Jeremiah 25:31, commentary and pictures

The prophecy belongs to the messages given very soon after the beginning of the Babylonian captivity, and more than sixty years afterward, in the first year of Darius the Mede, it was studied in books together with Jeremiah 27-31 as plain testimony fixing seventy years for the desolations of Jerusalem and making the promise of return sure, though the relation of those seventy years of captivity to the twenty-three hundred years to elapse before the cleansing of the sanctuary remained uncomprehended. It pronounces a clearly stated sentence of doom on Judah and the nations under the picture of draining a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and their kings drink first of that cup of woe, then Pharaoh king of Egypt with his servants and princes and all his people and many other nations of earth drink the same cup until the divine purpose is fulfilled, and because they hardened their necks and would not hear, Jerusalem and its towns are broken beyond repair like a potter's earthen bottle dashed to pieces.

At the close of the great controversy, after all have chosen sides for Christ and His commandments or for apostasy and the wicked have united with Satan against God, the Lord's controversy is no longer only with Satan but also with human beings and nations. He then asserts His claim, brings His case against the nations, pleads with all flesh, summons all people to account, vindicates His downtrodden law, and gives the wicked over to destruction and punishment. That judgment reaches to the ends of the earth against every opposing power, so that no power that opposes God will escape. The worldwide noise and slaughter portray the end of those opposing powers and the silencing of those who have blasphemed God. The slain are left scattered across the earth without lamentation, gathering, or burial.

The noise is the Lord's voice from the heavenly temple and throne that shakes the heavens and the earth, associated with the great earthquake at the pouring out of the seventh vial. It is distinct from Christ's voice that raises the dead in Christ, being heard before Jesus descends with His angels to awaken and gather the elect. The same voice is the voice of God rolling through the earth during the time of trouble as He speaks to His people, bringing His case against the nations, summoning all people to account, and giving the wicked over to the sword. That judgment brings a final contrast between persecutors and those who suffer for the truth, when the faithful dead will rise to everlasting life in God's city while their persecutors remain outside and, seeing the faithful honored by Jesus, will feel anguish and regret.