Slices
Prepare
Make a list of times when you believe God has spoken to you in some way. Do you see any pattern?
Bible passage
Seventy years of captivity
25 The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For twenty-three years – from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day – the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.
4 And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.’
7 ‘But you did not listen to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and you have aroused my anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.’
8 Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
12 ‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the Lord, ‘and will make it desolate for ever. 13 I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.’
The cup of God’s wrath
15 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. 16 When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.’
17 So I took the cup from the Lord’s hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn, a curse – as they are today; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, 20 and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab and Ammon; 22 all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; 24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the wilderness; 25 all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other – all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshak will drink it too.
27 ‘Then tell them, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.” 28 But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, “This is what the Lord Almighty says: You must drink it! 29 See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword on all who live on the earth, declares the Lord Almighty.”
Explore
The business of listening comes up four times early in chapter 25. In each case, people are not listening to God. There are valuable lessons for us here. First, we read (v 3) that for many years Jeremiah has been proclaiming God’s word. Is it possible that his listeners became over-familiar with prophetic warnings so that the message washed over them? Could it be that they (and we) fail to properly ‘pay attention’ (v 4)? There is a real challenge in listening to God. It involves a cost for us in terms of time and perhaps in focusing away from our preferred everyday concerns. Part of the problem – for me at any rate – is that listening to words can seem ephemeral. It is not like baking a cake or building a wall. And, to add to our struggles, God does often seem to speak in ways which we might not have chosen ourselves – such as the Book of Jeremiah…
Let us be warned. If we don’t take care to listen, we may well find ourselves being force-fed (vs 27,28). The latter sections of this chapter comprise a terrible account of the out-working of God’s righteous anger. Because he is gracious, and loves us, he has given us fair warning of his purpose.
Respond
Ask God to refresh your listening skills so that you may hear from him through his Word, his people and his Spirit.
Deeper Bible study
Ask God to hear the prayers of persecuted believers and to bring freedom and justice to people living under oppressive and unjust regimes.
I am writing in June 2021 with Covid-19 raging in many parts of the world. Over 180 million people have contracted the virus and almost two per cent of these have died. Yesterday saw another four hundred thousand new cases and over eight thousand deaths. I dare not suggest that God is using this pandemic to judge the world: I do not have such insights into the purposes of God. However, this chapter tells me that God is involved and God reigns, even during a pandemic. This chapter contains a variety of material, all of it reflecting God’s sovereignty.
Jeremiah preached for almost a quarter of a century (v 3) and, as with all the other prophets God sent, few listened (vs 3,4,7). The outcome was the severe judgement of God through Nebuchadnezzar, with Judah becoming an ‘everlasting ruin’ (v 9). With the God who reigns, however, even ‘everlasting’ has its limits – seventy years (vs 11,12). Moreover, Nebuchadnezzar, who thought he was ruler of a great empire, is no more than God’s servant (v 8), a king whose empire would also one day become desolate for ever (v 12). In verses 15–33 we learn that God’s sovereignty extends to the other nations and, in verses 34–38, to the rulers of Judah. These too would be punished for their wickedness.
God is involved in the affairs of nations, then and now. I cannot foretell what the world will be like in 2022, but there will still be suffering and death, injustice, famine and war. It would be tempting to think that God is not involved. This chapter reminds us that God is always involved and that even so-called superpowers are subject to God. Their ‘power is not the final reality’.1
‘The idea that world events unfold without God being involved is even more frightening than the idea that he is involved.’2 Let this idea inform your prayer.
1 Walter Brueggemann, Jeremiah 1–25, To Pluck up and to Tear Down, Eerdmans, 1988, p219 2 John Goldingay, Jeremiah for Everyone, Westminster John Knox, 2015, p130
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Jeremiah 49,50; John 18
Pray for Scripture Union
Please pray for Content Administrator, Michelle Newstead, as she serves the Development Hub team and continues to update various digital platforms, keeping people informed of the products Scripture Union has available.
