Lamentations - A cry for God - Which Kingdom will you serve?

Israel are a nation that has been taken over by the Babylonians and as a result are living in an occupied city. Instead of staying true to the Godly heritage, they have forsaken (2:1) God and have followed the ways of the occupiers – resulting in God forsaking them! We live in a post Christian nation, a nation where we have seen revivals and the rapid growth of Gods church followed by its decline. We are a people that has put its comfort and personal splendour ahead of its devotion of God. We live in a Godless nation. God’s people lived in the same state – they were to all accounts a Godless nation.

Jeremiah speaks into this situation and writes in Lamentations of the process of Jerusalems destruction.

Around 150 years before Jeremiah and the Babylonian destruction of Gods people, comes another prophet, Isaiah speaking to the people of God about an imminent invasion by this time the Assyrians but also of a ruler of the nation unlike any other.  Read Isaiah 9:6-7

In Jeremiahs day, the people were looking for a perfect earthly kingdom and they never found it - as individuals and as a nation, we look to another earthly kingdom to satisfy and rule over us instead of a new true and better kingdom – and we always side with the occupiers – with the earthly kingdom.

Isaiah 61 paints this new heavenly kingdom in contrast to the earthly kingdom of Jerusalem and the UK.
Isaiah 61:1 and Lamentations 2:2,4,9,21:
Lamentations paints a picture of destruction and removing of the status, wealth and power of the earthly Kingdom.  Isaiah speaks of a new kingdom that brings freedom and release for all those in bondage to the earthly kingdoms.

Isaiah 61:2 and Lamentations 2:3,7,11,17,21
God is a God who demands justice.  The new king of the new kingdom makes a way for those who come in to receive the full favour of God because he has satisfied the full vengeance of God toward them, toward us. For God to be a God of love means he has to be fair.  To be fair means he has to treat us, as our sins deserve – which means we all deserve to die.  The new king takes our death, conquers it and allows us to receive the favour of the Lord.

All of this is given in the new Kingdom – why?

Isaiah 61:3 and Lamentations 2:1
So they will be called Oaks of righteousness- a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendour – the reverse of what is happening in Lamentations!  Not living for God only ended in destruction for Gods people in 586BC as Jeremiah prophesied.  But Jesus stands as the new King so we will not be destroyed.  Jesus begins his ministry by defining himself as the new king prophesied in Isaiah and so desperately needed in Lamentations.  Read Luke 4:16-21

Lamentation teaches us that there is no answer to the immediacy of disaster – and our prayers should reflect that – for we are not immune to pain and suffering – But that life in the new Kingdom, according to Isaiah gives us hope and safety during those times.  Our strength in dark times comes from the new king and his kingdom - in Christ and the kingdom of God.

How are you finding the book of Lamentations (truthfully)?
What earthly Kingdom do you follow (money, sex, power etc)?
How do you follow the new Kingdom?
In what ways does your mission group display the splendour of the Lord?
Do you live in the reality that Christ received all the wrath of God destined for you?

Image Creative Commons Copyright: Jeremia.