"Drink up"
This is what the Lord , the God of Israel, said to me: "Take from my hand this cup filled to the brim with my anger, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink from it. (Jeremiah 25:15 NLT)
The cup is a biblical image of God's wrath. Here God is telling Jeremiah to make the nations drink this cup. In other words, God is going to pour out his wrath on the nations. They have rebelled against God for long enough & now it is time to suffer the consequences of their actions. God is holding them accountable & no one on the earth is exempt.
This passage sheds new light on what Jesus prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. He prayed that the cup that was before him would pass. He prayed for God's will & not his own but he really did not want to drink it. The cross for Jesus meant drinking the whole wrath of God. It meant bearing the anger of God for the sin of everyone. It meant bearing the sin of the nations. We know that he did eventually go to the cross in obedience to God. He did drink this cup.
Jesus drank the cup that was due the nations, the whole world. He took the wrath of God we deserved. He took on the anger of God that should have been poured out on us. We are due the unspeakable wrath of God but Jesus took it instead. He took God's wrath even though he was without sin.
Now, instead of God making the nations feel his anger, they can feel his love. Instead of making them know his wrath, he is making them know his peace.
The wrath of God is sure & coming. Has Jesus drunk the cup with our name on it or will we see the anger of God for eternity? He has taken the wrath of God for us, all we have to do is trust him.
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