BY HAROLD LEE
The last time I spoke—I think it was about three weeks ago—I gave the first part of this sermon and it was entitled A Survey Of Lamentations, Part I. And today I would like to continue and conclude with Part II. So this will be A Survey Of Lamentations, Part II.
As I mentioned in the first part, the book of Lamentations is a very unique of all of the writings that make up the Bible in that it’s the only book that’s written in the acrostic form. As I mentioned, a number of the Psalms, Psalm 45, 119, are written acrostically and they’re intended to be sung. And this one is different. It’s not intended to be sung. It’s not a song. It’s the only acrostic one that was not intended, wasn’t written in verse format.
Also, as I mentioned, the Old Testament which is The Tanakh
and that was a tradition that was started in the second
But of those writings, there are eleven books that are broken down into three parts which make up those writings. The first part is called the Book of Truths and that’s Psalms and Proverbs and Job. And again, those were ones that were to be poetry or set to music. The Writings which are made up of Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Chronicles; and then there are the Five Scrolls. And the Five Scrolls are the Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes and the book of Esther. And those were the ones that were intended to be read publicly every year on either a Holy Day or a nationally proclaimed day as Lamentations was on the ninth of Av, one of the fast days.
And again, if you missed that you can look at any reference material on the ninth of Av or go back and get Part I of this. I went into it in more detail than I intend to today. But as I had mentioned last time, the ninth of Av fell on August the tenth and that is this year. And that is the traditional reading of the book of Lamentations. As I mentioned, it has a great deal of significance to the Israelite Jewish people. And, like I say, if you want to get more detail, go study any reference material or review the sermon.
As I mentioned, it’s the only book that’s written in acrostic form that was not intended to be sung. And kind of as an aside, Psalms, Ecclesiastes, and the book of Job, if you go back to the original writings, they contain what was called “cantillation” marks. In other words, they put marks on—remember to this day in the Jewish religion, the singing is done by something they call “Cantors.” And the Cantors stand up and they will do a refrain or something and then the people will answer. And in the Writings, actually these cantillation marks, which kind of marked who was to do what parts, were actually preserved as part of that text. But again, that’s for another time.
My conclusion, because of this uniqueness, is the acrostic form of Lamentations indicated that this book has very special meaning and it should be remembered. It was written in a form easily to be remembered. And I firmly believe that this book of Lamentations, which we’ll see today, has much relevance and meaning to God’s Church today. And I think it is a book that will be especially beneficial during the continued scattering of God’s Church and into the tribulation that we know that’s ahead of us.
Now let me set your expectations as to what we’re going to cover in the sermon. I call this A Survey Of Lamentations. Now keep in mind, a survey, when you have something surveyed like a parcel of land, you don’t examine every square inch of that land. You go out and you look at the borders of it. You will look at parts of it to get an overview of the land. And what you’re trying to do is to look at the general condition to determine its worth for a specific purpose. In other words, if you had land that you were going to farm on, you would be looking at it for something different. What’s the soil content? Is it acid? Is it alkaline? What do we need to do? Versus if you were going to build houses on it. You would want to know how firm is it. What am I going to have to do when I build on it? So again, a survey doesn’t mean you go out and you examine every square inch. It means that you’re trying to sort of look at the borders of it. You’re trying to get the gist of it.
And that’s what I intend to do today, not to cover every Scripture as maybe you would in say an exhaustive Bible Study. I think most every one that’s here and has been listening; you’ve been around a long time. We are hopefully mature Christians. And I would hope what I’m going to do today is to give you sort of this survey and then allow you in your own personal, more in depth study to try to flesh out some of these small parts. So what we’re going to do is because the chapters are divided down into sort of specific subjects, we’re going to give you enough out of each one of those. We’re going to read a few Scriptures out of each one to sort of get the gist of it, but, again, if it stops here, then I’ve probably failed because I really would like for you to do this on your own. And I think that’s, again, reasonable since we’ve all been around a long time and many of you out there are much smarter than I am. So, anyway, that’s what I hope to do is to spur you to a deeper study with perhaps a perspective that you didn’t have before.
As I mentioned previously, the book of Lamentations is made up of five chapters. Chapters 1, 2, 4, and 5 are each twenty-two verses long corresponding to each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The middle chapter, chapter 3, is sixty-six verses long and that’s three verses of each letter. And so the first three verses, all the verses begin with the Hebrew letter aleph. The second three are beth. The third, seven, eight, and nine, are gimel and on and on and on. Chapter 5 is different. Even though it’s twenty-two verses and each one starts with a letter of the alphabet, it’s different in they’re not in alphabetical order. Why? I don’t know. Maybe someone else can figure that out. I don’t know maybe it spells something out or something. I really don’t know. I’m not a Hebrew scholar. And I’m going to leave that to someone else, but I think somehow it must be significant. I don’t think God does things that have no significance/ I think everything He does has significance, but I just don’t what—as I’ve said many times, I’m just a child with very limited understanding and sophistication in those areas, and if it becomes important, I think God will let us know what it is. But, anyway, it is what it is and that’s the way it is. My salvation doesn’t depend on it and I guess in some ways I’m contented with my ignorance there.
The general subject matter, the different chapters are as
follows. Chapter 1 is the desolation and
the destruction of
You would think especially if you read the book of Jeremiah
God continually sent Jeremiah to them to witness to them, to warn them. And I think someone of maybe a lesser would
sit and say, “I told you so! You know
you’re just getting what you deserve. I
went to you many times and you didn’t.”
But Jeremiah was broken up over this.
It tremendously grieved Jeremiah to see and yet he was the one that went
to them and told them what God was going to do.
There was no satisfaction. There
was no happiness. And, again, as you read
chapter 3, you will see Jeremiah was just beside himself over the grief.
Chapters 4 and 5 are the suffering of the people as a result of this desolation. And at the end of chapter 5, it’s the desire of the people to be brought back to God and to communion with God and to be forgiven by God. Again, it can be a very discouraging book, but I think when a person finds themselves in that, it can be a book of hope and a book of encouragement as I hope to bring out.
I would also, in your study, recommend you at least read the latter parts of the book of Jeremiah since it covers the same period and it’s not part of that, but it covers that same period. And that will help you sort of get a flavor for that as well.
As I mentioned, Jeremiah was a prophet that God had sent
many times to warn
Let’s turn over to Lamentations chapter 1, right after Jeremiah. And, of course, it starts with the word “How.” Remember the original title of Lamentations was not Lamentations. The original title was How. That starts out chapters 1, chapters 2, and chapters 3 and we talked about that. That is the original title, but it says
Lamentations 1:1. How lonely
sits the city that was full of
people! How like a widow is she, who was
great among the nations! The princess
among the provinces has become a slave!
2) She weeps bitterly in the night, her tears are on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her; they have become her
enemies. 3)
At the first reading of this, if I could borrow a term, this
seems to be talking about some people—what was that in Star Wars?—in a place
long, long ago, far, far away. I mean we
can be detached from really the—I don’t know; can you say “guts” from the
pulpit?—from the guts of this. We can be
detached. If we can’t say that, I
apologize. But it’s easy to read this
and it’s talking about them a long time ago and what happened. And here we are reading about the Jews due to
their sin going into captivity and being scattered. And the
How can we see this as anything other than an historical account? And as such, how can we take anything more than just sort of a cursory and passing look at this?
There is a general feeling in the—and I’m putting this in quotes—the “Christian world” and I believe to some high degree it’s rubbed off to us in the Church today that we’ve kind of bought into this thing where the Jews were the chosen people. And even today they have the spotlight on them and they occupy some special place with God. I just think that’s sort of the general, perhaps it’s even been perpetrated by the Jews.
And, of course, we know
If you go back and you look at Jeremiah and his mission,
remember it was to “pluck up and to plant.”
And I believe God’s timing with
Remember unified
1 Kings 11:1. But King
Solomon
1 Kings 11:1.
1 Kings 11:1b. loved many
foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites,
Sidonians, and Hittites— 2) From the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of
And those were both recorded.
1 Kings
So it wasn’t something because people had some special thing. God did it because of some promises and affinity that He had to David.
Solomon had instituted very pagan rituals and worship that had replaced the worship of God. And, Brethren, that has not changed to this day, today. Today the Jews are as corrupt in their worship to God as they were then.
Look over in Acts chapter 7. And as we read this in Acts 7, remember this was the group of people and the system that was extant during the period of time that Jesus the Christ walked the earth. He never minced words of how He judged their behavior and methods of worship, neither did those that He had appointed, those disciples and apostles.
Stephen, just before he was stoned by those people, delivered a very powerful witness against those that were present at the synagogue before the council that had brought false accusations against him. He said the following words—and I’m not going to read all of this. I’m going to break into it in verse 39. So Acts 7 and let’s pick it up in 39. And he’s recounting to them their history. It says
Acts
So what he’s saying is “Look, physically they moved on, but
their hearts went back to
Acts
Stephen was reminding them of their blasphemous past and their adulterous ways.
Acts
“The star of your god Remphan.”
Brethren, we in God’s Church sort of recoil in horror over
the “Christian” steeples of churches today which we know are derived from the
groves on the hills. But today, if you
look at the flag of
Now it is—and I’m going to read some—in many references it’s correctly called “Solomon’s Star” in that it was the offspring of David that brought it into worship. And frankly this symbol which represents the national pride of the Jews is pagan to the core. And it’s a stench in God’s nostrils as we’re going to see. It was then and it is now. God doesn’t change.
I just want to read this. This is from one of the online encyclopedias and I’m just going to read a few parts of it. It says
A hexagram is a six-pointed geometric star figure, the compound of two equilateral triangles. The intersection is a regular hexagon.
While generally recognized as a symbol of Jewish identity it is used also in other historical, religious and cultural contexts, for example in Islam, and Eastern Religions as well as in Occultism.
And I’m reading. It says
The Star of David in the oldest surviving complete copy of the…
Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Judaism and Jewish identity and is also known colloquially as the Jewish Star or “Star of David”. Its usage as a sign of Jewish identity began [Notice!] in the Middle Ages, though its religious usage began earlier, with the current earliest archeological evidence being a stone bearing the shield from the arch of a 3-4th century synagogue in Galilee. A more enduring symbol of Judaism, the menorah, has been in use since BCE.
The Bible makes no
And I’m skipping through this article.
The Bible makes no direct mention
of the Star of David, however, the Catechism of the Catholic Church of the year
528 refers to the star which led the Magi to Christ as “the Star of
David.” In the context, the phrase most
likely meant “the star of the king of
The Arabs and Muslims were interested in arithmetics….
The Babylonian Talmud contains a legend about King Solomon being kidnapped by Ashmedai, the king of demons. He succeeded in kidnapping the king by stealing his “seal of Solomon”, although according to the Talmud this seal was simply a metal coin…
In various places in the Qur’an, it is written that David and Solomon were prophets and kings and therefore they are revered figures by Muslims. The Islamic Turkish beyliks of the Karmanid and Candaroglu dynasties used the star on their flag. Even today, the star can be found in mosques and on other Arabic and Islamic artifacts.
Six pointed stars have also been found in cosmological diagrams in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.
In other words, the heavens and remember what He talked to Solomon about.
The reasons behind this symbol’s common appearance in Indic religions and the West are lost in the mists of antiquity.
They just know they’re there. They don’t know exactly know why.
But again, for the sake of time, I’ll just skip.
Occultism
The six-pointed star is commonly used both as a talisman and for conjuring spirits in the practice of witchcraft. In the [b]ook The History and Practice of Magic, Vol. 2, the six-pointed star is called the talisman of Saturn
And if you look at Remphan, Remphan is that constellation is what’s being referred to.
…it is also referred to as the Seal of Solomon. Details are given in this book on how to make these symbols and the materials to use.
And the last one is a book.
Bradley, author of Secrets of the Freemasons, claims: “the hexagram is widely associated with the occult, and is considered the most powerful of Satan’s symbols, containing ‘666.’ Occultists also call it the ‘trud’ and us[e] it in necromantic ceremonies to summon evil spirits.”
So, again, it’s something that marks their identity and yet it’s something that has a very nefarious past. Now, of course, us Americans, we would never think of using the six-sided star. Ours is a five-sided star, which doesn’t have the same significance. True, but go look up what a pentagram is. And, oh by the way, on our national seal, which was adopted by our founding fathers—if you have a dollar bill, you can look at it—they had thirteen stars, five-pointed stars, representing the thirteen colonies, but they’re arranged in a hexagram. So we don’t get off either. I’m not saying, “We’re better than.” I’m just saying that we’ve all, including the Jews and that, have all gone off into paganism and have those.
Someone might say, “Well.” And let me just argue with myself. You can always do that. You can pose the question and the answer. “Well, yeah, Harold, but neckties have pagan—wedding rings.” You can’t do anything without that. And my answer will be, “Yes, but God didn’t specifically condemn those more than once in the Bible, like He did the star of Remphan.” Because he was—the Jews, of course, don’t recognize the New Testament but—Stephen was quoting out of Amos chapter 5 when he delivered that. So it is part of their text too. They are literally in this and without excuse. And again, the fact that God had it recorded and mentioned it means—whether it bothers us or not—it’s a big thing to God. Anyway.
Go over to Romans chapter 1.
We all know that John the Baptist and his disciples came from the Jews. Jesus was a Jew and His followers were called Jews. And many of the teachings that the Jews had provided the foundation of the Church that God started. The Commandments, the Sabbath, the Holy Days, clean and unclean meats were all part of the foundation that the Church was founded on. The Talmudic extensions that Jesus condemned openly as the traditions of men were not part of that. The Jews had the advantage—we’ll read that—but only in that they had a background and they should have known better. But that didn’t curry them with any favor.
Romans 1 verse 16, it says
Romans 1:16. For I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for
everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
And notice! This is inclusive, not exclusive. And Paul was talking about timing not preeminence. In other words, he didn’t say, “The Jews are more.” He just meant in timing. They started with the Jews and then moved to the Greeks. It wasn’t the Jews are better.
Romans 1:17. For in it the
righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The
just shall live by faith.” 18) For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
And my comment is “both the Jew and the Gentile.”
Romans 1:19. Because what
may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
Skip down to chapter 2 verse 8.
Romans 2:8. But to those who
are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey
unrighteousness—indignation and wrath,
9) Tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the
Jew first and also of the Greek; 10) But
glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first
and also to the Greek. 11) For there is
no partiality with God.
Brethren, it’s not our pedigree that counts. It’s how we respond to God’s calling.
Verse 28, it says
Romans 2:28. For he is not a
Jew who is one outwardly,
And here is my point I’m trying to make. While Lamentations is the carrying off of the Jews into captivity, the point is is we are spiritual Jews. It’s inescapable from the Bible.
Romans 2:28. For he is not a
Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29) But he
is a Jew who is one inwardly; and
circumcision is that of the heart, in
the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is
not from men but from God.
Let me—I hadn’t intended to do this. I’m going to just read forward because there is an advantage to the Jews. He says in chapter 3 verse 1.
Romans 3:1. What advantage
then has the Jew, or what is the
profit of circumcision? 2) [He says]
Much in every way! Chiefly because to
them were committed the oracles of God.
In other words, they were ahead of the game. They didn’t have to learn all of this from ground zero. They grew up knowing that. And we understand that looking back at the New Testament why some of the things that seem to be a big deal today regarding the Sabbath and all of those things, clean and unclean meats, were not pounded in because at the time, those weren’t issues. So he’s saying, “Yes, it was to their advantage because they have the oracles, they should have known better.” If you want to look at the other, in some ways it was an indictment because he said, “Look, they knew better—didn’t take advantage of it.” Brethren, those that were called of God that had repented and received His Spirit, those that have had their names written in the Book of Life are spiritual Jews. And being a physical Jew has no advantage other than they should know better as mentioned in chapter 3.
Now what does that have to do with us today? I hope I don’t misquote something that Steve mentioned in his sermon. I’m going to paraphrase it. “If you read the Bible and you think it’s talking about someone else, then you’ve probably missed the point.” Now, I know he was mainly talking about instruction and correction, but, Brethren, even in the historical and physical aspects of the Bible, they have—the reason God had it is because it has a present and a spiritual application to us today. If we think it doesn’t apply to us, then we shouldn’t read it. But the Bible indicates that all parts of it—and we should in everything that we read say, “How does this apply to me? How can I take the lessons, the gems that are buried in this and enhance my relationship with God to make myself closer? How can I glean personal instruction out of every part of God’s Word?” Brethren, we are spiritual Jews and as such this directly has relevance to us today.
Back to Lamentations. I should have told you to set a mark there.
Again, my purpose here was not to put down the Jews or not to put down anyone. It is to let you see what has favor with God is in the heart. And if we have that relationship with God, we are Jews. Like it or not. We better like it, because Jesus Christ was a Jew.
Okay, back to Lamentations verse 4. It says
Lamentations 1:4. The roads
to
The King James says “the solemn feasts.”
The New Revised Standard says “the festivals.”
Brethren, in spiritual
Again, that word that’s translated “feasts,” mo’edh, means an appointed place, appointed time. I think it’s mentioned here. It means to keep an appointment. It was an appointment that God made with His people, a sacred season, a set feast, an appointed season.
Again, we’re a month away from the Fall Holy Day
Season. Those are appointed times that
we are to appear before God.
Lamentations 1:4. The roads
to
Those that remain pure within the truth are greatly afflicted just like Jeremiah was as he looked out.
Lamentations 1:4b. and she is in bitterness.
You know those that are virgins.
Look over in Psalm 132. Just again set a mark there. Hold your place there. Psalm 132 verse 11.
I think if we look at this—and let me be real clear as we go through Lamentations. Lamentations has a past physical fulfillment. I believe in the future it has. And to pull the spiritual out doesn’t displace the physical. I’m not trying to say, “You know it’s all”—I’m not trying to spiritualize Lamentations away. What I’m saying is is some of the gems that are buried here are spiritual in nature and they apply to us today. So I don’t want to take away from it as a historical book or a prophetic book, if you will, but to look at it in a broader sense.
Psalm 132 and verse 11, it says
Psalm 132:11. The Lord has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn [away] from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of
your body. 12) If your sons will keep My
covenant and My testimony which I shall teach them, their sons also shall sit
upon your throne forevermore.” 13) For
the Lord has chosen
The roads to
But let’s personalize it to us today. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 16. I’m kind of breaking into a thought.
1 Corinthians 3:16. Do you
not know
1 Corinthians 3:16.
1 Corinthians 3:16b. that you
And this is writing to those that have God’s Spirit.
1 Corinthians 3:16b. that you
are the
Brethren, we are the temple where God dwells. It’s not a physical building, but a spiritual building. And when Christ returns, He’s going to return to His Temple, which I personally believe it’s referring to a spiritual building.
Just skip forward to chapter 6 verse 16.
2 Corinthians 6:16. And what
agreement has the
Don’t turn there.
Remember Revelation
So when we look at
Okay back to Lamentations chapter 1. Again, I hope you fill in around the edges here. Verse 5, Lamentations 1.
Lamentations 1:5. Her
adversaries have become the master, her enemies prosper;
Brethren, we’re scattered. We are scattered to the four winds. And yet, those that perpetrated it—I won’t say they did it—they perpetrated it, they are prospering. They’re doing fine.
Lamentations 1:6. And from
the daughter of
What does a deer do in a pasture? They eat.
Lamentations 1:6b. that flee
without strength before the pursuer. 7)
In the days of her affliction and roaming,
You don’t have to think long about that. Just let your mind go back twenty years during a Feast of Tabernacles or during a time when you on the Sabbath got together with a thousand people, twelve hundred people.
Lamentations 1:10. The
adversary
Verse 10. Notice before it was “her adversary.” Now it is “The adversary.”
Lamentations 1:10b. has
spread his hand over all her pleasant things; for she has seen the nations
enter her sanctuary, those whom You commanded not to enter [into] Your
assembly.
1 Peter 5. 1 Peter 5 and verse 6.
1 Peter 5:6. Therefore
humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due
time, 7) Casting all your care upon Him,
for He cares for you. 8) Be sober, be
vigilant, because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9)
Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are
experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Brethren, there is no one in God’s Church that’s having a picnic today. I mean it’s not—we are all groaning. We are all hungry. We all feel alone.
1 Peter 5:9. Resist him,
Verse 10.
1 Peter 5:10. But may the
God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after
you have suffered a while,
You see we are going to suffer. We are suffering. But after that, notice:
1 Peter 5:10b. perfect,
So there’s a reason for the suffering. It’s not just to make us feel bad.
1 Peter 5:10b. [to] perfect,
establish, strengthen, and settle you.
I skipped over some of the text and maybe you can go back and fill it in later.
But you know, Brethren, we’re not totally innocent and all. I mean the reason we’re going through this is to learn. If we already understood it, we would not have to go through it. We have all—I believe—to a greater or lesser degree been guilty of idolatry. We have placed men above, between us and God, just like the Israelites who wanted Moses to be between them and God. They wanted a king so they could see him instead of God. That’s us. That wasn’t them. That’s us. We are all, to some degree, guilty of that, and God must teach us a lesson. If we’re going to develop a close relationship with God, we have to understand that.
Back to Lamentations chapter 2 and verse 1, it says
Lamentations 2:1. How
Again, that word, the title of Lamentations.
Lamentations 2:1. How the
Lord has covered the daughter of
I can remember the early nineties. Just the, let’s say maybe the disbelief and the anger of seeing what had become of that beautiful campus. I went out there and visited it afterwards and it was—I don’t know—kind of a ghost town. I went to Big Sandy and went out there and the fences, those beautiful white fences were sort of needing paint. The lawns were not manicured. The fountains, those egrets, was not going. The parking lots were covered in trailers. You just set there and “How could this have happened?”
Verse 3.
Lamentations 2:3. He has cut
off in fierce anger every horn
Or The Tanakh says “every might or strength.”
Lamentations 2:3b. of
In other words, He stopped holding the enemy back.
Lamentations 2:3 cont. He
has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire devouring all around. 4) Standing like an enemy, He has bent his
bow; with His right hand, like an adversary, He has slain all who were pleasing to his eye; on the
tent of the daughter of
I’ve heard in the past some referring to the scattering as if somehow Satan snuck into the Church and, maybe while God was looking the other way, pummeled it and scattered it. And what a terrible thing! And, Brethren, it is a terrible thing! But there was a reason for it. God allowed that to happen and there was a reason.
I’m not trying to denigrate, but some have taken what I call the “Humpty Dumpty” approach. You take all the pieces and you try to put it back together again to look just like it was before.
I feel that we need to see if there were some systemic problems, and if there were—because God allowed it. And God didn’t do this just because He was gone on a trip. God allowed it for a very specific reason. And I think we need to see if there were some problems and to root that out.
Make no mistake, Brethren. We are scattered. But I also think when our ways please God, He’ll bless us. And if they don’t, then we need to do a very serious self-examination. Our heritage is—and it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve—when something goes wrong, we want to blame somebody else. “It’s not my fault. It was that woman You gave me.” “It was that serpent that did it.” And let me tell you: we are exactly like that! Have you ever noticed we want to blame someone else? It’s easy to just say, “Well, everybody knows this because of something else.”
And the tragedy in that is that stops us from looking at ourselves and saying, “What can I do? What do I need? What is my failings?” We want to look at the Bible as a sword—and it is, but it ought to be one that we use on ourselves. It’s a mirror for us to use.
Lamentations chapter 3 and verse 31, it says
Lamentations 3:31. For the
Lord will not cast off forever. 32)
Though He causes grief, yet he will show compassion according to the multitude
of His mercies.
Notice this!
Lamentations 3:32. For He
does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men.
The New Jerusalem Bible says
Lamentations 3:32. For it is
not for His own pleasure that He torments and grieves the human race.
God’s not doing this because He likes to pull wings off of flies or those things. Just like Jeremiah, just like us, and the feelings and the grief that we have, our Father, our elder Brother are grieved by things, but They also look at the long term. They also see and know because once the lessons are learned, once we’re beyond this, there will be the other side.
Verse—oh let me just repeat verse 32.
Lamentations 3:32. For He
does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men. 33) To crush under one’s feet all the
prisoners of the earth, 35) To turn
aside the justice due a man before
the face of the Most High, 36) Or
subvert a man in his cause—the Lord does not approve. 37) Who is
he who speaks and it comes to pass, when the Lord has not commanded it?
38) Is it not from the mouth
of the Most High that woe and well-being proceed? 39) Why should a living man complain, a man
for the punishment of his sins?
Notice! And here is our, when we’re in adversity, here is what we should do. Verse 40.
Lamentations 3:40. Let us
search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord;
The key is: Why do these happen to us?
Lamentations 3:40. Let us search
out and examine our ways,
And once we see those flaws, once God shows them to us, we can root them out and we can turn back to God.
Lamentations 3:41. Let us
lift our hearts and hands to God in heaven.
Not to sit around and blame someone else. Not to sit around and say, “Huh, what a dirty.” It’s to look at ourselves. And when we find that, and if we are truly examining ourselves, if we’re asking God to show us what we need to know—what is that? If we ask for a fish, He’s not going to give us a scorpion. If we ask God to show us and to help us, He’s going to do that. He’s not going to destroy us.
Lamentations chapter 4 verse 1, it says
Lamentations 4:1. How the
gold has become dim! How changed the fine gold! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at
the head of every street.
There’s a lot of meaning in that.
Lamentations 4:2. The
precious sons of
Verse 6.
Lamentations 4:6. The punishment
of the iniquity of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of
the sin of
Verse 7.
And The Jewish Publication Society says “princes.”
The American Standard Version says “her nobles.”
My interpretation are her “luminaries,” the lofty ones, the
ones you look up to.
Lamentations 4:7b. were
brighter than snow and whiter than milk; they were more ruddy in body than
rubies, like sapphire in their appearance.
In other words, they were something to behold!
Brethren, there was a time we hung on words of some that seemed to have all the knowledge. They were, in our estimation, larger than life. Where are they now? Did they continue? Out of that hundred and fifty thousand?
Verse 8.
Lamentations 4:8. Now their
appearance is blacker than soot; they go unrecognized in the streets; their
skin clings to their bones, it has become as dry as wood. 9)
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger; for these pine away, stricken for lack of the fruits of the field.
How often do we hear people in the Church say they’re starving spiritually? There’s no food. They’re hungry.
Verse 12.
Lamentations 4:12. The kings
of the earth, and all inhabitants of the world, would not have believed that
the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of
Brethren, the Church was a fortress! It was impenetrable. A hundred and fifty thousand people! And you could stand at the Feast and fourteen thousand people and you look up and it’s just a sea of faces. And you go, “Wow! This is just going to keep going and continue to grow right on into God’s Kingdom.”
Lamentations 4:13. Because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in her midst the blood of the just. 14) They wandered blind in the streets; they have defiled themselves with blood, so that no one would touch their garments.
Verse 16.
Lamentations 4:16. The face
of the Lord scattered them; He no
longer regards them. The people do not respect the priests
nor show favor to the elders.
Mr. Buchanan says, “Just let that roll around in your mind a little bit.”
I want to focus on—and I’m going to use that as a
springboard to focus on—a re-occurring theme throughout time. Remember God brought
But there was something else during all that that was failing as well. This problem was in the civil leadership but, Brethren, to a greater degree it was in the spiritual leadership. The spiritual leaders had failed. I want to focus on this.
Let’s go over to the book of Judges. Look over in Judges chapter 17. There is a term that is used four times in Judges. And it’s easy to read over, but I want to focus in on it. First, let’s look at how badly the spiritual system had failed itself. Judges 17 verse 1, it says
Judges 17:1. Now there was a
man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. 2) And he said to
his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels
of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying
it in my ears—here is the silver with
me; I took it.” And his mother said,
“May you be blessed by the Lord, my son!” 3) So when he had returned the eleven hundred
shekels of silver to his mother, his
mother said, “I have wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lord for my son, to make a carved image
and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” 4) Thus he returned the silver to his
mother. Then his mother took to hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the
silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and molded image; and they were
in the house of Micah. 5) The man Micah
had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols and he consecrated one of
his sons, who became his priest.
Now this is in
Notice!
Judges 17:6. In those days there was no king in
Remember that!
Judges 17:7. Now there was a
young man from
So he bought himself a priest! He probably had bragging—I can just see him in the bar at night. “Well, let me tell you. You guys think you got…. I got a real Levite as a priest!”
Judges 17:10b. So the Levite
went in. 11) Then the Levite was content
to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him.
This guy was a hireling!
Judges
Oh, he was in “phat” city!
Let’s go over to the continuing chapter, Judges 18:1.
Judges 18:1. In those days there was no king in
Skip down to chapter 19 and verse 1.
Judges 19:1. And it came to
pass in those days, when there was no
king in
Now for the sake of time, read this story. It’s a horrific story! But let me just summarize it. This Levite went to the concubine’s father’s
house in
So he continued his journey a few more miles to Gibeah because Gibeah belonged to the Benjamites, the tribe of Benjamin. And he felt safe in this Israelite city. And they were going to stay in the streets, but an old man fearing for their safety insisted they come to his house and spend the night.
Striking parallel of what happened in
The Levites marshaled the forces of
And they also in their haste had made a vow that they wouldn’t give any of their daughters to the Benjamites as wives. Now later they realized that the tribe of Benjamin would die out because they had killed all of those off. Some of them had gone out and married, but it wasn’t enough and they realized it wouldn’t do it. But the problem was that they had made this vow not to let them have their daughters.
Judges 21 verse 15.
Judges
Now first of all, the Levitical system, had it been functioning, the people would have been taught that God allowed for hasty oaths that were made thoughtlessly. And they could have repented by confessing their sins and offering a trespass offering that was prescribed. You can read about this yourself in Leviticus chapter 5 verse 4. But there was no one there to say, “Well, wait a minute. Yes, you said a hasty vow. Yes, it’s a sin, but God knew you were human. And here’s what you could have done about that.”
Continuing on in verse 19.
Judges
These were virgins.
Judges 21:21b. then come out
from the vineyards, and every man catch a wife for himself from the daughters
of
So, they said, “Well, here’s how we’ll solve it. We’ll have a Sadie Hawkins Day.” No, wait! Sadie Hawkins was the women did the men. Yeah. “Anyway, I’ll tell you what. Get your clubs like the cavemen. Go out and when they come out.” Now ask yourself a question, because this was an annual feast: Were the people keeping all the annual feasts or they’d just condensed it down to this one? Secondly, which feast does God prescribe that the young virgins all get up and dance? You see the whole system of the proper worship of God had broken down and they were no longer following God’s instructions.
Judges
So, in other words, it was just sort of like, “Well, just kind of wink at this. Yeah, we know you made an oath, but if you just kind of play like you were looking the other way, it’s okay.”
Judges
And here’s the final words in the book of Judges.
Judges
Brethren, this was a very dark period in the history of God’s people in their relationship with Him. The system that God had put in place had completely broken down. We’ve read four times the statement
In those days there was no king in
And it seems to indicate—at least when you first read
it—well the reason was because there was no king in
At the very end of the period of the Judges, Samuel was born through some very unusual circumstances, but he was dedicated to God from a child. And God used Samuel in a very powerful way.
Look over in 1 Samuel 8.
When Samuel was old, he appointed his two sons, Joel, and Abijah, as
judges of
1 Samuel 8 and verse 4.
1 Samuel 8:4. Then all the
elders of
Now remember this is after Judges, but Judges records in those days there was no king in Israel indicating, perhaps, well if they had a king, it wouldn’t have happened.
1 Samuel 8:7. And the Lord said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of
the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but
they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Brethren, the king that was not in
1 Samuel 8:8. “According to
all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of
Look over in Isaiah chapter 43.
They had completed disregarded their God who was their
King. And the no king in
Isaiah 43 verse 14.
I think because we just read over that we think that it was the lack of a human king. And, Brethren, nothing could be further from the truth. God was very upset when they asked for a human king.
Isaiah 43:14.
Isaiah 43:14. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel: “For your sake I send to
Brethren, we are in a very similar situation today. There is a system that has failed and we’re scattered. And there’s no king. And everyone does what’s right in their own eyes. But the solution is not to go out and find a leader to follow to say, “Who can I look up to?” The solution is to follow our King and dedicate ourselves to His truth and to do what is right in His eyes.
Now don’t get me wrong. I am not bashing organized religion. You know God, if you go back through Deuteronomy and Leviticus, God is an author of organization and structure and all of those things. So I’m not saying all organized—well, let’s bring it up to today—all of the organized groups are wrong.
But, Brethren, groups that stand up and say, “Look to me. I’m your leader. You will have special favor with God if you’re with me.” Brethren, that is wrong! That is idolatry. That should not be. The job of the Levites was to represent God, to point people to God. The job of a ministry today is to point people to God. That is where our relationship, that is where our security, that is where our truth comes from.
Could part of the deception—and we know there is going to be a deception and we know also it’s going to come upon God’s people. Mr. Buchanan has talked about it in sermons recently. We know that when it starts to be full, it’s going to be miracles that are performed. But one of the things he said that I found interesting was is it’s going to be from someone that you know. It’s not, perhaps, going to be a stranger. It’s going to be from someone you know. Could, perhaps—and I’m asking this as a question. I’m not making an accusation. But could, perhaps, the start of that be looking to men? Looking to what they have to offer, what they’re doing? Could that not be in a deception in the same way as wanting a king over us? A human king versus wanting God?
Brethren, Christ is our Lord, our Master, our future Husband, and nothing should come between that. And, again, I want to be very clear. I’m not criticizing structured organizations. God’s Word is replete with structure and organization. Even go back to Revelation to see what’s going to be in the future. And it’s going to be very structured and very organized. But those organizations should be a vehicle for worshiping God.
Let’s conclude on this point. Like we read in Lamentations
Look over in Philippians chapter 2.
We are in a mine field.
And if we try to navigate it ourselves, we’re going to fail. But we’re in a very similar situation,
because you see, yes, there was a breakdown just like in ancient
Philippians 2 verse 12.
You see, Brethren, failing to overcome, we can’t use it as an excuse that God scattered us, that we don’t have the same that we had at one time.
Philippians 2 verse 12.
Philippians 2:12. Therefore,
my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much
more in my absence,
As your children grow up, you can’t be with them every minute of the day. The training and the teaching and what you’ve past on, it’s up to them then to apply that and to use that.
Philippians 2:12b. work
out your own salvation with fear and trembling; 13) For it is God who works in you both to
will and to do for His good pleasure.
Brethren, no one—and we could take another half a sermon—no one gets a free pass on someone else’s actions or someone else’s behavior. We are all individually responsible to God.
God has called a ministry. And that job is to serve His people, to be helpers of their joy, not lords over but helpers with.
So we find today we’re scattered. We’re hungry.
We are in this situation just like
We could easily do a third part and perhaps a four, but I personally think it’s time to move on.
I do hope that—my opinion is just like and I’m in good stand because remember some of the apostles thought the end was going to come in their time and I believe it’s going to come in my time. And I see my time getting shorter. But I think in the very near future the world is going to be plunged into a very severe tribulation. And part of that tribulation we know that part of the Church is going to be there. And whatever happens to an individual we know there’s going to be some of God’s people suffering and even giving their lives during this time. And I don’t care whether—you can make all the categories. And there’s those that escape. Let me guarantee you that there’s not going to be some set that’s going to be sitting there drinking mint juleps with their feet up, because I think a truly converted person like Jeremiah is going to be suffering and mourning. I don’t care where you are or what’s happening.
But I believe the book of Lamentations will be a source of
encouragement and hope during man’s darkest days. And I would ask that you, with the survey and
the overview that you’ve done, considering that this information applies to us
as spiritual Jews who are the
Let’s do a final Scripture, Lamentations chapter 5, and I’ll just end with this. Brethren, because we have God’s truth and because we have His truth, we have hope. Lamentations 5, I’m going to read verse 1.
Lamentations 5:1. Remember, O Lord, what has come upon us; look, and behold our reproach!
Verse 15.
Lamentations 5:15. The joy
of our heart has ceased; our dance has turned into mourning. 16) The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us,
for we have sinned!