Hope in Exile

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:10

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

00:18

Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

00:25

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. In the name of Jesus. Tonight, as we look and read through and meditate on Lamentations 4, the very end of the chapter, we get just a smidge of the gospel, but also the beginnings, if you would, of a part of biblical typology in the

00:51

Old Testament that we would be wise to pay attention to as it relates really directly to us.

00:58

As we have noted, the Lord God has punished Israel for her idolatry, for her stiff -necked rebellion and sin, and her insistence on listening to false prophets who told her what they wanted to hear rather than turn them from their sin so that they could be forgiven.

01:23

And now, God has acted in His wrath. And as we are about to read, human beings, because of this, get to a point where they are worse than animals.

01:39

It's actually quite frightening, the picture that Jeremiah paints for us. But at the very end, we're going to hear about the concept of exile.

01:49

And I want you to consider at least a couple of parallels. Israel was in exile after the destruction of Jerusalem.

01:59

And it is described over and again in the Old Testament as Israel being dispersed into the nations.

02:09

When we read the very beginning of the epistle of James in the

02:14

New Testament, it's important to note that James himself addresses Christians as those who are part of the diaspora, the dispersion into the nations.

02:25

And important to note then this, that Jerusalem was destroyed in 70

02:31

AD, just as Christ promised it would be. And Jerusalem and the temple still remain, well, not the place where God's name dwells to this day.

02:43

So true Israel, Israel has always been and will continue to be not those who are genetically

02:51

Jewish. True Israel will always be those who have the same faith as Abraham.

02:58

And so we who have been grafted into Israel, we are Christians and yet we are

03:05

Hebrew. We are Hebrew by virtue of the fact that we have been grafted into Israel. Christ is the vine, we are the branches, and so we are part of true

03:14

Israel. And like Israel during the exile, they were dispersed in the nations and had no homeland.

03:22

We currently are dispersed among the nations and we have no homeland here on this planet.

03:30

That's enough of the typology to begin to work what's going on, what we see in the

03:38

Old Testament as it relates to exile. And Jeremiah's prophecy is the prophecy that takes you up to the exile and Lamentations shows you the aftermath of God's wrath and the destruction of Jerusalem.

03:51

But you need books like Daniel and Ezra and Nehemiah to help you kind of work the rest of it out.

03:58

But let's return now to Lamentations chapter 4 and consider again the aftermath of God's wrath against impenitent, idolatrous

04:10

Israel. Jeremiah writes, How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed.

04:20

What an interesting picture. One of the things we know about gold is that we don't have to go around our house and get the tarnish off of it.

04:28

Gold is one of these things that stays golden. And yet here, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jeremiah is describing the state of Israel after God's wrath has come through as somehow gold -dimming.

04:42

The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded now as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands.

04:58

And I think a good way to think about this is that each and every one of us, originally created in the image of God, but because of Adam's sin, born dead in trespasses and sins, at one time humanity, worth its weight in gold, is now, well, earthen pots, shattered, broken to pieces.

05:18

This is a description even of us. And here's what I mentioned at the beginning of the sermon, this idea that in the aftermath of God's judgment, human beings become less than human, even less than animals.

05:34

Verse 3. Those who were brought up in purple embrace asheeps.

06:11

For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.

06:22

Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk. Their bodies were more ruddy than coral.

06:27

The beauty of their form was like sapphire. Now their face is blacker than soot. They are not recognized in the streets.

06:34

Their skin has shriveled on their bones. It has become as dry as wood.

06:41

Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of fruits of the field.

06:55

What a state that must be. To look at those who perished quickly and consider those who were killed in the siege as fortunate and as those who had survived as unfortunate.

07:15

The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children. They have become their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

07:23

The Lord gave full vent to his wrath. He poured out his hot anger. He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.

07:33

The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

07:40

This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests." I think it's fascinating that we again see this punctuated and reiterated, that this is because of a flagrant, persistent, stubborn breaking of the first commandment and a persistence in allowing and preferring those who would blaspheme

08:09

God's name and break the second and tell people what they wanted to hear. God again is reminding them, this is because your false prophets preached to you and prophesied to you what your sinful, blackened hearts wanted to hear and your priests went along with it.

08:28

The whole religious institution was corrupt and rather than turning people from their sins so that they can be forgiven, you coddled sinners.

08:38

You allowed the adulterers to continue on. You literally gave, well, sanctuary to sinners.

08:48

Think of it this way. Ancient Israel, before the attack of Nebuchadnezzar, was one of the original sanctuary states.

08:57

It was a place where if you were a rank sinner, you could live in peace and the government and the church would protect you and tell you what you wanted and when

09:09

God would raise up a prophet, they were the ones who were bullied and shouted down.

09:16

So God reminds them, it was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.

09:24

They wandered blind through the streets. They were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.

09:33

Away, unclean, people cried at them. Away, away, do not touch. So they became fugitives and wanderers.

09:40

People said among the nations, they shall stay with us no longer. The Lord himself has scattered them.

09:47

He will regard them no more. No honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders. Our eyes failed, ever watching vainly for help.

09:57

In our watching, we watched for a nation which could not save. They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets.

10:05

Our end drew near. Our days were numbered for our end had come. Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens.

10:14

They chased us on the mountains. They lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

10:19

The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed was captured in their pits of whom we say under the shadow we shall live among the nations.

10:30

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz. But to you also the cup shall pass.

10:39

You shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. Nakedness always a sign of sin and shame.

10:46

And now just the tiniest little glimpse of gospel in verse 22.

10:55

The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished.

11:02

Hmm. I seem to recall there was a fellow who was a Jew who was hanging on a cross who said it is finished.

11:13

I think this is a good parallel. And because of this, he will keep you in exile no longer.

11:24

But your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish and he will uncover your sins.

11:31

So consider that first part of Lamentations 4, verse 22.

11:37

The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished. He will keep you in exile no longer.

11:46

Not that they had fulfilled the punishment of their sins. Only Christ can do that.

11:53

Because as Isaiah says, God made him to be sinned. That he took our sins, bore our iniquities, and he was pierced for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.

12:04

And because of this, you will be in exile no longer. Exile. But we, as Christians, to this day, we are still in exile.

12:19

Have you seen our capital city? Have you seen the temple of God? Have you seen the holy place where the true blood of Christ was poured out on the mercy seat?

12:32

Not the copy here on earth, but the one that is the real one that it was modeled after.

12:40

Can you tell me the names of the streets of the New Jerusalem? How wide are they?

12:47

What are the main streets? What are the tributaries? The names of any waterways?

12:56

Your favorite place to grab a coffee or to eat a meal.

13:02

Do you know any of the names of these places from your capital city? Have you even seen it?

13:10

Neither have I. You see, we are in exile.

13:16

And the punishment of our iniquity has been accomplished in Jesus Christ. And so, with that little bit of a theme of the concept of exile, turn with me to Daniel chapter 9.

13:30

And in Daniel chapter 9, we will read a prayer, a good penitential prayer, a good

13:40

Lenten prayer, written by none other than Daniel. And Daniel was one of these fellows who was in exile, waiting, having read the prophets, waiting for the day when he can return to his capital city.

13:57

And here's what it says, Daniel 9. In the first year of Darius, the son of Asawerus, by descent

14:04

Amid, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. This doesn't sound anything like the histories of Israel, does it?

14:12

And that's really the point. In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, perceived in the books of the number of years that according to the word of the

14:23

Lord to Jeremiah the prophet must pass before the end of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years.

14:31

Now don't think for a second that you're going to be able to figure out what that 70 years means, and so that you can figure out the day that Jesus is coming back.

14:38

We haven't been given that math. But it's important to note that we

14:44

Christians, we could say in the second year of the reign of Donald Trump, we have read the prophet

14:54

Jeremiah and recognized the current desolation of Jerusalem. And recognize that we too are in exile, awaiting, awaiting to return.

15:08

Daniel says, Then I turned my face to Yahweh Elohim, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

15:19

It must have been Lent. I prayed to Yahweh my God, and I made confession saying,

15:28

O Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and we have done wrong.

15:40

We have acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and your rules.

15:47

We have not listened to your servants the prophets who spoke in your name to our kings, to our princes, to our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

15:57

And see, he recognizes here that it was God who sent those prophets whom the people in the time of Jeremiah mocked, ridiculed, bullied, and killed.

16:10

And he is confessing his own participation in their collective sin.

16:17

To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us, open shame, as at this day to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all of Israel, those who are near and those who are far away in all the lands to which you have driven them, like Minnesota, because of the treachery that they have committed against you.

16:42

To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings and our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.

16:49

To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him, and have not obeyed the voice of the

16:59

Lord of Yahweh our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants, the prophets.

17:08

This evening, we have been singing our way through the Ten Commandments. It is important for us to always remember that it was

17:16

God who gave them to us. It is God who gave them to us, and when they do their job, they show us just how terribly short we come when it comes to hitting the glory of God and the mark.

17:35

And so we must add our voices to this prayer and say that we have not obeyed the voice of our

17:41

God, that we have not walked in his law, which he has set before us through his prophets and Holy Scripture.

17:50

It is true, all of Israel and all of the world has transgressed your law and has turned aside, refusing to obey your voice.

18:00

And is that not always how it goes? Do any of you have a friend who in younger years, earlier part of your life, was somebody who they may have described as on fire for the

18:18

Lord? This was a person who really took their Christianity seriously. And that person changed.

18:26

Something happened. I have a few people in my life I can point to where that was the case.

18:34

And it began ever so subtly with a slip here and a sin there, and then a refusal to say

18:45

I'm sorry. And then if you mentioned God, or Christ, or church, and his word, they would become hostile, not wanting to hear.

19:01

And now you look at their life, and it's a moral train wreck. Always remember, that could be us.

19:13

That saying, if it were not for the grace of God, there go I, is true. And yet, that's kind of what he's describing here.

19:22

Israel, who was zealous to obey, anxious to hear the voice of God, resolute in keeping his commandments, began to slip and, well, intermarry with people who were pagans.

19:40

And next thing you know, they were bending the knee to Baal, to Asherah, sacrificing their children to Molech.

19:52

So they transgressed the law. They turned aside, refused to obey the voice of God.

20:00

And it's important to note, that here Daniel is recognizing that God's voice is heard in the written

20:08

Scriptures. The curse and the oath that are written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have now been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against you.

20:18

He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity.

20:27

For under the whole of heaven, there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.

20:33

As it is written in the law of Moses, all of this calamity has come upon us, yet we have not entreated the favor of Yahweh our

20:41

God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth.

20:49

Which is a great picture, if you would, of Christianity. Think about it this way. When we are brought to penitent faith in Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, repentance is a turning away from our iniquities.

21:01

And then sanctification, through gaining insight by the truth of God, which is found in His Word.

21:08

God, through the means of grace, through His Holy Word, curbing our sin, helping and enabling us to mortify our sinful natures, daily returning to the waters of our baptism, and all of this gaining insight by the

21:23

Word of God. For His Word is truth. Good picture of what the Christian life looks like.

21:28

All the way back there, when Daniel was in exile. Therefore, Yahweh has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us.

21:38

For Yahweh, our God, is righteous in all the works that He has done. And we have not obeyed

21:44

His voice. Are you beginning to get the picture here that sin is a big deal?

21:52

It is. And now, O Lord, our

21:57

God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for Yourself, as at this day we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

22:12

And at the beginning of our service, and at the beginning of all of our services here, we join our voice to Daniel's, when we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean.

22:24

And so Daniel then continues, O Lord, according to all Your righteous acts, let Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city

22:31

Jerusalem, Your holy hill, because of our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers.

22:37

Jerusalem and Your people have become a byword among all who are around us. Now therefore,

22:43

O our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and is pleased for mercy.

22:49

And for Your own sake, O Lord, make Your face to shine upon Your sanctuary, which now is desolate.

23:00

O my God, incline Your ear and hear, open

23:05

Your eyes and see our desolations in the city that is called by Your name, for we do not present our pleas before You because of our righteousness.

23:17

No, we present our pleas before You because of Your great mercy.

23:25

Daniel even knew that he dare not try to present his righteousness before God as a motivation for this type of plea, because in and of ourselves, our righteousness is as filthy rags.

23:40

Instead, he calls upon the mercy of God. O Lord, hear.

23:46

O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Ah, that sounds a lot like the litany.

23:54

O Lord, have mercy. O Christ, have mercy. O Lord, have mercy.

24:01

And you see that even parts of the church's ancient liturgy are lifted in spirit and sometimes directly in word straight from the text of Scripture.

24:16

O Lord, pay attention, act, delay not for Your own sake, not mine,

24:22

Yours. O my God, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.

24:30

And while I was speaking and praying, Daniel writes, confessing my sin and the sin of my people,

24:35

Israel, and presenting my plea before the Lord my God for the holy hill of my

24:41

God, while I was speaking in prayer, the man..." And listen to this. Gabriel.

24:48

Gabriel. We know a name of an angel. Gabriel. Wasn't this that same angel who appeared to Mary?

24:59

Wasn't this that same angel who appeared to Zechariah? Indeed it was. Gabriel, whom

25:05

I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.

25:12

How appropriate. Evening sacrifice. Three in the afternoon. The same hour that Christ said it is finished.

25:20

The evening sacrifice when the Lamb is sacrificed. He made me understand, speaking with me, saying,

25:26

O Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding. At the beginning of your pleas for mercy, a word went out, and I have come to tell it to you, for you are greatly loved.

25:41

Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. And I'll have to stop there.

25:49

But I want you to consider this. That just like Daniel, who humbled himself and prayed and sought

26:00

God's mercy and forgiveness and restoration, this same man, who when he was praying, immediately word went out, and it was recognized that he was greatly loved.

26:16

Brothers and sisters, we must think the same about our prayers as well. When we recognize our sin, individually and collectively, as Minnesotans, North Dakotans, and even as Americans and people of planet

26:36

Earth, that we have greatly sinned against our God. We have not kept His commandments.

26:41

We have despised His word each and every time and we have sinned against God in thought, word, deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.

26:52

We have earned His wrath, and we then, like Daniel, on our knees pray for God to be merciful to us.

27:02

Oh Lord, be merciful to me. Be merciful to Kongsvinger. Be merciful to the state of Minnesota.

27:08

Be merciful to North Dakota and to the United States and to our world, for we have sinned against You.

27:15

These are good Lenten prayers. But God, the same speediness with which

27:23

He acted with Daniel's prayer, also speedily forgives us, which is why it's so important that with each of our services when we confess our sins, that you hear the speedy, swift word of God for you, that you are forgiven, that you are bled for, that you are died for, that you are absolved and you are reconciled to the

27:43

Father. And so we also then, as exiles dispersed among the nations, to pray for Jerusalem.

27:56

Daniel did. And he's sitting there going, what exactly would I be praying for?

28:02

Well, Jerusalem lies in ruins. The name of God has no dwelling place in the present

28:10

Jerusalem, and even if they were to rebuild a new temple there, that would not be the dwelling place of God.

28:17

And so we pray and join our prayers with Daniel as we pray for the heavenly

28:23

Jerusalem to come out of heaven, for the return of the King and for us to no longer be in exile, to once and for all be returned to our true homeland, to our true capital, to behold the face of our true

28:39

King, to worship on His holy mountain, to join our voices with the saints from the generation of our fathers and their fathers on into the past and the generations yet to come, should the

28:55

Lord tarry, that we would no longer be in exile, that the desolation that we are witnessing in our own time of our own planet, in our own nation, even in our own lives, all because of our sin, that God would hear our prayers, have mercy on us, and restore us.

29:16

These are good Lenten prayers for saints in exile.

29:23

In the name of Jesus, Amen. We thank you for your support.

30:05

All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.