The Cup of God's Wrath
- 25:1 “fourth year of Jehoiakim” - the captives had just been taken to
Babylon. So chronologically this chapter belongs in Act 2 - Jehoiakim.
- 25:3 “for 23 years” - as we have gone over again and again. But
the message of the false prophets was so much more pallatable.
- 25:8 “Because you have not obeyed My words” - the time for repentance is
past, the fork in the road of history has been passed, and it is too late to
avoid separation from their land. “Too late” - let that not be the
cry of an individual soul!
- 25:11 “seventy years” - Daniel took this very literally, was in prayer
when the time was up. Cyrus of the Medes and Persians returned not only
Judah, but all the other nations to their own lands - reversing the
policy of the Chaldeans.
- 25:16 “stagger and go out of their minds” - the hallmark of a nation
under God’s judgement.
- 25:26 “after all of them, the king of Sheshack” - a substitution cipher where
the Hebrew alphabet is simply reversed for the substitutions. בָּבֶל becomes
שֵׁשַׁךְ.
- 25:29 “I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears My Name, so
how could you possibly go unpunished?” - judgement begins with the house of
God. But when you see it begin, get right with God because you’re next.
- 25:31 “He puts the wicked to the sword” - Americans don’t like to hear
about justice, preferring a message of gentle Jesus. Other parts of
the world rejoice at the prospect of the destruction of the wicked.
- 25:32 “disaster is spreading from nation to nation” - World War 0,
the fall of the Assyrian/Egyptian world order. But also a foreshadowing
of the battle of Armegeddon.
- 25:33 “on that day” - a phrase that indicates a glimpse of the Last Battle.
Although the upheavals prophesied are all historical, they also foreshadow
the end times.
- 25:35 “escape will elude the leaders of the flock” - the political class
thinks they are protected from disaster, but this is a delusion. Their
wealth, body guards, and protection systems will not avail them.
- 25:36 “wailing of the leaders of the flock” - the gravy train of the
political class will end, and they will be slaughtered.