Seventh Day Baptist
Christian Education Council
PO BOX 1678
Janesville, WI 53547
Wake yourself, wake yourself,
stand up, O Jerusalem,
you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
the cup of his wrath,
who have drunk to the dregs
the bowl, the cup of staggering.
There is none to guide her
among all the sons she has borne;
there is none to take her by the hand
among all the sons she has brought up.
These two things have happened to you—
who will console you?—
devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
who will comfort you?
Your sons have fainted;
they lie at the head of every street
like an antelope in a net;
they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
the rebuke of your God.
Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
who are drunk, but not with wine:
Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
who have said to you,
‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
and like the street for them to pass over.”
(ESV)
—Isaiah 51:17-23
by: Ashea West.
The Israelites had been punished for disobedience to God—but that time would end. “For [God’s] anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5, NIV). Israel’s morning was coming. God had made a covenant with the Israelites that He would be their God forever, so even though the cup of wrath had seemed to last forever, the tables were turning, and God would bring revenge on their oppressors. God will always fight for and defend His children, even when we are undeserving.
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