A Lesson From Lamentations

Feature 2 – July/August 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A Lesson From Lamentations

What does the word “lamentations” mean? It is the “passionate expression of grief or sorrow, mourning and regret.”

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This is something that Jeremiah expressed in the biblical record of Lamentations, which provides a lesson which we need to learn today. After all, “to everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven: … a time to weep…. a time to mourn” (Eccl. 3:1,4 NKJV ).

A History
The Israelites dwelt in Egypt some 400 years – originally as a separated people in the land of Goshen (see Gen. 46:34). When there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph, the people of Israel suffered greatly in servitude to Pharoah. Let’s note that in the types found in Scripture, Egypt speaks of the world while Pharoah here represents its ruler – Satan. The LORD redeemed His people from their oppression by sending Moses to lead the people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Although they were saved from the world and servitude to its ruler, their practices did not align with their position of being saved. They took their idols along and continued to serve them and others in the wilderness and in the Promised Land (see Ps. 106:19-39). Sadly, although the Israelites had left Egypt, they soon departed from God’s ways and forsook the commandments the LORD had given to them.

The history of the Israelites in Canaan, from the time of the judges through the reigns of the kings, consists of many spiritual ups and downs. Although there were times of righteous living and peace, these were interrupted by periods of wickedness and rebellion against the ways of the LORD their God. After years of disobedience and the worship of many false gods (Jer. 7:18), the LORD cast them out of the Promised Land. He allowed heathen nations to take them captive, and Babylon destroyed the city of Jerusalem and His holy temple. The house of God, the place built as the testimony to His glory, was destroyed, and only a remnant of faithful Jews was left alive.

What was Jeremiah’s response to this great devastation? The following verses give only a glimpse at the lament of his inward feelings: “For these things I weep; my eye, my eye overflows with water” and, “My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; my bile is poured on the ground” (Lam. 1:16, 2:11). The book of Lamentations is named after Jeremiah’s expression of grief over the destruction of the place God had chosen to place His name, and for the devastation that fell upon His people. Thankfully, the prophet also provided a hope for those who remained faithful to the God of their Fathers: “This I recall to my mind; therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I hope in Him!’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him” (3:21-25).

Into The Present
After the Jews rejected their Messiah (Mt. 27:22), God instituted a new way of approach – we have access to the throne of grace through the Lord Jesus (Heb. 4:16; Jn. 14:6). Since Pentecost (Acts 2), the Lord has been building His Church, and she, both collectively and as individual believers, is now “the temple of the living God” (2 Cor. 6:16).

But the Church, much like Israel of old, has its spiritual ups and downs. Starting in great truth and power, she soon sank into sinfulness and error. Near the end of his life, Paul had to say, “All those in Asia have turned away from me” (2 Tim. 1:15). Over the next centuries, the Church continued to lose its power and light as God’s testimony. She accelerated her decline through the error of Constantine, when the Church became married to the world and then slid into the dark ages.2 Thankfully, God is faithful in this age also, keeping a remnant of Christ-followers throughout the last 2,000 years, during which He has provided invigorating revivals at different times. The Reformation of the 16th century shed light on “the grace of God that brings salvation” (Ti. 2:11), and there was a great movement of the Holy Spirit in the recovery of biblical truth and missionary zeal in the 1800s.

But what is happening lately? The USA, which was originally built on a biblical worldview, is losing its Christian testimony. Between 1960 and 2000, the divorce rate doubled, teen suicide tripled, violent crime quadrupled, the number in prison quintupled, illegitimate children increased six times and couples cohabiting increased seven-fold.3 If that’s happening outside the Christian community, where is the Church today? Divorce and cohabitation rates among Christians are just as bad as that of the world, and there appears to be a mass exodus in many Christian communities from biblical truth:

• The Bible is no longer held as Truth.
• The virgin birth, the deity of the Lord Jesus, His resurrection and the leadership of the Holy Spirit in the Assembly is being rejected.
• Creation is challenged or mixed with the humanistic concept of so-called evolution.
• Sin is excused and the reality of hell rebuffed.
• Individual denominations, churches and assemblies fight and divide over the roles of men and the allowance of women in leadership – not to mention those of sexual perversions.
• A biblical worldview by American adults has declined to about 6%.4

Thankfully, God’s temple in this dispensation, the present testimony and witness to the living God, cannot be destroyed (Mt. 16:18), no matter how unfaithful we, her remnant priests (Rev. 1:6), have become. Still, we have this indictment against us: “Because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (3:16).

Recognizing the deplorable state of the Church today, what should the position of the Lord’s faithful remnant be? May we learn the lesson of Lamentations and weep! We need to display that “passionate expression of grief or sorrow, mourning and regret”! Therefore, may our eyes also fail with tears and our hearts be troubled. In a humble attitude such as this, we may also remember that the words of our God still ring true: “On this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word” (Isa. 66:2).

ENDNOTES
1. Definition is an amalgamation of that given by Bing and Webster’s dictionary.
2. An excellent history of the Church from inception and on into the 19th century is Miller’s Church History available on the internet at Stem Publishing.
3. David G Myers, The American Paradox, by Yale University Press (second printing September 1, 2001).
4. American Worldview Inventory 2021, Dr. George Barna, April 2021.

By G. H. B.