Wednesday: Wine and Blood
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 28th of May 2025
Read Psalms 75:1-10. Read also Matthew 26:26-29 and Revelation 14:9-12. What does this psalm reveal about some of the issues at stake in the judgment, and how do these other texts help us understand these issues?
There is some thought that this psalm would have been sung upon the miraculous destruction of Sennacherib’s army (2 Chronicles 32:1-33, 2 Kings 19:1-37)—a story that appears to point forward to the final destruction of the wicked in Revelation 20:1-15. The people of God are inside the Holy City with their righteous king when the armies of evil come up and surround them, and then they are destroyed by God Himself.
Image © Kevin Carden from GoodSalt.com
One of the things that God corrects in the judgment is the misappropriation of power that has taken place in our fallen world. Fallen humans no longer live for others or for the glory of God but for self. Today, in many ways, we are living with the consequences of choosing to believe that there is no meaning or objective moral standard in the universe. If there is to be a meaning, the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche insisted that we must invent it for ourselves and pretend as if the universe exists for our benefit. Each individual, in effect, behaves as if he or she is a god.
(One might justifiably ask: How well did this philosophy work out for Nietzsche himself? Not too well, actually. He went insane, collapsing on a street in Italy after trying to stop a man from beating a horse. He then spent the next 11 years of his life in a semi-catatonic state before his death in 1900.)
However bad the problems are, as believers we are reminded to live with hope and not to judge the future by current events. It is easy to despair as we see the pillars of civilization being steadily eroded by the hearts and minds of the godless or by those whose views of God are not found in the Bible. We are currently living in a period in which moral values, even things as basic as human gender, male and female, have come under assault, at least in some parts of the world. Certain types of immorality, things that many people would have been ashamed to talk about, even privately, are now lauded and applauded publicly. That’s how bad things are getting.
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Though we must do our part now to try to make life better for others, why is it always important to remember that it’s going to take the total destruction of this present world and the supernatural re-creation of it before all things are, ultimately, made right? |
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Justice and fairness seem to have escaped certain issues in the world today. For so long, no lasting justice and fairness have been done. Either these concerns have been ignored or it not in the interests of the “big boys”. Without insinuating any sinister agenda, justice and fairness seem to be absent from the following concerns:
1. The Palestinians-Israel conflict for so long has not been give the due attention it deserves despite the ongoing colossal pain. Justice seems to be absent.
2. Colonialism and its negative consequences have been ignored for so many years. European colonialism oppressed and impoverished many nations, especially in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean. The “big boys” have not meaningfully acknowledged or compensated for the plunder, oppression, and cultural destruction caused.
3. Aboriginal rights and dispossession from their lands have received marginal attention. To those who make decisions, this is no matter of substance. In the Americas, Australia and beyond thousands were killed, displaced and marginalized.
4. Racial injustice in the USA, which is an outcome of slavery, and Jim Crow laws have not been adequately addressed. Regardless of the progress made, huge disparities exist.
5. Gender inequality and violence against women are common occurrence in many parts of the world. It is extremely disturbing to note large populations of women are denied basic human rights in some parts of the world. Justice and fairness are completely absent.
The above issues remind us of the declaration of Psalms 75, “At the time I have planned, I will bring justice against the wicked” (Psalm 75:1, NLT). Even though it might seem that God’s justice is delayed, at the appointed time, He will establish His kingdom where love and justice will reign forever. Till then, let us be ambassadors of justice and fairness here on earth.
But Satan wages a constant war against that divine enterprise, a campaign to get people lured into and trapped in false systems that worships, not the true God, but some abomination claiming to be God. Because this is so much a part of the fabric of human life, we’re not surprised to see it come to a head in the last days.
Just as everything else reaches a sort of final form in the end, false religion will reach its culminating form as well. In the last days of man on earth, just prior to the return of Jesus Christ in a period of time known as the Great Tribulation, when the wrath of God is being poured out on the world, there will be a culminating of all of Satan’s antigod schemes, including one great universal final form of world religion.
All the several separated parts of satanic religion will come together in one great world religion. 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 (ESV)-"And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds."
I've not understood much on blood and wine and I may need someone to illustrate better in a clear way.
This world has the fingerprints of sin too deeply embeded in it to be salvaged. Much like the refiner's fire refining gold, it must be melted down and all the impurities burned up.
We must let the "Refiner's Fire" purify all the dross from our lives if we ever hope to walk those golden streets of heaven. A boy asked a refiner how did he know when the gold was purified enough by the fire. The refiner smiled and replied, "that's easy, it's when I can see my reflection in the gold." I would rather have the fire of God purify me of my sin now, than to be consumed with my sin later. "No matter what I may lose, I choose the Refiner's Fire."
The Refiner's Fire - Steve Green
Regarding material things, Jesus's answer can be totally opposed to what the human heart desires. Security comes in being hidden in God only. No human power or order is above God's judgment.
The world is currently marked by moral confusion, abuse of power and a distorted view of identity and meaning. Modern philosophies like Nietzsche’s have led many to abandon objective morality, embracing a worldview where self is god, this leads not to liberation but to chaos and despair.
The imagery of wine in Psalm 75:8 conveys God’s judgment, showing that He offers a cup filled with strong wine to the wicked, signifying the complete and righteous punishment for those who reject His authority and act arrogantly.
While the church is called to live with hope and work for good, this lesson emphasizes that only God’s supernatural act of destroying the present world and recreating it will fully resolve the consequences of sin. Therefore, we must trust in God’s timing and justice, knowing that He alone will make all things right in the new creation.
Nietzsche was a loon that was out of touch with reality way before he had his complete break from his senses. Nihilism, the philosphy of nothingness, was his central focus and teaching. That's enough to make you bonkers. Try living your life devoid of God and you too will succumb to a level of despair and insanity. I have been there in my pre-Christian life to the point of thoughts of suicide.
We do in a sense become our own god when we reject the God of heaven, and determine what is right or wrong in our own minds. However, it is a dead end road which ultimately leads to a meaningless and miserable existence. To embrace nihilism, we have to, at least in our own minds and later try to persuade or poison the minds of others that God is a fable, a mental construct, designed by weak minds to make it through this life. How anyone can read his mindless dribble is beyond me. Yes, there might be a nugget of truth or two somewhere in his writings, but even a blind squirrel eventually finds a nut.
Nietzsche thought and taught that God is dead. One day when he gets to stand before the God that he chose to not believe in, he will realize how morally and intellectually bankrupt his philosophy truly was, but it will be too late. Nietzsche is dead, but God is very much alive.
Brigitte, I don’t think that it was a lack of exposure to the gospel that led to Friedrich Nietzsche's downfall, possibly his rejection of it for various reasons. His biography in Wikipedia is quite revealing. Having a great grandfather that was a philosopher, a grandfather that was a theologian, and a father that was a Lutheran pastor all could have and probably did shape his understanding of life. His inability to process the losses that he suffered through the lens of Christianity could have definitely turned him away from God. A possible rigid religious upbringing wouldn't help either. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Nietzsche