Lamintations: The Suffering Chirst Took On

Introduction

Open this evening to Lamentations Chapter 2. Lamentations Chapter 2 and we will read verse 1-22 and looking at specific sections.

Why Lamentations

“11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. 12 They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom.” (La 2:11–12, ESV)

“9 We get our bread at the peril of our lives, because of the sword in the wilderness. 10 Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine. 11 Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah. 12 Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders. 13 Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.” (La 5:9–13, ESV)

The picture is gruesome, and that lead us to the question, this is about Christ?

This horrible picture is pointing to a benevolent savior.

The answer is yes, there are at least three ways this book points us to Christ that we will explore over the next couple of weeks.

We see a picture of the actions of the Bloody King,

We see a picture of what Christ suffered on our behalf.

We get a picture of what the day of judgement looks like for those not covered by the blood of Christ.

Let’s Read

Lamentations 2:1–22 ESV

1 How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers. 3 He has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel; he has withdrawn from them his right hand in the face of the enemy; he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob, consuming all around. 4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, with his right hand set like a foe; and he has killed all who were delightful in our eyes in the tent of the daughter of Zion; he has poured out his fury like fire. 5 The Lord has become like an enemy; he has swallowed up Israel; he has swallowed up all its palaces; he has laid in ruins its strongholds, and he has multiplied in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation. 6 He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest. 7 The Lord has scorned his altar, disowned his sanctuary; he has delivered into the hand of the enemy the walls of her palaces; they raised a clamor in the house of the Lord as on the day of festival. 8 The Lord determined to lay in ruins the wall of the daughter of Zion; he stretched out the measuring line; he did not restrain his hand from destroying; he caused rampart and wall to lament; they languished together. 9 Her gates have sunk into the ground; he has ruined and broken her bars; her king and princes are among the nations; the law is no more, and her prophets find no vision from the Lord. 10 The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground in silence; they have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth; the young women of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground. 11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city. 12 They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. 13 What can I say for you, to what compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What can I liken to you, that I may comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For your ruin is vast as the sea; who can heal you? 14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles that are false and misleading. 15 All who pass along the way clap their hands at you; they hiss and wag their heads at the daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” 16 All your enemies rail against you; they hiss, they gnash their teeth, they cry: “We have swallowed her! Ah, this is the day we longed for; now we have it; we see it!” 17 The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes. 18 Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! 19 “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.” 20 Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. 22 You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed.

May God Bless the Reading of His Holy, Infallible, and Sufficient Word

Let’s Pray

Transition

“Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud”

Body

The Lord Without Mercy

Lamentations 2:1–2 ESV

1 How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. 2 The Lord has swallowed up without mercy all the habitations of Jacob; in his wrath he has broken down the strongholds of the daughter of Judah; he has brought down to the ground in dishonor the kingdom and its rulers.

God’s faithful to his word, even if it is a problem.

They were more blasphemous then the nations that would blaspheme.

“When, therefore, it was polluted, it follows that God in a manner exposed his name to reproach, because the mouth of all the ungodly was thus opened, so that they insolently poured forth their slanders. That God, then, spared not the kingdom nor the Temple, it hence followed that his wrath against the Jews was dreadful. Now, as he is a righteous judge, it follows, that such was the greatness of the sins of the Jews, that they sustained the blame for this extreme sacrilege; for it was through their sins that God’s name was exposed to reproach both as to the Temple and the kingdom.” [1]

Without Mercy

What does it look like when God has no Mercy.

No rule has honor if God does not raise them up.

This about Nebuchadnezzar

Daniel 4:28–32

We are totally dependent on God’s mercy. Lamentations is what it look like when God’s mercy disappears.

Johnathan Edward’s sermon, sinners in the hands of an angry God.

Transition

God, destroyed them because they having his word were the worst of the blasphemers, and he is Just, he made a covenant, and they agreed to it. Verse 17-19 talk about this.

Cry To The Lord (Completely Dependent on God’s Mercy)

Lamentations 2:17–19 ESV

17 The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes. 18 Their heart cried to the Lord. O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! 19 “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street.”

“he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago”

“And the people said to Joshua, “The LORD our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” (Jos 24:24, ESV)

They didn't even obey after this destruction Jeremiah 42:7–14”

Verse 18 and 19, the duty of the sinner, cry to the Lord for mercy.

Again, where can the just judge be just and merciful.

You answer, Christ.

Transition

While we run to Christ we must never forget he is the bloody King. Verse 20-22 fill in that part of the picture.

It wasn’t the Chaldeans

Lamentations 2:20–22 ESV

20 Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus? Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord? 21 In the dust of the streets lie the young and the old; my young women and my young men have fallen by the sword; you have killed them in the day of your anger, slaughtering without pity. 22 You summoned as if to a festival day my terrors on every side, and on the day of the anger of the Lord no one escaped or survived; those whom I held and raised my enemy destroyed.

The narrative turn to the author of the destruction.

slaughtering without pity

Remember the bloody king, this is him.

“But we must ever bear in mind what I have already referred to, that though enemies terrified the Jews, yet this was to be ascribed to God, so that every one might acknowledge for himself, that the Chaldeans had not come by chance, but through the secret impulse of God.’ [2]

You know know what it mean when we say God is Sovereign.

Lets go though the list.

Who destroyed Job?

Who flooded the whole earth

Who made Nebuchadnezzar eat grass for 7 years.

The same one Jeremiah is telling us the

Conclusion

Next time, more Lamentations, we will look into parts of Chapter 3 to see some of those direct connections to Christ and that even in the middle of all this there is hope for the one that wait on the Lord.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26 ESV

24 The Lord bless you and keep you; 25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

References

[1]John Calvin and John Owen, Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations, vol. 5 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010), 347.

[2] Ibid, 388.

Bibliography

Calvin, John, and John Owen. Commentaries on the Prophet Jeremiah and the Lamentations. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2010.