“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.” Jeremiah 25:15-16

The concept of the cup of God’s wrath is repeated several times in Scripture. It is the cup brimming with a potion so strong it makes even the strongest person stagger; even Jesus staggered before the cup of God’s wrath.

“You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.” Psalm 60:3

The Cup Jesus Drank

It was this cup that Jesus saw before him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He looked into it and knew that he was about to experience the brunt of the wrath of God against sin.

“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, ‘Pray that you will not fall into temptation.’

“He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ‘Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.’” Luke 22:39-42

Jeremiah 25:18 tell us that the wrath of God made sinners “a ruin, an object of horror and scorn, a curse.” That is what Jesus saw in the cup the Father put before him in Gethsemane.

And he drank it all — so sinners wouldn’t have to — so we could be delivered from the wrath of God.

Now, instead of the cup of wrath, Jesus offers believers the cup of communion to drink in remembrance of what he did for them. The cup Jesus invites us to drink is sweet and fragrant with salvation and grace.

Jeremiah Recalls God’s Words 

“In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah until now. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.’” Jeremiah 36:1-3

Jeremiah had been prophesying for almost twenty years when God asked him to dictate to his scribe Baruch all of the prophecies God had ever given him. It must have taken days, but Baruch wrote them all on one scroll. Then Jeremiah sent him to read the scroll to the people gathered at the temple. Jeremiah was banned from going to the temple himself because of the controversy he stirred up when he went there previously,

“Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do; at the Lord’s temple he read the words of the Lord from the scroll.” Jeremiah 36:8

The Official Response

When Jehoiakim’s royal officials heard the extent of the prophecies God had given Jeremiah over the decades, they were stunned. They had to discuss this with the king, but first they warned Baruch and Jeremiah to go into hiding. The king wasn’t going to like what he heard read from that scroll and he would be angry with the people who wrote it.

King Jehoiakim despised the prophetic document so much that he methodically destroyed each part as it was read to him. It was his way of trying to erase what God said, but it didn’t work because God had Jeremiah write it all down again. Then the Lord added more prophecies to what he had already said.

Baruch Laments

Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch didn’t enjoy being part of this prophetic work. He was worried, sad and anxious and he couldn’t get any rest. Besides that, he thought he should be rewarded for sticking his neck out for God.

But Jeremiah had a word from the Lord especially for Baruch: Things weren’t going to get better. God was on track to uproot and overthrow the nations of the earth and he didn’t appreciate Baruch’s small complaints.

“Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.” Jeremiah 45:5

Baruch might not be able to get comfortable, but at least he was alive.

Egypt

Of all the nations God punished during this time, only two have survived into the twenty-first century, Israel and Egypt.

God loved Egypt despite its many sins and idolatry because it was a place of hospitality and refuge for Jacob and his sons when they fled from the drought in Hebron. The Lord performed many miracles in Egypt in an attempt to convince them that he alone was God.

God had special grace for Egypt. Unlike Assyria, Babylon, Moab, Ammon and Edom whom God planned to wipe from the face of the earth, God promised that Egypt would come back someday.

“The Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to bring punishment on Amon god of Thebes, on Pharaoh, on Egypt and her gods and her kings, and on those who rely on Pharaoh. I will give them into the hands of those who want to kill them – Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his officers. Later, however, Egypt will be inhabited as in times past,’ declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 46:25-26

Israel also was going to come back one day.

“‘Do not be afraid, Jacob my servant, for I am with you,’ declares the Lord. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only in due measure; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’” Jeremiah 46:28

Awesome Wrath — Amazing Grace

God was going to force the nations to drink from the cup of his wrath, but even in the midst of disaster, he gave them the hope of salvation. The most remarkable fact about the “Old Testament God” is not his awesome wrath but his deep compassion and desire to save people. He never stopped trying to reach them and deliver them – and he continues even today, through the living Savior, Jesus Christ, who still offers the cup of salvation to all who receive him.