Father, once again, we come to you acknowledging that sometimes your word is shocking and confuses us very deeply.
And sometimes, Father, if we're honest, when we come to your word, we actually find it not something that gives us hope, but something that we almost find repulsive.
And, Father, we're going to be looking at a text like this today.
And so we ask that the Holy Spirit would move with gentle power in each of us, that we might walk towards these fears at the center of our heart as we walk towards you.
And we ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.
I have to give you a bit of a almost like a trigger alert or a spoiler alert at the beginning.
We're going to be looking at Lamentations chapter 4.
Those of you who don't have Bibles or aren't familiar with this, the words to the text are going to show up on the screen underneath.
But you know what? It's really good to have your own Bibles as well.
So you can just sort of check things out and maybe make marks or notes in them if you're that type of a person.
And I should let you know that the text is going to talk about a mother who kills her.
Okay. Sorry.
There's no sort of way to just sort of bring this up in polite conversation or something like this.
This text, once again, talks about some very dark issues, some very, very hard issues, which are issues that happen in the world all of the time but seem to be in the Bible.
And not seem to be in the Bible, are in the Bible and are in the Bible in a way which we find very, very hard to understand.
The text is going to make reference to a woman who kills her child and then cooks it to eat it.
There's no way that I can sort of sugarcoat that.
And the text is also going to talk about Sodom.
And it's going to talk about the Lord causing pain amongst other things.
And so this is what I – when I said this is not the type of text that Christians or non-Christians, I mean, would normally look at.
Non-Christians, I guess, probably wouldn't even know that it's there.
But it's a very, very hard text.
And just a couple of other things before we look at it because we're going to look at the text.
We're going to read it from the beginning to the end.
And the first thing is, and I hope there's an image here that can go on the screen at this particular time, just to help to understand the context of the text, that the Book of Lamentations are five linked poems.
And each poem, in a sense, is separate, but the poems are all linked.
And they're linked in a very sort of very clever way and an important way.
For instance, each poem has separate subpoems, but because the poem is an acrostic, you know that the poems have to be held together.
It's exploring a sets of ideas together.
And then the way the whole five poems are sort of structured, there's other significance, and I'll mention something about that at the end.
But these five poems are written after the destruction of Jerusalem.
And the destruction of Jerusalem was, we would now call it, close to ethnic cleansing.
Many, many, many people were killed by the Babylonians.
Most of those who weren't killed were carried away into exile.
The city is in rubbles.
And so when you read this text, really the image, which I think is still up on the screen, that should, in a sense, be in the background of your mind.
You might want to, you know, if you're doing this on your own, find some type of image of such ruins and understand the poet is pouring out his pain to God in the context of sitting amongst the rubble, sitting amongst the ruins.
And so that's one of the things that you have to understand about this text as you're going through it.
And the second thing is, and maybe here we just want to jump ahead to chapter 4, verse 11.
This I wanted to be especially helpful for those of you who might be looking at this for the very first time and aren't that familiar with some of the things that I've been wrestling with and we've been talking about in the previous three weeks.
And if you see here in verse 11, the Lord gave full vent to his wrath.
He poured out his hot anger and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.
And Zion sort of is, anyway, it's talking about the rubble.
And as we'll see it in verse 17, I think it is as well, or 16.
And it's been something that's been in the previous three chapters.
It's very, very clear that the destruction was something that the Lord brought about.
And so you need to be aware of that as part of the struggling of the text as we read it.
And we're going to go back to the beginning.
We're going to go to verse 1.
We're going to look at all the text and I'll comment about it a bit as we go along.
And then a few things at the end as well.
And I just want to say something to those of you who might be watching this who definitely wouldn't call yourself Christians or maybe you're ex-Christians or post-Christians.
But you consider yourself somebody who's a bit of a seeker, trying to get a better handle on the meaning of life and the meaning of what it means to be human.
And one of the things, by the way, you're going to get in this text, and I think it's one of the things which makes it hard for us when we read the book of Lamentations,
is a lot of us don't realize that the Bible actually reveals that to understand God we need to also understand ourselves.
And that as we understand ourselves, it also is a way to help us understand the mystery of the triune God.
And that's one of the things which is going to happen as we look at this text, is it's going to actually show a bit of a searchlight into what it means to be human.
But what I want to say is, some of you might be wondering, in fact, one of the things we're going to look at,
this book of Lamentations looks more like something that's written by one of God's enemies rather than his friends.
It looks more like a chapter that's written by a deconversion blog, or a I gave up religion blog, or why I am an atheist blog.
And it looks as if it's evidence against the Christian faith.
And so you might wonder why we're even looking at, like, first of all, it's a bit of a shock that it's in the Bible, and why are we even looking at it?
One of the things we do at Church of the Messiah is, we want to address the important questions, both emotional, existential, and intellectual, that human beings face.
And we don't ever want to try to present Jesus as Lord in a way where, I don't know, God has this wonderful plan for your life,
and we say all this, and there's all this glittery stuff, and we sort of hide and cover up the stuff which seems to go against it,
or the stuff which is going to be very difficult.
That's one of the reasons why we preach through whole books of the Bible, as a general rule.
There's no fine print. There's nothing hidden.
And if you are at all involved in a bit of a spiritual quest, we'd love it if you connected with us.
We'd love to have conversations with you to see what we can do to help you with that, to be challenged by your questions.
If you have questions about the sermon, I can't promise to answer all of them, but feel free to email the Church,
and I will take that into account as I preach.
We don't want to walk away from problems or questions.
We want to listen to good questions.
We want to look at good problems.
We want to walk towards them.
And so if you're at all a seeker, please feel free to connect with us.
But let's get into the text.
Cannibalism, Sodom, God-causing pain.
Let's look.
Chapter 4, verse 1.
And here's how it begins.
And we'll just sort of pause there for a second.
And the text begins, the word how is part of this whole thing of lament, like how could this happen,
usually said in the context of a terrible catastrophe.
And that's how this poem is introduced with this word.
In fact, actually to show how important it is, it actually says it three times.
If you'll notice in the first two verses, this will be the last one of the five poems where this is worded,
but it's sort of highlighted how, how, how.
And the image of the gold and the pure gold and the holy stones or the precious stones being scattered everywhere,
that's just talking about the fact that human beings are very precious.
It's an imagery to try to communicate that human beings have a great worth.
And yet, even though that human beings have a great worth, they're being treated as if, you know,
if you just took the cheap type of pottery, maybe you're going to get your kid or your grandkid or your best friend,
excuse me, a bit of a frog in my throat, and you're going to maybe get them into pottery.
And you get the cheapest clay and you get them their pottery thing and they try their little experiment
and then it's, you know, it dries, but it's a complete and utter disaster,
and a disaster in a way that isn't even cute.
You know, if it's a kid and you want to keep it, and it just gets shattered and the shards.
And so what's being talked about here at the very, very beginning is how, how, how,
that human beings who are of very, very precious should be understood as if they're gold,
as if they're precious and holy stones are being treated the same way that you would treat the shards
of the cheapest pottery clay after it's been broken.
That's the imagery here, which launches this first section, which is the first 10 verses.
And it's going to culminate with this terrible image of a mom having killed her child,
cooking the child to eat it.
The first 10 verses are one literary unit in the original language.
Let's look at verse 3.
And when it says here, the daughter of my people, it's not just saying as if women have become cruel.
One of the things all the way through this is that God's people are always,
there's feminine imagery to refer to God's people, to the human race.
And so when it says the daughter of my people, it's not saying, oh, I like how evil women are.
It's not like that at all.
It's, in fact, the way, the, the way to picture humanity is feminine.
And the way to picture, in a sense, redeemed humanity is, is feminine.
So that's what's going on here.
But notice that the part of it is that the people have become cruel.
Verse 4, the tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst.
The children beg for food, but no one gives to them.
In fact, part of the way that you see the deep cruelty of the people and the self-centeredness of the people
is the way they handle the most weak and the most vulnerable, the way they handle children.
Verse 5, those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the street.
Those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.
And the significance of purple is in the ancient world when this was written,
only the very rich could afford things which were dyed in the color purple.
And so it's, that's the sign, it's just one of those little type of images that archaeologists and anthropologists,
et cetera, now know.
So that's the imagery there of those who were brought up in very, very, very poor places are now also,
I mean, rich places are now reduced to great poverty.
Verse 6, and here there's a bit of a, if you have a good Bible,
you'll notice a little note with two of the words, and I'll explain the significance of it for you.
The chest, for this chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom,
which was overthrown in a moment and no hands were wrung for her.
And the word chastisement, it's one of just things in the original language,
the word chastisement can also mean evil or sin or iniquity.
And the word punishment can also mean evil or sin or iniquity.
And so what the thing is that the author is doing, it's a very, very clever thing.
Just as in English, we have ways, usually it's used with sexual things and jokes,
double entendres where they're making a comment on one level and others understand
that it's probably making a reference to another level.
Often in children's movies, not that they'll have these sexual entendres,
but there'll be some joke that kids will laugh at.
But there's another sense of the words that the adults will get, and they'll also laugh at that.
And that's what's going on here, but not in a way to make a joke,
is that there's this connection between both the punishment, the sin or the evil that the people have done,
and the punishment that the people have received.
And for the writers, Sodom is the example of the worst possible city.
Not just in sexual matters, which I'm not going to get into in this sermon.
You can look at some of my other sermons on that.
In fact, I think one of my sermons in Colossians, I dealt with it just recently.
But it's also in terms of how the bloodthirtiness, if you look at other texts,
it's also to do with the cruelty of the people, the way they treated the weak and the helpless,
the sheer lust for power and conquest, which was of such an evil matter that the city was destroyed by God.
And so we see here, look at verse 6 again.
By the way, this isn't an anti-Semitic text, because it's a part of our Jewish friends call this the Torah or the Tanakh,
and we Christians call it the Old Testament, and the poet is Jewish.
And so it's part of the Jewish scriptures.
So this isn't an anti-Semitic text, if you're sort of puzzled by it.
Verse 7 again.
Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk.
Their bodies were more ruddy than coral.
The beauty of their form was like sapphire.
Now their face is blacker than soot.
If you've ever been to Israel and you've been there in the sunny weather,
it's picturing people who have no shade.
And because they're reduced to living under the elements,
their skin has just become unbelievably darkened and blackened from the sun.
And of course, with the starvation and the lack of being able to wash, that's befallen them.
Now their face is blacker than soot.
They are not recognized in the streets.
Their skin has shriveled on their bones.
It has become as dry as wood.
Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger who wasted away,
pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.
The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children.
They became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Now that's just a horrific image.
And it's a horrific image which could come from the news.
Although I think even news outlets, if that happens in different places of the world,
they probably wouldn't show it.
It would be too horrific for the news.
It might even be too horrific for YouTube and social media.
And you can see how reading these first 10 verses,
it sounds more like something that's been written to provide evidence against the Lord's existence.
But you have to think about this most horrific detail is also the most telling.
Because you have to ask yourself,
who or what caused that woman to kill her own child to eat it?
It's very clear within the text that the Lord didn't do that.
In fact, as we're going to see as the text goes on,
one of the things which actually makes it very, very hard for post-modern and modern
or post-truth people like us to get our minds around the Bible,
is the Bible is actually,
even when it talks about the sovereignty of God,
which the Book of Lamentations does,
there is no system of thought,
no spirituality,
no religion
that so maintains the importance
and the centrality of human freedom
as the scriptures.
And while it's clear
that the destruction of the nation
is part of God's judgment,
which we're going to look at in the next few verses,
God doesn't
sort of just overwhelm
random women
and while they kick and struggle
and resist against God
forces them to do something horrific and evil.
These women chose that.
And earlier,
the cruelty towards children
were chosen by the people.
I can tell you this right now,
and I'm not going to use myself as an example
because that would be self-righteous.
I can tell you this right now about my wife, Louise.
There is absolutely no way
in a gazillion, billion, hundred million years,
even at the threat of the greatest torture,
that she would do something like this.
Like, absolutely no way.
She would give every last bit of water,
every last bit of food
to care for her child
or her grandchild
or other people's children.
You see,
the judgment of God
also reveals.
And that becomes scary
because all of a sudden,
you see,
we've been looking at this text
as an indictment of God.
But if you understand
that this is talking about
what human beings do,
the cruelty
that we human beings can do,
you realize that all of a sudden,
it's inviting us
to have a searchlight look
at our own hearts
and the hearts of the human condition.
This woman's selfishness
and callousness
and evil,
these women,
and not just the women,
but the whole city.
Nobody,
no man,
nobody stepped in
to intervene.
And we all know
that human beings
are possible
of such great evil.
And some of us
might say,
well,
I would never do that.
And as I said,
my wife would never do that.
That's why we have to look
at this text and say,
whoa, whoa, whoa,
what's going on?
See,
the judgment of God
always reveals.
And when it reveals,
it reveals
to our great surprise
the wisdom of God.
and his mercy.
Because we're going to talk
at the end about hope
and how this text
all points
towards our need
for a very great deliverance.
But the Lord's judgment
reveals.
And if we look at our own hearts
and our own minds,
if we look at what we do
in our minds,
how we talk about
other people
at different times,
what we would do
to other people
in our own minds,
how maybe
if you're in a social group
at work
or curling club
or the golf club
or something like that
and how you deal
with the person
who's definitely
not cool,
not hip,
how you deal with that.
Maybe if you're
a whole pile of Canadians,
you find out
that somebody
would have voted
for Trump
and how you would
deal with them.
Or if you're a whole pile
of Trump supporters
and you found out
somebody who wanted
the tattoo
I love Hillary Clinton
on their bicep
and how you would
deal with them,
how we deal
with the weak
and the vulnerable,
what we do
in our own mind,
we have to acknowledge
the truth of the Bible
for all have sinned
and fall short
of the glory of God.
We have to acknowledge
that there's something
profoundly mysterious
about human beings
that at the beginning
of this,
when I say the text
compares human beings
as being like
precious gold
and precious
and holy stones
and we can all nod
and acknowledge
that there's something
true about that
but we also have
to acknowledge
that when we look
at it
that there's something
about human beings
that makes great
horrific evil
also equally possible
and how can we square
those two things?
Is a human being
like trying to,
is having a true,
good,
redeemed human being
like trying to have
a square circle?
How do we put
these two truths
together
and put these two truths
together in a way
that causes
and brings about
and is consistent
with hope
and not despair?
Well, the text
is going to go
deeper into this
whole thing.
In fact,
once again,
it's going to be
something that at first
it looks like an
indictment of the Lord
but actually reveals
something about
human beings.
Look at verse 11.
The next little
literary unit
in the text
and this is in
the original language
is verses 11 to 16
and because it's
an acrostic
the 22 verses
you realize
that this series
of examinations
of mysteries
and riddles
and paradoxes
and horrors
and glories
are all held
together at a
literary level
by being an
acrostic poem.
But look at
verses 11 to 16.
The Lord gave
full vent
to his wrath.
He poured out
his hot anger
and he kindled
the fire in Zion
that consumed
its foundations.
The kings of the earth
did not believe
nor any of the
inhabitants of the world
that foe or enemy
could enter the gates
of Jerusalem.
This was for the sins
of her prophets
and the iniquities
of her priests
who shed in the midst
of her
the blood
of the righteous.
They wandered blind.
This is now talking
about the prophets
and the priests.
They wandered blind
through the streets.
They were so defiled
with blood
that no one was able
to touch their garments.
Away, unclean,
people cried at them.
Away, away,
do not touch.
So they became
fugitives and wanderers.
People said
among the peoples
they shall no longer
with,
they shall stay
with us no longer.
The Lord himself
has scattered them.
He will regard
them no more.
No honor was shown
to the priests,
no favor
to the elders.
Now,
once again,
it's making it clear
that the judgment
upon the people
was something
that God does.
And here we have
to just,
I've mentioned this
before,
I'm just going to
mention it again
very briefly.
One of the things
that we don't realize
when we look
at the Christian God,
the triune God,
and when we look
at the scriptures,
is that often
people have
two different types
of complaints
about the triune God,
about Christianity.
And people rarely
stop to ask themselves
how they can hold
both criticisms
at the same time
because they can't.
They have to choose
and there's problems
with even choosing one.
On one hand,
one of the reasons
that the most common reason
for the last several
hundred years
why people wouldn't believe
in the God
described by Jesus,
the Trinity,
is that he doesn't,
he allows evil
to happen.
At the same time,
and I can tell you this
with very,
very great certainty
that two of the main reasons
why many people today
will also not believe
in the God of the Bible
is one that's teaching
on sexuality,
which we're not going
to look at today,
but also,
of course,
it's teaching in hell,
which is actually
the teaching of God's judgment.
So which one is it?
You don't believe in God
because he doesn't judge evil
or you don't believe in God
because he does judge evil?
You can't have both.
Like the incoherence
isn't in the Bible.
I don't mean to insult you,
but the incoherence
isn't in the Bible.
And you see,
here's this great mystery
the Bible would say
that the God that does exist
is perfectly good
and perfectly just
and perfectly merciful
and perfectly true.
And both justice
and evil hurts.
There's no way around it.
Both justice
and evil
causes hurt.
If I robbed a bank,
a series of banks,
or I was able to figure out
some way to embezzle
lots of money
or to do something else
which was quite wrong,
and the police capture me
and put me in handcuffs,
that would hurt.
They throw me in jail
and that would cause me
lots of hurt.
Do you think
I should be put in jail
because I've caused damage?
Because maybe I've beat somebody up
or killed somebody
or robbed a bank
or threatened people with guns?
Of course you would.
justice causes hurt.
Evil causes hurt.
The difference is,
and that's what we're going to see
as the poem continues,
is that in true justice,
and that's what we long for,
isn't it?
We might feel sometimes
very cynical
about the possibility of justice,
and it's actually
a very Christian idea.
If you go back,
one of the great profound works
which have shaped
how basically
the whole world,
almost the whole world thinks,
was a profound meditation
called The City of God
by St. Augustine,
Augustine,
1600 some odd years ago,
where he contrasts
the city of human beings
and the city of God,
and he makes very clear
that on this side of the grave
there's imperfect,
at best,
justice in the world,
and our deep longing
for something
where there is perfect justice
that's only going to actually
be satisfied ultimately
in the gospel,
the biblical gospel.
But what we see here
is if you understand
the profound difference
is that if there is true justice,
true justice will cause hurt
as part of punishment
for that which is truly evil.
But in true justice,
there is the mixture there
of mercy,
the hope that after the punishment
is inflicted,
that there will be
an amendment of life
and a restoration
and a mending of things,
and that the justice
and the hurt,
that there's something
ordered about it,
that it's the right amount,
not enough to dehumanize you
or to make it
that there can be
no mending or restoration,
but evil just loves to hurt.
Evil hurts until it's bored.
And what we see here
is justice.
This is going to become
a little bit more clear
even with the next bit,
which on one hand
just seems to be,
especially if you understand
what's going on,
is something which is
profoundly anti,
seems to be very,
very anti-Canadian
with our love of,
you know,
in a sense of pluralism
and boutique spiritualities.
I'm not saying that
as a put-down.
I'm not saying that
as a put-down.
I'm just trying to point out
that once you understand
the next bit,
it might be,
George,
you've made matters worse,
but it actually makes matters
clearer and better.
The next literary unit
is verses 17 to 20.
And it goes like this.
Now just sort of pause
because it's going to be
very, very important.
Our eyes failed
ever watching
vainly for help.
They were completely
and utterly committed.
They were coming
under the judgment of God.
They had been warned.
I talked about this
in other things,
is that it's not as if
one day God just sort of,
you know,
thought,
you know,
I'm in a bad mood.
I'm going to punish
these people.
In fact,
at a literary level,
one of the things
which is very fascinating
about this book
at a literary level
is the constant allusions
to what our Jewish friends
call the Torah Torah,
the first five books
of Moses.
But Leviticus
and Deuteronomy,
the constant literary references
and allusions
to the book of Jeremiah,
the book of Isaiah,
the book of Ezekiel,
and other parts
of the scripture,
the Psalms as well.
Constant allusions
to this,
and they're all allusions
to this warning
that the Lord has made,
that there is a day
of the Lord,
a day of judgment,
a warning of what God desires
and how God desires us
to live
in his offer
of covenant and mercy
and warning the people
that if they turn away
from this offer
of a covenant,
of a love relationship,
because that's in fact
what the constant warning is.
It's,
you see,
the book of Lamentations,
we're going to look at it again
in a moment,
I hope I remember to do it,
is that it's part
of a larger story.
And in this part
of a larger story,
the only way to understand
this larger story
is that it's a love story.
It's a love story
where the desire is
that at the end
that evil and injustice
and all
has been really dealt with.
Freedom has been respected,
but justice has been dealt with.
And there's a marriage,
and there's a party,
and there's a celebration.
And the marriage is between
human beings and God.
That's the end
of this overarching story
of which Lamentations
is just part
of this overarching story.
If you think of the Bible
like the way a lot of,
think of a very,
very good novel
called World War Z,
where you have
all these different
literary genres
all knit together
in one book.
It's regular now
for me to read books
where you have
in the same novel
both the narrative
which is going on,
but you might have
newspaper reports,
you might have interviews,
you might have
email correspondence,
all woven into
one overarching story.
And if you understand
that the book of Genesis
to the book of Revelation,
that from a Christian
understanding,
which we learn
from Jesus,
by the way,
we didn't make this up,
we learned it from Jesus.
He was the one
who told us
that there's this
overarching story
that God has written,
caused to be written,
that uses myth,
uses law,
uses poetry,
uses proverbs,
uses irony,
paradox,
history,
prophecy,
historical narrative,
philosophical argument,
and he's woven this,
all these different
literary genres together
into one overarching story
and at the heart of this,
it's a love story.
Like it's a true love story.
The overarching narrative
of the world
is a love story
that desires
to have you included in it.
And so if you go back here
to verse 17,
which I have to read
the 17 to 20,
our eyes failed
ever watching vainly
for help.
Vain,
the image of vain
is a perfect image
right now
in the original language.
It's actually vapor.
So actually,
if you go outside
and you can see your breath
and you can only see your breath
for the briefest of moment,
that's in a sense
the image
which is being used here.
They're looking for help
but it's,
what they get
is just,
it has the substance,
the solidity,
the helpfulness
of the breath
that you see
on a cold winter's day
which is no help at all.
That's not,
you can't build a house on that,
you can't build your life on it.
It lasts the briefest of seconds.
And they were completely
and utterly,
notice in our watching
we watched
in the original language
it just,
it's an intensification
of this,
it's showing that
no matter what starts
to happen to them,
no matter how the warnings
that God has given
for generations and generations
through all sorts
of different means,
through law
and through prophets
and through miracles,
through story,
through all of these things
that no matter
how strong they've been,
no matter how present
they've been,
what is their response
is not to go back
to the Lord
but to in fact
to be completely
and utterly committed
to looking everywhere else.
and the thing,
and here's the anti-Canadian,
not anti-Canadian,
it's just a challenge,
is it's not just
that they're looking,
you know,
it's not like in our days
we're trying to get
the United States
to come in and save us
or maybe Britain
to come in and save us
or Australia
or Belgium
or something like that
or Nigeria.
It's the nations,
in the ancient world
there's no distinction
between the gods
and the nation.
It's not just the people,
it's their gods.
They are looking
to every other
God-created nation.
God ruled,
God suffused,
God infested,
God grounded,
God permeated,
God and goddess
permeated people group.
They've been completely
and utterly committed
to finding it there
somewhere else.
And here's where,
before I read the rest
of the other verses,
here's the big question.
You see,
if you understand
that the living God
is actually inviting you
into a love relationship
with himself
that will go into
all eternity.
Well,
here's maybe a way
to get what the significance
of it is here.
This would be a question
for George.
I'm George,
if you've forgotten my name.
George,
would you rather
have Louise
and be poor
or lose Louise
and be rich?
maybe you're
in a troubled marriage
or in no marriage
and you can't relate
to that.
You have a little baby.
Would you rather
have that baby
and be poor
or lose the baby
and be rich?
Now,
if you even think
about that,
that says something
very,
if you even pause
for an instant
to question it
or wonder about it,
that shows
something
about your heart.
And what's going
to happen
throughout these laments?
You see,
lament is a way
of expressing pain
and incoherence
and sorrow
and questions
to the living God
in a way
that ends up
restoring relationship.
And that's what's happening
in the book
of Lamentations.
It's going to happen
at the end.
Imagine,
you know,
a couple
and you're on the couch
and one of you
gets this question
and you think yourself,
you know,
Bob is on the couch
and Sue's beside him
and Bob thinks,
well,
you know,
maybe I would choose
riches
if I had to,
you know,
if there's a choice
between Sue
and riches,
I would choose riches.
And Sue's thinking,
oh,
I would never choose riches.
I would choose Bob.
And afterwards,
you get talking
and Bob says,
well,
actually,
I think I would choose riches.
Do you think Bob
would come under judgment
from Sue?
Not just for a moment,
but for a long time?
And whose side
would you be on?
Nobody is going to be
on Bob's side.
You're all going to be
on Sue's side.
Listen to this.
Our eyes failed,
ever watching vainly
for help.
In our watching,
we watch for a nation,
and a God who could not save.
That's why it's vapor.
In fact,
the nations dogged our steps
so that we could not walk
in our streets.
Our end drew near.
Our days were numbered
for our end had come.
Our pursuers were swifter
than the eagles
in the heavens.
They chased us
on the mountains.
They laid in wait
for us in the wildernesses.
The breath of our nostrils,
the Lord's anointed,
was captured in their pits
of whom we said,
under his shadow,
we shall live among the nations.
And he was pursuing
other gods.
See,
you begin with this poem
of great horror,
and it takes us
into unexpected places,
doesn't it?
That if you don't just
read it shallowly
and dismiss it,
thinking,
yeah, yeah,
check off a box,
more reasons to dislike
the triune God,
but actually start to realize
it's saying something
very profound
about what it means
to be a human being
and the nature of reality.
And this comes out
at the end
with the final literary unit,
which is verses 21 and 22.
And the first part
of verse 21,
it's not as obvious
in English,
but it's irony.
Okay,
it's irony.
You know,
it's as if you say
to your best friend
who thinks
that it's a really smart way
of dealing with
their problems
to drink a 2-4
and go driving
or drink a 2-4
and play with a loaded gun.
And you give up on them.
Say,
yeah,
sure,
go ahead.
That's going to work
real well.
Okay,
you have to understand
that's what's going on here
with the first little part of it.
Rejoice and be glad,
O daughter of Edom,
who dwell,
and you who dwell
in the land of Uz,
but to you also
the cup shall pass.
Now it's not irony.
And by the way,
Edom is a,
it's a,
see,
one of the things
that God,
I believe that God
designed the Bible
to,
it's God's word written,
but it's designed
to be read in company
with others,
where there are people
who are called
by the congregation,
recognized as being called
by God to study.
So one of the things
about Edom is,
Edom is in a sense,
a symbol all the way
through the Old Testament,
what our Jewish friends
call the Tanakh.
It's those who hate
those who belong to God,
who want to belong to God.
The Edom is like a symbol.
It's like one of those
50s westerns
where you have the black hats
and the white hats.
You know,
the black hats are the bad guys.
We see Edom generally
in the Old Testament.
It's a,
not just describing
a people group,
it's a symbolic word as well.
It's a black hat.
It's,
it's in a sense,
like if we say Wall Street,
and Wall Street
isn't just mean a street.
We know that it means
capitalism,
it means big business,
it means finance,
it means all these other things,
and that's the same thing here
captured by Edom.
Okay,
the nations.
Now,
this is the end.
This is,
this is where we actually see
something like hope
emerging at the end
of these reflections.
It's not the full hope
that it,
anyway,
let's read it again.
Rejoice and be glad,
O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell in the land of Uz.
Now the irony ends.
But to you also
the cup shall pass.
You shall become drunk
and strip yourself bare.
The cup is an image
of God's judgment.
You know,
I've shared this before
in other contexts.
Those of you who really
love fantasy movies,
this is,
you have the type of image.
And you,
you know,
if you watch fantasy movies,
you might see
somebody trying to capture
all of the power of demons
or all of the power of evil
in it.
And,
and the,
the magician or whatever,
the evil magician
has this power
that all of the evil,
all the demons,
it becomes usually
something black
and terrible
and they're able
to put it in,
into some cup
that can be drunk.
And that,
that's the image
which is coming here.
By the way,
it's,
it's an image
and this is going to be
really important
in a moment
because it's the image
if you go to the Gospels
and read
that one of the images
that Jesus uses
just before his death
is whether he will
drink the cup.
It's a case
where Jesus' prayer,
God says no
to Jesus' prayer.
Jesus says,
Father,
if it is possible,
take this cup
far from me.
And we know
that that does not happen.
God does not say yes
to Jesus' prayer.
God says no
to Jesus' prayer.
And how you understand
the crucifixion
is that in Jesus' death
upon the cross,
he is drinking
this cup
of the evil
of the world.
He is consuming it
and being consumed
by it,
the innocent one.
None of the substance
of that cup
comes from him.
It all comes
from you
and me.
And it is
that cup
that he drinks
because for you
and me
to drink that cup,
the punishment
that befalls
Israel
depicted in this book
would not be
it's too light.
Rejoice
and be glad.
Verse 21,
O daughter of Edom,
you who dwell
in the land of Uz,
but you also
the cup shall pass.
You shall become drunk
and strip yourself bare.
In other words,
completely ashamed,
unmade.
The punishment
of your iniquity,
O daughter of Zion,
is accomplished.
He will keep you
in exile no longer,
but your iniquity,
O daughter of Edom,
he will punish,
he will uncover
your sins.
It's the dawn of hope
to understand
they're making
this historical claim
that part of the punishment
that God is visiting
upon them,
remember I said
just punishment
has an end
with the hope
of amendment,
that that's coming
to the end,
but it's a recognition
that the people
who have destroyed
Israel,
have destroyed the people,
have caused that thing,
they did that
of their own free will.
It was both something
that God,
in a sense,
did,
but they did it
of their own free will.
We might talk about
this a little bit
in the next talk,
but it's of their own
free will,
and that punishment
will fall upon them.
But there's two or three
final things here,
I know my time,
and I need to draw
it to a close.
The first thing here
is this line,
in verse 22,
the punishment
of your iniquity,
O daughter of Zion,
is accomplished.
What does Jesus say
on the cross?
It's either the last
or the second last
very words that he speaks.
It is,
it is finished.
In Greek,
it is,
also can be translated
as,
it is accomplished.
You see,
this story
is preparing you
for this
great,
true and greater
judgment,
and true
and greater
punishment,
and true
and greater
salvation
for punishment
that is going
to come.
You see,
the book
sets before you
riddles.
It's depicted
how on earth
is it,
how deeply evil
that human beings
can be.
It's pointed an image
to how deeply evil
we can be,
yet at the same time
it points to this fact
that there's something
deeply precious
about us,
and it points to the fact
that justice means
that harm has to be done.
But how can,
how can this happen?
How can God
do justice
at the same time
rescuing people
who are precious
and yet properly
dealing with evil?
And how can he do that
when there are still
people doing this
to their children
and are still doing
things which are evil?
Because you see,
the fact of the matter
is,
it could have been,
this isn't,
Christians aren't ones,
at least not a well-instructed
Christian,
never say that we sort
of have arrived,
that we're the elite,
that we don't do those
things,
that we're better than others.
No!
Mel Gibson,
I'm sure,
is a very,
very,
very bad man,
but he did one thing
which was very,
very deeply Christian,
is that when he filmed
that movie,
The Passion of the Christ,
there's only one time
he appears in the movie
and it's not known
unless you read
some of the other notes
about it.
And the one place
he appears
is that when you see
in that movie,
The Passion of the Christ,
Jesus being nailed
to the cross,
those are Mel Gibson's hands
nailing Jesus
to the cross
and every Christian
should say,
it could have been
my hands
that nailed Jesus
to the cross.
But God does not
weigh my merits,
he pardons my offenses.
And this is pointing
to a true and greater thing
and a true and just as this
judgment happens in history,
this mighty thing
that God does
happens in history,
it happens in real life,
that's why what Jesus
does on the cross,
he who is blameless
and perfect,
he who contributes
nothing to the cup
of God's wrath,
he drinks this cup
of God's wrath
and while he's,
just as before he dies,
he says it is accomplished,
the judgment
that you deserve
falls on him,
the judgment
that I deserve
falls on him
and the relationship
with God
that I don't,
that he deserved
but I don't
is offered to me
because he dies
in my place
as my substitute,
as my sacrifice.
You see,
it's pointing
to a true
and greater sacrifice,
a true
and greater grace,
a true
and greater justice,
a true
and greater mercy,
that as you begin
to understand it,
you recognize
that it's true
as true
as the deepest beauty,
true as the truth
of the best music,
true as the best math,
true as the best history,
true as the best thing
that happened
in the real world,
true as happens
in the best emotional truth,
that it's true
in the deepest way
that satisfies
our longings
and our yearnings
and it points
to that great end.
There's one other thing
just really in closing
for those of us
who are in Christ
that I hope you get
from watching all of this,
from reading this book.
Some of you,
lovers of Jesus,
are in the midst
of ruins
and one of the things
which is so powerful
about this book
is you have this
high point
of the steadfast love
of the Lord
never faileth,
his mercies
never come to an end,
they are new
every morning.
Like,
it comes in the middle
but afterwards
you're sort of
expecting that
there won't be any pain
or anything like that
but we all know
that pain just doesn't
go away quickly
and this whole thing
of lamentations
is there's this
in the heart-filled pain
has this seed of hope
that somehow
God will accomplish
this dealing
with iniquity
and they could only
hope that it would happen.
We now know
that it happened
but we get this
profound invitation
that when you understand
that Jesus has died
for you,
that he has dealt
with all that separates
from you,
from God,
that when you put
your faith in him
you become his child
by adoption of grace
you have the freedom
and permission
when in the midst
of your ruins
in the midst
of your pain
to express your pain
to him,
to point out
the ruins of your life,
to pour out
your heart to him.
You don't have to wait
until you've accomplished
some type of
dealing with your emotions
or some type
of spiritual breakthrough
or some type
of great peace.
You can pour out
your heart,
pour out your incoherence.
He's not waiting
for you to be coherent,
he's just waiting
for you to talk
to him.
That his grace
will start
to shape your pain.
You see,
one of the things
about the text,
if the acrostic
in chapter 1
and chapter 2,
acrostic on steroids
in chapter 3,
in chapter 4
the acrostics
are one-third less
and by the end,
which is a final prayer,
the acrostic structure
is broken down.
Pain doesn't just
go away right away.
You can pour out
your heart
to Jesus.
Friends,
if we're going
to close in prayer,
I just want to put
out an invitation.
If you're curious
to know more
about the way of Jesus,
give us a call.
We'd love to connect you
with them by email.
We'd love to connect you
with somebody
who'd like to talk about it.
There's Bible study groups
where you can ask
your honest questions.
We're going to be
actually organizing
something very soon
called Christianity Explored,
hopefully within
the next couple of weeks
where once again
you can bring
your honest questions
and meet with others.
And if this has
touched your heart,
there's no better time now
than to call out
to Jesus and say,
Jesus,
I need someone
who understands
the mystery
and the paradox
of what it means
to be human
and that in the truth
of history
and the truth
of poetry
and the truth
of beauty
has actually solved
the longings
and the answers
and the puzzles
and the inescapable things
about my life
and heart
to make me right
with you.
No better time now
than just to call out
to him
and ask him
to be your Savior
and your Lord.
Tell somebody
you've done it as well.
Let's just close
this time with prayer.
Father,
we ask that the Holy Spirit
would bring this word
of yours
deep into our heart,
these truths
deep into our heart,
that you would both
humble us
but create within us
a deep longing
and yearning
to know more of Jesus,
to know more of you,
Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit,
three persons,
one God,
forever and ever.
And all God's people said,
Amen.