomit! Fall and rise no more, because of the sword which I will send among you.” ’ 28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “You shall certainly drink! 29 For behold, I begin to bring calamity on the city which is called by My name, and should you be utterly unpunished? You shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword on all the inhabitants of the earth,” says the Lord of hosts.’ Jeremiah 25:27-28, New King James Version
Tim Keller in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life sources Derek Kidner's realization that true friendship is both "reassuring and bracing."
This is a reality behind the cup of wrath the prophet is to offer the nations in Jeremiah 25. Fearsome as that is, convicted as we are when we realize that we, especially as Gentile Christians, would have to drink that cup to its dregs if not for Christ's righteousness, there is hope in the pronouncement. Owing the nations nothing, God lays out the consistency of His character.
And what a treasure is to be found therein! He tells the nations under just condemnation, this has to come, because even My city Jerusalem suffers correction. If you don't, He calmly reasons, My people would be worse off for knowing Me and My Word. His caprice, He explains, would give fuel to the accusations of His people's enemies.
There, then, is the hope of His people, in Jerusalem or anywhere else, who seem to be less reassured by current circumstances than those who neither know nor follow God. Today's predicament is not the final pronouncement. God's people, assures Jude, will be presented faultless. We will, says Christ, enter into the joy of our Father's happiness.
Meanwhile, whatever we go through today, we can sift through it for what the Father would teach. We can be actively, humbly on the alert for correction, whether our whole city is toppling, or whether our efforts in a particular area are not bearing the fruit we expected. We can assertively ask with the psalmist, search me, Lord, for secret faults. They are not secret to Him. Even in correction, we can know with Jeremiah 25:27-28, and with James, that a father chastises those he loves.
Whatever stability and comfort we lose in such times of correction, a deeper dependence on Christ is worth the upheaval. Switchfoot speculates in their song, appropriately titled for the tenacity of today's vs. "I Won't Let You Go," "maybe that's where life is born, when our façades are torn." With a little rehearsal, a little discipline born of the perspective of the Word, let us prepare to celebrate what might be taken from us in such training. Our ultimate address, after all, is in a city not made with hands, in the everlasting consolation of the One Who for an instant here or there may turn toward us a stern expression of Fatherly admonition.
Tim Keller in God's Wisdom for Navigating Life sources Derek Kidner's realization that true friendship is both "reassuring and bracing."
This is a reality behind the cup of wrath the prophet is to offer the nations in Jeremiah 25. Fearsome as that is, convicted as we are when we realize that we, especially as Gentile Christians, would have to drink that cup to its dregs if not for Christ's righteousness, there is hope in the pronouncement. Owing the nations nothing, God lays out the consistency of His character.
And what a treasure is to be found therein! He tells the nations under just condemnation, this has to come, because even My city Jerusalem suffers correction. If you don't, He calmly reasons, My people would be worse off for knowing Me and My Word. His caprice, He explains, would give fuel to the accusations of His people's enemies.
There, then, is the hope of His people, in Jerusalem or anywhere else, who seem to be less reassured by current circumstances than those who neither know nor follow God. Today's predicament is not the final pronouncement. God's people, assures Jude, will be presented faultless. We will, says Christ, enter into the joy of our Father's happiness.
Meanwhile, whatever we go through today, we can sift through it for what the Father would teach. We can be actively, humbly on the alert for correction, whether our whole city is toppling, or whether our efforts in a particular area are not bearing the fruit we expected. We can assertively ask with the psalmist, search me, Lord, for secret faults. They are not secret to Him. Even in correction, we can know with Jeremiah 25:27-28, and with James, that a father chastises those he loves.
Whatever stability and comfort we lose in such times of correction, a deeper dependence on Christ is worth the upheaval. Switchfoot speculates in their song, appropriately titled for the tenacity of today's vs. "I Won't Let You Go," "maybe that's where life is born, when our façades are torn." With a little rehearsal, a little discipline born of the perspective of the Word, let us prepare to celebrate what might be taken from us in such training. Our ultimate address, after all, is in a city not made with hands, in the everlasting consolation of the One Who for an instant here or there may turn toward us a stern expression of Fatherly admonition.
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