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Jeremiah 25 Devotional

The Cup from His Hand

“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from My hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it.”Jeremiah 25:15 (BSB)

For twenty-three years Jeremiah has spoken the LORD's word again and again, alongside prophet after prophet (25:3-4). The people did not listen. So God will summon Nebuchadnezzar, whom he calls his servant, and the nations will serve Babylon for seventy years, after which Babylon itself will be judged (25:9-12). Even the empire that carries out judgment is in God's hand.

Then God gives Jeremiah a cup filled with his wrath to pass to the nations, beginning with Jerusalem and reaching kingdoms near and far (25:15-26). If judgment starts with the city that bears his name, no nation can expect to escape (25:29). But a cup appears again in the Gospels. In Gethsemane Jesus asked the Father to take a cup from him, yet chose the Father's will over his own (Mark 14:36). At his arrest he said he would drink the cup the Father had given him (John 18:11). The judgment the nations deserved, he received, so that those who trust him are not handed that cup.

To think about: How does knowing that Jesus took the cup of judgment change the way you think about your own guilt before God?

About Jeremiah 25: Seventy Years and the Cup of Wrath

Jeremiah reminds Judah that it ignored twenty-three years of warnings, so the LORD will send Nebuchadnezzar, His servant, and Babylon will rule the nations for seventy years before it is punished in turn. Jeremiah then passes the cup of God’s wrath to Jerusalem and the nations, and the rulers are called to lament.

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