Jeremiah Chapter 25: The Final Tribulation, When God’s Word Is Silenced
Introduction
Jeremiah Chapter 25 is an unusual chapter of the Bible. Not only does it foretell God’s Judgments against both Judah and Jerusalem (which were fulfilled in the literal temporal sense when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were taken captive to Babylon and put under the reign of the evil King Nebuchadnezzar), but it is also a warning to the entire world of the short period of time known as the Final (Great) Tribulation, when God will have loosed the devil again to deceive the nations (as king Nebuchadnezzar is a “Type” of the devil). Jesus made clear that this period known of Great Tribulation will be the last event in history, which will occur immediately leading up to Judgment Day when the world as we now know it will be utterly destroyed. God makes this evident in the following verses of Jeremiah. God says that immediately following the 70 year captivity in Babylon, that Babylon would be judged (Jeremiah 25:12-14). And then God tells Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 25:15-38, that He would make all the many nations and great kings of the world to drink the wine cup of His fury, which forms yet another picture of Judgment Day that immediately follows the Great Tribulation.
When we open up most reference Bibles, we will frequently see the chapter heading for Jeremiah Chapter 25 to read either “Prophecy of the Captivity” and “Ruin of All Nations Foretold“.
During the Final Tribulation, God Will Remove His Word!
This is exactly why we read in Jeremiah 25:10, “Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle.” When we take a careful look at the seven key words presented here, we can, in each case, show that God is declaring that He will remove His Word from the entire world as a prejudgment for having turned from Him, and for the refusal of the world to hear when that Word was faithfully being proclaimed.
NOTE to the reader: We see very similar language in Jeremiah 7:34, where God says, “Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirthH8342, and the voice of gladnessH8057, the voice of the bridegroomH2860, and the voice of the brideH3618: for the land shall be desolate.” and again in Jeremiah 16:9, “For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirthH8342, and the voice of gladnessH8057, the voice of the bridegroomH2860, and the voice of the brideH8057.” We see the same exact words again in Jeremiah 33:11, where God is speaking of the future Restoration, first temporally to National Israel coming back to the physical land and spiritually to the Eternal Israel/Jerusalem coming into Heaven: “The voice of joyH8342, and the voice of gladnessH8057, the voice of the bridegroomH2860, and the voice of the brideH8057, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD [is] good; for his mercy [endureth] for ever: [and] of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD. For I will cause to return the captivity of the land, as at the first, saith the LORD.” So we therefore have all the more reason to look closely at the spiritual implications of these key words.
1) God Will Take Away “The Voice of Mirth“
Clearly this is referring to that which comes from the mouth. Voices speak “words”. So the words that are being taken away are of “mirth“. The original Hebrew word that is translated as “mirth” is שָׂשׂוֹן (śāśôn)H8342 which is translated variously by the King James translators in the following manner: joy (15x), gladness (3x), mirth (3x), rejoicing (1x).
Among the instances where this word is translated as either “joy” or “gladness” are these in Esther Chapter 8, verses 16 & 17, at the time when Mordecai (representing the Lord Jesus Christ) was promoted to the right hand of the king (representing God the Father) and the new decree (representing the Gospel of Salvation) went forth throughout the kingdom: “The Jews had light, and gladness, and joy,H8342 and honour. And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness,H8342 a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.”
2) God Will Take Away “The Voice of Gladness“
The word in the original Hebrew that is translated as “gladness” is שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ)H8057, which has been interpreted by the King James translators variously as joy (44x), gladness (31x), mirth (8x), rejoice (3x), rejoicing (2x); so note how easily both “gladness” and “joy” can be used interchangeably when this original Hebrew word is found as we just saw for שָׂשׂוֹן (śāśôn)H8342 that was translated first as “mirth”.
The Believers, the true eternal Jews, will all have “joy and gladness” both now, and into eternity. We see this in the very next verse in Esther 8:17, “And in every province, and in every city, whithersoever the king’s commandment and his decree came, the Jews had joy (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057 and gladness (שָׂשׂוֹן (śāśôn))H8342, a feast and a good day. And many of the people of the land became Jews; for the fear of the Jews fell upon them.” and in Isaiah 35:10, “And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057upon their heads: they shall obtain joy (שָׂשׂוֹן (śāśôn))H8342 and gladness(שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.“
Some sample verses that contain שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ)H8057 include:
Psalm 30:11, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057; To the end that [my] glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.“
Psalm 45:15, “With gladness (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057 and rejoicing (גִּיל (gîl))H1523 shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king’s palace.“
Psalm 100:1&2, “¶[[A Psalm of praise.]] Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057: come before his presence with singing.”
3) God Will Take Away “The Voice of the Bridegroom“
The original Hebrew word that is translated as “bridegroom” is חָתָן (ḥāṯān)H2860, which has been interpreted by the King James translators variously as law (10x), bridegroom (8x), husband (2x).
Some examples include: Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom H2860 decketh [himself] with ornaments,and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.”
Isaiah 62:5, “For [as] a young man marrieth a virgin, [so] shall thy sons marry thee: and [as] the bridegroom H2860 rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.”
Psalm 19:5, “Which [is] as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, [and] rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.“
Without doubt these are spiritual references to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Note that we see this reference again in Joel 2:16, “Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom H2860 go forth of his chamber, and the brideH3618 out of her closet.” For more on the Book of Joel, please see this study.
4) God Will Take Away “The Voice of the Bride“
The original Hebrew word that is translated as “bride” is כַּלָּה (kallâ)H3618 , which has been interpreted by the King James translators variously as daughter in law (17x), bride (9x), spouse (8x).
The “Bride” when found in the Bible is always a portrait of the Bride of Christ, the Body of Believers.
Isaiah 49:18, “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, [and] come to thee. [As] I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them [on thee], as a bride H3618 [doeth].”
Revelation 21:2, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.“
These verses are making it all the more clear that the Bridegroom spiritually represents the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the eternal Church is His Bride.
5) God Will Take Away “The Sound of the Millstones“
The original Hebrew word that is translated as “Millstones” is רֵחַיִם (rēḥayim)H7347, which has been interpreted by the King James translators variously as mill (2x), millstone (2x), nether (1x).
Millstones are used to grind wheat into flour for the making of bread. They are therefore intimately associated with making bread available to feed the people. If the millstones are not making any sound, then there is no bread being made. God makes clear that the “Bread of Life” is intimately linked with Jesus Christ and the hearing of His Word as we read in John 6:35, “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Remembering also that Jesus is The Word: John 1:14, “¶And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.“
Only Jesus, as contained in the Bible in its entirely, Is The Word of God and the Bread of Life, Who can sustain the believers through this Great Tribulation and help us to endure until the end, Judgment Day, when Jesus returns on the clouds of Glory to judge the world and to retrieve His Church for eternity with Him in Heaven.
But the key takeaway is that God will take away the “sound” of the millstones. That sound will not be heard and as a result no bread will be available. The Word of God will, therefore, no longer be available!
6&7) God Will Take Away “The Light of the Candle.”
The original Hebrew words that are translated as “light” and “candle” are respecitively, אוֹר (‘ôr)H216, and נִיר (nîr)H5216, which have been interpreted by the King James translators variously as follows…
- אוֹר (‘ôr)H216: light(s) (114x), day (2x), bright (1x), clear (1x), flood (1x), herbs (1x), lightning (1x), morning (1x), sun (1x) and
- נִיר (nîr)H5216: lamp (35x), candle (9x), light (4x).
“The Light”
For the “light” we have these examples of God’s usage:
Genesis 1:3&4, “And God said, Let there be light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216:and there was light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216.And God saw the light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216,that [it was] good:and God divided the light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216 from the darkness.“
Job 37:15, God asks Job, “Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216 of his cloud to shine?“
Psalm 97:11, “Light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216 is sown for the righteous, and gladness (שִׂמְחָה (śimḥâ))H8057 for the upright in heart.“
Psalm 119:105, “NUN. Thy word [is] a lamp unto my feet, and a light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216 unto my path.”
Isaiah 45:7, “I form the light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these [things].”
Isaiah 9:2, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light (אוֹר (‘ôr))H216: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”
New Testament “Light” examples
If anyone has the true Light, they have Jesus, for Jesus Is The Light as we read in John 1:4&5, “In him (Jesus Christ)was life; and the life was the light (φῶς (phōs))G5457 of men. And the light (φῶς (phōs))G5457shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.“
John 8:12, “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light (φῶς (phōs))G5457 of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light (φῶς (phōs))G5457of life.
Luke 2:32, “A light (φῶς (phōs))G5457 to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
2 Corinthians 4:5&6, “For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who commanded the light (φῶς (phōs))G5457 to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to [give] the light (φωτισμός(phōtismos))G5462 of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.“
2 Timothy 1:10, “But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light (φωτίζω (phōtizō))G5461through the gospel:“
And describing Heaven, we read in Revelation 22:5, “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light (φῶς (phōs))G5457 of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light (φωτίζω (phōtizō))G5461: and they shall reign for ever and ever.“
“of the Candle”
We should remember how back in the study of Proverbs 31:10-31, the Virtuous Woman (representing the true eternal Israel, the true believers in Jesus Christ), that her “candle” did not go out by night. This is because the true believers will continuously to have the Light (the Holy Spirit) through to the end when Jesus comes back again on Judgment Day.
For “candle” נִיר(nîr)H5216 we have these examples of God’s usage:
We also know this from Psalm 119:105, “NUN. Thy word [is] a lamp (נִיר (nîr))H5216 unto my feet, and a light unto my path.“
Psalm 18:28, “For thou wilt light my candle: H5216 the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.“
Psalm 132:17, “There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp H5216 for mine anointed.“
And note the contrast with the unsaved that we read about in Job 21:17, “How oft is the candleH5216 of the wicked put out! and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.” and Proverbs 24:20, “For there shall be no reward to the evil [man]; the candleH5216 of the wicked shall be put out.“ and Proverbs 13:9, “The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lampH5216 of the wicked shall be put out.“
In Exodus 27:20, we find, “And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp (נִיר (nîr))H5216to burn always.”
Please also see “The Parable of the Ten Virgins”, where only the five wise virgins had oil, the source of the light (representing God’s Holy Spirit) in their lamps, and they were the ones who were ready when the bridegroom (again, who represents Jesus) came at midnight (representing Judgment Day) in Matthew 25:6. The “five wise virgins”, like the “virtuous woman”, represent the eternal Church of God.
A Famine in the Land!
Note the consistency with what God says in Amos 8:11-13, “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find [it]. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.” God is again telling us that there will indeed be a time when the Word of God will not be heard as if it were a famine, where there will be neither bread (the Bread of Life, Jesus) or water (the Gospel of Salvation by Jesus Christ) because God will have removed His Word.
Conclusion: The Great Tribulation is the Greatest Famine of All Time
Jesus warned of the Great (and Final) Tribulation as a prelude to Judgment Day in the following verses, which suggests that from a “spiritual” standpoint this period will indeed be horrific because 1) the devil will have been loosed again on earth, and 2) few, if any, people will become saved as a result. It should be noted that while these foretold events might seem to have had a literal physical fulfillment with the destruction of Jerusalem in 69/70 AD by the Romans, Jesus is really focusing on a global spiritual fulfillment during the Final Tribulation.
- Matthew 24:19, “And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!”
- Matthew 24:21&22, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.“
- Matthew 24:29, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” [For more on this please see: “The Heavens shall be Rolled Together as a Scroll“.]
- Mark 13:24, “But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.“
- Luke 21:22-24, “For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in theland, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall betrodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.“
Relatedly, Jesus tells the believers not to worry in any case: John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.“
And as for this world, God refers to it as “the Great Babylon” at the end of time in the Book of Revelation. And please dear reader do not miss the close correlation of what we have just read about in Jeremiah 25:10 with what we now find in Revelation 18:23, “And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.”
[The reader is encouraged to see this post as well “A Famine in the Land“]
Finally, the Bridegroom is The LORD Jesus Christ, and the bride is the Eternal Church of God, and at the end of time, during the Great Tribulation (when the devil is loosed for “a little season” Revelation 20:3), the Word of God will essentially be silenced. The witnesses of God’s Truth will have been silenced and effectively killed, literally and/or figuratively. The Light of the World is Jesus Christ, and without Him, and without the hearing of Him, the world will go completely dark. The lack of “hearing” of “The Word” (which is the “True” Jesus) means that the world will be starved for the lack of hearing of God’s Word and suffer the consequences of a spiritual famine…an eternal spiritual death in Hell! It is this teacher’s prayer that although God has warned the world beforehand of this condemnation and pre-Judgment, that it may yet still be the day of Salvation because of what we read in Deuteronomy 4:30, “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (For the LORD thy God [is] a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.“
[For more on the latter days, please see this post.]
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