God Centered Podcast - Episode 6 - The Great Reversal Of Fortune For Jerusalem

God Centered Theology

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The book of Lamentations is often a ignored book, often a book that doesn't get sort of the praise and the look as many others do.

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I don't know why. I mean, it's sure this is a really good book, but it's a great book that describes the results of Babylon's destruction of Jerusalem in 587

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BC in vivid detail. The ultimate theme of Lamentations is hope and not despair.

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It is a God -centered book. It's not man -centered.

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It is very God -centered. While often neglected, it offers compelling prayers that confess sin, express renewed hope, and declare total dependence on God's grace.

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Jerusalem fell because of the people's sins, which we see in chapter 1 and verse 18 of Lamentations, where it says, bear with me here and turn just a couple pages here,

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Yahweh is righteous for I have rebelled against his command. So we see that it fell because of their sins.

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We see it fell because they rejected God's word that was sent through the prophets. We see this in chapter 2 primarily of Lamentations, and this is primarily looking at the fact that you had

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Jeremiah and other prophets that told them that they would have judgment, told them that their sin would bring judgment, and they didn't listen.

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Jerusalem fell because their leaders led them astray, and the people did not heed

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God's warning. We see a basic outline in Jeremiah that chapters 1 and 2 relate to Jerusalem's horrible defeat at the hands of Babylon.

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People, property, opportunity, hope have been lost. Chapter 3 presents an individual who counsels

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Jerusalem to turn to God. Chapter 4 is much like chapter 1 and 2 in tone.

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Jerusalem continues to question the justice of what has happened, but admits that her sin, or admits her sin and takes comfort in the fact that it will end.

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And then chapter 5 is a community lament, presents Jerusalem crying out to God and casting all of her future on Him.

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Lamentations is a wonderful book, and I want to take the time to preach through it here with you verse by verse and see all that God has for us.

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Verses 1 through 11 of chapter 1 are a description of Jerusalem's devastation.

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We see that verses, or the first three verses sort of cover the, and this is what we're going to look at primarily today in verses 1 through 3, the reversal of fortune, going from who they were to now who they are, the reversal of fortune.

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So let's just read through verses 1 through 3, and then we'll take a deeper look here. Says, how lonely sits the city that was great with people.

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She has become like a widow who was once great among the nations.

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She who was a princess among the provinces has become a forced laborer.

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She weeps bitterly in the night. Her tears are on her cheeks. She has none to comfort her.

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Among all her lovers, all her friends have dealt treacherously with her. They have become her enemies.

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Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and because of great slavery.

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She sits among the nations, but she has found no rest. All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

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We're going to see the true reversal of fortune. Notice verse 1, it says, how lonely sits the city.

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This word translated how here in the legacy standard Bible is funeral language that was used.

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And this word lonely means isolated, separated, alone, solitude.

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So this funeral language, this mourning, this wailing, how lonely, how lonely sits the city that was great with people.

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Notice the great or great meaning abundance or full.

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So it was abundant. It was full, but now is empty.

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It says she has become like a widow. Now throughout this book, the author uses the female pronoun to refer to Jerusalem.

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So that's why you will see that is she, she has, she who, she weeps, she has done.

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You see this repetition over and over. This is the way in which the author has chosen to describe

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Jerusalem. So the city that was great with people has become like a widow.

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It was great status now alone, isolated, cut off who was once great abundant among the nations.

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This word widow that this, that Jerusalem has become like, like a widow has a cross reference in Isaiah chapter three, verses 16 through 26.

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Let's read those together. It uses imagery of a woman describing what will happen.

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Cause remember Jeremiah and Isaiah and these, these prophetical books that are preaching to Jerusalem, telling them, if you keep sitting, judgment's going to come in the form of Babylon.

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So we get to look back in the books that were written before and see what was prophesied to them.

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And then lamentations is the description of what now has happened. So in Isaiah chapter three, verse 16, it says, moreover, moreover,

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Yahweh said, because the daughters of Zion are halty and walk without stretched are or outstretched next and seductive eyes and go along with, with mincing steps and tinkle the bangles on their feet.

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Therefore, the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs and Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.

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Notice some of the same usage of the female pronoun to be used as the metaphor for the city and the people of Jerusalem.

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Verse 18 in that day, the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, crescent ornaments, dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, headdresses, ankle chains, sashes, sashes, hard word to say there, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, finger rings, nose rings, festal robes on and on and on and on.

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And so it's interesting here in verse 24 too, it says now it will be that instead of sweet perfume, there will be the smell of rot instead of a belt, a rope, so on so forth.

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And it says in verse 25, your men will fall by the sword, your mighty ones in battle, her gates will lament and mourn and deserted.

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She will sit on the ground. Notice how this has come to fruition here in Lamentations chapter one, when it says, how lonely since the city that was great and abundant with people and is now empty.

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It's like the widow that is isolated and alone. She who was a princess among the provinces, meaning all the provinces, all the cities, all the countries,

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Jerusalem stood out among them all. Jerusalem had a place of high standing, but now the one who would teach, the one who would decree, the one who would set the example has now become a forced laborer, forced service.

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So notice the reversal of fortune here. Let's review it once again.

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The city was full, now it's empty. The city was great, now it's alone, isolated, deserted.

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The city was favored, now it's a slave. Babylon has come.

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Babylon has taken over. Babylon has killed the men in battle.

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Babylon has taken slaves of who was left. This lonely city.

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One other cross -reference I want to look at with you is in Isaiah 54, which also talks about this widow status, not just that it's lonely and isolated, but the widow status specifically.

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Isaiah 54, one through eight, notice, shout for joy, O barren woman who has not given birth.

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Break forth into joyful shouting and cry aloud. You who have not been in labor, for more numerous are the sons of the desolate one than the sons of the married woman, says

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Yahweh. Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch out the curtains of your dwelling. Do not hold back, lengthen your cords, strengthen your pegs, for you will spread abroad to the right and to the left, and your seed will possess nations.

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So we got promise here from God, you will resettle desolate cities. Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame, and do not feel dishonored, for you will not be humiliated.

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But you will forget the shame of your virginity and the reproach of your widowhood. You will remember no more, for your husband is your maker, whose name is

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Yahweh of hosts. So I want you to notice here that while in Isaiah 3, we got the description of the loneliness, and we get the description here of a current status of this widow that is told to shout for joy, this barren woman.

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So it's not just a widow here, but this is a woman who is unable to produce children.

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And she's being told to shout for joy, even in her desolate nature here, to not be afraid, that won't be put to shame.

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Why? The husband, the true husband of this woman, is her maker, who is

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Yahweh of hosts. And your redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the

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God of all the earth. Yahweh has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she is rejected.

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For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.

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So even in the midst of prophecy of judgment, God say you may end up isolated, you may end up alone, you will end up in this very deserved consequence of your sin, but I'm still your

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God. And your true husband, you're in this metaphor for Jerusalem being this daughter of Zion, or this widow, or even here this barren woman.

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In the use of these metaphors, God is making the point that your true husband, your true savior, your true redeemer, is not of this world.

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It's not part of the creation. It's not in whether or not you are a slave, or abundant, free, or confined.

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Your true redemption, your true husband who takes care of you, and notice here the consistency and harmony of the testaments of scripture wherein the

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New Testament is talked about how the church is the bride of Christ, and he is our groom.

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So that imagery is used there in New Testament speaking of the church, same imagery used here.

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This girl, this woman, her redeemer, her husband is

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Yahweh the Lord, the God of all the earth. He's the redeemer. He's the one that's called us.

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And he says, even though I forsake you because of your sin, there will come the day where I will call you back with my great compassion.

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I hid my face for a moment, but with everlasting loving kindness, I will have compassion on you, says

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Yahweh, your redeemer. So notice here, even in the midst of all this distress, in the midst of all this isolation, in the midst of all this torment, justifiably so because of the people's sin, even in lamentations, there is this sense of hope.

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There's a sense of redemption. There's the sense of God not being done with his people.

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So even though she has become like a widow, she has become a forced laborer. Notice verse two, she weeps bitterly in the night.

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Her tears are on her cheeks. She has none to comfort her among all her lovers or friends, or this is really her so -called friends.

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Because in these moments when judgment comes, when stress comes, when devastation comes, you really find out who your real friends are, don't you?

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So in this situation, this city, Jerusalem, these people, they had so -called friends, so -called people that they had thought would come to their aid, but they didn't.

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Many of these so -called friends, many of these people that were supposed to be by Jerusalem's side here, ran away scared, or they might've been saying, oh yeah, you know, we're your friends.

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We got your back. When tough times come, we'll be there for you. But when they came, they were nowhere to be found.

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That's why I call the so -called lovers, the so -called friends. These friends have dealt treacherously with her.

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They've now become her enemies. Notice the turnabout faced here. Friends to their face, but when the time was needed, they were to become enemies.

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So in the midst of all this, there's hope. There's redemption on the horizon.

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There's reason for rejoicing. Even in the midst of the deepest valley you've ever been through, even in the midst of the toughest struggle, the toughest trial, there's always hope.

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There's always a redeeming nature to it. There's glory to God to be had.

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Notice as we move here to verse three, Judah has gone into exile because of affliction.

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This word affliction means misery or poverty. So now Judah's gone into exile.

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They not only have had a great number of their people killed and destroyed in the city, but who was left was taken up, rounded up, and carted off the

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Babylon to be slaves. So they're in exile, meaning they're not in their hometown. They're not in their city.

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And they're gone into exile because of the misery and the poverty that has come to be theirs.

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It says because of great slavery, they're now in exile. She sits among the nations.

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So think about it. The people of Jerusalem, they're still in the world. They're still living and sitting among the nations.

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But there's been a great reversal of fortune. There's been a great change to their status.

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Now they find no rest. This word rest means peace. So think about this.

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We talk a lot, and I believe it's in Hebrews 4, about that Sabbath rest. These people had a well understanding of the law of God and remembering the

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Sabbath and resting and all the rules about resting on the Sabbath and things like this. So the people that were teaching the world or charted with teaching the people of the world about the one true

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God and how to work for six days and rest for the Sabbath have now in ironic fashion found themselves with no rest.

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They have no peace. They had peace. They had rest when they were following God, when they were obeying

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God, when they were in tune with God, when they were doing as they should. But their sin has now brought them affliction, misery, poverty, slavery, and a lack, an absence of peace.

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You can only find true peace in the God of this world. That's what was being said here in Isaiah 54.

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Your husband is your maker, whose name is Yahweh of hosts. Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, who is called the

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God of all the earth. You won't find peace. You won't find rest in Babylon, in sin, only in Christ, only in God.

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All her pursuers have overtaken her in the midst of her distress.

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And this word distress here in verse three means dire straits. So there can be no mistake what

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Lamentations chapter one verses one through three is trying to convey here. It's not, oh yeah, they were doing really great.

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They're just not having the best year. The numbers are down a little bit. We just need to tighten up and get things moving a little bit here.

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No, no, no, no. This is a complete reversal of fortune.

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This is a complete reversal of status, a complete judgment on sin here.

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They have sinned. They have turned their backs on God and he's told, or they are told rather, what would happen to them.

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And now they're here. So our last place we want to look today is Jeremiah 13. Jeremiah 13 verses one through 11.

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Jeremiah 13 verse one. Thus Yahweh said to me, go and buy yourself a linen belt and put it around your loins, but do not put it in water.

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So I bought the belt in accordance with the word of Yahweh and put it around my loins. Then the word of Yahweh came to me a second time saying, take the belt that you have bought, which is around your loins and arise and go to the

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Euphrates and hide it there in the crevice of the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates as Yahweh had commanded me.

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And now it happened that after many days, Yahweh said to me, arise, go to the Euphrates and take it from there, the belt, which

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I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and I took the belt from the place where I'd hidden it and behold, the belt was ruined.

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It was totally worthless. Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, thus says

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Yahweh, just so will I ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

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This evil people who refuse to listen to my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their hearts and have walked after other gods to serve them and to worship them, let them be just like this belt, which is totally worthless.

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For as the belt clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole household of Israel and the whole household of Judah cling to me, declares

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Yahweh, that they might be for me a people, for a name, for praise, for beauty, but they did not listen.

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God does not do these things and bring judgment and bring this reversal of fortune, bring this poverty, these dire straits, taking them from abundance to emptiness, taking them from someone of a place of status to now being a slave, taking them from to a place where they're now like the widow and seeing that culture that, you know, a woman's status was very important.

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A widow would have really had a hard time and that's why he uses this, that descriptor of how they are after Babylon comes, but God doesn't bring these judgments because he's mean or because he just hates his people or because he just wants to, you know, that old mean

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God of the Old Testament. No, they had a chance to repent.

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God sent them prophets and all throughout the book of Jeremiah, we'll probably look at some of these as we move through the book.

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There's many instances where Jeremiah is preaching and the other, as scripture indicates them, the so -called prophets, the fake prophets were saying, ah, come on,

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Jeremiah, the old man's lost it. He don't know what he's talking about. Peace, safety, everything's okay.

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Oh, come on. Babylon's not coming. Well, we're told in the book of Jeremiah, these false prophets would be killed in the streets by the sword and they were.

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Jeremiah's the weeping prophet because imagine if I was him, I'd be very sad that what

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I was saying was going to come true. He probably, no doubt, probably wished it wouldn't. He probably prayed for his people over and over.

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And now there's just nothing left but lamenting, mourning because of their utter refusal to submit, to repent, to give up their sin, to give up their false idols.

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Judgments come, judgment will come in your life.

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If you don't repent, if you cling onto your sin rather than clinging to God, say, ah, come on, that wouldn't really happen.

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Look at our country right now. I hear so many people talk about, well, you know, if America don't shape up,

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America don't tighten up, we're going to get judgment. Judgment's here, my friends.

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Our country's in the state it's in right now because we are being judged. No matter how much your sin abounds,

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God's grace and mercy abounds more. There is no sinner that has sinned too much that God can't save you.

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But you must repent of your sin and put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as the

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Lord, Master, Savior, and Supreme Redeemer of your life that paid for your sins on a cross so that you wouldn't have to.

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Whether it happens in this life or the next, there will be judgment on sin.

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For me as a Christian, my sin was judged at the cross. If you haven't placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, your sin will be dealt with and judged in the next life.

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These people, these Jewish people here in Lamentations were judged in time, obviously a time well before ours, but they were judged in time for their sin as our example that God is holy,

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He is righteous, and He cannot and will not allow sin to go unpunished.

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Your sin will not go unpunished. Cry out to God today, repent of your sin, put your faith in Christ, and then go and walk in righteousness.