Don't worry, God's at work. Date of Writing: The Book of Lamentations was likely written between 586 and 575 B.C., during or soon after Jerusalem's fall. Introduction. In ways that often we don't notice, Jeremiah presses the cross toward us because Jeremiah presents these people who have sinned grievously and repeatedly against God; it puts that rebellion in our face. Hosea presents to us a sad marital drama as an illustration of what sin is. And once again that demonstrates that these characters we make heroes of are not self-sufficient; they're getting their strength, they’re getting their wisdom, they're getting their courage from their Lord even though they are in exile. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. He doesn't just exist; He acts. But I love in this strong, strong piece of writing where he goes after these false teachers with a devastating critique of their content, a devastating critique of their character, the Judeans, with a doxology, because my hope is not in my ability to fight falsehood; my hope is only ever in my Redeemer. Welcome to the hope of Nehemiah! than the first line. The implicit audience is Israel; it's sort of like this. Two really wonderful gospel themes that are here. Part of endurance is a willingness to suffer. And you know that there are many people outside of the church who would recognize that Jesus was a great teacher, a good man. Deuteronomy basically is built around three sermons of Moses. The reading of the Lamentations happens on the 9th day of the month of Ab (July/August) that is the fasting-day on the occasion of Jerusalem's destruction (compare Jeremiah 52:6). Paul says, “Be committed to holiness, be self-controlled, stay alert, live quiet hard-working lives, win the respect of others, love one another, live at peace, give thanks for everything. What do I learn about the way He works? John is saying, “Come and see this One.”, It makes sense that there are these two moments early in John. You see, this created world was never designed to satisfy that deeper longing, that deeper hunger for identity and for meaning for satisfaction. If you're not satisfied with who you are, you’re not satisfied with everything you say, everything you choose, everything that you decide, the ways that you act, then you need the Word of God every day in your life. Once again, that's answered most powerfully by the cross. That this is the gospel of the cross. The whole biblical story is embedded in every proverb because the Proverbs see the promises fulfilled in the future and embed those in the Proverbs. I want to encourage you to pray that God would give you the grace to bring these three things to your study of the Word of God. What would it be like for all of that brokenness to be gone and for us to stand with Jesus, like Jesus, righteousness and peace forever? Before Our Lady appeared to the three shepherd children, Lucy, Francisco and Jacinta, the Angel of Peace visited them. Well, I love the whole Bible, but I just love Ezra. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. We should not forget that God raises up people whom you wouldn't normally trust, whom you wouldn’t normally think that anything good could come from them, to provide what is good for His people. In fact, the heroic nature of this one is the dominant theme of Daniel, and it just really sadly misses the point when we focus more on the action of the human characters and not the One that is on center stage in Daniel. Waiting is an action. You see, Paul is arguing that, at this moment, at the moment when he writes this letter to Philemon about Onesimus, it's more than a guy in prison writing to a wealthy man about a fugitive slave. You know, it's sort of like you're at an ancient building, it's part of what you want to see in your vacation, and you just don't stand in front of it and leave. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from a childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. You see the grace of God operating in every chapter. The King says, “You go, and you represent my kingdom on earth. Comprised of five dirges or elegies, Lamentations contains the songs of grief from a man, Jeremiah, reflecting on the destruction of his home and exile of his beloved people. And so, if good doesn't seem to be happening in our lives, then it seems okay to question the goodness and faithfulness of God. And Hebrews has a central contrast too; it’s between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, the inadequacies of the Old Covenant and the fulfillment of the New Covenant in the Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve got to say I love the contrast between Mark and Luke. It's surprising. He can really use everything to do what is best for His people and His glory! James 1, we see a God who is at work in the life of a believer; a God who even, in our trials, in our darkest moments, is maturing us. And the reason we have hope is because God is with us. “They could not go into the wilderness to feed their cattle, or to get the necessaries of life, without being harassed and plundered by marauding parties, and by these were often exposed to the peril of their lives. Again, you're not just saved, you’re united to Christ; and you're not just a citizen of the kingdoms of earth, you're the citizen of a greater King and a greater Kingdom. Why do You forget us forever: God remains forever; but now it seemed to Jeremiah and the survivors of Jerusalem that He had forgotten them forever. It seems to be little to be encouraged with.”. He loves us! Ch. Sometimes the best prayer possible is not “I repent” (though that is a good prayer). “Okay, it doesn't get any better than this. And then the fifth word just makes sense. He is the Lord of creation. Thus the main point of these verses is that confidence in God’s faithfulness and love can be realized in the very midst of sorrow, not just smooth sailing. "Lamentations" was derived from a translation of the title as found in the Latin Vulgate (Vg.) And God cares that we would know that we are loved, and we’re loved with a pure and faithful love, the love of Jesus. I’m going to give every book of the Bible a subtitle, and the subtitle I’m going to give for Genesis is going to surprise you, and it’s going to take some explanation. Please see our Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. And so there's this theme in Ecclesiastes that what we’re searching for can't be found under the sun. Now there are two things that I think are important about the gospel in Proverbs. And so, what would you say about the gospel and judgment? I'm pretty sure that you don't because Leviticus has gotten bad billing. How could they say this? That blessing was then extended to Judah. These are people that would actually worship, stop and worship an idol on their way to the Temple. There was great weeping when Jerusalem was burned and the people of Judah taking captive to Babylon. It reaches the deepest, darkest issues of our lives. How is the Church going to survive? Well, Hebrews presents people that are unclean, that are prone to wander, that are in bondage of the fear of death of the devil, that are prone to unbelief, that are rebellious. And they were on a short trip to the land that He had promised them, and they rebelled against His purpose; they rebelled against His power; they questioned His goodness. ii. It’s a world that looks like death is reigning and life is dead. The Book of Lamentations is recited by practicing Jewish souls on 9th day of the Hebrew month of Av. There is this dramatic moment in the life of Christ; it's the most dramatic moment between his birth and the cross that really does explode open our understanding of what the Bible is about. It's a gospel offered to all people. Every human king will be flawed; every human king will fail. Do you believe in the Son of God? We see the King's enemies and, surprisingly, His enemies are religious leaders who have distorted what it looks like to believe and have burdened people with a legalism. I got to Romans, about Romans 7, and I realized it had just been an intellectual exercise for me and I hadn't been touched by the glorious content of Romans. And then you have these words written in the 12th chapter of Zechariah, “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on…whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. It's only ever by grace; and if God could include Rahab into His family, there is hope for every one of us. Every day the faithful remnant was still preserved, and was a day closer to the prophecy’s fulfillment. What is He doing?” And in the middle of that chaos, in 1 Kings 8:56, there is this encouragement. Everyone searches for fulfillment. I’m going to say more about this the second time we pass through the Scripture, but you could argue the four most important words in all of Scripture are, “In the beginning God,” because, if God is on the scene first, then everything in the human existence is about Him. In the bleating of a lamb being slaughtered, hear a cry for Jesus, The Lamb, who would come. It has been an amazing thing for me; I feel incredibly blessed that I have been able to spend my time tracing that golden cord of the gospel through every book of the Bible. And so that is war for your heart, that your heart would be open and ready and expectant. This popular proverb both expressed and promoted a popular idea. i. 01. Everybody knows about Job. There are only two places of hope. Micah pictures a struggle that is in all of us. How do you care for and honor widows? i. Well, welcome to life in a fallen world. He says that Job is only righteous because God has rewarded him. This older man in the faith, counseling this younger man in the faith, and they’re very sweet as a result. It's hard for us understand that the anger of God against sin really is the hope of the universe. He paid the penalty for our sin so we could be adopted into God's family, sinners in the hands of a loving God of grace! And I'm excited about this because this is way, way more than dusty, boring, Old Testament history. How about seeking and celebrating that King; He's the hero of 1 and 2 Samuel. God gives them His Law. There will be a day when your questions will be silenced. Lifting out the understated themes of love, grace, promise and renewal in Jeremiah and Lamentations, this commentary by Hetty Lalleman opens our eyes to an important chapter in salvation history. Because what Genesis does is Genesis has embedded in it the three acts of the redemptive drama. c. We have become orphans and waifs: The people were devastated by the loss of their families, by economic catastrophe (we pay for the water we drink), by labor with norest. Leviticus tells me that there is hope for me in my darkest, dumbest, stupidest, most rebellious moment; there's hope for me because God has made a way for sinners to know Him and to be accepted by Him. once our fathers looked to them for grand military help; now we should be thankful if they would give us enough employment to supply the bare necessities of life.” (Wright). And then that grand theme of the sovereignty of God over all things! Don't be too hard on the children of Israel because you do it too. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. The Bible should produce in you a fear of idolatry and a growing worship of the One who alone has offered you forgiveness, transformation, rescue, deliverance, life eternal. The second one is the exile in Lamentations and these prophets that talk about God's exiled people. The Bible is the story of Jesus. This monumental and classical work by Brother Witness Lee builds upon and is a further development of all that the Lord has revealed to His church in the past centuries. He renews us in the wait. It's that life in the middle where you sort of see the promises of God, but you don't see them really realized fully. has become a widow! And so, because of that, I would entitle Obadiah, “Salvation is from the Lord.”. There's no system that can bring peace where there seems to be no peace and hope where there seems to be no hope. John doesn't come across as distant and an intellectual discussion of who this person is. It’s a story with God's application and doctrinal notes, and the one story is how God moves to rescue foolish and rebellious people with the gift of a Redeemer. The Bible is way more than a religious, formally religious book, or a theological book; it is the narrative of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we've seen that literally in every book of the Bible so far. Yet it’s a world inhabited by God, a world marked by His presence and His promises. 3 The city once full of people 4. now sits all alone! This theme begins in the first few verses of chapter 1. Why is this happening?” as you watch Israel descend into political, cultural, social chaos. It's a question that lurks in the background all the time, and that question launches us into the center of the gospel and pushes us toward the necessity of the cross of Jesus Christ. And then that section ends with a prayer that we would really come to know God's love, know the depth and breadth of what it means to say that God has placed His love on us, particularly in the gift of love, the Lord Jesus Christ. He’s saying this is the One, this is the Son of God. You know, sin is always rooted in, even for a moment, thinking I'm smarter than God, thinking that I know better, thinking my way is better than His way. I don't need just to be rescued from outside temptation; I need to be rescued from me because my problem is my heart. But there's no evidence that that biblical literacy has transformed the deepest love of your heart. We see justifying grace, that we are accepted because of a righteousness that's not our own. The theme of James 3 is that true wisdom is a gift from above, that God graciously gives fools wisdom; what an argument for His grace! “For God so loved the world that He gave (He gave, He gave!) And so without a moment of compromise, God offers that second opportunity, that fresh start and new beginnings. 7. But you cannot ask the Law to do what only grace can accomplish. Main theme of Lamentations Everyone looks for truth. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website. These few were horrified by the sin in Judah, and in Ezekiel’s vision of the destruction of Jerusalem they received God’s “mark of protection” (Ezek. When did the book of Jeremiah take place? And then after His discipline, He extends, once again, to His people His mercy. But we have His mercy, His faithfulness, and His kindness. Sorry. And, bring an obedient heart ready to live in light of what the Word will teach you that day. It is a preparation for a final destination. Seeds of that are here in this wonderful story. 2-3 (It was the fifth day of the month in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin that God's Word came to Ezekiel the priest, the . Young men ground at the millstones; You think that money will satisfy your problem, but it won't. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC is the likely setting for the book of Lamentations. Lamentations, as the name implies, is a lament or funeral dirge for the conquered Jerusalem. The first one is in Genesis 3 where Adam and Eve are exiled out of the garden because of their sin. Zechariah is a mysterious, confusing vision after vision after vision. Jesus is the grace of God! Your children won’t offer you paradise; your job won’t offer you paradise; your church won't offer you paradise; we are heading for paradise. He is grace, He is hope, He is life, He is mercy, He is the source of our hope. It's in ways, a bad marriage that's gone worse. Your heart is operating in family and friends, in entertainment, and at work, as a citizen, in sex, in finances, in every situation, every relationship, every location of your life, the heart is operating! 015. What is the biblical meaning of Jeremy? In truth, Ezekiel with its 48 chapters is much more than that. And so, when you minister the gospel to people, you're not ministering the system; you’re introducing a person to a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. If we look to the Lord’s Word, we will find hope. Amen! You could not get a more direct prophecy of the cross of Jesus Christ unless those words, “the cross of Jesus Christ,” were there. Again, the redemptive story is picked up powerfully here because what you learn in Exodus is God is willing to unleash His mighty power for the rescue of His people. There's this moment in the throne room that's captured in Isaiah 6 where we get to look into the throne room of Almighty God. The prophet Ezekiel had foretold that only a small number of the people would be left when the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem (Ezek. Furthermore, God revealed that the nation would return from captivity in Babylon after 70 years (Jer. It was a cry which recognized the last helplessness of man, namely, his inability even to repent.” (Morgan), iii. Really, spiritual warfare is a very normal thing. Why don’t we just turn our backs on that wickedness and just accept them?” No, God wouldn’t do that because God will not violate His justice in order to extend His grace. Why is this in here? Stand firm in God's Word; endure in God's Word! Do you love God and His people? The gospel is your armor in that war. And Lamentations reminds us that there are three exiles in Scripture. For David, God is central, and David ends up confessing sin and returning to his Lord. Soon we will look at another rhetorical move that Auctor uses to focus our attention on the One who is the main message of his discourse. Let me read verse 1, “The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.” I'm writing because I love the truth, and I want to talk about what it means to love the truth, the truth or the word ‘teaching’ is in, literally, every other verse in 1 John. Third word is ‘sons.’ By means of the justifying grace of God, we’ve become sons of God; we’ve become adopted into God's family. The Gospels are just full of the excitement of the arrival of Jesus, but you begin to see the fruit of His work exploding in Acts from the cross and the resurrection, to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and across the known world, to Rome. What an amazing start to the Word of God that the very One who will bring all of us to glorious conclusion is the One who brought it all into origin. The stories of the Word of God are never an end in itself. He's going to send His people out to represent His message and His method and His character. You see gospel counterfeit in teaching and in life. Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You see grace operating so that this fish that has swallowed Jonah, now vomits him up on the beach. Deuteronomy says, Moses says, “Remember the story that you have been made part of; remember the God who has poured His grace down on you. God uses unexpected people and unexpected instruments to propel the mission. Because of their confidence in these promises they could hope in the midst of all their hurts. There's a way in which, if you follow Christ, that hostility is inevitable. The elders have ceased gathering at the gate, And, I don't know how else to say this but it's so important that you not miss the glorious explanation of the gospel in Romans. No one ever talks about holy anymore. We were made in the image of God; and one of the aspects of that is we’re rational human beings, we’re meaning-makers, we want life to make sense to us. The Law exposes sin. And in that way, I deny my need for a king. You could title Acts, “Preach The Gospel” because a third of the content of Acts is actually speeches or sermons; it's where you begin to see the gospel formed into this way of thinking, this way of thinking about us, the way of thinking about our world, the way of thinking about this person, Jesus, and what He has provided. And once you do that, you quit going to Him for help because you won't go to help from someone whom you no longer trust. Listen, God, in His righteousness, would have been completely right in turning His back on these people and saying, “I am going to walk away from this.” They were covenant breakers; they were lawbreakers; they were idolaters. Why did this person have to betray me? It's humbling to understand that I need daily, moment by moment, to be rescued from me. When we realize that we deserve nothing from God, yet know that He is controlling all the events in the universe, we gain a new appreciation of how great His love and faithfulness to us really are – even in the midst of our hurts. There's a God of justice and a God of mercy, and in that there's hope. Jesus is our righteousness! First, we understand that the Proverbs are about Jesus. How about living the way Jesus, the wise one, says to live? And you know, if you think of a genealogy, it's sort of so-and-so begat so-and-so, begat so-and-so and it's the kind of biblical literature that you would be tempted just to jump over. “God with us;” you could not get more at the center of what our hope is. We’re the sons and daughters of a King who will never ever fail us. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. Here's what’s so encouraging about Mark. God will defend the people on whom He has set His mercy. And now we don't see Him. It is just wonderful, and I would encourage you to again, spend time in the Old Testament. It is, “What are the dangers to those who believe?” Okay, let's say that I recognize my need for redemption; I recognize Jesus is the only Redeemer, what are the dangers? They knew God had said that as long as the sun came up, the nation would live (Jer. I think for us, Peter has a very fresh and modern feel because we now exist in a world that's growingly hostile to our faith, hostile to a biblical worldview, hostile to a biblical morality. We see worship happening again. God was faithful to that promise. You, O Lord, remain forever: At the conclusion of the Book of Lamentations, Jeremiah put the focus upon God's eternal and unchanging nature. As you’ve probably noticed I like to give these books of the Bible a subtitle and I would title the Psalms, “Honest Grace.” There are probably few portions of Scripture that are better known than the Psalms because the Psalms portray for us a picture of a world that we’re all familiar with. God promises me peace, but I get shreds of peace; but I don't get complete peace in my heart, and I don't have complete peace around me. But, now they’re together, they’re aliens and exiles in a hostile world. Everyone attaches his/her identity to someone, to something. So, God says, “I have loved you,” and the people of God said, “Yeah, like how? Create a website or blog at WordPress.com, Please click to view PDF and download file Sumainyo ang kapayapaan at biyaya ng kaligtasan at buhay na walang hanggan na matatanggap lamang, wala nang iba, mula sa Panginoong, ARTICLE-PRIMER OF THE TRUE BIBLICAL CHRISTIAN FAITH 2 2-1. What is the main message of Isaiah? The book of Job opens on a curious courtroom scene, where the satan, or the accuser, challenges God's policy of rewarding righteous people like Job. The theology of the Word of God is never an end in itself. Life is about Him. What are the dangers to those who believe?” are three questions that we should go back to again and again and again and instill in our hearts a deep love for the God-man, the fulfillment, the superior one, the sympathetic high priest, Jesus! What is He doing?” And the way you answer those questions will determine everything in your life. But that's exactly what Israel encounters, that this land is filled with other nations who aren’t really excited about turning over their property to Israel. You know if you're a man doing that, you’ve waited in the dentist’s office too long. That's grace to us that God would paint a picture of intimacy that would be a correction and an encouragement to us.
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what is lamentations main message?