Sunday (Day 1): John 1:1-5
Monday (Day 2): John 1:6-18
Tuesday (Day 3): John 1:19-34
Wednesday (Day 4): John 1:35-51
Thursday (Day 5): John 2:1-12
Friday (Day 6): John 2:13-25
Saturday (Day 7): John 3:1-21
Friday, March 11, 2011
Discipleship Bible Reading Guide
Thank you for choosing to study through the New Testament with us here at North Hills Baptist Church! You will find that some days have a blog post that is hopefully enriching to your study, but other days you simply have a chapter or two selected to read on your own.
If you find that you miss a day, I would suggest trying to make it up the next day so that you don't fall behind. If you happen to get off by a significant amount, go ahead and pick up where ever you left off. There's no time like the present!
If you find that you miss a day, I would suggest trying to make it up the next day so that you don't fall behind. If you happen to get off by a significant amount, go ahead and pick up where ever you left off. There's no time like the present!
3/11/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Lamentations... God's Anger with Jerusalem for Sin (Lamentations 2)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Lamentations 2 (NKJV)
1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He cast down from heaven to the earth
The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off in fierce anger
Every horn of Israel;
He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4 Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5 The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6 He has done violence to His tabernacle,
As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The LORD has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He has given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
They have made a noise in the house of the LORD
As on the day of a set feast.
8 The LORD has purposed to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her 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 and keep silence;
They throw dust on their heads
And gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15 All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!”
17 The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O LORD, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
Should the women eat their offspring,
The children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the LORD’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have destroyed.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
In verse 3, the term "horn" is used often by Jewish authors to represent power, strength, or even leaders. Jacob was a forefather and namesake of the Israelite nation (his name was changed from Jacob to Israel), and the use of his name is representative of the nation. What a fearful place to be- facing such an onslaught of God in "flaming fire" (as opposed to coals or an underlying hot spot in a forest fire).
Verses 6-7 show us that God's destruction of Jerusalem was so complete that He even saw to destroying His place of worship. This was fitting as Judah had failed to worship Him properly and had added the worship of false gods.
Throughout this chapter, we see that God uses the ungodly to accomplish His will; so much so in fact, that the author doesn't really even recognize the Babylonians as contributors to the downfall of Jerusalem. In fact, verses 8-9 and 17 confirm that God was behind the actions taken against Judah, not just the imperialistic desires of Babylon.
Verses 10-11 show the typical mourning to this culture based on such tragedy. Notice that the children suffer for the sins of their parents (remembering still that God's judgment, even against them, is righteous from Chapter 1). The prophet uses graphic, figurative language to express the depths of despair by Jerusalem. No where else is the Hebrew phrase underlying the liver pouring onto the ground recorded.
Jerusalem, once proud and mighty, has now become the laughing stock of the Middle East, as recorded in verses 15-16.
Lamentations accurately records the thoughts of the prophet Jeremiah, though verses 20-21 are shocking. First off, one is taken aback by how bad things really got. What a terrible spot to be in where people are eating their own children (for more information, see Deuteronomy 28:53, 2 Kings 6:24-29, and Jeremiah 19:9)! The tone of these verses is accusatory from the prophet to God. Again, this is an accurate record and isn't an endorsement of us accusing God of being overly harsh every time that something doesn't go our way in life.
Applications:
"Many people today take lightly the warnings of God’s coming judgment on sin, even as Jerusalem did before its destruction."1 Don't fall into this trap! Lamentations should serve as a warning to this end.
My mind is taken to Romans 6:1-2, where apparently the thought of sinning more so that God's forgiving grace could be more abundantly seen appeared in the church. Paul confirms to us that sin is never to be taken lightly, even to the Christian assured of Heaven.
1. Huey, F. (2001). Vol. 16: Jeremiah, Lamentations (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (461). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Other Studies from Lamentations
Text: Lamentations 2 (NKJV)
1 How the Lord has covered the daughter of Zion
With a cloud in His anger!
He cast down from heaven to the earth
The beauty of Israel,
And did not remember His footstool
In the day of His anger.
2 The Lord has swallowed up and has not pitied
All the dwelling places of Jacob.
He has thrown down in His wrath
The strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
He has brought them down to the ground;
He has profaned the kingdom and its princes.
3 He has cut off in fierce anger
Every horn of Israel;
He has drawn back His right hand
From before the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
Devouring all around.
4 Standing like an enemy, He has bent His bow;
With His right hand, like an adversary,
He has slain all who were pleasing to His eye;
On the tent of the daughter of Zion,
He has poured out His fury like fire.
5 The Lord was like an enemy.
He has swallowed up Israel,
He has swallowed up all her palaces;
He has destroyed her strongholds,
And has increased mourning and lamentation
In the daughter of Judah.
6 He has done violence to His tabernacle,
As if it were a garden;
He has destroyed His place of assembly;
The LORD has caused
The appointed feasts and Sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion.
In His burning indignation He has spurned the king and the priest.
7 The Lord has spurned His altar,
He has abandoned His sanctuary;
He has given up the walls of her palaces
Into the hand of the enemy.
They have made a noise in the house of the LORD
As on the day of a set feast.
8 The LORD has purposed to destroy
The wall of the daughter of Zion.
He has stretched out a line;
He has not withdrawn His hand from destroying;
Therefore He has caused the rampart and wall to lament;
They languished together.
9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
He has destroyed and broken her bars.
Her king and her 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 and keep silence;
They throw dust on their heads
And gird themselves with sackcloth.
The virgins of Jerusalem
Bow their heads to the ground.
11 My eyes fail with tears,
My heart is troubled;
My bile is poured on the ground
Because of the destruction of the daughter of my people,
Because the children and the infants
Faint in the streets of the city.
12 They say to their mothers,
“Where is grain and wine?”
As they swoon like the wounded
In the streets of the city,
As their life is poured out
In their mothers’ bosom.
13 How shall I console you?
To what shall I liken you,
O daughter of Jerusalem?
What shall I compare with you, that I may comfort you,
O virgin daughter of Zion?
For your ruin is spread wide as the sea;
Who can heal you?
14 Your prophets have seen for you
False and deceptive visions;
They have not uncovered your iniquity,
To bring back your captives,
But have envisioned for you false prophecies and delusions.
15 All who pass by clap their hands at you;
They hiss and shake their heads
At the daughter of Jerusalem:
“Is this the city that is called
‘The perfection of beauty,
The joy of the whole earth’?”
16 All your enemies have opened their mouth against you;
They hiss and gnash their teeth.
They say, “We have swallowed her up!
Surely this is the day we have waited for;
We have found it, we have seen it!”
17 The LORD has done what He purposed;
He has fulfilled His word
Which He commanded in days of old.
He has thrown down and has not pitied,
And He has caused an enemy to rejoice over you;
He has exalted the horn of your adversaries.
18 Their heart cried out to the Lord,
“O wall of the daughter of Zion,
Let tears run down like a river day and night;
Give yourself no relief;
Give your eyes no rest.
19 “Arise, cry out in the night,
At the beginning of the watches;
Pour out your heart like water before the face of the Lord.
Lift your hands toward Him
For the life of your young children,
Who faint from hunger at the head of every street.”
20 “See, O LORD, and consider!
To whom have You done this?
Should the women eat their offspring,
The children they have cuddled?
Should the priest and prophet be slain
In the sanctuary of the Lord?
21 “Young and old lie
On the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men
Have fallen by the sword;
You have slain them in the day of Your anger,
You have slaughtered and not pitied.
22 “You have invited as to a feast day
The terrors that surround me.
In the day of the LORD’s anger
There was no refugee or survivor.
Those whom I have borne and brought up
My enemies have destroyed.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
In verse 3, the term "horn" is used often by Jewish authors to represent power, strength, or even leaders. Jacob was a forefather and namesake of the Israelite nation (his name was changed from Jacob to Israel), and the use of his name is representative of the nation. What a fearful place to be- facing such an onslaught of God in "flaming fire" (as opposed to coals or an underlying hot spot in a forest fire).
Verses 6-7 show us that God's destruction of Jerusalem was so complete that He even saw to destroying His place of worship. This was fitting as Judah had failed to worship Him properly and had added the worship of false gods.
Throughout this chapter, we see that God uses the ungodly to accomplish His will; so much so in fact, that the author doesn't really even recognize the Babylonians as contributors to the downfall of Jerusalem. In fact, verses 8-9 and 17 confirm that God was behind the actions taken against Judah, not just the imperialistic desires of Babylon.
Verses 10-11 show the typical mourning to this culture based on such tragedy. Notice that the children suffer for the sins of their parents (remembering still that God's judgment, even against them, is righteous from Chapter 1). The prophet uses graphic, figurative language to express the depths of despair by Jerusalem. No where else is the Hebrew phrase underlying the liver pouring onto the ground recorded.
Jerusalem, once proud and mighty, has now become the laughing stock of the Middle East, as recorded in verses 15-16.
Lamentations accurately records the thoughts of the prophet Jeremiah, though verses 20-21 are shocking. First off, one is taken aback by how bad things really got. What a terrible spot to be in where people are eating their own children (for more information, see Deuteronomy 28:53, 2 Kings 6:24-29, and Jeremiah 19:9)! The tone of these verses is accusatory from the prophet to God. Again, this is an accurate record and isn't an endorsement of us accusing God of being overly harsh every time that something doesn't go our way in life.
Applications:
"Many people today take lightly the warnings of God’s coming judgment on sin, even as Jerusalem did before its destruction."1 Don't fall into this trap! Lamentations should serve as a warning to this end.
My mind is taken to Romans 6:1-2, where apparently the thought of sinning more so that God's forgiving grace could be more abundantly seen appeared in the church. Paul confirms to us that sin is never to be taken lightly, even to the Christian assured of Heaven.
1. Huey, F. (2001). Vol. 16: Jeremiah, Lamentations (electronic ed.). Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (461). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.
Other Studies from Lamentations
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
3/9/2011 Devotional Thoughts from Lamentations... The Misery of Jerusalem (Lamentations 1)
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
Text: Lamentations 1 (NKJV)
1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The princess among the provinces
Has become a slave!
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
She dwells among the nations,
She finds no rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
4 The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the set feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has afflicted her
Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That flee without strength
Before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her downfall.
8 Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O LORD, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”
10 The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her pleasant things;
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
Not to enter Your assembly.
11 All her people sigh,
They seek bread;
They have given their valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O LORD, and consider,
For I am scorned.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the LORD has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.
13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.
14 “The yoke of my transgressions was bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”
17 Zion spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The LORD is righteous,
For I rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20 “See, O LORD, that I am in distress;
My soul is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are glad that You have done it.
Bring on the day You have announced,
That they may become like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
איך , translated as "How" to start verse 1, has been adopted by some as the title to the book. Certain words bear connotations that go far beyond their literal meanings, and this word is a typical word to introduce an elegy. Great Jerusalem, geographically at the heart of Judaism, is to be mourned, since she has fallen.
As I mentioned in the introduction to the book, verse 1 is a study in contrasts. The great one is now a widow and the noble leader is now the vassal.
For what does Jerusalem (as capital of Judah, being representative) suffer so terribly? Verse 2 introduces to us the idea that Judah did not place her faith in יהוה, the true God, but in her surrounding heathen nations and their false gods (Jeremiah 2:20-25 showing the allusion by the same author to the false gods). The "lovers" of verse 2 are her false, heathen friends. While they dealt in treachery, we will see that God is faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23). Again in verse 5, what is the cause of these afflictions? "Because of the multitude of her transgressions." This is also evident in verses 8, 9, and 18. Sin has consequences. These physical reminders of those consequences are an actual dramatic understatement of the full, spiritual consequences of sin found in Romans 6:23 ("the wages of sin is death").
Verses 1-11 are the front section of this poetic verse (chapter), and they are basically describing the woe that has befallen Judah and its capital, Jerusalem.
Verses 12-15 then present a series of metaphorical promotions to give the reader a better visualization of just how bad things were. "fire... net... yoke... trampled... crush..." are the terms that the author used to describe this episode. Not a very positive light, to be certain.
Finally, verses 16-22 present a first-person narrative from the perspective of Jerusalem herself. We are reminded in verse 18 that through all of this tragedy (from a human perspective), God is righteous. Is a judge evil for pronouncing sentence on the guilty? Certainly not, and as has been explored in Romans (see also Romans 3:10, 3:23, and 5:12), everyone in the world is guilty in sin. God's judgment does not make Him evil, and our human tragedy stems from human sin. Whether directly a result of our personal (or national) sin as we see here or the result of sin the entire race is guilty of by the federal headship of Adam as the father of the race (Romans 5:12), all tragedy, death, badness, and wickedness we experience is tied to human sin. Through all this, God remains perfectly righteous. We should also notice that the confession of sin does not immediately nor necessarily alleviate any or all of the physical consequences of sin. It does have spiritual and eternal ramifications, but we are often forced to live with the temporal consequences (such as AIDS resulting from an immoral sexual encounter).
Applications:
As I pointed out in the discussion above, this period was a specific consequence to a specific set of sins committed by Judah. This should remind us that sin has consequences. Romans 6:23 brings this further into focus, telling us that "the wages of sin is death." Spiritual death is what we earn through sin; it is what we are due.
Other Studies from Lamentations
Text: Lamentations 1 (NKJV)
1 How lonely sits the city
That was full of people!
How like a widow is she,
Who was great among the nations!
The princess among the provinces
Has become a slave!
2 She weeps bitterly in the night,
Her tears are on her cheeks;
Among all her lovers
She has none to comfort her.
All her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
They have become her enemies.
3 Judah has gone into captivity,
Under affliction and hard servitude;
She dwells among the nations,
She finds no rest;
All her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.
4 The roads to Zion mourn
Because no one comes to the set feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests sigh,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she is in bitterness.
5 Her adversaries have become the master,
Her enemies prosper;
For the LORD has afflicted her
Because of the multitude of her transgressions.
Her children have gone into captivity before the enemy.
6 And from the daughter of Zion
All her splendor has departed.
Her princes have become like deer
That find no pasture,
That flee without strength
Before the pursuer.
7 In the days of her affliction and roaming,
Jerusalem remembers all her pleasant things
That she had in the days of old.
When her people fell into the hand of the enemy,
With no one to help her,
The adversaries saw her
And mocked at her downfall.
8 Jerusalem has sinned gravely,
Therefore she has become vile.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Yes, she sighs and turns away.
9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts;
She did not consider her destiny;
Therefore her collapse was awesome;
She had no comforter.
“O LORD, behold my affliction,
For the enemy is exalted!”
10 The adversary has spread his hand
Over all her pleasant things;
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
Those whom You commanded
Not to enter Your assembly.
11 All her people sigh,
They seek bread;
They have given their valuables for food to restore life.
“See, O LORD, and consider,
For I am scorned.”
12 “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
Behold and see
If there is any sorrow like my sorrow,
Which has been brought on me,
Which the LORD has inflicted
In the day of His fierce anger.
13 “From above He has sent fire into my bones,
And it overpowered them;
He has spread a net for my feet
And turned me back;
He has made me desolate
And faint all the day.
14 “The yoke of my transgressions was bound;
They were woven together by His hands,
And thrust upon my neck.
He made my strength fail;
The Lord delivered me into the hands of those whom I am not able to withstand.
15 “The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst;
He has called an assembly against me
To crush my young men;
The Lord trampled as in a winepress
The virgin daughter of Judah.
16 “For these things I weep;
My eye, my eye overflows with water;
Because the comforter, who should restore my life,
Is far from me.
My children are desolate
Because the enemy prevailed.”
17 Zion spreads out her hands,
But no one comforts her;
The LORD has commanded concerning Jacob
That those around him become his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them.
18 “The LORD is righteous,
For I rebelled against His commandment.
Hear now, all peoples,
And behold my sorrow;
My virgins and my young men
Have gone into captivity.
19 “I called for my lovers,
But they deceived me;
My priests and my elders
Breathed their last in the city,
While they sought food
To restore their life.
20 “See, O LORD, that I am in distress;
My soul is troubled;
My heart is overturned within me,
For I have been very rebellious.
Outside the sword bereaves,
At home it is like death.
21 “They have heard that I sigh,
But no one comforts me.
All my enemies have heard of my trouble;
They are glad that You have done it.
Bring on the day You have announced,
That they may become like me.
22 “Let all their wickedness come before You,
And do to them as You have done to me
For all my transgressions;
For my sighs are many,
And my heart is faint.”
Devotional Thoughts and Commentary:
איך , translated as "How" to start verse 1, has been adopted by some as the title to the book. Certain words bear connotations that go far beyond their literal meanings, and this word is a typical word to introduce an elegy. Great Jerusalem, geographically at the heart of Judaism, is to be mourned, since she has fallen.
As I mentioned in the introduction to the book, verse 1 is a study in contrasts. The great one is now a widow and the noble leader is now the vassal.
For what does Jerusalem (as capital of Judah, being representative) suffer so terribly? Verse 2 introduces to us the idea that Judah did not place her faith in יהוה, the true God, but in her surrounding heathen nations and their false gods (Jeremiah 2:20-25 showing the allusion by the same author to the false gods). The "lovers" of verse 2 are her false, heathen friends. While they dealt in treachery, we will see that God is faithful (Lamentations 3:22-23). Again in verse 5, what is the cause of these afflictions? "Because of the multitude of her transgressions." This is also evident in verses 8, 9, and 18. Sin has consequences. These physical reminders of those consequences are an actual dramatic understatement of the full, spiritual consequences of sin found in Romans 6:23 ("the wages of sin is death").
Verses 1-11 are the front section of this poetic verse (chapter), and they are basically describing the woe that has befallen Judah and its capital, Jerusalem.
Verses 12-15 then present a series of metaphorical promotions to give the reader a better visualization of just how bad things were. "fire... net... yoke... trampled... crush..." are the terms that the author used to describe this episode. Not a very positive light, to be certain.
Finally, verses 16-22 present a first-person narrative from the perspective of Jerusalem herself. We are reminded in verse 18 that through all of this tragedy (from a human perspective), God is righteous. Is a judge evil for pronouncing sentence on the guilty? Certainly not, and as has been explored in Romans (see also Romans 3:10, 3:23, and 5:12), everyone in the world is guilty in sin. God's judgment does not make Him evil, and our human tragedy stems from human sin. Whether directly a result of our personal (or national) sin as we see here or the result of sin the entire race is guilty of by the federal headship of Adam as the father of the race (Romans 5:12), all tragedy, death, badness, and wickedness we experience is tied to human sin. Through all this, God remains perfectly righteous. We should also notice that the confession of sin does not immediately nor necessarily alleviate any or all of the physical consequences of sin. It does have spiritual and eternal ramifications, but we are often forced to live with the temporal consequences (such as AIDS resulting from an immoral sexual encounter).
Applications:
As I pointed out in the discussion above, this period was a specific consequence to a specific set of sins committed by Judah. This should remind us that sin has consequences. Romans 6:23 brings this further into focus, telling us that "the wages of sin is death." Spiritual death is what we earn through sin; it is what we are due.
Other Studies from Lamentations
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Monday, March 7, 2011
A Christian's Guide to Studying and Applying the Old Testament
First off, let me say that this post is in no way comprehensive on this topic. Entire thick books have been written on it, and this will but scratch the surface. However, I want this to be a quick, easy place to turn for some simple principles.
- There are two major things for the Christian to be careful of when studying the Old Testament:
- God's promises to His people in the Old Testament (Israel) consistently do not directly translate to the church
- Exodus 19-24 is a record of God's promise directly to the Israelites
- Lamentations 3:22-23 is a statement about God and His faithfulness which is universal; however,
- God's commandments to the Israelites consistently do not directly translate to the church
- Circumcision was a requirement of Judaism in the Old Testament (per the Abrahamic Covenant), but it is not to Christians in the New Testament (Romans 3:30-31 and 1 Corinthians 7:18-19, as two examples amidst many)
- Note, however, that many of the things in the Old Testament are repeated in the New Testament, such as 9 of 10 "Ten Commandments"
- Jesus Christ can clearly be seen in the Old Testament
- While Jesus was not identified by that name in the Old Testament, there are many prophecies and revelations about Him there. From Genesis 1 to Isaiah 64 (see Acts 8, especially verse 35), Jesus is there. Look for Him to know Him more.
- The Old Testament is full of principles that carry over to today
- Proverbs 6:16-19 tells us that there are six sins the Lord hates and seven that are an abomination to Him. God does not change, so these things are still terribly offensive to Him.
- The Old Testament does speak of the us today as Christians, albeit not in that terminology
- For example in God's covenant with Abraham, He said, "in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 12:3, NKJV)." It is through the coming of Jesus Christ, a descendant of Abraham, that this blessing primarily occurred, and it is Christianity that comes from Jesus.
- The New Testament liberally quotes and alludes to the Old Testament
- Scholars debate exact numbers, but there are roughly 230 quotations and between 442 and 4105 allusions to the Old Testament in the New Testament
- This should remind us just how important that the Old Testament Scriptures are for us today
- The New Testament should be given priority of study for doctrine
- Simply put, the New Testament was written directly for Christianity and the Old Testament for Judaism. The Old Testament is inspired by God and totally accurate; however, it was not written specifically with the New Testament church as the audience
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