We have come to the final
words written by Jeremiah in the book of Lamentations. We have seen
his anguish over the conditions in the nation of Judah and in
particular the city of Jerusalem after the Babylonians overtook and
desolated them because of their rebellion against the Lord. In
chapter five and verse twenty-two, Jeremiah makes a final conclusion
concerning the judgment that has fallen upon them. He wrote:
But
you have utterly rejected us; you are very wroth against us.
The
verse begins, “But
you have utterly rejected us;” Once
again we note the “But”
at
the beginning of a scripture, and we have learned that the word “but”
is a disassociation conjunction which means that whatever is stated
after the word “but” usually has greater significance than what
was said before it. In this case Jeremiah was praying for the Lord to
“turn” unto
them, and his promise was that the people would “turn”
unto Him. However, Jeremiah concluded, “you
have utterly rejected us” which
in the Hebrew is “ma'ac
ma'ac”
and means “to
reject, despise, refuse”. In other words the rejection of the
people of Judah and Jerusalem according to Jeremiah's assessment was
worth repeating the word twice which is like “rejected, rejected”.
The
verse goes on to say, “you
are very wroth against us.” In
addition to being
“rejected, rejected”,
Jeremiah adds that the Lord is “very
wroth”
or “to be displeased, be angry, fret oneself, to be
full of wrath, to be furious, provoked to wrath or anger, put oneself
in a rage or anger oneself”. Notice that Jeremiah gives the
direction of the Lord's wrath, “against us”. It is one
thing for God to be angry, but when His anger is poured out upon a
people, there is no hope for them at all.
As though the book of
Lamentations hasn't been hard enough, Jeremiah ended it with a very
uncomfortable statement. We may wonder what it is like to face the
“utter rejection” and “great wrath” of God? We, hopefully,
will never know God's rejection and wrath because we have received
Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. In the gospel of John in chapter
three and verse thirty-six John recorded these words of Jesus:
He that believes on the
Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not
see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.
What
Jesus declared was that God's wrath “abides” upon the
person who does not believe in Him, and although Jesus took the wrath
of God upon Himself when He died upon the cross for our sins, the
person who “rejects” God's Savior Jesus will indeed be
rejected and the wrath of God “abides on him”. The most
appealing part of the book of Lamentations has been to see the
repeated pleading of God to the people of Judah and Jerusalem to turn
unto Him, but they would not. Finally, judgment fell, and they
endured the effects of it. The Bible declares, “Today is the day
of Salvation”, and before we wear the label of those who were
rejected by God and His wrath poured upon them, let us turn to the
Lord Jesus, ask Him to forgive us of our sins, and receive Him into
our lives as our substituted sacrifice for our rebellion against God.
May God's grace lead us to receive Him before it is too late.
Next
time we will leave lamenting and talk about joy as we begin a new
book named “Philippians”, so read ahead, and we shall join
together then.
Until
tomorrow...there is more...
Look
for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From
Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be
Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the
Mount” in all major bookstore sites, www.amazon.com ;
www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at
www.mrzlc.com/bookstore
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