In this vale of tears and sorrows, and especially as we approach the days when the antichrist will be here to persecute the true church of Christ, we do well to take hold of the comfort of God's word as Asaph wrote it in Psalm 75:8 . There we read, "For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and He poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.''
Our versification explains it thus:
Jehovah holds a cup of wrath,
And holds it not in vain,
For all the wicked of the earth
Its bitter dregs shell drain.
The idea here very plainly is that the ungodly are not going to get away with their evil which brought them so much fleshly pleasure. And surely all the attacks of the world upon the church are going to cost them much.
It reminds us of drugs that at first give the flesh a pleasant, delightful sensation hut destroy the body and bring the dope addict to his grave. This is also so very true of sin no matter in what form or size it comes. The mockers and persecutors of God's church may have fleshly pleasure in this life; but they are dealing with a cup of God's wrath, and are opening the gates of hell and the lake of fire.
Solomon in his wisdom, and God through him, in Proverbs 20:1 wrote: "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." Be wise and apply this also to sin. It is a mocker and raging, and those deceived by it are fools. Sin is like wine. It is a mocker that brings untold woe.
Sin will give the flesh a good time for a few moments; but it calls for everlasting misery as its punishment. When the world attacks the church, it is not going to get away with it.
Wisdom will move God's children to flee to the cross of Christ for refuge from the seed of the serpent, but also from their own sins into which they have fallen.
Read: Revelation 14
Psalter versification: #206:4
Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism
Song for Meditation: Psalter #240
Why not sing along??
Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
1 Kings 12:20-33
1 Kings 13:1-34
Acts 9:26-43
Psalm 132:1-18
Proverbs 17:6
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Quote for Reflection:
It is a sad loss all round: a loss to the austere parent, who loses the cream of domestic joy in thus shutting out from his bosom the young prattler, who should make the sweetness of love spring, like honey, out of the rock itself; and a deeper, sadder loss to the child, who is every day cheated of its birth-right. It is the climax of parental tact, when the faculty is possessed of letting one's self down into the very heart of childhood, in fresh and genial sympathy with all it finds there. Such a parent governs easily and well, and governs almost without curb or rein. --B.M. Palmer, "The Family"
Additional Info
- Date: 14-June
