A dysfunctional family that led to an arrogant nation...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled when God speaks. During this series we are spending our time together looking at these letters that we often have a tendency to skip over, which are referred to as the prophets. We are going to discover who these letters that we have a tendency to skip over were written to. We are going to discover what these letters that we have a tendency to skip over reveal about who we are. We are going to discover what these letters that we have a tendency to skip over reveal about the nature of God and God’s activity in history.

This week I would like for us to lookg at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Obadiah, which is the next letter that was written by a prophet chronologically, which is not necessarily the order that they are found in the Bible, where they are organized by size. So let’s look at the man and the message of the Book of Obadiah, beginning in Obadiah 1:1a:

The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord GOD concerning Edom—

Most scholars and historians believe that the book of Obadiah was written right after the fall of the city of Jerusalem and the Southern Kingdom of Judea, which occurred in 586 B.C. In the opening verse of this letter, we discover that Obadiah was sent by the Lord to proclaim a message from the Lord concerning the nation of Edom. Now to fully understand the message of the book of Obadiah, we first need to understand who the nation of Edom, or the Edomites, were.

The nation of Edom, or the Edomites, were descendants of a man named Esau. Esau was one of the grandsons of Abraham, who was the individual that the Jewish people descended from. Abraham’s son, named Isaac, had two sons. The firstborn son was named Esau, while the youngest son was named Jacob. We discover who Esau and Jacob were and the role that they played in God’s story by looking at a section of the first letter that is recorded for us in our Bibles, called the book of Genesis. In Genesis 25, Isaac’s wife Rebekkah was unable to bear children. And it is into this context that we read the following, beginning in Genesis 25:21-23:

Isaac prayed to the LORD on behalf of his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD answered him and Rebekah his wife conceived. But the children struggled together within her; and she said, "If it is so, why then am I this way?" So she went to inquire of the LORD. The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb; And two peoples will be separated from your body; And one people shall be stronger than the other; And the older shall serve the younger."

Rebekah then gave birth to the twins, who were named Esau and Jacob. The oldest son, Esau when he became an adult, despised his birthright, which was the special rights, responsibilities, and privileges that he had as the firstborn. And in Genesis 25, we read that one day, after returning famished from a hunting trip, Esau was manipulated into handing over his birthright and the larger inheritance that the birthright represented by his brother Jacob. Esau, out of selfishness, sold the blessings that came from the birthright to his younger brother Jacob for a bowl of soup.

A little later in the book of Genesis, in Genesis chapter 27, we read about an event from history where Jacob deceived his father Isaac in order to receive the blessing that belonged to Esau. We see how Esau responded to being a victim of the deception of his younger brother Jacob that resulted in Esau losing the blessing that belonged to him in Genesis 27:41:

So Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said to himself, "The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob."

Then, in Genesis 28, Esau chose to marry a woman that he knew his parents disproved of in order to rebel against them.  Now, who says that the Bible is boring? You should really read it some time. I mean, we could not make this kind of stuff up, could we? What a dysfunctional family. Deception, manipulation, this is the stuff that could make for a top-flight reality T.V. show. Would we all agree that both Esau and Jacob had significant issues, wouldn’t we?

In the letters that make up the Bible, the descendants of Esau would eventually form the nation of Edom and were referred to as the Edomites. And throughout the letters that make up the Bible, we repeatedly see that the relationship between the descendants of Esau, who became the nation of Edom, and the descendants of Jacob, who became the Jewish people, was marked by hostility and animosity.

And in 586 B.C. the centuries of hostility and animosity reached its climax as the Jewish people were conquered by the Babylonian Empire. Now, with this background in mind, let’s jump into the message of the prophet Obadiah to the nation of Edom in the second half of Obadiah 1:1b-4:

We have heard a report from the LORD, And an envoy has been sent among the nations saying, "Arise and let us go against her for battle "-- ² "Behold, I will make you small among the nations; You are greatly despised. ³ "The arrogance of your heart has deceived you, You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place, Who say in your heart, 'Who will bring me down to earth?' ⁴ "Though you build high like the eagle, Though you set your nest among the stars, From there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.

Here we see Obadiah proclaim that he, along with the Jewish people, had received word from the Lord that a messenger had been sent to the nations surrounding Edom to form a military coalition in order to attack the nation. “Let us band together and attack Edom” was the message that was being communicated by this envoy to the nations that surrounded Edom. Obadiah then proclaimed the message of the Lord against Edom.

However, to fully understand the Lord’s message through Obadiah, we first need to understand what the prophet is referring to when he uses the phrase “You who live in the clefts of the rock, In the loftiness of your dwelling place”. Here Obadiah is referring to the almost impregnable fortress city of Petra, which served as the capital city of Edom. The city of Petra was located on the top of a plateau, whose surrounding perpendicular cliffs were over 2,000 feet high. This formidable rock mass and plateau could only be approached from the southeast.

And as the Edomites sat atop this plateau that provided a natural fortress, the nation developed an arrogant sense of superiority and invincibility. Obadiah revealed the arrogance of the nation of Edom by repeating the defiant challenge that the nation would proclaim to any potential challenger: “Who will bring me down to earth?”

However, the Lord wanted the nation of Edom to clearly understand that their arrogance had deceived them. The Lord wanted to nation of Edom to clearly understand that they were about to be brought down and belittled. The nation that viewed themselves as invincible would be despised and destroyed. We see the Lord continue to proclaim His message of judgment and destruction against the nation of Edom in verse 5-9:

 ⁵ "If thieves came to you, If robbers by night-- O how you will be ruined!-- Would they not steal only until they had enough? If grape gatherers came to you, Would they not leave some gleanings? ⁶ "O how Esau will be ransacked, And his hidden treasures searched out! ⁷ "All the men allied with you Will send you forth to the border, And the men at peace with you Will deceive you and overpower you. They who eat your bread Will set an ambush for you. (There is no understanding in him.) ⁸ "Will I not on that day," declares the LORD, "Destroy wise men from Edom And understanding from the mountain of Esau? ⁹ "Then your mighty men will be dismayed, O Teman, So that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.

Here we see the Lord proclaim the extent of the judgment that would come upon the nation of Edom with two different word pictures. They first word picture involved a thief breaking into a home: “If thieves came to you, If robbers by night-- would they not steal only until they had enough?” With this word picture, the prophet pointed the nation of Edom to the reality that when a thief breaks into a home, they usually do not spend the time necessary to take everything. Instead a thief usually only takes what is valuable and what is beneficial to them.

The prophet then painted a second word picture, this time of those who harvest a field of grapes: If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings? With this word picture, the prophet pointed the nation of Edom to the reality that when a field of grapes is harvested, there are usually some grapes that remain. Some grapes are missed, and some grapes would be left for the poor.

The prophet painted these word pictures to proclaim the reality that the nation of Edom would be completely and utterly destroyed. The prophet proclaimed that even those who the nation viewed as being allies would turn against them and drive them from their borders. The wise leaders and the mighty warriors of the nation of Edom would be shocked and stunned at the betrayal and complete destruction that would unexpectedly come upon the nation. Even the nations riches that were hidden in their caves would be discovered and taken by the invading forces.

And as Obadiah continued to proclaim the message of the Lord to the nation of Edom, we see him reveal the reasons behind the Lord’s judgment of the nation. Friday, we will look at those reasons together...

Difficulty and suffering from the Lord are designed to draw us to the Lord and His faithful devotion...

This week, we have been looking at two letters that are recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations. These letters were both written by the prophet Jeremiah and are the next letters that were written by a prophet chronologically, which is not necessarily the order that they are found in the Bible, where they are organized by size.

During the forty years the Jeremiah served as the Lord’s messenger, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by beating him, placing him in stocks, and on one occasion, throwing him in an empty cistern to starve to death. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, no one from the Jewish people turned to the Lord. Instead, the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of the Lord and punished Jeremiah and the other prophets of his time for proclaiming the message of the Lord.

In 586 B.C., as Jeremiah sat in a Jewish prison, and after another rebellion by the Jewish people against the Empire, the Babylonian Empire would conquer Jerusalem and the Jewish people would be taken away into exile. The Babylonian Empire would raze the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord to the ground and remove most of the Jewish people, through death or deportation, to Babylon. And it is in this context that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations.

As a messenger of the Lord who faithfully proclaimed the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, Jeremiah was not insulated from the consequences that came upon the Jewish people from the Lord. Instead, Jeremiah, living in the besieged and then conquered city, was exposed to the same circumstances as his fellow Jewish people. Jeremiah witnessed and experienced the results of the Lord’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. And here we see Jeremiah record his raw emotions as he attempted to process all that happened to him as he served the Lord.

As Jeremiah processed his circumstances of outward affliction and inward turmoil and bitterness, he was brought to a place of despair. However, in his despair, Jeremiah recalled something that provided him hope, or the ability to wait with a confident expectation for the future. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because of the Lord’s steadfast love and faithful devotion to His people and His promises. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because the Lord’s faithful devotion and compassion was offered every day, day after day. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as faithful. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as His portion, or as the source of his life who would provide.

And because the Lord was the source of his life, Jeremiah would wait upon Him to act in the midst of difficulty, with a confident expectation the He would act out of His steadfast love and faithful devotion. These verses are often viewed as a promise from the Lord that the Lord, in His steadfast love and faithful devotion, will deliver us from times of difficulty and suffering in our lives. However, while we may be very familiar with these verses, most of us are not familiar with the verses that follow. However, it is in the verses that follow that may cause us to look at these verses much differently. So let’s look at these verses together, beginning in Lamentations 3:25-40:

²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, To the person who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good that he waits silently For the salvation of the LORD. ²⁷ It is good for a man that he should bear The yoke in his youth. ²⁸ Let him sit alone and be silent Since He has laid it on him. ²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust, Perhaps there is hope. ³⁰ Let him give his cheek to the smiter, Let him be filled with reproach. ³¹ For the Lord will not reject forever, ³² For if He causes grief, Then He will have compassion According to His abundant lovingkindness. ³³ For He does not afflict willingly Or grieve the sons of men. ³⁴ To crush under His feet All the prisoners of the land, ³⁵ To deprive a man of justice In the presence of the Most High, ³⁶ To defraud a man in his lawsuit-- Of these things the Lord does not approve. ³⁷ Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it? ³⁸ Is it not from the mouth of the Most High That both good and ill go forth? ³⁹ Why should any living mortal, or any man, Offer complaint in view of his sins? ⁴⁰ Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.

Now some of you as soon as you finished reading these verses, your response is “My God is not like that, my God is not like that, my God is not like that”. If that is your response to these verses, here is my response: Yes, God is like that, that is why these verses are in the Bible. That is why we have the book of Jeremiah and Lamentations as part of the letters that make up the Bible. For forty years, Jeremiah was faithful to the Lord and faithfully proclaimed the word of the Lord to the Jewish people.

And what did Jeremiah get for his faithfulness. For his faithfulness to the Lord, Jeremiah was beaten, placed in stocks, and thrown in a cistern and left to die by the Jewish people. For his faithfulness to the Lord, Jeremiah was left in prison, starving like the rest of the Jewish people during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonian Empire. For forty years, Jeremiah was never delivered from times of difficulty and suffering.

And Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that difficulty and suffering should be endured with a hope in the Lord’s ultimate rescue and deliverance, not a hope in the Lord’s immediate rescue and deliverance. Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that difficulty and suffering is ultimately only temporary and is tempered by the Lord’s steadfast love and faithful devotion. Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that the Lord does not delight in difficulty and suffering.

Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that if difficulty and suffering comes because of injustice, the Lord sees it and does not approve of it. Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that difficulty and suffering is always in relationship to the reality that God is sovereign and in charge of it. Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that difficulty and suffering ultimately came as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. Jeremiah’s response to never being delivered by the Lord from difficulty and suffering over forty years was to proclaim that difficulty and suffering should accomplish the greater goal of turning or drawing God’s people back to Him.

Now I recognize that these concepts seem foreign to us; these concepts are downright un-American to us. And the reason that these concepts may seem so foreign and un-American to us is due to the tendency and temptation that we have that leads us to forget that our roots as followers of Jesus are not in the American Revolution. Our roots as followers of Jesus are in the early church of the first century. And the roots of followers of Jesus throughout history are rooted in God’s character and activity in the history of His people. And throughout the history of the letters that make up the Bible, we discover that, unlike the rampant individualism that is prevalent in American culture, in the culture of the letters that make up the Bible, the people of God had a communal and corporate view of life. We see this in what Jeremiah says next in verse 41-47:

We lift up our heart and hands Toward God in heaven; ⁴² We have transgressed and rebelled, You have not pardoned. ⁴³ You have covered Yourself with anger And pursued us; You have slain and have not spared. ⁴⁴ You have covered Yourself with a cloud So that no prayer can pass through. ⁴⁵ You have made us mere offscouring and refuse In the midst of the peoples. ⁴⁶ All our enemies have opened their mouths against us. ⁴⁷ Panic and pitfall have befallen us, Devastation and destruction;

Now did you notice the choice of pronouns by Jeremiah here? We, not they or them. You see, Jeremiah recognized the reality that, in spite of his faithfulness to the Lord, he was as part of the Jewish people who demonstrated their faithlessness to the Lord.  Jeremiah recognized that, in spite of how he faithfully lived his life individually, he was a part of a community of people who rebelled against the Lord. Jeremiah recognized that as part of that community, He would experience the consequences that came upon that community.

And because of that reality, Jeremiah urged the Jewish people to confess their selfishness and rebellion that resulted in the difficulty and suffering that they were facing from the Lord. Jeremiah urged the Jewish people to run to the Lord instead of continuing to run from the Lord in the midst of the difficulty and suffering they were experiencing from the Lord. In 586 B.C., upon the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonian Empire released Jeremiah from prison and gave him the opportunity to go wherever he wished.

Jeremiah, however, chose to remain with the Jewish people and to continue to proclaim the Lord’s message to the Jewish people.  And just as it had been for the past forty years, the Jewish people continued to reject the word of the Lord through Jeremiah and mistreat the prophet. Jeremiah was never delivered from times of difficulty and suffering; instead Jeremiah was delivered through times of difficulty and suffering into a deepening relationship with the Lord that was totally dependent upon the Lord.

And it is here, when God speaks, that we discover a timeless truth about the nature and character of God and God’s activity in history. And that timeless truth is this: Difficulty and suffering from the Lord are designed to draw us to the Lord and His faithful devotion. Just as it was for Jeremiah, just as it has been throughout history, difficulty and suffering from the Lord are designed to draw us to the Lord and His faithful devotion.

You see, the point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering should be endured with a hope in the Lord’s ultimate rescue and deliverance, not a hope in the Lord’s immediate rescue and deliverance. The point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering is ultimately only temporary and is tempered by the Lord’s steadfast love and faithful devotion. The point of the book of Lamentations is that the Lord does not delight in difficulty and suffering. The point of the book of Lamentations is that if difficulty and suffering come because of injustice, the Lord sees it and does not approve of it.

The point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering is always in relationship to the reality that God is sovereign and in charge of it. The point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering ultimately came as a result of the selfishness and rebellion of humanity. The point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering is designed to accomplish the greater goal of turning or drawing God’s people back to Him. The point of the book of Lamentations is that difficulty and suffering is not something that we will always be delivered from. Instead difficulty and suffering is something that we will always be delivered through.

So here is a question to consider: How are you responding to the reality that there is difficulty and suffering?  And how are you responding to the Lord’s invitation to turn away from your selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord in the face of difficulty and suffering?

Because, as we have discovered, difficulty and suffering from the Lord are designed to draw us to the Lord and His faithful devotion.

Familiar words from a prophet who suffered about the Lord and suffering...

This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Lamentations. The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations were both written by the prophet Jeremiah and are the next letters that were written by a prophet chronologically, which is not necessarily the order that they are found in the Bible, where they are organized by size.

Yesterday we looked at the second chapter of the book of Jeremiah, where the Lord, through Jeremiah, called out the Jewish people for their unfaithfulness to the Him. The Lord proclaimed the reality that, instead of pursuing the Lord, the Jewish people pursued what was meaningless and empty.  While the Lord had brought the Jewish people into a productive land that would provide for their needs, the Jewish people polluted the land with their selfishness and rebellion. Whether it was the people, the priests, the rulers, or the prophets, all the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of pursuing the Lord.

Jeremiah exposed the duplicity of the Jewish people in their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord. You see, while the Jewish people worshiped false gods, the Jewish people began to discover that while they had pursued as many false gods as they had cities, these false gods were unable to help them in their times of trouble.  Yet, in spite of pursing false gods instead of the Lord, the Jewish people felt that they could accuse the Lord for failing to come through for them in their times of trouble. The Jewish people did not respond to the Lord’s punishment for their rebellion by returning to the Lord. Instead the Jewish people accused the Lord and murdered the messengers of the Lord.

And as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by treating Jeremiah horribly. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by beating him, placing him in stocks, and on one occasion, throwing him in an empty cistern to starve to death. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, no one from the Jewish people turned to the Lord. Instead, the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of the Lord and punished Jeremiah and the other prophets of his time for proclaiming the message of the Lord.

And it is in this context that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations. As the title of the book reveals, in the book of Lamentations we see Jeremiah lament over the destruction of the Jewish people that came as a result of their selfishness and rebellion. The first two chapters focus on the misery of the Jewish people and the destruction of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonian Empire. However, in the third chapter, we see the prophet Jeremiah give us a glimpse into the personal pain and anguish that he experienced as he lamented over the condition of the Jewish people. So let’s look at this section of the book of Lamentations together, beginning in Lamentations 3:1:

I am the man who has seen affliction Because of the rod of His wrath. ² He has driven me and made me walk In darkness and not in light. ³ Surely against me He has turned His hand Repeatedly all the day. ⁴ He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away, He has broken my bones. ⁵ He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship. ⁶ In dark places He has made me dwell, Like those who have long been dead. ⁷ He has walled me in so that I cannot go out; He has made my chain heavy. ⁸ Even when I cry out and call for help, He shuts out my prayer. ⁹ He has blocked my ways with hewn stone; He has made my paths crooked. ¹⁰ He is to me like a bear lying in wait, Like a lion in secret places. ¹¹ He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces; He has made me desolate. ¹² He bent His bow And set me as a target for the arrow. ¹³ He made the arrows of His quiver To enter into my inward parts. ¹⁴ I have become a laughingstock to all my people, Their mocking song all the day. ¹⁵ He has filled me with bitterness, He has made me drunk with wormwood. ¹⁶ He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust. ¹⁷ My soul has been rejected from peace; I have forgotten happiness. ¹⁸ So I say, "My strength has perished, And so has my hope from the LORD."

You see, as a messenger of the Lord who faithfully proclaimed the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, Jeremiah was not insulated from the consequences that came upon the Jewish people from the Lord. Instead, Jeremiah, living in the besieged and then conquered city, was exposed to the same circumstances as his fellow Jewish people. Jeremiah witnessed and experienced the results of the Lord’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. And here we see Jeremiah record his raw emotions as he attempted to process all that happened to him as he served the Lord.

Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with the seeming absence of the Lord. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being broken in body and spirit as a result of God’s right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being imprisoned by the Jewish people during the siege for being faithful to the Lord. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with feeling like God had singled Him out for punishment like a bear or lion who came out of hiding to attack, or like an archer shooting at a target.

Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being mocked and laughed at by his fellow Jewish people. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being filled with bitterness as a result of being trampled underfoot. Jeremiah wrestled with the emotions that came with being deprived of peace and prosperity, only to be left in despair. Then, after attempting to process his raw emotions that flowed from the circumstances of all that happened to him as he served the Lord, we see Jeremiah turn to the Lord in verse 19-24:

 ¹⁹ Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. ²⁰ Surely my soul remembers And is bowed down within me. ²¹ This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. ²² The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. ²³ They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "Therefore I have hope in Him."

As Jeremiah processed his circumstances of outward affliction and inward turmoil and bitterness, he was brought to a place of despair. However, in his despair, Jeremiah recalled something that provided him hope, or the ability to wait with a confident expectation for the future. And that hope was in the reality that The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail. Now when Jeremiah uses the word lovingkindness, this word has no English equivalent. This word literally means steadfast love and faithful devotion.

Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because of the Lord’s steadfast love and faithful devotion to His people and His promises. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because the Lord’s faithful devotion and compassion was offered every day, day after day. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as faithful. Jeremiah would wait with a confident expectation for the future because he viewed the Lord as His portion, or as the source of his life who would provide. And because the Lord was the source of his life, Jeremiah would wait upon Him to act in the midst of difficulty, with a confident expectation the He would act out of His steadfast love and faithful devotion.

Now if you grew up in church, or spent any time in church, you are probably at least somewhat familiar with these verses. You are at least somewhat familiar with these verses because you may have them on a coffee mug or hanging on a wall. These verses often serve as a source of comfort for many people. These verses are often viewed as a promise from the Lord that the Lord, in His steadfast love and faithful devotion, will deliver us from times of difficulty and suffering in our lives. However, while we may be very familiar with these verses, most of us are not familiar with the verses that follow. And it is in the verses that follow that may cause us to look at these verses much differently.

Friday we will look at these verses...

The problems of a prophet who was sent to a problem people...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled when God speaks. During this series we are spending our time together looking at these letters that we often have a tendency to skip over, which are referred to as the prophets. We are going to discover who these letters that we have a tendency to skip over were written to and by. We are going to discover what these letters that we have a tendency to skip over reveal about who we are and about the nature of God and God’s activity in history. And as we go through this series, our hope and prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit in our heads, hearts and hands so that we understand and embrace the timeless and timely truths that these letters that we often skip over have for our lives.

This week I would like for us to look at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Lamentations. The books of Jeremiah and Lamentations were both written by the prophet Jeremiah and are the next letters that were written by a prophet chronologically, which is not necessarily the order that they are found in the Bible, where they are organized by size. Jeremiah was a Prophet during the reigns of the final five kings of the Southern Kingdom of Judea before Judea was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. Jeremiah served as a messenger from the Lord and delivered the Lord’s message to the Jewish people from 627-586 B.C. These letters were written during the times described in two sections of two other letters in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of 2 Kings, in 2 Kings 22-25 and the book of 2 Chronicles, in 2 Chronicles 34-36.

During the forty years the Jeremiah served as the Lord’s messenger, several significant events from history took place that would forever shape the Jewish people. First, in 612 B.C., the Babylonian Empire invaded the Assyrian Empire in fulfillment of the Lord’s promise as proclaimed by the prophet Nahum, which we looked at a few weeks ago. Then, in 609 B.C. King Josiah, who had led the Jewish people to return to the Lord by removing much of the worship of false gods from the Southern Kingdom, was killed on the battlefield as he attempted to resist the Egyptian forces who were on their way to try to help Assyria against the Babylonian army. During the time of King Josiah’s rule, the Lord had used Jeremiah to expose the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people and to call the Jewish people to return to the Lord.

While we do not have the time to cover all of the book of Jeremiah, we see the message of the prophet summarized in the second chapter of Jeremiah. So let’s look at this section of the book of Jeremiah together, beginning in Jeremiah 2:1-3:

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, ² "Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus says the LORD, "I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown. ³ "Israel was holy to the LORD, The first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them," declares the LORD.'"

Here we see the Lord, through the prophet Jeremiah, point the Jewish people back in their history as a people to their time after being delivered from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt. In another letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible, called the book of Exodus, we read of an event from history where the Lord delivered the Jewish people from slavery at the hands of the nation of Egypt and brought them into the land that He had promised them. The Lord used the imagery of a marriage to paint the picture of the covenant relationship that He had entered into with the Jewish people.

The Lord then painted another world picture, this time of the first fruits of the harvest, to reveal the reality that the Jewish people had been chosen by the Lord as the first nation to worship Him. The Jewish people were chosen to be set apart as dedicated to the Lord and to be the vehicle that the Lord would use to reveal Himself to the world.  The Lord also proclaimed that, as a result of the covenant relationship that He had entered into with the Jewish people, anyone who went against the Jewish people would experience His right and just response for attempting to commit evil against His chosen people. However, while the Lord remained faithful to the Jewish people, the same could not be said of the Jewish people, as we see Jeremiah reveal in verses 4-13:

 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the LORD, "What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty? ⁶ "They did not say, 'Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of deep darkness, Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?' ⁷ "I brought you into the fruitful land To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. ⁸ "The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit. ⁹ "Therefore I will yet contend with you," declares the LORD, "And with your sons' sons I will contend. ¹⁰ "For cross to the coastlands of Kittim and see, And send to Kedar and observe closely And see if there has been such a thing as this! ¹¹ "Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. ¹² "Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate," declares the LORD. ¹³ "For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.

Here we see the Lord, through Jeremiah, call out the Jewish people for their unfaithfulness to the Him. The Lord proclaimed the reality that, instead of pursuing the Lord, the Jewish people pursued what was meaningless and empty.  While the Lord had brought the Jewish people into a productive land that would provide for their needs, the Jewish people polluted the land with their selfishness and rebellion. Whether it was the people, the priests, the rulers, or the prophets, all the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of pursuing the Lord.

The Lord then proclaimed to the nations that surrounded the Jewish people who worshiped false gods a stunning statement about the faithlessness of the Jewish people: "Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods?” With this proclamation, the Lord was revealing the reality that the nations around the Jewish people who worshiped false gods were more faithful to their false gods than the Jewish people were to the Lord. After all, those nations did not change gods, while the Jewish people had turned from the Lord to worship and pursue false gods.

The Lord then painted another word picture to hammer home the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water.” The Lord painted this word picture to reveal the reality that the Jewish people who had abandoned the Lord, who like a fountain or spring of flowing water was faithful and reliable, to instead pursue the cisterns of false gods, which were unreliable and often would break. And just a few verses later, we see Jeremiah reveal what would lay in store for the Jewish people and for Jeremiah. We see this in Jeremiah 2:26-30:

"As the thief is shamed when he is discovered, So the house of Israel is shamed; They, their kings, their princes And their priests and their prophets, ²⁷ Who say to a tree, 'You are my father,' And to a stone, 'You gave me birth.' For they have turned their back to Me, And not their face; But in the time of their trouble they will say, 'Arise and save us.' ²⁸ "But where are your gods Which you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you In the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah. ²⁹ "Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me," declares the LORD. ³⁰ "In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion.

Here we see Jeremiah expose the duplicity of the Jewish people in their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord. You see, while the Jewish people worshiped false gods, the Jewish people began to discover that while they had pursued as many false gods as they had cities, these false gods were unable to help them in their times of trouble.  Yet, in spite of pursing false gods instead of the Lord, the Jewish people felt that they could accuse the Lord for failing to come through for them in their times of trouble. The Jewish people did not respond to the Lord’s punishment for their rebellion by returning to the Lord. Instead the Jewish people accused the Lord and murdered the messengers of the Lord.

And as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by treating Jeremiah horribly. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, the Jewish people responded to Jeremiah by beating him, placing him in stocks, and on one occasion, throwing him in an empty cistern to starve to death. During the 40 years that Jeremiah served as a messenger of the Lord, no one from the Jewish people turned to the Lord. Instead, the Jewish people pursued false gods instead of the Lord and punished Jeremiah and the other prophets of his time for proclaiming the message of the Lord.

In 605 B.C., the Lord responded to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people by using the Babylonian Empire as His instrument to exercise His right and just response to their rebellion. The Babylonian Empire besieged Jerusalem and made the Jewish people a vassal state under King Jehoiakim. As part of that process, the Babylonian Empire deported many of the Jewish people’s best and brightest men, including Daniel, to be indoctrinated in the culture and religious practices of the Babylonians to further strengthen their rule. Then, in 597 B.C., after the Jewish people rebelled against the Empire, the city was besieged again, with even more Jewish people deported.

Finally, in 586 B.C., as Jeremiah sat in a Jewish prison, and after another rebellion by the Jewish people against the Empire, the Babylonian Empire would conquer Jerusalem and the Jewish people would be taken away into exile. The Babylonian Empire would raze the city of Jerusalem and the Temple of the Lord to the ground and remove most of the Jewish people, through death or deportation, to Babylon. And it is in this context that the prophet Jeremiah wrote the book of Lamentations.

Tomorrow we will begin to look at this letter…

There is a day coming when the Lord will execute justice upon the wrongdoing and injustice of those who rebel against Him as He purifies and preserves a people who will live in a right relationship with Him...

This week we have been looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Zephaniah. We looked on as Zephaniah revealed the actions that the Day of the Lord would bring upon the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord in the relatively near future. Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people that led them to commit idolatry by worshipping something other than the Lord as God.

We looked on as Zephaniah, in the midst of proclaiming the potential of the Lord exercising His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people in order to bring justice and judgment for that rebellion, call the Jewish people to repent. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by seeking the Lord. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by living in humble recognition that the Lord is the One who is large and in charge. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by faithfully following and obeying the Lord.

Zephaniah proclaimed that if the Jewish people turned from their selfishness and rebellion and turned to the Lord, that they would not experience what humanity would face on the “Day of the Lord”, when the Lord will express His right and just response to the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity by removing the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion. Today, we see Zephaniah transition to turn his attention and message from the Lord back to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people. We see this in Zephaniah 3:1-8:

Woe to her who is rebellious and defiled, The tyrannical city! ² She heeded no voice, She accepted no instruction. She did not trust in the LORD, She did not draw near to her God. ³ Her princes within her are roaring lions, Her judges are wolves at evening; They leave nothing for the morning. ⁴ Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men; Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law. ⁵ The LORD is righteous within her; He will do no injustice. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He does not fail. But the unjust knows no shame. ⁶ "I have cut off nations; Their corner towers are in ruins. I have made their streets desolate, With no one passing by; Their cities are laid waste, Without a man, without an inhabitant. ⁷ "I said, 'Surely you will revere Me, Accept instruction.' So her dwelling will not be cut off According to all that I have appointed concerning her. But they were eager to corrupt all their deeds. ⁸ "Therefore wait for Me," declares the LORD, "For the day when I rise up as a witness. Indeed, My decision is to gather nations, To assemble kingdoms, To pour out on them My indignation, All My burning anger; For all the earth will be devoured By the fire of My zeal.

Here we see Zephaniah proclaim that the Lord would exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people who refused to follow the Lord and refused to listen to the warnings of the Lord that were delivered through His messengers, including Zephaniah, that led them to commit idolatry by worshipping something other than the Lord as God. In verse 2, the prophet exposed the rebellion of the Jewish people, who refused to trust in the Lord.  In verse 3, the prophet exposed the rebellion of the Jewish people, who greedily exploited others. In verse 4, the prophet exposed the rebellion of the Jewish people, who manipulated the message and teachings of the Bible for material gain and who worshipped false gods instead of the Lord. In verse 5, the prophet exposed the rebellion of the Jewish people, who knew no shame in the face of God’s rightness and justice.

Then, in verse 6, Zephaniah turned his attention to the selfishness and rebellion that was present not only among the Jewish people, but throughout humanity. Zephaniah proclaimed that there would be a day when the Lord would gather all humanity and exercise His justice and judgment upon all humanity. Zephaniah then concluded his letter by giving a glimpse into what the future would hold after the Lord removed the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion in verse 9-20:

⁹ "For then I will give to the peoples purified lips, That all of them may call on the name of the LORD, To serve Him shoulder to shoulder. ¹⁰ "From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia My worshipers, My dispersed ones, Will bring My offerings. ¹¹ "In that day you will feel no shame Because of all your deeds By which you have rebelled against Me; For then I will remove from your midst Your proud, exulting ones, And you will never again be haughty On My holy mountain. ¹² "But I will leave among you A humble and lowly people, And they will take refuge in the name of the LORD. ¹³ "The remnant of Israel will do no wrong And tell no lies, Nor will a deceitful tongue Be found in their mouths; For they will feed and lie down With no one to make them tremble." ¹⁴ Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ¹⁵ The LORD has taken away His judgments against you, He has cleared away your enemies. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst; You will fear disaster no more. ¹⁶ In that day it will be said to Jerusalem: "Do not be afraid, O Zion; Do not let your hands fall limp. ¹⁷ "The LORD your God is in your midst, A victorious warrior. He will exult over you with joy, He will be quiet in His love, He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy. ¹⁸ "I will gather those who grieve about the appointed feasts-- They came from you, O Zion; The reproach of exile is a burden on them. ¹⁹ "Behold, I am going to deal at that time With all your oppressors, I will save the lame And gather the outcast, And I will turn their shame into praise and renown In all the earth. ²⁰ "At that time I will bring you in, Even at the time when I gather you together; Indeed, I will give you renown and praise Among all the peoples of the earth, When I restore your fortunes before your eyes," Says the LORD.

Here we see Zephaniah proclaim that, after God’s right and just response to selfishness and rebellion, wrongdoing and injustice, the Lord would establish and bring healing and restoration to the nations in relationship with Him. During this time in history, which is referred to in church mumbo jumbo talk as the Millennial Kingdom age, the Jewish people will be a people of purified lips that would be devoted to the Lord. The Jewish people, and all humanity, would experience a unity and oneness with all humanity that was freed from racism and ethnic tension. The Jewish people would see their shame removed as they were transformed into a humble and lowly people who gave praise and honor to the Lord.  The Jewish people would sing aloud and rejoice with all their hearts.

And Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would take great delight in His people. Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would remove fear from His people as they could rest in His power and His faithful love.  Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would rejoice over His people with singing and shouts of joy. The Lord would establish the Jewish people by rescuing them from their oppressors and by providing them a place among the nations that enhanced their reputation among the nations. The Lord would act to bring justice and judgment while fulfilling His promises to His people in a way that would result in His glory and they represented Him in their character and conduct.

 

And it is here, when God speaks, that we discover a timeless truth about the nature and character of God and God’s activity in history. And that timeless truth is this: There is a day coming when the Lord will execute justice upon the wrongdoing and injustice of those who rebel against Him as He purifies and preserves a people who will live in a right relationship with Him. You see, the point of the book of Zephaniah is that the Lord is large and in charge of all of humanity and that the Lord will exercise His right and just justice against the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity.

And the point of the book of Zephaniah is that the Lord calls humanity to repent. The Lord calls humanity to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by seeking the Lord. The Lord calls humanity to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by living in humble recognition that the Lord is the One who is large and in charge. The Lord calls humanity to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by faithfully following and obeying the Lord.

The point of the book of Zephaniah is that there is a day in the future when the Lord will return to bring justice and judgment to all humanity. And on that day, those who refused to follow the Lord and refused to listen to the warnings of the Lord that were delivered through His messengers, including Zephaniah, will experience the Lord’s right and just response to their wrongdoing and injustice that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord.

And on that day, those who to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by seeking the Lord and by living in humble recognition that the Lord is the One who is large and in charge by faithfully following and obeying the Lord will be transformed as they experience the fullness of the relationship with the Lord that they were created for. On that day, those who to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord will have their character purified as they are preserved by the Lord to experience an eternity in the relationship with Him that they were created for. 

So here is a question to consider: How are you responding to the reality that there is a day coming when the Lord will execute justice upon the wrongdoing and injustice of those who rebel against Him?  And how are you responding to the Lord’s invitation to turn away from your selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord?

 Because there is a day coming when the Lord will execute justice upon the wrongdoing and injustice of those who rebel against Him as He purifies and preserves a people who will live in a right relationship with Him...

A call to turn from selfishness and rebellion to turn to the Lord...

This week we are looking at a letter that is recorded for us in the Old Testament of the Bible called the book of Zephaniah. Yesterday we looked on as Zephaniah revealed the actions that the Day of the Lord would bring upon the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord in their relatively near future.

Zephaniah proclaimed that the Lord would exercise His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people that led them to commit idolatry by worshiping something other than the Lord as God. In verse 4, the prophet exposed the idolatry of the priests who led the people to worship the false god Baal instead of the Lord. In verse 5, the prophet exposed the idolatry of those who worshiped the sun, moon, and stars instead of the Lord.

In the second half of verse 5, the prophet exposed the idolatry of those who worshiped at the spiritual buffet by adding the worship of the Lord to the worship of false gods in order to create their own religious system that took what they liked about the Lord and false gods, while ignoring the parts of the Lord and false gods that they did not like In verse 6, the prophet exposed the indifference of the Jewish people who turned their back on the Lord so as to ignore the Lord.

And because of the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people, Zephaniah proclaimed that the Day of the Lord was coming in the form of the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire would be instrument that the Lord would use to exercise justice and judgment against the Jewish people. Zephaniah painted a word picture of an animal that would be offered as a sacrificial offering in the Jewish religious system to proclaim that the Lord was preparing the Jewish people to be a sacrifice that would pay the penalty of their selfishness and rebellion. 

The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the leaders of the Jewish people. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of those who oppressed others by leaping upon them to commit violence and robbery, only to offer up what had been stolen in worship to false gods. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the merchants who exploited the Jewish people.

What is so fascinating is that what Zephaniah proclaimed in verse 10-11, was fulfilled 40 years later when, in 586 B.C., the Babylonian Emperor Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem through the “fish gate”. The Babylonian Empire would be the invited guests that would participate in this sacrificial offering against the rebellion of the indifference and agnosticism of the Jewish people to the Lord and the things of the Lord when the Day of the Lord came upon the Jewish people in the very near future. We see Zephaniah continue to proclaim what the very near future in the second half of Zephaniah 1:14-18:

Listen, the day of the LORD! In it the warrior cries out bitterly. A day of wrath is that day, A day of trouble and distress, A day of destruction and desolation, A day of darkness and gloom, A day of clouds and thick darkness, ¹⁶ A day of trumpet and battle cry Against the fortified cities And the high corner towers. ¹⁷ I will bring distress on men So that they will walk like the blind, Because they have sinned against the LORD; And their blood will be poured out like dust And their flesh like dung. ¹⁸ Neither their silver nor their gold Will be able to deliver them On the day of the LORD'S wrath; And all the earth will be devoured In the fire of His jealousy, For He will make a complete end, Indeed a terrifying one, Of all the inhabitants of the earth.

Less than 20 years after proclaiming the Lord’s message to the Jewish people, in 605 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who at this time was a prince, besieged Jerusalem and made the Jewish people a vassal of Babylon under King Jehoiakim. As part of that process, the Babylonian Empire deported many of the Jewish people’s best and brightest men to be indoctrinated in the culture and religious practices of the Babylonians to further strengthen their rule. Then, in 597 B.C., after the Jewish people rebelled against the Empire, the city was besieged again, with even more Jewish people deported.

Finally, in 586 B.C., after another rebellion by the Jewish people against the Empire, the Babylonian Empire would conquer Jerusalem and the Jewish people would be taken away into exile. After proclaiming what the near future held for the Jewish people as a result of their selfishness and rebellion against the Lord, we see Zephaniah proclaim a second message to the Jewish people in Zephaniah 2:1-3:

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather, O nation without shame, ² Before the decree takes effect-- The day passes like the chaff-- Before the burning anger of the LORD comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD'S anger comes upon you. ³ Seek the LORD, All you humble of the earth Who have carried out His ordinances; Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden In the day of the LORD'S anger.

Here we see Zephaniah, in the midst of proclaiming the potential of the Lord exercising His right and just response to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people in order to bring justice and judgment for that rebellion, call the Jewish people to repent. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by seeking the Lord. Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by living in humble recognition that the Lord is the One who is large and in charge.

Zephaniah called the Jewish people to turn away from their selfishness and rebellion so as to turn to the Lord by faithfully following and obeying the Lord. Zephaniah proclaimed that if the Jewish people turned from their selfishness and rebellion and turned to the Lord, that they would not experience what humanity would face on the “Day of the Lord”, when the Lord will express His right and just response to the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity by removing the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion.

Then, in the remainder of the second chapter of Zephaniah, we see the prophet proclaim the Lord’s judgment against the nations that surrounded the Jewish people. Whether it was the nation of Philistia to the west, the nations of Moab and Ammon to the East, the nation of Ethiopia to the South, or the Assyrian Empire to the North, there would be a day in the near future when the Babylonian Empire would be instrument that the Lord would use to exercise justice and judgment against the selfishness and rebellion of these nations.

The Lord would provide these nations a “near” circumstance in order that they might better understand a far more significant event in the future, which would be when the Lord would remove the wrongdoing and injustice of humanity against God and others that flowed from their selfishness and rebellion as He expressed His right and just response to that wrongdoing and injustice upon Jesus return to earth. Then, in chapter 3, we see Zephaniah transition to turn his attention and message from the Lord back to the selfishness and rebellion of the Jewish people.

We will look at what Zephaniah had to say to the Jewish people on Friday…