598.) Philippians 3

Philippians 3 (New International Version)

No Confidence in the Flesh

¹ Further, my brothers and sisters, REJOICE in the Lord! It is no trouble for me to write the same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you. ² Watch out for those dogs, those evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh. ³ For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh— ⁴though I myself have reasons for such confidence.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵ circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

Paul first lists four things that were his possessions by birth.

• Paul was circumcised the eighth day in accordance with Leviticus 12:3.

• Paul was of the stock of Israel, a descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and an heir to God’s covenant with them.

• Paul was of the tribe of Benjamin, a distinguished tribe. Benjamin was distinguished by the fact that it gave Israel her first king, Saul (1 Samuel 9:1-2). It was the tribe that aligned itself with faithful Judah when Israel divided into two nations at the time of Rehoboam (1 Kings 12:21). It was also the tribe that had Jerusalem in its boundaries (Judges 1:21).

• Paul was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. This contrasts him with the Jews who embraced Greek culture as it spread through the Mediterranean. In that time, many Jews became ashamed of their Jewishness and tried to live and act as much like Greeks as they could, sometimes even to the point of having their circumcision cosmetically restored or hidden so they could enjoy the Roman public baths without being noticed as Jews.

Paul lists three things that were his by personal choice and conviction.

• Concerning the law, a Pharisee:  This tells us that among an elite people (the Jews), he was of an elite sect (the Pharisees), who were noted for their scrupulous devotion to the law of God.  “There were not very many Pharisees, never more than six thousand, but they were the spiritual athletes of Judaism.  Their very name means The Separated Ones.  They had separated themselves off from all common life and from all common tasks in order to make it the one aim of their lives to keep every smallest detail of the Law” (Barclay).  The concern that Pharisees had for keeping the law is reflected in passages like Matthew 23:23.

• Concerning zeal, persecuting the church:  Paul was not merely an intellectual opponent of perceived heresies, he was an active fighter against them – even in his blindness to God.  Paul’s observation that the Jews of his day have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge (Romans 10:2) was of course true of his own life before God confronted him on the road to Damascus.

• Concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless:  This shows that Paul achieved the standard of righteousness which was accepted among the men of his day – though this standard fell short of God’s holy standard.  By man’s interpretation of the law, there were those who were deceived into thinking that they really were blameless, like the rich young ruler (Luke 18:18-23).

In summary, if anyone could lay claim to pleasing God by law-keeping and the works of the flesh, it was Paul.  He was far more qualified than his legalizing opponents were to make such a claim.

–David Guzik

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⁷ But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. ¹⁰ I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.

from Whispers of His Power,
by Amy Carmichael

. . . but I press on . . .

We live too hurried lives, sometimes; talk too much; think too little.  With the goal in view am I racing on is one version of verse 14.

I am pressing on — that was Paul’s word.  Is it ours?  For what has our Lord laid hold of us?  Are we laying hold of that?  Or are we content to live the ordinary life?

Let us press on through all hindering things, distracting thoughts, unworthy feeling.  Let us press on through all feelings of sloth or discouragement or fear, to the place where our God can speak to us in the stillness, and hold us close to His heart.

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¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Following Paul’s Example

¹⁵ All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. ¹⁶Only let us live up to what we have already attained.

¹⁷ Join together in following my example, brothers and sisters, and just as you have us as a model, keep your eyes on those who live as we do. ¹⁸ For, as I have often told you before and now tell you again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. ¹⁹ Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. ²⁰ But our citizenship is in heaven.

Cartoonist Arthur Brisbane once pictured a crowd of grieving caterpillars carrying the corpse of a cocoon to its final resting place. The poor, distressed caterpillars, clad in black raiment, were weeping, and all the while the beautiful butterfly fluttered happily above the muck and the mire of Earth, forever freed from its earthly shell.  Needless to say, Brisbane had the average funeral in mind and sought to convey the idea that when our loved ones pass, it is foolish to remember only the cocoon and concentrate our attention on the remains, while forgetting the bright butterfly.

Dr. Werner von Braun, well-known for his part in pioneering the U.S. space program, said that he had “essentially scientific” reasons for believing in life after death. He explained: “Science has found that nothing can disappear without a trace. Nature does not know extinction. All it knows is transformation. If God applies the fundamental principle to the most minute and insignificant parts of the universe, doesn’t it make sense to assume that He applies it to the masterpiece of His creation — the human soul? I think it does.”

The English scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) is considered to have been one of the greatest experimental physicists.  When Faraday was questioned on his speculations of a life after death, he replied:  “Speculations?  I know nothing about speculations.  I’m resting on certainties.  I know that my Redeemer lives, and because He lives, I shall live also.”

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And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, ²¹ who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.

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Music:

Verse 10:  I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings . . .

“I Want to Know You”  by Sonic Flood.  Bet it will make you tap your foot!

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New International Version (NIV)   Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Philippians 3:8.    http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ldy2atP1fS1qcgzw1o1_500.jpg

4.    http://ohshouse.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/12427969621529811764number_4_in_red_rounded_square-svg-hi.png

3.    http://www.superhifive.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/600px-MA_Route_3.svg_.png

Philippians 3:14.    http://www.theiemommy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/philippians3_14.jpg

citizenship in heaven.    http://www.edmarbella.com/SafelyHome/images/CitizenshipHeaven.jpg

597.) Philippians 2

The Face of Christ -- detail from the Crucifixion from the Isenheim Altarpiece, c. 1512-16

Philippians 2 (New International Version)

Imitating Christ’s Humility

¹ Therefore

“Therefore” points back to what Paul has said in chapter 1, telling the Philippians how to stand strong for the Lord against external conflicts.  Now he tells them how to act against internal conflicts in the body of Christ.

if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,

“If there is any consolation in Christ”: Is there any consolation in Christ? Of course there is! Every Christian should know what it is to have Jesus console their soul.

• Luke 2:25 says that one of the titles for Jesus as the Messiah is the Consolation of Israel. Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 1:5, For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. In 2 Thessalonians 2:16, Paul says that God has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace. Of course there is consolation in Christ!

“If there is any . . . comfort of love”: Is there any comfort of love? Of course there is! Every Christian should know what it is to have Jesus give them the comfort of love.

• 2 Corinthians 1:3 says that God is the God of all comfort. There is no way He cannot comfort us and no circumstance beyond His comfort. But this is more than comfort; this is the comfort of love.

• The word comfort in this passage is the ancient Greek word paraklesis. The idea behind this word for comfort in the New Testament is always more than soothing sympathy. It has the idea of strengthening, of helping, of making strong. The idea behind this word is communicated by the Latin word for comfort (fortis, the same root as for “fortitude” and “fortress”), which also means “brave.” The love of God in our loves makes us strong and makes us brave. Of course there is comfort of love!

“If there is any . . . fellowship of the Spirit”: Is there any fellowship of the Spirit? Of course there is! Every Christian should know what it is to have the fellowship of the Spirit.

• Fellowship is the ancient Greek word kononia. It means the sharing of things in common. We share life with the Spirit of God that we never knew before. The Holy Spirit fills and guides and moves in our lives in a powerful and precious way. Of course there is fellowship of the Spirit!

“If there is any . . . affection and mercy”: Is there any affection and mercy? Of course there is! Every Christian knows something of the affection of God, and the mercy of God.

Paul mentions these things in a manner that suggests to us that they should all be obvious parts of the Christian’s experience. To make his rhetorical point, he could have just as easily said, “If water is wet, if fire is hot, if rocks are hard” and so forth.

Each of these gifts – consolation in Christ, comfort of love, fellowship of the Spirit, affection and mercy – are communicated to us both in a direct, spiritual way from Jesus, and from Jesus through His people. But there isn’t any doubt that these are real gifts for Christians to really experience.

–David Guzik

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² then make my JOY complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. ³ Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, ⁴not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

If I consider you above me, and you consider me above you, a wonderful thing happens:  We have a community where everyone is looked up to, and no one is looked down on!

Psalm 138:6 (English Standard Version)

For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
   but the haughty he knows from afar.

⁵ In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

⁶ Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
⁷ rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
⁸ And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!

Zechariah 9:9 (English Standard Version)

Behold, your king is coming to you;
   righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey.

⁹ Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
¹⁰ that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
¹¹ and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Isaiah 43:11 (English Standard Version)

I, I am the LORD,
   and besides me there is no savior.

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Music:

Chris Tomlin and “Name of Jesus.”

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Do Everything Without Grumbling

¹² Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.

from This Day with the Master,
by Dennis F. Kinlaw

REMEMBER THE FUTURE

In Philippians 2:12-13 Paul tells the people in Philippi to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, for “it is God who works in you.”  He never indicates that God will work redemptively in our lives in spite of us.  God wants to work with us for our future, transforming us into the people he desires us to be.

Do you ever feel uneasy about the future?  One of the best antidotes for that uneasiness is to look back upon the past and see the miracles of God’s prevenient grace:  how he worked in your life even before he brought you to himself.  It helps to consider how many strings he pulled and what power he used to bring us to the place where we found Christ.  Notice his providential, sovereign hand on you since that day, and remember that God’s will toward you has not changed.  His will toward you is just as good today as it was yesterday, as good as it was when you were a sinner who did not know him and he was lovingly working to bring you to himself.  And he will continue to work and bring you to ultimate, final, and full salvation.

That is why Paul can joyously look at circumstances that seem negative.  When he is in prison (Phil. 1:7) and when he is in need of financial support (Phil. 4:12), he can rejoice.  He knows what the will of the One who is sovereign over all is toward him.  It is good, and it will not change.  How appropriate to work with that will.

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¹⁴ Do everything without grumbling or arguing, ¹⁵ so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky ¹⁶ as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain. ¹⁷ But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am GLAD AND REJOICE with all of you. ¹⁸ So you too should BE GLAD AND REJOICE with me.

Timothy and Epaphroditus

¹⁹ I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, that I also may be cheered when I receive news about you. ²⁰ I have no one else like him, who will show genuine concern for your welfare. ²¹ For everyone looks out for their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. ²² But you know that Timothy has proved himself, because as a son with his father he has served with me in the work of the gospel. ²³ I hope, therefore, to send him as soon as I see how things go with me. ²⁴And I am confident in the Lord that I myself will come soon.

²⁵ But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, co-worker and fellow soldier,

“My brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier”: Paul gives these important titles to Epaphroditus. He was a man Paul valued as a partner in the work of ministry.  Brother speaks of a bond to be enjoyed; worker speaks of a job to be done; soldier speaks of a battle to be fought. It is precious and rare when God grants to us relationships which operate on each of these three levels.

–David Guzik

who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. ²⁶ For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. ²⁷ Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. ²⁸ Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when you see him again you may BE GLAD and I may have less anxiety. ²⁹ So then, welcome him in the Lord with great JOY, and honor people like him, ³⁰ because he almost died for the work of Christ. He risked his life to make up for the help you yourselves could not give me.

The ancient Greek phrase for not regarding his life uses a gambler’s word that meant to risk everything on the roll of the dice. Paul says that for the sake of Jesus Christ, Epaphroditus was willing to gamble everything.

In the days of the Early Church there was an association of men and women who called themselves the gamblers, taken from this same ancient Greek word. It was their aim to visit the prisoners and the sick, especially those who were ill with dangerous and infectious diseases. Often, when plague struck a city, the heathen threw the dead bodies into the streets and fled in terror. But the gamblers buried the dead and helped the sick the best they could, and so risked their lives to show the love of Jesus.

–David Guzik

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"Heart of Stone" by D. Goth

I think of how much Christ has done for me, and how often I am — oh, my hard heart! — reluctant to give my all for him.  For further meditation and encouragement to be a gambler for Christ, with a heart that is not made of stone — read my friend Sue Awes’ blog on the subject:  click HERE.

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New International Version (NIV)   Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

The Face of Christ.  http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mADCHMPfz5g/TaWhX4usOVI/AAAAAAAAAYU/t8DSx2aVbUI/s400/222497%257EThe-Face-of-Christ-Detail-from-the-Crucifixion-from-the-Isenheim-Altarpiece-circa-1512-16-Posters%255B1%255D.jpg

obedience of Christ.  http://www.tracts.com/slave5.gif

house of the future.   http://www.plan59.com/images/JPGs/styling_house_of_the_future_00.jpg

without arguing.    http://the160acrewoods.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/phillipians214.jpg

gambler.  http://righteousfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/god_gamblers_gal.jpg

Heart of Stone.  http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_cQTVudI20WI/TUmUAQI7twI/AAAAAAAAAKw/kZGf5hRHaHs/s1600/heartofstone3.jpg

596.) Philippians 1

Philippians 1 (New International Version)

¹ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,

To all God’s holy people in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:

The Apostle Paul wrote this letter to his close friends, the Christians in Philippi, likely from his Roman house arrest described at the end of Acts (Acts 28:30-31), waiting for his court appearance before Caesar (around the year 61).  Philippi was a wealthy town, thanks to nearby gold and silver mines and a large number of (retired military) Roman citizens.  The church in Philippi was founded by Paul some eleven years before this letter, on his second missionary journey (Acts 16:11-40). This was the first church established on the continent of Europe.

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² Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

³ I thank my God every time I remember you. ⁴ In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with JOY ⁵ because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, ⁶being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Ezekiel 16:60 (New Living Translation)

Yet I will remember the covenant I made with you when you were young, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.

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⁷ It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me. ⁸ God can testify how I long for all of you with the affection of Christ Jesus.

⁹ And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, ¹⁰ so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹ filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.

Deuteronomy 5:33 (English Standard Version)

You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

Paul’s Chains Advance the Gospel

Paul chained to a Roman guard.

¹² Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the gospel. ¹³ As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace guard and to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ. ¹⁴And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the Lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear.

from Experiencing God Day-by-Day,
by Henry T. Blackaby and Richard Blackaby

FURTHERING THE GOSPEL

There are two ways to look at every situation:  How it will affect you, and how it will affect God’s kingdom.  The apostle Paul was always concerned with how his circumstances might aid the spreading of the Gospel.  When he was unjustly imprisoned, he immediately looked to see how his imprisonment might provide God’s salvation to others (Phil. 1:13; Acts 16:19-34).  When he was assailed by an angry mob, he used the opportunity to preach the Gospel (Acts 22:1-22).  When Paul’s criminal proceedings took him before the king, his thoughts were on sharing his faith with the king (Acts 26:1-32)!  Even when Paul was shipwrecked on an island, he used that opportunity to share the Gospel there.  Regardless of his circumstance, Paul’s concern was how he could use his current situation to tell other of God’s good news of salvation.

Often when we encounter a new situation, our first thoughts are not about God’s kingdom.  When we face a crisis, we can become angry or fearful for our own well-being, rather than looking to see what God intends to do through our circumstances.  If we remain self-centered we will miss so much of what God could do through our experiences, both for us and for those around us.

Ask God to make you aware of how He could use your present circumstances to bless others  Perhaps someone around you needs to see the difference Christ’s presence makes in your life.  Are you willing for God to use your circumstances to demonstrate His saving power to those around you?

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¹⁵ It is true that some preach Christ out of envy and rivalry, but others out of goodwill. ¹⁶ The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. ¹⁷ The former preach Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing that they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains. ¹⁸ But what does it matter? The important thing is that in every way, whether from false motives or true, Christ is preached. And because of this I REJOICE.

Yes, and I will continue to REJOICE, ¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. ²⁰ I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²² If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³ I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; ²⁴ but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and JOY in the faith, ²⁶ so that through my being with you again your JOY in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.

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Music:

“For me to live is Christ, to die is gain.”

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Life Worthy of the Gospel

²⁷ Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel ²⁸ without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. ²⁹ For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, ³⁰ since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.

Matthew 5:11-12 (English Standard Version)

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

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New International Version (NIV)   Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica

Images courtesy of:

Be joyful.    http://www.sermoncentral.com/PowerPointImages/Philippians/Philippians1.jpg

map showing Philippi.    http://www.jesuswalk.com/philippians/images/philippi_map.gif

Philippians 1:6 with butterfly.    http://www.scriptureartonline.com/files/QuickSiteImages/Phillipians_1-6_Butterfly_email_size.jpg

Paul chained to Roman guard.    http://www.purifiedbyfaith.com/Ephesians/images/Paul%20chained%20to%20a%20Roman%20guard%20writing%20a%20letter-w-bkgnd.jpg

595.) Lamentations 5

Lamentations 5

(Contemporary English Version)

A Prayer for Mercy

I make it a point to avoid politics in this blog, but today’s “Prayer for Mercy” has me thinking about current events in the United States and around the world.  So much pain and sadness.  So much injustice.  So much evil.  So today, for each of the following 22 verses, would you please, Reader, supply the mental picture.  And would you please, Believer, pray to the Lord to have mercy on all these people and nations who are desperate for peace of body and soul. 

The People of Jerusalem Pray:

¹Our LORD, don’t forget

how we have suffered

and been disgraced.

²Foreigners and strangers

have taken our land

and our homes.

³We are like children

whose mothers

are widows.

⁴The water we drink

and the wood we burn

cost far too much.

⁵We are terribly mistreated;

we are worn out

and can find no rest.

⁶We had to surrender

to Egypt and Assyria

because we were hungry.

⁷Our ancestors sinned,

but they are dead,

and we are left

to pay for their sins.

⁸Slaves are now our rulers,

and there is no one

to set us free.

⁹We are in danger

from brutal desert tribes;

we must risk our lives

just to bring in our crops.

   ¹⁰Our skin is scorched

from fever and hunger.

¹¹On Zion and everywhere in Judah

our wives and daughters

are being raped.

¹²Our rulers are strung up

by their arms,

and our nation’s advisors

are treated shamefully.

¹³Young men are forced

to do the work of slaves;

boys must carry

heavy loads of wood.

¹⁴Our leaders are not allowed

to decide cases in court,

and young people

no longer play music.

¹⁵Our hearts are sad;

instead of dancing,

we mourn.

¹⁶Zion’s glory has disappeared!

And we are doomed

because of our sins.

¹⁷We feel sick all over

and can’t even see straight;

¹⁸our city is in ruins,

overrun by wild dogs.

¹⁹You will rule forever, LORD!

You are King for all time.

²⁰Why have you forgotten us for so long?

²¹Bring us back to you!

Give us a fresh start.

²²Or do you despise us

so much

that you don’t want us?

Lord, we commend all for whom we pray into your tender and merciful care, in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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Music:

“Breathe”  by Michael W. Smith — but the line I always remember (in my lamentations) is, “I’m desperate for you.”

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Contemporary English Version (CEV)   Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Lord have mercy.    http://www.stjohntacoma.org/images/blog_img/lord_have_mercy.jpg

594.) Lamentations 4

Jeremiah, by Michelangelo, 1511 (Sistine Chapel, Rome)

Lamentations 4

(Contemporary English Version)

The Punishment of Jerusalem

The Prophet Speaks:

¹The purest gold is ruined

and has lost its shine;

jewels from the temple

lie scattered in the streets.

²These are Zion’s people,

worth more than purest gold;

yet they are counted worthless

like dishes of clay.

³Even jackals nurse their young,

“The most common social unit of jackals is that of a monogamous pair which defends its territory from other pairs by vigorously chasing intruding rivals and marking landmarks around the territory.  The territory may be large enough to hold some young adults who stay with their parents until they establish their own territories.”

–Wikipedia

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but my people are like ostriches

that abandon their own.

⁴Babies are so thirsty

that their tongues are stuck

to the roof of the mouth.

Children go begging for food,

but no one gives them any.

Matthew 25:40 (New International Version)

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”

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⁵All who ate expensive foods

lie starving in the streets;

those who grew up in luxury

now sit on trash heaps.

⁶My nation was punished worse

than the people of Sodom,

whose city was destroyed in a flash

without the help of human hands.

   ⁷The leaders of Jerusalem

were purer than snow and whiter than milk;

their bodies were healthy and glowed like jewels.

   ⁸Now they are blacker than tar,

and no one recognizes them;

their skin clings to their bones

and is drier than firewood.

⁹Being killed with a sword is better

than slowly starving to death.

“I have three things I’d like to say today. First, while you were sleeping last night, 30,000 kids died of starvation or diseases related to malnutrition. Second, most of you don’t give a shit. Third, and what’s worse, you’re more upset with the fact that I said shit than the fact that 30,000 kids died last night.”

–evangelist Tony Campolo

_________________________

¹⁰Life in the city is so bad

that loving mothers

have boiled

and eaten their own children.

_________________________

Music:

Oh, the children!  The Baylor University Men’s Choir sings “The Prayer of the Children.”

Can you hear the prayer of the children
on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry
turning heavenward toward the light.

Crying, “Jesus, help me
to see the morning light of one more day,
but if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take.”

Can you feel the hearts of the children
aching for home, for something of their very own.
Reaching hands with nothing to hold onto
but hope for a better day, a better day.

Crying, “Jesus, help me
to feel the love again in my own land,
but if unknown roads lead away from home,
give me loving arms, away from harm.”

(oooooo la la la la)

Can you hear the voice of the children
softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
blood of the innocent on their hands.

Crying, “Jesus, help me
to feel the sun again upon my face?
For when darkness clears, I know you’re near,
bringing peace again.”

Dali čujete sve dječje molitve?

Can you hear the prayer of the children?

_________________________

¹¹The LORD was so fiercely angry

that he burned the city of Zion

to the ground.

¹²Not a king on this earth

or the people of any nation

believed enemies could break

through her gates.

The Huldah Gates (Second Temple period) are the two sets of now-blocked gates in the  Southern Wall of the Temple Mount, situated in Jerusalem’s Old City.  The western set is a double arched gate (the double gate), and the eastern is a triple arched gate (the triple gate). Each arch of the double gate led into an aisle of a passageway leading from the gate into the Mount, and to steps leading to the Mount’s surface; when the al-Aqsa Mosque was built, the old steps were blocked, and the eastern aisle lengthened so that new steps from its end would exit north of the Mosque. The triple gate is similar, though the longer aisle is to the west, and its third aisle, on the east, forms the western boundary of the vaulted area known as Solomon’s Stables.   

–Wikipedia

_________________________

¹³Jerusalem was punished because

her prophets and her priests

had sinned and caused the death

of innocent victims.

¹⁴Yes, her prophets and priests

were covered with blood;

no one would come near them,

as they wandered from street to street.

¹⁵Instead, everyone shouted,

“Go away! Don’t touch us!

You’re filthy and unfit

to belong to God’s people!”

So they had to leave

and become refugees.

Egyptian immigration official:

Listen. Let’s get this straight. These people have arrived on our doorstep –illegally. No papers, no money. No proof or record of persecution.  No one to back up their story. I see no reason to grant them refugee status. We are a decent, caring people, but we’ve been the good guys for too long. These people are just taking advantage of us. Send them back where they came from. We have no room for any more illegals in this country. We have enough rubbish in this country already. We don’t want any more.

(from the play –  Jesus Was Once a Refugee)

_________________________

But foreign nations told them,

“You can’t stay here!”

   ¹⁶The LORD is the one

who sent them scattering,

and he has forgotten them.

No respect or kindness will be shown

to the priests or leaders.

¹⁷Our eyes became weary,

hopelessly looking for help

from a nation that could not save us.

¹⁸Enemies hunted us down

on every public street.

Our time was up; our doom was near.

¹⁹They swooped down faster

than eagles from the sky.

Eagles soar down and then fly low at up to 75 miles per hour.  They usually snatch their prey with their feet (fish is their favorite).

_________________________

They hunted for us in the hills

and set traps to catch us out in the desert.

²⁰The LORD’s chosen leader was our hope for survival!

We thought he would keep us safe

somewhere among the nations,

but even he was caught in one of their traps.

²¹You people of Edom can celebrate now!

But your time will come to suffer

and stagger around naked.

²²The people of Zion have paid for their sins,

and the Lord will soon let them return home.

But, people of Edom,

you will be punished, and your sins exposed.

_________________________

Contemporary English Version (CEV)   Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Michelangelo.    http://www.oberlin.edu/images/636F.JPG

jackal family.    http://www.cuboimages.it/FOTO/thumbs/EYE_cubo/EYE00647.jpg

child begging in Thailand.    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EVX43AoP1Fc/Tf-ho9tOn4I/AAAAAAAADiY/HtY8hRxcY-0/s1600/child-begging-at-asok-station-display.jpg

malnutrition, child.    http://www.who.int/nutrition/pressnote_action_on_malnutrition_photo.jpg

Huldah Gates (Triple Gate).   http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Z5P1CjCDib4/SoGyKm74bfI/AAAAAAAAGlE/52nPbKnqelQ/s400/IMG_1731-1.JPG

Flight into Egypt.    http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2JSz5pcmYek/TV1sDTrTYTI/AAAAAAAAPJQ/5_pFIGvSiys/s1600/Egypt.jpg

eagle.    http://images.inmagine.com/400nwm/iris/stockconnection-024/ptg00125573.jpg

593.) Lamentations 3

"The sufferings of Jeremiah" etching by Marc Chagall, 1939.

Lamentations 3

(Contemporary English Version)

There Is Still Hope

The Prophet Speaks:

¹I have suffered much because God was angry.

²He chased me into a dark place, where no light could enter.

³I am the only one he punishes over and over again,

without ever stopping.

⁴God caused my skin and flesh to waste away,

and he crushed my bones.

⁵He attacked and surrounded me with hardships and trouble;

⁶he forced me to sit in the dark like someone long dead.

⁷God built a fence around me that I cannot climb over,

Job 19:8 (King James Version)

 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

_________________________

and he chained me down.

⁸Even when I shouted and prayed for help,

he refused to listen.

⁹God put big rocks in my way

and made me follow a crooked path.

¹⁰God was like a bear or a lion waiting in ambush for me;

¹¹he dragged me from the road, then tore me to shreds.

    ¹²God took careful aim and shot his arrows

¹³straight through my heart.

Job 6:4 (New Living Translation)

For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows.
      Their poison infects my spirit.
      God’s terrors are lined up against me.

_________________________

¹⁴I am a joke to everyone–

no one ever stops making fun of me.

¹⁵God has turned my life sour.

¹⁶He made me eat gravel and rubbed me in the dirt.

¹⁷I cannot find peace or remember happiness.

¹⁸I tell myself, “I am finished!

I can’t count on the LORD to do anything for me.”

¹⁹Just thinking of my troubles and my lonely wandering

makes me miserable.

²⁰That’s all I ever think about, and I am depressed.

_________________________

“Everything that is done in the world is done by hope.”
Martin Luther

_________________________

²¹Then I remember something

that fills me with hope.

²²The LORD’s kindness never fails!

If he had not been merciful,

we would have been destroyed.

   ²³The LORD can always be trusted

to show mercy each morning.

_________________________

Music:

Lamentations 3:22-23   (NIV)

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
   for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness.

Here is Fernando Ortega singing a lovely, and uncommon, version of the hymn “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”

_________________________

²⁴Deep in my heart I say,

“The LORD is all I need; I can depend on him!”

²⁵The LORD is kind to everyone who trusts and obeys him.

²⁶It is good to wait patiently for the LORD to save us.

²⁷When we are young, it is good to struggle hard

²⁸and to sit silently alone,

if this is what the LORD intends.

²⁹Being rubbed in the dirt can teach us a lesson;

   ³⁰we can also learn from insults and hard knocks.

³¹The Lord won’t always reject us!

³²He causes a lot of suffering,

but he also has pity because of his great love.

In his classic treatment of suffering, The Problem of Pain, C. S. Lewis wrote:

God whispers to us in our pleasures,
speaks in our conscience,
but shouts in our pain:
it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

Lewis argues that not only is it possible to find God when life is hard, but also it is in some sense easier than when life is good.

_________________________

³³The Lord doesn’t enjoy sending grief or pain.

³⁴Don’t trample prisoners under your feet

³⁵or cheat anyone out of what is rightfully theirs.

God Most High sees everything,

³⁶and he knows when you refuse

to give someone a fair trial.

³⁷No one can do anything

without the Lord’s approval.

³⁸Good and bad each happen

at the command of God Most High.

Psalm 33:11 (New Living Translation)

But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever;
      his intentions can never be shaken.

_________________________

³⁹We’re still alive!

We shouldn’t complain

when we are being punished for our sins.

⁴⁰Instead, we should think

about the way we are living,

and turn back to the LORD.

⁴¹When we lift our hands

in prayer to God in heaven,

we should offer him our hearts

and say, ⁴²“We’ve sinned!

We’ve rebelled against you,

and you haven’t forgiven us!

⁴³Anger is written all over you,

as you pursue and slaughter us

without showing pity.

⁴⁴You are behind a wall of clouds

that blocks out our prayers.

from My Utmost for His Highest,
by Oswald Chambers

GOD’S SILENCE — THEN WHAT?

When He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was —John 11:6

Has God trusted you with His silence — a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation. If God has given you a silence, then praise Him— He is bringing you into the mainstream of His purposes. The actual evidence of the answer in time is simply a matter of God’s sovereignty. Time is nothing to God. For a while you may have said, “I asked God to give me bread, but He gave me a stone instead” (see Matthew 7:9).  He did not give you a stone, and today you find that He gave you the “bread of life” (John 6:35).

A wonderful thing about God’s silence is that His stillness is contagious— it gets into you, causing you to become perfectly confident so that you can honestly say, “I know that God has heard me.” His silence is the very proof that He has. As long as you have the idea that God will always bless you in answer to prayer, He will do it, but He will never give you the grace of His silence. If Jesus Christ is bringing you into the understanding that prayer is for the glorifying of His Father, then He will give you the first sign of His intimacy— silence.

_________________________

⁴⁵You allowed nations

to treat us like garbage;

⁴⁶our enemies curse us.

⁴⁷We are terrified and trapped,

caught and crushed.”

⁴⁸My people are destroyed!

Tears flood my eyes,

⁴⁹and they won’t stop

⁵⁰until the LORD looks down from heaven and helps.

⁵¹I am horrified when I see what enemies have done

to the young women of our city.

⁵²No one had reason to hate me,

but I was hunted down like a bird.

⁵³Then they tried to kill me

by tossing me into a pit and throwing stones at me.

⁵⁴Water covered my head–

I thought I was gone.

⁵⁵From the bottom of the pit, I prayed to you, LORD.

⁵⁶I begged you to listen.

“Help!” I shouted. “Save me!”

You answered my prayer

⁵⁷and came when I was in need.

You told me, “Don’t worry!”

⁵⁸You rescued me and saved my life.

Hello, Jonah! To see more wall murals by Jerry Wallace, click HERE.

Jonah 2:5-7 (New Living Translation)

“I sank beneath the waves,
      and the waters closed over me.
      Seaweed wrapped itself around my head.
I sank down to the very roots of the mountains.
      I was imprisoned in the earth,
      whose gates lock shut forever.
   But you, O Lord my God,
      snatched me from the jaws of death!
As my life was slipping away,
      I remembered the Lord.
   And my earnest prayer went out to you
      in your holy Temple.”

_________________________

⁵⁹You saw them abuse me, LORD,

so make things right.

⁶⁰You know every plot they have made against me.

⁶¹Yes, you know their insults and their evil plans.

⁶²All day long they attack with words and whispers.

⁶³No matter what they are doing, they keep on mocking me.

⁶⁴Pay them back for everything they have done, LORD!

⁶⁵Put your curse on them and make them suffer.

     ⁶⁶Get angry and go after them

until not a trace is left under the heavens.

_________________________

Contemporary English Version (CEV)   Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Chagall.    http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/gallery/works/lamentationofjeremiah.htm

dog fenced in.    http://www.chainlinkfence.com/_images/dk3.jpg

arrow through the heart.    http://rlv.zcache.com/cupid_arrow_in_heart_tshirt-p235058565772337845trlf_400.jpg

hope.  http://cache2.artprintimages.com/p/LRG/22/2205/V6CAD00Z/art-print/karen-tribett-hope.jpg

Thy will be done.  http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_fu8wMNQvYbM/Shn8e2cNsLI/AAAAAAAACcA/HRQ-JOhTMHw/s400/thy+will+be+done-sunset+copy+%28web%29.jpg

Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.     http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/religion/christians/lazarus.jpg

Jonah.     http://www.adventuresinartandmusic.ca/mural_home_page.html

592.) Lamentations 2

“Jeremiah lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem” by Rembrandt, 1630 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

Lamentations 2

(Contemporary English Version)

The LORD Was Like an Enemy

This chapter is also an acrostic poem, the verses of which begin with the successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

The Prophet Speaks:

¹The Lord was angry!

So he disgraced Zion though it was Israel’s pride

and his own place of rest.

In his anger he threw Zion down from heaven to earth.

²The LORD had no mercy!

He destroyed the homes of Jacob’s descendants.

In his anger he tore down every walled city in Judah;

he toppled the nation together with its leaders,

leaving them in shame.

Psalm 89:39-40 (New International Version)

You have renounced the covenant with your servant
   and have defiled his crown in the dust.
You have broken through all his walls
   and reduced his strongholds to ruins.

³The Lord was so furiously angry

that he wiped out the whole army of Israel

by not supporting them when the enemy attacked.

He was like a raging fire

that swallowed up the descendants of Jacob.

⁴He attacked like an enemy with a bow and arrows,

killing our loved ones.

He has burned to the ground the homes on Mount Zion.

I know a woman whose house burned to the ground.  She says that even now, years after, she is sometimes jolted awake by the memory of yet another thing that was lost.  The blanket her grandmother had knit for her when she was born.  The baptismal dress her children wore.  Their wedding invitation, framed in a mother-of-pearl frame.  Her scrapbook of her brother’s senior year in high school, beginning with football practice (he was the quarterback) and ending with the car wreck the night after graduation.  Totally random, she says, the things she remembers.  And always with a pain deep inside. Life can be hard.

_________________________

⁵The Lord was like an enemy!

He left Israel in ruins

with its palaces and fortresses destroyed,

and with everyone in Judah moaning and weeping.

⁶He shattered his temple like a hut in a garden;

he completely wiped out his meeting place,

and did away with festivals and Sabbaths

in the city of Zion.

In his fierce anger he rejected our king and priests.

⁷The Lord abandoned his altar and his temple;

he let Zion’s enemies capture her fortresses.

Noisy shouts were heard from the temple,

as if it were a time of celebration.

Psalm 74:7-8 (New International Version)

They burned your sanctuary to the ground;
   they defiled the dwelling place of your Name.
They said in their hearts, “We will crush them completely!”
   They burned every place where God was worshiped in the land.

⁸The LORD had decided

to tear down the walls of Zion stone by stone.

So he started destroying and did not stop

until walls and fortresses mourned and trembled.

⁹Zion’s gates have fallen

facedown on the ground;

the bars that locked the gates are smashed to pieces.

Her king and royal family are prisoners in foreign lands.

Her priests don’t teach,

and her prophets don’t have a message from the LORD.

¹⁰Zion’s leaders are silent.

They just sit on the ground,

tossing dirt on their heads and wearing sackcloth.

Her young women can do nothing

but stare at the ground.

¹¹My eyes are red from crying,

my stomach is in knots, and I feel sick all over.

Psalm 22:14 (New International Version)

I am poured out like water,
   and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
   it has melted within me.

_________________________

My people are being wiped out,

and children lie helpless in the streets of the city.

¹²A child begs its mother for food and drink,

then blacks out

like a wounded soldier lying in the street.

The child slowly dies in its mother’s arms.

¹³Zion, how can I comfort you?

Isaiah 40:1-2 (New International Version)

Comfort, comfort my people,
   says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
   and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
   that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the LORD’s hand
   double for all her sins.

_________________________

How great is your pain?

Lovely city of Jerusalem,

how can I heal your wounds, gaping as wide as the sea?

¹⁴Your prophets deceived you

with false visions and lying messages–

they should have warned you

to leave your sins and be saved from disaster.

¹⁵Those who pass by shake their heads and sneer

as they make fun and shout,

“What a lovely city you were, the happiest on earth,

but look at you now!”

“Colorful Town” by Dora Ficher, 2009.

Psalm 50:2 (English Standard Version)

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty,
    God shines forth.

_________________________

¹⁶Zion, your enemies curse you and snarl like wild animals,

while shouting, “This is the day we’ve waited for!

At last, we’ve got you!”

¹⁷The LORD has done everything

that he had planned and threatened long ago.

He destroyed you without mercy

and let your enemies boast about their powerful forces.

¹⁸Zion, deep in your heart you cried out to the Lord.

Now let your tears overflow your walls day and night.

Don’t ever lose hope or let your tears stop.

¹⁹Get up and pray for help all through the night.

Pour out your feelings to the Lord, as you would pour water out of a jug.

“Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away.”

Dinah Craik (1826-1887), English poet and novelist

_________________________

Beg him to save your people,

who are starving to death at every street crossing.

Jerusalem Speaks:

²⁰Think about it, LORD!

Have you ever been this cruel to anyone before?

Is it right for mothers to eat their children,

or for priests and prophets to be killed in your temple?

²¹My people, both young and old, lie dead in the streets.

Because you were angry,

my young men and women were brutally slaughtered.

²²When you were angry, LORD,

you invited my enemies like guests for a party.

No one survived that day;

enemies killed my children,

my own little ones.

_________________________

Music:

One morning in March 1991, four year old Conor Clapton, son of the important and influential English guitarist, singer, and song-writer Eric Clapton, died when he fell from a 53rd-story window in a New York City apartment.  He landed on the roof of an adjacent four-story building.  This song is Clapton’s expression of grief at the loss of his little boy.  I remember when this happened; we were living in Italy at the time and I had two precious sons — Sean was 5 and Devlin was not quite 1.

To all the fathers and mothers who have lost a child, beginning with Adam and Eve and continuing to this very day — the promise is sure.  There will be no “Tears in Heaven.”

(with love to Judy, Marlys, Mary, Jan and Don, Cary and Andy . . .)

Would you know my name
If I saw you in heaven
Will it be the same
If I saw you in heaven
I must be strong, and carry on
Cause I know I don’t belong
Here in heaven

Would you hold my hand
If I saw you in heaven
Would you help me stand
If I saw you in heaven
I’ll find my way, through night and day
Cause I know I just can’t stay
Here in heaven

Time can bring you down
Time can bend your knee
Time can break your heart
Have you begging please
Begging please

(instrumental)

Beyond the door
There’s peace I’m sure.
And I know there’ll be no more…
Tears in heaven

_________________________

Contemporary English Version (CEV)   Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Rembrandt.    http://www.artchive.com/artchive/r/rembrandt/jeremiah.jpg

home burning.    http://www.palmdeserthomeinspector.com/system/files/userfiles/Big_Home_Burning.jpg

heart melt.    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iNQM83YptkU/TdmYk-3VFqI/AAAAAAAAAck/AxLHScnBxp8/s200/heart+melt.jpg

little girl.   http://ambrosiagirl.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/img_4681.jpg

Ficher.    http://doraficher.typepad.com/.a/6a0111685bdd87970c01127919ef9f28a4-800wi

pitcher,  pouring water.   http://www.cancerfreesociety.org/Pitcher%20Pouring%20Water%20copy.jpg

591.) Lamentations 1

"How deserted lies the city!" engraving by Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1860.

The five chapters of Lamentations are five poems, each lamenting the destruction and desolation that came to Jerusalem as a result of the Babylonians in 586 BCE.   The first chapter, for example, is an acrostic poem; each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.  The poems function as a formal ritual by which the exiles could grieve over the calamity, over their pain and loss.

Traditionally the book has been ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah, although no name is attached to it.  No matter who wrote it, as one scholar noted, “the whole song stands so near the events that one feels everywhere as if the terrible pictures of the destruction stand still immediately before the eyes of the one lamenting.”

Orthodox Jews read aloud the entire book on the ninth day of the month Ab, the traditional date of the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.  In Christian traditions, Lamentations is often read during the days of Holy Week.

Lamentations 1

(Contemporary English Version)

Lonely Jerusalem

The Prophet Speaks:

¹Jerusalem, once so crowded,

lies deserted and lonely.

This city that was known

all over the world

is now like a widow.

This queen of the nations

has been made a slave.

“It was common in the Old Testament for cities to be portrayed as women,” says the footnote for this verse in The Archaeological Study Bible.

²Each night, bitter tears flood her cheeks.

None of her former lovers

are there to offer comfort;

her friends have betrayed her and are now her enemies.

The “lovers” and “friends” refer to foreign allies who had promised to help Judah, but did not.

³The people of Judah are slaves,

suffering in a foreign land,

with no rest from sorrow.

Their enemies captured them

and were terribly cruel.

Yes, we have read of the offenses the people of Israel endured from the Babylonians — their Temple ransacked and burned, the city walls of Jerusalem destroyed, the people carried off into exile, the king blinded . . .

_________________________

⁴The roads to Zion mourn

because no one travels there

to celebrate the festivals.

Before the fall of Jerusalem, the people of Israel celebrated seven annual feasts:

• Passover – to remember how the Lord rescued his people from bondage in Egypt

• Feast of Unleavened Bread – to avoid yeast, a symbol of evil; to be ready to follow God
  

• Offering of Firstfruits – to celebrate God’s gracious provision at the beginning of the barley harvest

• Pentecost – to show gratitude for the wheat harvest

• Feast of Trumpets – to usher in a month with particularly significant holy days

• Day of Atonement – to fast, pray, and confess on the holiest day of the year

• Feast of Booths – to recall life in the wilderness by constructing small huts and camping out while also praising God for the year’s harvest

_________________________

The city gates are deserted;

priests are weeping.

Young women are raped; Zion is in sorrow!

⁵Enemies now rule the city

and live as they please.

The LORD has punished Jerusalem

because of her awful sins;

he has let her people be dragged away.

⁶Zion’s glory has disappeared.

Her leaders are like deer

that cannot find pasture;

they are hunted down

till their strength is gone.

⁷Her people recall the good life

that once was theirs;

now they suffer and are scattered.

The Garden of Exile at the Jewish Museum in Berlin

No one was there to protect them from their enemies

who sneered when their city was taken.

⁸Jerusalem’s horrible sins

have made the city a joke.

Those who once admired her

now hate her instead–

she has been disgraced;

she groans and turns away.

⁹Her sins had made her filthy,

but she wasn’t worried about what could happen.

And when Jerusalem fell,

it was so tragic.

No one gave her comfort when she cried out,

“Help! I’m in trouble, LORD!  The enemy has won.”

Psalm 25:18-19 (English Standard Version)

Consider my affliction and my trouble,
   and forgive all my sins.

Consider how many are my foes,
   and with what violent hatred they hate me.

_________________________

¹⁰Zion’s treasures were stolen.

Jerusalem saw foreigners

enter her place of worship,

though the LORD

had forbidden them to belong to his people.

¹¹Everyone in the city groans

while searching for food;

they trade their valuables

for barely enough scraps to stay alive.

Jerusalem shouts to the LORD,

“Please look and see how miserable I am!”

Jerusalem Speaks:

¹²No passerby even cares.

Why doesn’t someone notice

my terrible sufferings?

You were fiercely angry, LORD,

and you punished me worst of all.

Lamentations 1:12   (NIV)

“Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
   Look around and see.
Is any suffering like my suffering?”

The first time this verse registered with me was during a season of Lent sometime when I was in high school.  The local Methodist church put a cross out, draped in a purple cloth, with a sign that read, “Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?”  I see it clearly in my mind’s eye still, and I answer — Yes, Lord, your crucifixion is something to me!  It is your wounds, and my healing!  It is your sorrow, and my joy!  It is your death, and my life!   Thank you with all my heart!

_________________________

¹³From heaven you sent a fire

that burned in my bones;

you set a trap for my feet

and made me turn back.

All day long you leave me

in shock from constant pain.

¹⁴You have tied my sins

around my neck, and they weigh so heavily

that my strength is gone.

You have put me in the power

of enemies too strong for me.

¹⁵You, LORD, have turned back my warriors

and crushed my young heroes.

Judah was a woman untouched,

but you let her be trampled like grapes in a wine pit.

¹⁶Because of this, I mourn,

and tears flood my eyes.

No one is here to comfort or to encourage me;

we have lost the war–

my people are suffering.

The Prophet Speaks:

¹⁷Zion reaches out her hands,

but no one offers comfort.

Isaiah 1:15 (New International Version)

When you spread out your hands in prayer,
   I hide my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
   I am not listening.

   Your hands are full of blood!

_________________________

The LORD has turned the neighboring nations

against Jacob’s descendants.

Jerusalem is merely a filthy rag to her neighbors.

Jerusalem Speaks:

¹⁸The LORD was right,

but I refused to obey him.

Now I ask all of you to look

at my sufferings–

even my young people have been dragged away.

¹⁹I called out to my lovers,

but they betrayed me.

My priests and my leaders died

while searching the city for scraps of food.

²⁰Won’t you look and see

how upset I am, our LORD?

My stomach is in knots,

and my heart is broken

because I betrayed you.

In the streets and at home,

my people are slaughtered.

²¹Everyone heard my groaning,

but no one offered comfort.

My enemies know of the trouble

that you have brought on me,

and it makes them glad.

Hurry and punish them, as you have promised.

²²Don’t let their evil deeds escape your sight.

Punish them as much as you have punished me

because of my sins.

I never stop groaning–

I’ve lost all hope!

_________________________

Music:

Where to go for comfort?  Where to go for hope?  “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life!”

1 Peter 1:3 (NIV)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

“My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less”  sung by Deborah Liv Johnson.

_________________________

Contemporary English Version (CEV)   Copyright © 1995 by American Bible Society

Images courtesy of:

Carolsfeld.     http://www.pitts.emory.edu/woodcuts/1853BiblD/00011488.jpg

“The Siege and Destruction of Jerusalem,” by David Roberts (1850).   http://lh3.ggpht.com/_djGdu0EN2ao/SJhW2K1WHkI/AAAAAAAAADI/72hr8XEOEHQ/%5BRoberts,%20David%5D%20The%20Siege%20and%20Destruction%20of%20Jerusalem%20%281850%29.jpg

blowing the shofar.    http://rinah-shalom.tripod.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/blowing_the_shofar.gif

Garden of Exile.    http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwher/about/germanypictures/berlin.jewish2.jpg

fallen stones in Jerusalem.    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/NinthAvStonesWesternWall.JPG

crucifixion.    http://yearintheoffice.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/card-_84-crucifix-front.jpg

reaching hand.    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DmtdGP6kzMQ/SesKuP1jFGI/AAAAAAAAJ84/bg9COHGMinQ/s400/ReachingHand.jpg

stomach in knots.  http://www.ithinkifeeliam.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/S_my-stomach-is-in-knots.jpg

590.) 2 Chronicles 36

"The Destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar" by William Brassey Hole

2 Chronicles 36   (New Living Translation)

These last four kings are treated almost as a single unit, and indeed they have much in common.  During their reigns, Judah was effectively under the control first of Egypt and then of Babylon.  And, of course, they are all rebellious against the Lord.

Jehoahaz Rules in Judah

¹Then the people of the land took Josiah’s son Jehoahaz and made him the next king in Jerusalem.

² Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months.

2 Kings 23:20 records that “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

³ Then he was deposed by the king of Egypt, who demanded that Judah pay 7,500 pounds of silver and 75 pounds of gold as tribute.

Jehoiakim Rules in Judah

⁴The king of Egypt then installed Eliakim, the brother of Jehoahaz, as the next king of Judah and Jerusalem, and he changed Eliakim’s name to Jehoiakim. Then Neco took Jehoahaz to Egypt as a prisoner.

⁵ Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.

One of the main sources of information about Jehoiakim is the book of Jeremiah, which deals in much more detail with what is quickly covered here.

⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and captured it, and he bound Jehoiakim in bronze chains and led him away to Babylon. ⁷ Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the treasures from the Temple of the Lord, and he placed them in his palace in Babylon.

⁸ The rest of the events in Jehoiakim’s reign, including all the evil things he did and everything found against him, are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Then his son Jehoiachin became the next king.

Jehoiachin Rules in Judah

"The Submission of Jehoiachin to Nebuchadnezzar" by William Brassey Hole

⁹Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and ten days. Jehoiachin did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.

¹⁰ In the spring of the year King Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin to Babylon. Many treasures from the Temple of the Lord were also taken to Babylon at that time. And Nebuchadnezzar installed Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, as the next king in Judah and Jerusalem.

It was under this king that the first major deportation to Babylon took place.

Zedekiah Rules in Judah

¹¹ Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. ¹² He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and he refused to humble himself when the prophet Jeremiah spoke to him directly from the Lord. ¹³He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, even though he had taken an oath of loyalty in God’s name. Zedekiah was a hard and stubborn man, refusing to turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.

The book of Jeremiah depicts Zedekiah as an insecure, weak, hunted man, under pressure from his “hawks” to resist Babylon, yet not unwilling to appeal to Jeremiah and hear his message of non-resistance.

Jeremiah 38:19-26   (NIV 1984)

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.  But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me:  All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:

   “‘They misled you and overcame you—
   those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
   your friends have deserted you.’

“All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die.  If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

¹⁴ Likewise, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful. They followed all the pagan practices of the surrounding nations, desecrating the Temple of the Lord that had been consecrated in Jerusalem.

¹⁵ The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. ¹⁶ But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

This is beyond the pale — that they would do wrong in defiance of the clear knowledge of what is right.

Luke 16:31   (English Standard Version)

He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'”

The Fall of Jerusalem

¹⁷ So the Lord brought the king of Babylon against them. The Babylonians killed Judah’s young men, even chasing after them into the Temple. They had no pity on the people, killing both young men and young women, the old and the infirm. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁸ The king took home to Babylon all the articles, large and small, used in the Temple of God, and the treasures from both the Lord’s Temple and from the palace of the king and his officials. ¹⁹ Then his army burned the Temple of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, and completely destroyed everything of value. ²⁰The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.

²¹ So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said.

"The Deportation to Babylon" by Eric de Saussure, 1968.

The ax falls!  The final devastation of Judah by Babylon is one of the decisive events in the whole history of Israel, surpassing any of the other “exiles” which the Chronicler has reported in the course of his account.  It was, indeed, one of the stimuli which resulted ultimately in modern Judaism, because it taught the Jews how to live without Temple or political status.  Independence would not be theirs again (with the exception of the remarkable Maccabean renaissance between the decline of Greece and the rise of Rome), even though Temple and religious liberty would be regained after the return from Babylon.

The Chronicler is well aware of all this.  He has allowed as much by virtue of the place given to Huldah’s prophecy (34:23ff) and to the telescoping of this final chapter, which gives to the Babylonian captivity the intensity of a climax.  For his readers in the post-exilic community, all his previous demonstrations of the possibility of restoration from the utmost ignominy and distress are now brought to bear upon their own experience.  The Chronicler’s desire for his people is that they rise above defeatism and see that the securing of a glorious future in within their grasp if they will only take the road of obedience.

So in the reference to the land “enjoying its Sabbaths,” the exile is interpreted as a “catching-up” period.  And the decree of Cyrus permitting the Jews in Babylon to return to their homeland ends the book on a high note.

–J. G. McConville

Cyrus Allows the Exiles to Return

²²In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:

²³ “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says:
“The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are the Lord’s people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”

There has been discussion of the question whether the Chronicler has a messianic message.  Some have said that it is intended to preserve a Temple-centred status quo.  It can be no accident, however, that the Chronicler has made his chief models of obedience and open-ended possibility the greatest kings of Israel, David and Solomon.  He leaves us no hing that he had “inside information” about a coming son of David.  Yet it is clear, with hindsight, that all he promised of blessing, wealth, wisdom and the presence of God—not in a Temple but in the human heart—has been finally and dramatically realized in Jesus Christ.

–J. G. McConville

2 Corinthians 6:16   (English Standard Version)

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said,

   “I will make my dwelling among them
and walk among them,
   and I will be their God,
   and they shall be my people.”

_________________________

Music:

Why must the Jews return to Jerusalem?  Because the prophecy says that the Messiah will be born — not in Babylon — but in Judea!  Grace is never far away!

From Vespers (All-Night Vigil), by Sergei Rachmaninoff, “Lord, Now Lettest Thou.”  A joyful funeral song, if you will.  Sung by the USSR State Academic Russian Choir; listen to the low basses on their descending scale at the end!

As written in the Book of Common Prayer, 1662:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace : according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen : thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared : before the face of all people;

To be a light to lighten the Gentiles : and to be the glory of thy people Israel.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Hole, Destruction.    http://www.orientalism-in-art.org/The-destruction-of-Jerusalem-by-nebuzar-adan-large.html

Hole, Submission.    http://www.orientalism-in-art.org/The-submission-of-Coniah-to-Nebuchadnezzar-large.html

de Saussure.     http://www.artbible.net/1T/Jer0101_Portrait_misc/source/20%20DE%20SAUSSURE%20JER%20DEPORTATION%20A%20BABYLONE.jpg

589.) 2 Chronicles 35

At the end of every Passover Seder, Jews around the world say, “Next year in Jerusalem!”

2 Chronicles 35   (New Living Translation)

Josiah Celebrates Passover

¹ Then Josiah announced that the Passover of the Lord would be celebrated in Jerusalem, and so the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month. ² Josiah also assigned the priests to their duties and encouraged them in their work at the Temple of the Lord. ³ He issued this order to the Levites, who were to teach all Israel and who had been set apart to serve the Lord: “Put the holy Ark in the Temple that was built by Solomon son of David, the king of Israel. You no longer need to carry it back and forth on your shoulders. Now spend your time serving the Lord your God and his people Israel. ⁴Report for duty according to the family divisions of your ancestors, following the directions of King David of Israel and the directions of his son Solomon.

Some scholars believe that Josiah was re-enacting the bringing of the ark to the Temple as part of Israel’s covenant renewal with the Lord; it was a symbolic gesture of re-dedication.

⁵ “Then stand in the sanctuary at the place appointed for your family division and help the families assigned to you as they bring their offerings to the Temple. ⁶ Slaughter the Passover lambs, purify yourselves, and prepare to help those who come. Follow all the directions that the Lord gave through Moses.”

One of the main features of the Passover was the sacrifice of a lamb for each household (Exodus 13:43-49). This meant a significant amount of work for the priests.

_________________________

⁷ Then Josiah provided 30,000 lambs and young goats for the people’s Passover offerings, along with 3,000 cattle, all from the king’s own flocks and herds. ⁸ The king’s officials also made willing contributions to the people, priests, and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the administrators of God’s Temple, gave the priests 2,600 lambs and young goats and 300 cattle as Passover offerings. ⁹ The Levite leaders—Conaniah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, as well as Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad—gave 5,000 lambs and young goats and 500 cattle to the Levites for their Passover offerings.

¹⁰ When everything was ready for the Passover celebration, the priests and the Levites took their places, organized by their divisions, as the king had commanded. ¹¹ The Levites then slaughtered the Passover lambs and presented the blood to the priests, who sprinkled the blood on the altar while the Levites prepared the animals. ¹² They divided the burnt offerings among the people by their family groups, so they could offer them to the Lord as prescribed in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle. ¹³ Then they roasted the Passover lambs as prescribed; and they boiled the holy offerings in pots, kettles, and pans, and brought them out quickly so the people could eat them.

¹⁴ Afterward the Levites prepared Passover offerings for themselves and for the priests—the descendants of Aaron—because the priests had been busy from morning till night offering the burnt offerings and the fat portions. The Levites took responsibility for all these preparations.

“St. Benedict and his monks eating in the refectory” by Giovanni Antonio Bazzi (1477-1549)

The clergy have worked hard all day, serving others.  At last it is their turn to eat.  As my mother would often pray, “We thank you for work to do, and strength with which to do it.”

_________________________

Music:

Which reminds me of another feast — God prepares food and drink for us who have been out trying to do the “good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

Matt Redman sings “Remembrance (Communion Song).”

_________________________

¹⁵ The musicians, descendants of Asaph, were in their assigned places, following the commands that had been given by David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, the king’s seer. The gatekeepers guarded the gates and did not need to leave their posts of duty, for their Passover offerings were prepared for them by their fellow Levites.

¹⁶ The entire ceremony for the Lord’s Passover was completed that day. All the burnt offerings were sacrificed on the altar of the Lord, as King Josiah had commanded. ¹⁷ All the Israelites present in Jerusalem celebrated Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days. ¹⁸ Never since the time of the prophet Samuel had there been such a Passover. None of the kings of Israel had ever kept a Passover as Josiah did, involving all the priests and Levites, all the people of Jerusalem, and people from all over Judah and Israel. ¹⁹ This Passover celebration took place in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign.

Here is a huge gathering of the population in Jerusalem.  It requires an effort of the imagination for us in the modern western world to picture such a scene, through if we have seen, even on film or television, an Islamic haj, we shall be on the right lines.  Jerusalem in Josiah’s day was not a large city.  The convergence upon it for the entire population of Judah, for the purposes of worship centred on the Temple, must have taken possession of it.  Local people braced themselves for the influx, and perhaps prepared to cater for it.  Then they began to arrive, family after extended family, tired from journeys of which some at least had been long especially in view of the conditions under which people travelled, though it is clear that food was going to be no problem in view of the rich provision by king, princes, and priests for the fest itself.  People no doubt provided for themselves, picnic fashion, until the main event got under way.

The problems posed in such a situation, however, paled into insignificance beside the grandeur and evocative power of it all.  Here the Israelite began to see, or saw again, what it was to be Israel.  The peasant who worked his own piece of land for most of the year to keep his little family alive knew that he was of the greater family of God, a son of Abraham, belonging to the chosen people that now pressed upon the House that marked the presence among them of the One who had give them their land and underwrote their whole existence.  The though and conversation of each were dominated by Passover.

That which characterizes the people of God essentially is their knowledge of his past faithfulness to them, and their hope that that knowledge is a guarantee of future security, understood by the Christian in terms of eternity.  The worship and open acknowledgment of him as a people together functions today as it did in ancient Israel—though the outer form of both people and worship is necessarily different—to create and sustain that self-understanding.

–J. G. McConville

_________________________

Josiah Dies in Battle

“The Death of King Josiah at Megiddo” by William Brassey Hole (1846-1917)

²⁰ After Josiah had finished restoring the Temple, King Neco of Egypt led his army up from Egypt to do battle at Carchemish on the Euphrates River, and Josiah and his army marched out to fight him.

This was part of the geopolitical struggle between the declining Assyrian Empire and the emerging Babylonian Empire. The Assyrians made an alliance with the Egyptians to protect against the growing power of the Babylonians.  One must wonder why Josiah was so committed to supporting the Assyrians . . . even when the King of Egypt tells him not to!

²¹But King Neco sent messengers to Josiah with this message:

“What do you want with me, king of Judah? I have no quarrel with you today! I am on my way to fight another nation, and God has told me to hurry! Do not interfere with God, who is with me, or he will destroy you.”

²² But Josiah refused to listen to Neco, to whom God had indeed spoken, and he would not turn back. Instead, he disguised himself and led his army into battle on the plain of Megiddo. ²³ But the enemy archers hit King Josiah with their arrows and wounded him. He cried out to his men, “Take me from the battle, for I am badly wounded!”

²⁴ So they lifted Josiah out of his chariot and placed him in another chariot. Then they brought him back to Jerusalem, where he died. He was buried there in the royal cemetery. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for him. ²⁵ The prophet Jeremiah composed funeral songs for Josiah, and to this day choirs still sing these sad songs about his death. These songs of sorrow have become a tradition and are recorded in The Book of Laments.

On account of this verse, the book of Lamentations in the Bible has traditionally been ascribed to the prophet Jeremiah.

²⁶ The rest of the events of Josiah’s reign and his acts of devotion (carried out according to what was written in the Law of the Lord), ²⁷ from beginning to end—all are recorded in The Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Now the last “good king” is dead.  Nothing will stop the coming catastrophe.

_________________________

New Living Translation (NLT)   Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Images courtesy of:

Next year in Jerusalem.    http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_zMjrD2BHGWU/S6y2v4qkfbI/AAAAAAAAAGk/CT62Qagps2I/s1600/Jerusalem+graphic.jpg

Passover lamb.   http://www.rapture5770-5775.com/PASSOVER%20LAMB.jpg

Bazzi.    http://cbertel.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/st-benedict-eating-with-his-monks.jpg?w=450&h=590

Hole.    http://www.orientalism-in-art.org/The-death-of-king-Josiah-at-Megiddo.html