Day 13: The Greatness of God’s Faithfulness

Lamentations 3:19-27 :

Remember my affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the bitterness.
My soul still remembers them,
and is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind;
therefore I have hope.

It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed,
because his mercies don’t fail.
They are new every morning.
Great is your faithfulness.
“Yahweh is my portion,” says my soul.
“Therefore I will hope in him.”

Yahweh is good to those who wait for him,
to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that a man should hope
and quietly wait for the salvation of Yahweh.
It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.

If you are still breathing, there is hope for you. That’s the wonderful thing about Hell on earth. As long as we are still alive, we can hope in God because God has clearly promised that anyone who calls on Him will be saved. Those who die in their sins will have no hope. At this point in our study, the sun rises on this lamentation. If I’m not mistaken, this is in the very center of all five lamentations. It would appear that the structure of the poetry points to this by placing it in a prominent place.

When we are weighed down in our sins, it’s important for us remember this: we still have hope. As Christians, we can never lose our hope because we have been given eternal life, not based on our good works, but on Christ. Our sin as Christians, no matter how horrible it is, still cannot keep us from our destiny. It may land us in jail. It could even mean that we must die, but it can’t keep us from our eternal hope. Those who are not Christians, still have hope too. If they haven’t died yet, they can use the breath that they are borrowing to cry out to God. God’s “mercies don’t fail. They are new every morning. Yahweh is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.”

The last paragraph, here, reminds us of the importance of waiting for God. Our salvation often isn’t immediate. I sometimes wonder why, but I believe that one reason may be that it causes us to value it more. In the last statement, it says: “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.” The best time to get punished is when you are still young and have enough time to live life the right way. It’s horrible to have wasted your whole life in sin without an opportunity to live for God for very long. I’m so glad that my parents disciplined me as a youth. What an amazing opportunity it has been to live for God, but I also see areas where I wasted vast amounts of time. All of us fall short of the glory of God, but we know the way out. To God we all can say: “Great is your faithfulness.”

Day 203: Not Forsaken

Jeremiah 51:1-8

Yahweh says:
“Behold, I will raise up against Babylon,
and against those who dwell in Lebkamai, a destroying wind.
I will send to Babylon strangers, who will winnow her.
They will empty her land;
for in the day of trouble they will be against her all around.
Against him who bends, let the archer bend his bow,
also against him who lifts himself up in his coat of mail.
Don’t spare her young men!
Utterly destroy all her army!
They will fall down slain in the land of the Chaldeans,
and thrust through in her streets.
For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God,
by Yahweh of Armies;
though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.

“Flee out of the middle of Babylon!
Everyone save his own life!
Don’t be cut off in her iniquity,
for it is the time of Yahweh’s vengeance.
He will render to her a recompense.
Babylon has been a golden cup in Yahweh’s hand,
who made all the earth drunk.
The nations have drunk of her wine;
therefore the nations have gone mad.
Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed!
Wail for her!
Take balm for her pain.
Perhaps she may be healed.

When I read this passage, I remember the words that Jesus said:

Matthew 7:2

For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you.

In this prophesy, God tells us that Babylon was to receive arrows just as they gave them out. They were also to receive battle against those who wear coats of mail, have their young men cut down, and be attacked by people from far away. God was going to give back to them what they gave to His people Israel, but the most amazing thing I read here is what God said after that.

God said: “For Israel is not forsaken, nor Judah, by his God, by Yahweh of Armies; though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.” This may be the most clear and obvious passage that directly opposes replacement theology. That’s the belief that the Church replaces Israel and has now obtained all of her promises. The typical argument that I hear is that the Church has been given Israel’s promises because Israel was unfaithful to God. That argument is directly refuted here. God doesn’t give to Israel according to her deeds. God’s promise to be faithful to Israel does not depend on Israel’s performance. The reason that I bring this up over and over again, is because this is a Gospel issue. If God’s faithfulness depended on man’s performance, then salvation is based on man. The true and only Gospel teaches us that it is not by man’s performance at all, but by God’s faithfulness alone that we are saved.

The last few verses here should sound pretty familiar. That’s because something very similar is written again in the last book of the Bible. Many prophesies in the Bible have an immediate application as well as a future one. A surprising fact about the Bible is that Babylon is one of the biggest subjects. For a city that doesn’t even exist today, that’s kind of peculiar. Obviously, the old city of Babylon was destroyed many years ago, but what that nation started in the world is still alive and well. Babylon loved idols and was proud against God and it was eventually destroyed. It stands as a symbol of what is about to happen to all who have followed her ways.