Class 3 from this series was used for GCT Episode 228.

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And the meaning of suffering,
and we’ve got today an

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introduction and overview.
And will commence by singing

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together him number 147.
And then after that, if you’ll

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remain standing will start with
prayer.

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So him 147.
If thou, but suffer God to guide

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the and hope in him through all
thy ways.

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And number 147,
Our Father.

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We are so grateful that you are.
Not a god far away.

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But a god, very near We thank
you that through Jeremiah and

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through the book of
Lamentations.

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We are able to understand
something of this.

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That though you punish it is for
our good.

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In the good of all of your
people.

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We pray that you will help us to
learn this lesson.

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We pray that it may influence
the way that we behave, the way

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that we interact and especially
the way that we think about the

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future and the promises that you
have made in Jesus name, we

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pray.
Amen.

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our opening reading this morning
is Jeremiah chapter 52 and the

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first 16 verses.
Jeremiah chapter 52, verses 1 to

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16 and brother Jonathan Bowden
is going to lead us in that

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reading.
Reading together from God’s word

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from Jeremiah 52 verse 1 to 16.
Zedekiah was one and twenty

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years old when he began to Reign
and he reigned 11 years in

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Jerusalem.
And his mother’s name was Herm a

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towel, the daughter of Jeremiah
of lidner and he did that which

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was evil in the eyes of Yahweh.
According to all that, jehoiakim

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had done.
For through the anger of Yahweh,

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it came to pass in Jerusalem and
Judah till he had cast them out

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from his presence that zedekiah
rebelled against the king of

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Babylon.
And it came to pass in the 9th

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year of his reign in the tenth
month, in the tenth day of the

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month.
That nebuchadrezzar King of

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Babylon came.
He and all his Army against

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Jerusalem and pitched against it
and built forts against it.

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Roundabout.
So the city was besieged, unto

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the 11th year of King zedekiah.
And in the fourth month in the

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ninth day of the month, the
famine was saw in the city so

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that there was no bread for the
people of the land.

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Then the city was broken up and
all the men of War fled and went

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forth out of the city By Night,
by the way, of the gate between

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the two wolves which was by the
King’s Garden.

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Now, the cooled Ian’s were by
the city roundabout and they

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went, by the way, of the plane.
But the army of the Chaldeans

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pursued after the king and
overtook, zedekiah in the plains

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of Jericho and all his army was
scattered from him.

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Then they took the king and
carried him up into the up unto

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the king of Babylon to rib.
Le in the land of hey math where

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he gave judgment upon him.
And the king of Babylon.

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Slew the sons of zedekiah before
his eyes.

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He slew also all the princes of
Judah in Riddler.

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Then he put out the eyes of
zedekiah and the king of

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Babylon, bound him in Chains,
and carried him to Babylon, and

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put him in prison, till the day
of his death.

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Now in the fifth month in the
tenth day of the month, which

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was the 19th year of
nebuchadrezzar, King of Babylon

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came nebulizer, Aiden captain of
the Guard which served the king

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of Babylon, enter Jerusalem.
And burnt the house of Yahweh

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and the King’s house and all the
houses of Jerusalem and all the

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houses of the Great Men burn tea
with fire.

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And all the army of the
Chaldeans that were with the

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captain of the Guard, break down
all the walls of Jerusalem

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roundabout.
Then never use arrayed in the

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captain of the Guard carried
away.

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Captive certain of the poor of
the people, and the residue of

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the people that remained in the
city.

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And those that fell away that
fell to the king of Babylon and

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the rest of the multitude.
But nebulizer, Aiden, the

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captain of the Guard left
certain of the poor of the land

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for vinedressers.
And for husband, Thanks very

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much brother, Jonathan.
So G we have today this morning

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studies in the Lamentations.
The meaning of suffering, this

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is study number one, an
introduction and overview to be

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led for us by our brother,
Nathan Louis, Well, thanks for

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the pool and good morning,
brothers and sisters and young

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people.
It’s wonderful to be able to be

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here Monday morning and get into
the studies proper.

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And I’m really looking forward
to sharing Lamentations with you

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this week and I guess as we
start this morning, I can sort

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of pretty much read the faces
and minds of all of you.

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And all of you are pretty much
thinking the same thing, which

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is why study Lamentations, as we
said in our introduction night,

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couple of nights ago, it’s a
pretty well.

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X.
It sounds like a pretty

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miserable topic.
A lament is certainly going to

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be I guess, depressing, almost
by definition, certainly not the

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most popular book in the
scriptures to study.

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I’ve brought what I’m not the
oldest brother here by any

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stretch of the imagination but I
haven’t heard anything in my

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life, really on Lamentations.
And I thought it would be

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interesting to look at this book
Because as we know, most of the

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time, there’s Hidden Gem.
Did that really to be found?

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If only we look So why study
Lamentations?

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It’s it’s miserable, it’s
depressing.

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It’s poetry which has a very
limited appeal.

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It’s like a funeral dirge its
dreary it’s bleak Well, as we

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dig into this book this week, I
hope that our ignorance will be

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taken away, and as we see the
things that are written here and

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we will see just like every
other book, there are amazing

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things to be found at all
actually point forward to and

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Center into the life of our Lord
Jesus Christ.

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So I hope that your appreciation
for this little tree Ties, on

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the meaning of suffering will
grow for you as it has for

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myself.
So what are we going to do this

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week?
What’s our plan?

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Well, we have five sessions this
week and this morning, I just

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want to spend the whole morning
introducing Lamentations because

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there’s actually a lot of things
to talk about before we even

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start looking at the book.
The setting, the structure, the

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way the book is laid out.
So we’re going to spend this

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morning, really looking at a
bird’s eye view from 10,000 feet

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at the book of lemon, lemon,
tations and God willing we will

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plunge down into The detail in
the next few days to give it

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tomorrow.
We plan on looking at

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Lamentations 1 and 2 and The
Afflicted Daughter of Zion.

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Then we’re going to look at
chapter 3.

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The man that has seen fliction,
then we’re going to look at the

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precious sons of Zion
Lamentations 4 and 5.

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And lastly, I want to spend a
whole session looking at

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fellowshiping the sufferings of
Christ, because in the ultimate

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sense, the it’s of Jeremiah and
the nation would only point

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forward and foreshadow, the work
of our master and Messiah and

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already just even in those those
titles.

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Hopefully, you can see that
chapter 3 is clearly the pivot

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of the book of Lamentations
before in chapters 1 & 2.

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We have The Afflicted Daughter
of Zion But after chapter 3,

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that same nation is going to be
described as the precious sons

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of Zion, there’s something
that’s going to happen in the

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middle of this book which is
going to turn the experience and

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thoughts of the Nation on its
head and more about that in a

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little bit of time.
So let’s just Begin by asking

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what is this book basically
about?

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When did it happen?
What is it?

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Describing well we just read
Dura Maya chapter 52 together.

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The horrific Babylonian assault
of Jerusalem and the destruction

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of Solomon’s Temple and the
awful deportations of Judah into

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captivity, and it doesn’t take
much effort or time to put

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together the similarities
between Jeremiah chapter 52 and

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the Book of Lamentations.
We just read that Jeremiah fell

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after a lengthy Siege.
And when we come to Lamentations

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and we come preps to chapter For
look what we read in chapter 4

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and verse 11.
And 12 Yahweh has accomplished.

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His Fury, he has poured out his
Fierce anger, just kindled a

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fire in Zion devoured, the
foundation’s their of the kings

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of the Earth, all the
inhabitants of the world would

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never have believed that the
adversary and the enemy should

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have entered into the Gates of
Jerusalem.

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It didn’t seem to be possible
that God would allow City to be

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decimated by such an idolatrous
assault.

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And yet it had happened.
Jerusalem fell after a lengthy

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Siege, the horrors of The Siege,
we read in Jeremiah 52 and verse

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6 included famine.
And if you were there in chapter

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4, look what it says.
In verse 4, the tongue of the

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sucking child Cleaver to the
roof roof of his mouth for

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thirst.
The young children, ask bread.

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And no man breaks it unto them
in Chapter 2, the young children

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ask for corn and wine but
there’s nothing.

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There’s no food to be had
feminine had besieged the city

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The Babylonians, we read in
chapter 52 of Jeremiah and verse

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13 had desecrated the temple and
burnt it to the ground and look

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what we read in in Lamentations
chapter 20 and verses 3 and 4.

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He has cut off in his Fierce
anger.

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All the Horn of Israel his drawn
back as right hand from before

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the enemy.
And he burned against Jacob like

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a flaming fire.
Which devour And about his bent

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his bow like an enemy, he stood
with his right hand as an

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adversary and slew all that were
pleasant to the eye.

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And the Tabernacle of the
daughter of Zion, he poured out

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his fury like fire and he did
even the temple was destroyed by

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flames in the Babylonian
assault.

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In Jeremiah 50 2 and verse 15.
We read that the people were

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carried away, captive into
Babylon.

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And when we come to Lamentations
and chapter 1, in verse 5, it

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says, at the end of the verse,
her children are gone into

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captivity before the enemy.
The end of Verse 18, My Virgins

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in my young men are gone into
captivity the time of Jeremiah

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52.
In Lamentations is exactly the

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same.
Those that were left in the

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land.
We read in Jeremiah 52 and verse

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16 were made menial slaves.
And when we come across to

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Lamentations chapter 5, we have
a description of these times.

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Verse to, our inheritance has
been given over to strangers.

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Our houses are inhabited by
aliens.

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We are orphans fatherless and
mothers are as widows.

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We have drunken our water.
Money, Atwood, sold unto us.

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And Nick’s under persecution, we
labor and have no rest.

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The Jews that were left in the
land were put into slavery that

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to buy their own water that to
buy back their own wood to cook

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and to heat.
Their houses was a horrific time

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in the history of the nation.
In Jeremiah chapter 2 and verse

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18.
We find that just prior to the

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Babylonians coming into the
land.

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Israel had looked to Egypt for
help, they decided that Egypt

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would be the Ally who would come
to help them against the forces,

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from the north.
But when we come to

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Lamentations, we find that Egypt
had deserted Israel.

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They were unreliable chapter 1
and verse 2.

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Says she weepeth saw in the
night, her tears on her cheeks

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among all her Lover’s.
The there are none to comfort.

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Her verse 19 I called for my
lover’s, but they deceive me.

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The nation’s that Israel was
relying on to defend them.

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Had deserted them.
And in chapter 4, we read in

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verse 17 this lament as for us
our eyes as yet failed for our

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vein, help in our watching, we
have watched for a nation that

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could not save us and there was
a dreadful realization.

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That Egypt that they had looked
to for help was nowhere to be

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seen.
And lastly in Obadiah,

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describing the destruction of
Babylon, we read that Edom

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rejoiced at the downfall of
Judah.

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And in Lamentations chapter 4,
at the end of this chapter, God

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is going to bring into
remembrance.

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The sin of Eden as they beheld
the the Troubles of Judah with

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such Delight rejoice and be glad
o daughter of Edom that dwellest

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in the land of ours, that cup
also shall pass through unto

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thee.
God would not, remember his, his

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00:19:25,700 –> 00:19:30,300
judgments and his righteousness,
and Eden would be judged, Thou

217
00:19:30,300 –> 00:19:33,900
shalt be drunken and shalt make
thyself naked, the punishment of

218
00:19:33,900 –> 00:19:35,800
that in it.
Is accomplished o, Daughter of

219
00:19:35,800 –> 00:19:38,300
Zion.
He will no more carry their way

220
00:19:38,600 –> 00:19:43,000
into captivity.
He will visit thine iniquity o

221
00:19:43,000 –> 00:19:47,800
daughter of Eden.
He will discover thy sins in the

222
00:19:47,800 –> 00:19:52,200
Glee, with which Eden beheld.
The destruction of Jerusalem

223
00:19:52,200 –> 00:19:55,800
would be visited upon them in
due time.

224
00:19:57,000 –> 00:20:03,500
So clearly Jeremiah 52 and
Lamentations are the same event.

225
00:20:04,800 –> 00:20:09,900
Jeremiah 52 is going to present.
The facts Lamentations is going

226
00:20:09,900 –> 00:20:13,800
to provide the feelings of the
nation.

227
00:20:14,800 –> 00:20:19,000
Jeremiah 52 describes the
terrible events, but

228
00:20:19,000 –> 00:20:22,700
Lamentations gives us this
insight into the terrible and

229
00:20:22,700 –> 00:20:25,000
deep, anguish and hurt of the
people.

230
00:20:25,000 –> 00:20:29,300
Everything that was important to
the nation and to the profit

231
00:20:29,700 –> 00:20:35,400
their security, their religion.
The priesthood, the monarchy

232
00:20:36,000 –> 00:20:39,100
their family homes.
Their positions, their relatives

233
00:20:39,300 –> 00:20:46,200
torn apart ripped apart by the
Babylonians suddenly and

234
00:20:46,200 –> 00:20:49,500
ruthlessly.
It was devastating overwhelming

235
00:20:50,100 –> 00:20:53,900
and Lamentations is like a
window into the feelings of the

236
00:20:53,900 –> 00:20:57,200
people of Judah, right?
At this horrific time.

237
00:20:58,100 –> 00:21:00,200
It’s going to record their
disbelief.

238
00:21:01,200 –> 00:21:06,500
The anguish, they hurt their
passion for God.

239
00:21:07,600 –> 00:21:11,900
Their struggle to understand.
They had been warned so many

240
00:21:11,900 –> 00:21:17,500
times, but they didn’t really
believe that judgment was

241
00:21:17,500 –> 00:21:20,800
coming.
His an exhortation, isn’t there

242
00:21:21,100 –> 00:21:23,400
in this for us?
How many times brothers and

243
00:21:23,400 –> 00:21:26,700
sisters in young people have?
We heard Christ is coming.

244
00:21:28,500 –> 00:21:35,200
Christ is coming.
And yet, somewhere in the depths

245
00:21:35,200 –> 00:21:38,400
of our heart, sometimes we don’t
really believe it.

246
00:21:38,400 –> 00:21:41,200
He’s about to come.
Well, the nation of Israel had

247
00:21:41,200 –> 00:21:46,500
been warned and warned and
warned judgment is coming, but

248
00:21:46,500 –> 00:21:51,500
they didn’t really believe that
God would so drastically disturb

249
00:21:51,500 –> 00:21:55,900
the equilibrium.
Not to the a generation.

250
00:21:57,000 –> 00:21:59,100
God would never do this to his
Temple.

251
00:22:00,100 –> 00:22:05,800
Not to his people.
But now, as they looked around

252
00:22:05,800 –> 00:22:11,500
at the devastation, the smoking
ruins, the dead bodies.

253
00:22:11,500 –> 00:22:20,800
Piled up in the streets, he had
how, how, how could this be This

254
00:22:20,800 –> 00:22:25,200
is the book of Lamentations and
actually in the Jewish

255
00:22:25,200 –> 00:22:29,900
tradition, this is the title
given to the book that we know,

256
00:22:29,900 –> 00:22:36,200
as Lamentations, it’s the word.
How The word.

257
00:22:36,200 –> 00:22:42,000
How, in fact, the title of the
book traditionally used as used

258
00:22:42,000 –> 00:22:47,600
by the Jews as the first word of
the three great laments in the

259
00:22:47,600 –> 00:22:53,200
book, if you hadn’t noticed or
known Lamentations 1, & 2 & 4

260
00:22:53,400 –> 00:22:56,000
are the three, great laments of
Lamentations.

261
00:22:56,000 –> 00:23:01,900
And look how they start, how
does the city sits solitary

262
00:23:02,600 –> 00:23:07,800
chapter 2?
How Hef Yahweh covered the

263
00:23:07,800 –> 00:23:13,300
daughter of Zion with a cloud in
his anger, chapter 4.

264
00:23:14,000 –> 00:23:19,500
How is the gold become dim?
How is the most fine, gold

265
00:23:19,500 –> 00:23:22,100
changed.
This is actually the traditional

266
00:23:22,100 –> 00:23:24,900
name of Lamentations for the
Jews.

267
00:23:24,900 –> 00:23:31,500
It’s this Hebrew word ech, which
means how it really speaks of

268
00:23:31,500 –> 00:23:37,100
bewilderment, and confusion.
Grief and disbelief, how could

269
00:23:37,100 –> 00:23:42,300
this happen to us?
How could we have leaked this

270
00:23:42,600 –> 00:23:48,300
happen to us?
Now we know other examples of

271
00:23:48,500 –> 00:23:52,900
how Lamentations and you might
like to take a note of these if

272
00:23:52,900 –> 00:23:57,300
you like against chapter 1 and
verse 1, this is a well-known

273
00:23:57,300 –> 00:24:00,300
one.
The lament of David for Saul and

274
00:24:00,300 –> 00:24:07,500
Jonathan in second of Samuel 1
verses 17 to 27 How are the

275
00:24:07,500 –> 00:24:11,400
mighty Fallen?
The beautiful upon the high

276
00:24:11,400 –> 00:24:15,400
places of Israel Or what about
Isaiah?

277
00:24:15,400 –> 00:24:21,000
1 in verse 21.
Isaiah laments, the state of

278
00:24:21,000 –> 00:24:25,100
Judah and the nation.
How is the faithful City become

279
00:24:25,100 –> 00:24:29,600
a harlot before they used to be
judgment and righteousness

280
00:24:29,600 –> 00:24:34,800
dwelling in the city but now
murderous seems Isaiah chapter 1

281
00:24:35,500 –> 00:24:43,700
has it come to be so Isaiah 14
in Verses 4 and 12 the perhaps

282
00:24:43,700 –> 00:24:48,600
slightly satirical lament over
the destruction of Babylon.

283
00:24:49,000 –> 00:24:56,500
How has the oppressor ceased the
Golden City ceased, or Jeremiah

284
00:24:56,500 –> 00:24:59,900
48 and verse 17.
Another lament in the book of

285
00:24:59,900 –> 00:25:05,000
Jeremiah this time about the
nation of Moab, how is the

286
00:25:05,000 –> 00:25:09,800
strong staff broken?
The Elrod perished.

287
00:25:10,700 –> 00:25:16,300
Or lastly, Ezekiel chapter 26
and verse 17, the destruction of

288
00:25:16,300 –> 00:25:22,200
Tyre how they destroyed the
renowned city, which was strong

289
00:25:22,200 –> 00:25:28,100
in the see this word, how
describes the Pathos and the

290
00:25:28,100 –> 00:25:31,100
emotion of a lament.
The whole book is to

291
00:25:31,100 –> 00:25:33,400
contemplate.
This question, how could this

292
00:25:33,400 –> 00:25:36,300
be?
And if we think about any kind

293
00:25:36,300 –> 00:25:40,300
of suffering, this is how all of
us think to begin.

294
00:25:40,500 –> 00:25:45,300
With how could this happen?
How could this happen to me when

295
00:25:45,300 –> 00:25:48,900
we are confronted with intense
challenges or trials or

296
00:25:48,900 –> 00:25:51,700
suffering of any kind?
This Is How We Begin.

297
00:25:51,700 –> 00:25:59,100
We do not begin with them more
soul-searching question of Why?

298
00:26:00,400 –> 00:26:04,400
Has this happened to me?
We start off with the question.

299
00:26:04,700 –> 00:26:10,800
How has it happened to me to us?
And this writer is no different.

300
00:26:10,800 –> 00:26:16,900
It all seems incomprehensible.
Almost unbelievable.

301
00:26:19,100 –> 00:26:24,600
So who is the writer of
Lamentations, who wrote the book

302
00:26:24,700 –> 00:26:26,800
while there’s really no
reasonable doubt?

303
00:26:26,800 –> 00:26:32,300
That it was Jeremiah the prophet
and almost every commentary or

304
00:26:32,900 –> 00:26:35,700
translation.
Since the 3rd Century attributes

305
00:26:35,700 –> 00:26:39,700
it to Jeremiah, and there’s a
few, very good reasons for that,

306
00:26:39,700 –> 00:26:44,100
which will go through quickly
now, The first one is the

307
00:26:44,100 –> 00:26:49,000
evidence of the Septuagint
superscription.

308
00:26:49,500 –> 00:26:52,800
So the Septuagint was a
translation of the Hebrew

309
00:26:52,800 –> 00:26:57,700
scriptures into Greek by a bunch
of seventy Scholars around, 250

310
00:26:58,000 –> 00:27:03,400
BC and already by 250 BC.
This is what they put at the

311
00:27:03,600 –> 00:27:07,200
front of Lamentations, which we
don’t have in our Bible, but is

312
00:27:07,200 –> 00:27:11,700
there in the Septuagint and it
came to pass after Israel had

313
00:27:11,700 –> 00:27:15,600
been led into Activity in
Jerusalem had been laid waste

314
00:27:16,100 –> 00:27:21,000
Jeremiah set weeping and he
lamented with this lamentation

315
00:27:21,100 –> 00:27:28,500
over Jerusalem and he said how
does the city sits solitary?

316
00:27:28,500 –> 00:27:31,900
So that’s the superscription
from the Septuagint and the

317
00:27:32,000 –> 00:27:36,400
Vulgate eggs with a bitter
Spirit sighing and wailing.

318
00:27:36,400 –> 00:27:39,500
So that’s the first piece of
evidence that it’s Jeremiah.

319
00:27:40,800 –> 00:27:47,000
Then we have Jeremiah’s dungeon
experience you remember this we

320
00:27:47,000 –> 00:27:51,100
won’t go back to Jeremiah 37 and
38 but you remember that he was

321
00:27:51,100 –> 00:27:56,100
cast into the pit to the dungeon
we’re in was no water but Maya

322
00:27:56,100 –> 00:28:00,300
and he’s sunk in the mire and he
was pulled out of the mire by E

323
00:28:00,300 –> 00:28:02,900
bid me lick.
And when we come across in

324
00:28:02,900 –> 00:28:08,000
Lamentations to chapter 3, look
what we read in Lamentations 3

325
00:28:08,000 –> 00:28:13,200
verse 52.
Or let’s read from verse 53.

326
00:28:13,300 –> 00:28:18,300
They have cut off my life in the
dungeon and cast a stone upon me

327
00:28:18,900 –> 00:28:22,200
Waters flowed over mine head.
Then I said, I’m cut off.

328
00:28:22,400 –> 00:28:27,200
I called upon thy name, O Yahweh
out of the load dungeon thou

329
00:28:27,200 –> 00:28:33,200
Hast heard my voice hide not thy
near at my breathing at My Cry.

330
00:28:33,900 –> 00:28:36,900
Dad ruis near in the day that I
called upon thee.

331
00:28:37,500 –> 00:28:43,200
They are sensed fear, not In the
experience of Jeremiah and the

332
00:28:43,200 –> 00:28:48,600
dungeon is here, recorded in
Lamentations chapter 3.

333
00:28:50,100 –> 00:28:53,700
And perhaps were given the
information in Lamentations.

334
00:28:53,700 –> 00:28:58,100
Why he bid me?
Like ask for 30 min to help him

335
00:28:58,200 –> 00:29:01,400
from the city to rescue?
Jeremiah in, Jeremiah wasn’t

336
00:29:01,400 –> 00:29:04,900
like an emaciated profit writing
probably just weighed less than

337
00:29:04,900 –> 00:29:07,500
me.
I mean, it would be easy to pull

338
00:29:07,500 –> 00:29:10,800
Jeremiah out of the pit with a
couple of young men.

339
00:29:10,800 –> 00:29:16,300
But 30 min or here in Jeremiah,
it says they cast a stone upon

340
00:29:16,300 –> 00:29:19,600
me and perhaps 30 min we needed
to pull back.

341
00:29:19,700 –> 00:29:23,600
Back the heavy stone that lay
upon the top of the dungeon pit

342
00:29:23,600 –> 00:29:31,200
that how Jeremiah in.
The phrase fear on every side is

343
00:29:31,500 –> 00:29:35,000
a watch cry in the book of
Jeremiah.

344
00:29:35,000 –> 00:29:38,200
Not sure if you knew that fear
on every side, it’s what

345
00:29:38,200 –> 00:29:40,700
Jeremiah says over and over
again.

346
00:29:40,700 –> 00:29:44,200
It’s actually the Hebrew word
Meg or mr.

347
00:29:44,200 –> 00:29:46,000
Beebe.
And if you come back to Jeremiah

348
00:29:46,000 –> 00:29:52,900
chapter 20, He’s just one
chapter where it occurs a couple

349
00:29:52,900 –> 00:29:55,400
of times, but the other
references are up there.

350
00:29:55,700 –> 00:30:00,400
Jeremiah chapter, 20, look what
happens in verse 3, it came to

351
00:30:00,400 –> 00:30:04,200
pass on the morrow that pashya
brought forth Jeremiah out of

352
00:30:04,200 –> 00:30:07,300
the stocks then said Jeremiah
unto him.

353
00:30:07,400 –> 00:30:10,600
Yahweh hath.
Not called died name pashya but

354
00:30:10,600 –> 00:30:12,400
may go.
Mr. Beebe.

355
00:30:13,500 –> 00:30:15,800
Mego mr.
Beebe and look what it says in

356
00:30:15,800 –> 00:30:19,700
the margin.
It says fear roundabout.

357
00:30:19,800 –> 00:30:23,000
That was what Jeremiah had been
saying over and over to the

358
00:30:23,000 –> 00:30:28,200
people and now Yahweh renamed
pashya by Jeremiah’s.

359
00:30:28,200 –> 00:30:31,300
Watch cry, fear.
On every side, verse 10, for I

360
00:30:31,308 –> 00:30:34,600
heard the deformation or the
defaming of many fear on every

361
00:30:34,600 –> 00:30:39,100
side.
It’s a term that’s used right

362
00:30:39,100 –> 00:30:43,500
through the book of Jeremiah and
women come to Lamentations lo

363
00:30:43,500 –> 00:30:48,000
and behold this very phrase is
going to occur in Lamentations

364
00:30:48,300 –> 00:30:55,000
and at the end of chapter 2 in
verse 22 thou Hast called as in

365
00:30:55,000 –> 00:30:59,000
a solemn day, my Terrors
roundabout.

366
00:30:59,000 –> 00:31:02,400
It’s exactly the same phrase
fear on every side.

367
00:31:02,500 –> 00:31:06,700
So the watch Cry of Jeremiah
Finds Its way into Invitations

368
00:31:06,700 –> 00:31:09,000
chapter 2 and perhaps has a
suggestion?

369
00:31:09,400 –> 00:31:15,800
Maybe Jeremiah himself borrowed,
this watch cry from Psalm 31,

370
00:31:15,800 –> 00:31:19,000
which of course, is a highly
Messianic Psalm, which you can

371
00:31:19,100 –> 00:31:25,900
look at in your own time.
The fourth reason why we believe

372
00:31:25,900 –> 00:31:29,100
that Jeremiah wrote the book of
Lamentations is a simple one and

373
00:31:29,100 –> 00:31:33,100
that is the abundance of
cross-references in the margin

374
00:31:33,100 –> 00:31:37,600
of Lamentations to Jeremiah.
So what I did was just cut and

375
00:31:37,600 –> 00:31:42,900
paste, all of the middle Center
margins of Lamentations, in

376
00:31:42,900 –> 00:31:46,000
codon, the references to
Jeremiah, and lo and behold,

377
00:31:46,000 –> 00:31:50,000
every few verses is a reference
back to Jeremiah.

378
00:31:50,000 –> 00:31:53,300
These books are in intrinsically
linked together.

379
00:31:53,400 –> 00:31:56,400
Get it.
Then, of course, we have a

380
00:31:56,400 –> 00:32:01,200
couple of other phrases, which
Jeremiah likes to use and users

381
00:32:01,200 –> 00:32:04,500
often through the book of
Jeremiah, which also find their

382
00:32:04,500 –> 00:32:08,400
way into Lamentations.
We won’t look these up but the

383
00:32:08,400 –> 00:32:13,500
Virgin Daughter of Zion which is
used in Lamentations 2 and verse

384
00:32:13,700 –> 00:32:18,500
13 to describe due to come
straight from Jeremiah 14 and

385
00:32:18,500 –> 00:32:22,600
verse 17.
And Jeremiah is known for his

386
00:32:22,600 –> 00:32:25,500
indictments of the prophet and
the priest.

387
00:32:25,500 –> 00:32:29,000
Like, we looked at with brother
Johnny this morning, the

388
00:32:29,000 –> 00:32:32,700
prophet, and the priest should
have been the vehicles for the

389
00:32:32,700 –> 00:32:37,200
word of God Deuteronomy 18 and
Malachi chapter 2, but in the

390
00:32:37,200 –> 00:32:41,200
days of Jeremiah nowhere to be
seen and Jeremiah and deitz

391
00:32:41,200 –> 00:32:45,400
profit in Priest, prophet and
priest have perished.

392
00:32:45,900 –> 00:32:49,100
There is no.
They speak lies and falsehood

393
00:32:49,900 –> 00:32:53,700
And when we come to Lamentations
and chapter 4, we have exactly

394
00:32:53,700 –> 00:33:00,400
the same thing verse 13 for the
sins of her prophets and the

395
00:33:00,400 –> 00:33:05,600
iniquities of her priests.
That have shed the blood of the

396
00:33:05,600 –> 00:33:10,700
just in the midst of her.
So indictment of prophets and

397
00:33:10,700 –> 00:33:16,800
Priests is exactly the same.
And lastly, there’s the evidence

398
00:33:16,800 –> 00:33:18,800
that.
Well, if Jeremiah led, the

399
00:33:18,800 –> 00:33:25,000
national lament at the death of
Josiah Well, it would seem

400
00:33:25,000 –> 00:33:28,100
appropriate, wouldn’t it?
That Jeremiah leads the national

401
00:33:28,100 –> 00:33:32,600
lament for the death of the
nation, if it was Jeremiah that,

402
00:33:32,800 –> 00:33:36,100
that would do it for one man.
Surely he would do it for the

403
00:33:36,100 –> 00:33:38,200
whole nation.
So, it seems pretty clear that

404
00:33:38,200 –> 00:33:42,800
this is the outpouring of
Jeremiah’s grief at the

405
00:33:42,800 –> 00:33:45,800
Desolation and misery that he
saw all around him.

406
00:33:46,600 –> 00:33:52,800
Probably just days or weeks
after the Babylonians had left

407
00:33:52,800 –> 00:33:56,600
and the nation was floundering
trying to come to grips with the

408
00:33:56,800 –> 00:34:00,000
utter tragedy that had befallen
them.

409
00:34:00,700 –> 00:34:05,600
This is Jeremiah’s poem of hurt
and sadness.

410
00:34:06,800 –> 00:34:10,600
Describing the obstinacy of a
people who refuse to listen.

411
00:34:12,500 –> 00:34:17,900
So when exactly did Jeremiah
Wright sit down and pin this

412
00:34:17,900 –> 00:34:23,800
heart broken record?
Well, it appears from chapter 1

413
00:34:24,000 –> 00:34:30,000
and verse 11.
All her people sigh, they seek

414
00:34:30,000 –> 00:34:32,800
bread.
And as we read in chapter 4, in

415
00:34:32,800 –> 00:34:38,300
verse 4, The children ask bread
and no man break with it unto

416
00:34:38,300 –> 00:34:42,600
them that the city is still in
the grips of feminine.

417
00:34:43,300 –> 00:34:48,199
But the Babylonians have just
left chapter 4.

418
00:34:48,500 –> 00:34:53,100
In verse 22, the punishment of
thine iniquity is accomplished.

419
00:34:53,100 –> 00:34:56,400
He will no more carry their way
into captivity.

420
00:34:56,400 –> 00:34:58,900
The Babylonians have just left
Jerusalem.

421
00:35:00,100 –> 00:35:03,700
And everyone is just sitting
down, trying to comprehend the

422
00:35:03,700 –> 00:35:10,200
misery that has befallen them.
So Lamentations is Jeremiah’s

423
00:35:10,300 –> 00:35:14,500
eyewitness account of the horror
of the siege, the destruction of

424
00:35:14,500 –> 00:35:18,800
the city, and the temple, and
the immediate aftermath in the

425
00:35:18,800 –> 00:35:23,400
city of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah is going to pour out

426
00:35:23,400 –> 00:35:27,900
his emotion and heartache onto
the pages of a scroll, as he

427
00:35:27,900 –> 00:35:33,000
overflows his own feelings and
bitterness and regrets.

428
00:35:33,200 –> 00:35:36,100
And disbelief this is a very
emotional book.

429
00:35:36,700 –> 00:35:41,700
A very demonstrative book, a
very graphic book and as a

430
00:35:41,700 –> 00:35:45,100
result it’s quite unique in many
ways.

431
00:35:45,500 –> 00:35:49,900
If you think about the rest of
the scriptures, Pretty much most

432
00:35:49,900 –> 00:35:54,600
other books or areas that we
might study have a very simple

433
00:35:54,600 –> 00:35:57,800
story or narrative that we
follow.

434
00:35:57,900 –> 00:36:04,300
So, if you think about say job
Romans or the story of Elijah,

435
00:36:04,500 –> 00:36:09,600
it’s usually some kind of
narrative argument or thesis but

436
00:36:09,600 –> 00:36:12,000
Lamentations is quite quite
different.

437
00:36:12,500 –> 00:36:17,300
Every chapter is going to be a
self-contained poem.

438
00:36:18,300 –> 00:36:22,900
The thoughts are not like a
simple story or an argument that

439
00:36:22,900 –> 00:36:29,600
broken disjointed distressed.
And yet what is incredible in

440
00:36:29,600 –> 00:36:34,600
the book of Lamentations is that
for all of that, there is this

441
00:36:34,700 –> 00:36:40,700
amazing structure to the book So
look at this, this is the

442
00:36:40,700 –> 00:36:45,300
writing style of the book of
Lamentations and see how complex

443
00:36:45,500 –> 00:36:49,200
the book is.
First of all, the book is

444
00:36:49,300 –> 00:36:55,900
acrostic, so it’s made up of
five chapters and every single.

445
00:36:55,900 –> 00:37:00,400
Well, the first four of those
chapters are acrostics.

446
00:37:01,200 –> 00:37:05,900
Now, we know that acrostics
ABCD, right through to Z actor,

447
00:37:06,000 –> 00:37:10,300
both Aid memory but also to give
Completeness of thought.

448
00:37:10,300 –> 00:37:13,200
So if you write out your
thoughts with one verse standing

449
00:37:13,200 –> 00:37:17,700
with a and then B and then C
right through to Z, you get the

450
00:37:17,700 –> 00:37:21,900
feeling with, by the time you
get to the end that you have got

451
00:37:21,900 –> 00:37:24,800
a completeness of thought,
because you have finished the

452
00:37:24,800 –> 00:37:30,700
alphabet of thoughts and so
Lamentations is an acrostic.

453
00:37:30,700 –> 00:37:34,900
It’s a fully outpouring of
Jeremiah’s grief.

454
00:37:34,900 –> 00:37:38,300
And as you know there are many
other acrostics in the

455
00:37:38,300 –> 00:37:41,000
scriptures which which you
probably have a note of already.

456
00:37:42,000 –> 00:37:46,600
Not only is it an acrostic, but
it’s also poetry Now.

457
00:37:46,600 –> 00:37:50,800
Hebrew poetry is different to
English poetry, which has maybe

458
00:37:50,800 –> 00:37:56,700
better Rhyme or meter Jewish
poetry is really a rhyming of

459
00:37:56,700 –> 00:38:02,000
ideas rather than words, but
it’s got a very graphic beauty

460
00:38:02,000 –> 00:38:05,700
of its own.
So for example, just read with

461
00:38:05,700 –> 00:38:10,300
me Lamentations 3 in verse 16
and see if this doesn’t conjure

462
00:38:10,300 –> 00:38:13,100
up just a dream.
Awful awful image.

463
00:38:13,900 –> 00:38:18,500
He has also broken my teeth with
gravel Stones.

464
00:38:19,100 –> 00:38:22,500
His covered me with ashes mean,
perhaps.

465
00:38:22,500 –> 00:38:27,100
I’m slightly biased seeing the
the terribleness of that verse,

466
00:38:27,400 –> 00:38:30,100
but it’s still very graphic,
isn’t it?

467
00:38:30,200 –> 00:38:32,500
What about chapter 4?
And verse 64.

468
00:38:34,900 –> 00:38:41,500
Sorry, verse 5, they that the
did feed delicately are desolate

469
00:38:41,500 –> 00:38:46,500
in the streets, they that were
brought up in Scarlet, Embrace

470
00:38:46,500 –> 00:38:49,000
dunhill’s.
I mean, who would do that?

471
00:38:49,000 –> 00:38:52,400
This is the graphic language of
Hebrew poetry.

472
00:38:54,100 –> 00:38:58,500
Then we have a whole lot of
parallelism in the book of

473
00:38:58,500 –> 00:39:03,700
Lamentations, especially
Lamentations chapter 5 where 21

474
00:39:03,800 –> 00:39:06,900
out of the 22 verses with verse
9.

475
00:39:06,900 –> 00:39:11,200
Paralleling verse 10 are
parallel statements, so just to

476
00:39:11,200 –> 00:39:15,000
give you a bit of a feel for
that, perhaps, we read, say,

477
00:39:15,300 –> 00:39:22,900
verse 11, they ravished the
women in Zion and the maids in

478
00:39:22,900 –> 00:39:25,500
the city of Jerusalem.
The two parts of the Versa

479
00:39:25,500 –> 00:39:28,600
paralleled together, princes are
hanged up by their hand.

480
00:39:28,900 –> 00:39:31,200
The faces of the elders were not
honored.

481
00:39:31,200 –> 00:39:35,000
So, parallel statements, there’s
a lot of this, in the book of

482
00:39:35,000 –> 00:39:38,900
Lamentations, in fact, around
two-thirds of the whole book

483
00:39:39,200 –> 00:39:44,100
exhibits parallelism, and it’s a
way of expressing inconsolable

484
00:39:44,100 –> 00:39:48,300
grief, I mean, if it was bad
enough, That the princes were

485
00:39:48,300 –> 00:39:50,800
hanged up by their wrists to
die.

486
00:39:52,100 –> 00:39:55,900
The faces of the elders would
disfigured, I mean, it just adds

487
00:39:55,900 –> 00:40:00,100
grief to grief.
It’s a way of expressing the

488
00:40:00,100 –> 00:40:05,900
terribleness of the situation.
Then that laments as we have

489
00:40:05,900 –> 00:40:11,200
noted Lamentations one and two
and four dirges which are

490
00:40:11,200 –> 00:40:15,900
concluded by a prayer and it’s
going to be my suggestion that

491
00:40:15,900 –> 00:40:22,700
Lamentations 5 is really the
prayer that concludes the lament

492
00:40:22,700 –> 00:40:25,500
of chapter 4.
So chapter 1 is a lament

493
00:40:25,500 –> 00:40:28,800
finishes with a prayer chapter 2
and lament finishes with a

494
00:40:28,808 –> 00:40:34,300
prayer, chapter 4 and the mint
and it finishes with the rare of

495
00:40:34,300 –> 00:40:40,800
chapter 5.
And lastly, over and above all

496
00:40:40,800 –> 00:40:43,800
of these things.
There’s also a drama.

497
00:40:44,600 –> 00:40:48,800
There’s a play of characters
that’s happening in the story,

498
00:40:48,800 –> 00:40:50,500
which we’ll look at in just a
second.

499
00:40:50,500 –> 00:40:53,400
This is a very complex
composition.

500
00:40:54,200 –> 00:40:58,200
Imagine writing.
In acrostic.

501
00:40:59,800 –> 00:41:05,700
Dramatized funeral poem.
I mean it’s like so much kind of

502
00:41:05,700 –> 00:41:10,300
crammed into one type of
writing, clearly God wanted this

503
00:41:10,300 –> 00:41:16,100
book with its memories its
Horrors and it’s hopes to be

504
00:41:16,100 –> 00:41:21,100
recorded and I believe rather
than sisters that the horror of

505
00:41:21,100 –> 00:41:26,600
the Babylonian captivity is
recorded for us because in all

506
00:41:26,600 –> 00:41:30,900
of its horror, it’s going to
point forward To the experiences

507
00:41:30,900 –> 00:41:33,400
of Christ.
I don’t know if you noticed this

508
00:41:33,400 –> 00:41:37,600
but every as we read through
Jeremiah chapter 52, did you

509
00:41:37,600 –> 00:41:40,300
notice?
And perhaps this is one of my

510
00:41:40,300 –> 00:41:42,100
little pet topic.
So forgive me.

511
00:41:42,600 –> 00:41:48,000
But did you notice verse 7, then
the city was broken up all the

512
00:41:48,000 –> 00:41:52,300
men of War fled and went forth
out of the city By Night.

513
00:41:52,300 –> 00:41:58,100
By the way, of the gate between
the two walls which was by the

514
00:41:58,100 –> 00:42:01,700
King’s Garden These are picture
brothers and sisters of

515
00:42:01,700 –> 00:42:06,000
crucifixion.
A wall on one side, a wall on

516
00:42:06,000 –> 00:42:09,800
the other in between the Kings
gate.

517
00:42:10,600 –> 00:42:13,500
There is Devastation, death
destruction.

518
00:42:14,000 –> 00:42:19,800
All portrayed here in the end of
the Commonwealth of Judah, at

519
00:42:19,800 –> 00:42:23,600
least by the Babylonians, and
it’s going to stand forth as an

520
00:42:23,600 –> 00:42:29,300
example of suffering of which
Jeremiah would be part, is it?

521
00:42:29,400 –> 00:42:32,200
It is an embodiment of what was
going to come in the life of our

522
00:42:32,200 –> 00:42:36,900
Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a masterpiece brothers

523
00:42:36,900 –> 00:42:40,600
and sisters that has transcended
and outlived the fall of

524
00:42:40,600 –> 00:42:44,600
Jerusalem itself.
So who are the characters in

525
00:42:44,600 –> 00:42:49,700
this remarkable drama?
This political acrostic poem.

526
00:42:50,700 –> 00:42:55,300
Well, it’s extremely helpful to,
to know who the characters are

527
00:42:55,300 –> 00:42:58,800
in the book of Lamentations and
afterwards.

528
00:42:58,800 –> 00:43:02,600
You might like to Avail yourself
of one of these, this is just a

529
00:43:02,607 –> 00:43:07,000
copy of the whole book of
Annotations with all of the

530
00:43:07,000 –> 00:43:09,700
pronouns and the different
sections colored in.

531
00:43:09,700 –> 00:43:12,600
So if you’ve got nothing to do
in the afternoons, this would be

532
00:43:12,900 –> 00:43:15,700
a wonderful way to spend an hour
just to color in.

533
00:43:16,600 –> 00:43:19,200
There’s no markings it’s just
coloring in right through the

534
00:43:19,200 –> 00:43:22,500
book of Lamentations, but it
really helps to understand who’s

535
00:43:22,500 –> 00:43:26,200
speaking who’s talking because
there are a bunch of different

536
00:43:26,200 –> 00:43:30,300
characters in this drama.
So these are the characters in

537
00:43:30,300 –> 00:43:34,700
the story of Lamentations.
First of all, Jeremiah is going

538
00:43:34,700 –> 00:43:38,100
to speak as an on looking
narrator.

539
00:43:39,300 –> 00:43:43,100
He’s going to narrate the story.
He’s going to describe the

540
00:43:43,100 –> 00:43:49,900
nation as an oppressed woman and
he’s going to use the pronouns,

541
00:43:49,900 –> 00:43:52,900
she and her.
So for example, this is how the

542
00:43:52,900 –> 00:43:56,000
book starts and Lamentations 1
verse 1.

543
00:43:56,300 –> 00:43:59,600
How does the city’s solitary?
That was full of people?

544
00:43:59,800 –> 00:44:03,900
How is she become a widow?
She that was great among the

545
00:44:03,900 –> 00:44:06,500
Nations and Princess among the
provinces.

546
00:44:06,800 –> 00:44:12,500
How is she become tributary?
How has the princess become a

547
00:44:12,500 –> 00:44:15,800
slave?
He’s describing Jerusalem as an

548
00:44:15,800 –> 00:44:23,000
oppressed woman, then we have
Jeremiah’s personal Reflections

549
00:44:23,200 –> 00:44:27,400
and that’s characterized by the
pronouns, my or mine.

550
00:44:27,600 –> 00:44:31,700
So we know that it’s Jeremiah
personally reflecting on the

551
00:44:31,700 –> 00:44:35,900
situation.
So for instance, in Chapter 2 in

552
00:44:35,900 –> 00:44:41,500
verse 11, it says mine eyes.
Eyes, do fail with tears.

553
00:44:41,800 –> 00:44:45,100
My bowels are troubled.
My liver is poured upon the

554
00:44:45,100 –> 00:44:49,200
Earth for the destruction of the
daughter of my people.

555
00:44:49,200 –> 00:44:53,100
This is Jeremiah speaking
himself.

556
00:44:54,000 –> 00:45:01,100
His personal reflections.
Then we have Jerusalem herself,

557
00:45:01,400 –> 00:45:04,800
talking.
That’s also going to have the

558
00:45:04,800 –> 00:45:10,500
personal pronouns, my or mine,
or I, but it’s not Jeremiah

559
00:45:10,500 –> 00:45:14,300
speaking.
It’s the city of Jerusalem.

560
00:45:15,300 –> 00:45:19,900
Speaking.
So for instance chapter 1, if

561
00:45:19,900 –> 00:45:28,100
you’re there at the end of verse
9, o Yahweh behold my Affliction

562
00:45:28,700 –> 00:45:31,300
for the enemy has magnified
himself.

563
00:45:31,400 –> 00:45:35,600
That’s not Jeremiah speaking.
That’s the city of Jerusalem

564
00:45:35,700 –> 00:45:40,300
speaking.
Or perhaps later on in that

565
00:45:40,300 –> 00:45:46,400
section verse 14, the Yoke of my
transgression has Bound in his

566
00:45:46,400 –> 00:45:49,400
hand, they’re raised in come up
upon my neck.

567
00:45:49,500 –> 00:45:51,500
He hath made my strength to
fall.

568
00:45:51,600 –> 00:45:55,100
Yahweh has delivered me into
their hands from whom I am not

569
00:45:55,100 –> 00:45:57,200
able to rise up.
Yeah, we have trodden Under

570
00:45:57,200 –> 00:45:59,700
Foot, all my mighty men in the
midst of me.

571
00:45:59,800 –> 00:46:05,400
This is not Jeremiah speaking.
The me is Jerusalem speaking, as

572
00:46:05,600 –> 00:46:12,000
the oppressed woman.
Then we also have the enemies,

573
00:46:12,800 –> 00:46:18,500
the enemies of Jerusalem, the
Heathen, the persecutors, which

574
00:46:18,500 –> 00:46:23,800
are going to speak.
So for example, chapter 2 and

575
00:46:23,800 –> 00:46:28,700
verse 16 at the end of the
verse, well verse 16 and

576
00:46:28,700 –> 00:46:31,600
entirety, I guess then enemies
have opened their mouth against

577
00:46:31,600 –> 00:46:35,000
them, they hiss gnash their
teeth and they say we have

578
00:46:35,000 –> 00:46:37,800
swallowed her up.
Certainly this is the day that

579
00:46:37,800 –> 00:46:41,500
we look for we Found and we have
seen it.

580
00:46:41,900 –> 00:46:45,700
This is the joy of the
Babylonians as they Encompass

581
00:46:45,700 –> 00:46:51,400
Jerusalem and took her Then
there’s those that pass by,

582
00:46:51,800 –> 00:46:55,600
there’s the other nations that
are looking on like Edom and

583
00:46:55,600 –> 00:47:00,700
Moab with such delight at the
downfall of Jerusalem.

584
00:47:01,500 –> 00:47:05,100
So, if you’re still there, in
Chapter 2, there in verse 15,

585
00:47:05,200 –> 00:47:10,400
all that pass by clap their
hands, they hiss, and wag their

586
00:47:10,400 –> 00:47:13,400
head at the daughter of
Jerusalem saying, is this the

587
00:47:13,400 –> 00:47:17,700
city that men call the
Perfection of beauty, the joy of

588
00:47:17,700 –> 00:47:19,800
the Whole earth.
You can just imagine the

589
00:47:19,800 –> 00:47:24,700
derision of the edomites. if you
thought you were special, look

590
00:47:24,700 –> 00:47:31,800
at you a smoking ruin, They’re
going to be incorporated into

591
00:47:32,300 –> 00:47:36,800
the drama of Lamentations those
that pass by.

592
00:47:38,600 –> 00:47:44,700
And lastly we have in chapter 3
is we read in verse 1.

593
00:47:46,600 –> 00:47:52,700
I am the man that hath seen
Affliction by the rod of his

594
00:47:52,700 –> 00:47:58,500
wrath and chapter three is going
to be largely again the

595
00:47:58,500 –> 00:48:01,800
description of Jeremiah’s
feelings.

596
00:48:02,100 –> 00:48:06,100
But from the point of view of
someone who is almost like

597
00:48:06,500 –> 00:48:14,600
above, Jeremiah himself, this
man who has seen affliction So

598
00:48:14,800 –> 00:48:19,800
here’s a list of of where all of
those people occur and all of

599
00:48:19,800 –> 00:48:23,700
its on this handout and color.
So that would be a good way of

600
00:48:23,700 –> 00:48:25,300
doing it.
If you if you would like to in

601
00:48:25,300 –> 00:48:29,100
the next couple of days there
are only 30 copies.

602
00:48:29,100 –> 00:48:33,000
So perhaps share.
If you’re a couple or if you

603
00:48:33,000 –> 00:48:36,200
would or young people share or
once you’ve finished bring them

604
00:48:36,200 –> 00:48:38,300
back up and someone else can use
them, that will be great.

605
00:48:39,600 –> 00:48:43,600
So we have this, this Cascade of
different characters Dura Maya

606
00:48:43,600 –> 00:48:47,600
is going to narrate, he’s going
to share his own personal grief.

607
00:48:48,400 –> 00:48:52,100
He’s going to impersonate the
nation is a crushed desolate.

608
00:48:52,100 –> 00:48:56,600
Woman is going to describe the
enemies in the gloating Nations

609
00:48:56,600 –> 00:49:00,500
round about.
But then in chapter 3, he’s

610
00:49:00,500 –> 00:49:04,200
going to describe his own
position of loneliness and

611
00:49:04,200 –> 00:49:07,300
sorrow.
Amidst the suffering surrounding

612
00:49:07,300 –> 00:49:11,000
him.
So, as we’ve said, primarily

613
00:49:11,700 –> 00:49:15,400
chapter 3, the man who has seen
Affliction, the primary sense is

614
00:49:15,400 –> 00:49:19,000
the faithful Prophet Jeremiah,
but of course in the ultimate

615
00:49:19,000 –> 00:49:23,500
sense, it is really going to
prefigure our Lord Jesus Christ.

616
00:49:25,100 –> 00:49:28,400
And as we said at the beginning,
the man of chapter 3 is going to

617
00:49:28,400 –> 00:49:32,800
be absolutely critical to this
story of Lamentations and

618
00:49:32,800 –> 00:49:39,400
without even looking at what he
says in chapter 3 Just by

619
00:49:39,400 –> 00:49:43,200
looking at the structure of the
book, we can clearly see that

620
00:49:43,200 –> 00:49:47,300
this man and his thoughts are
the turning point of

621
00:49:47,300 –> 00:49:49,800
Lamentations.
So here’s the five chapters of

622
00:49:50,100 –> 00:49:53,100
Lamentations and just look at
the structure of each of the

623
00:49:53,100 –> 00:49:58,600
chapters.
Chapters 1 and 2 and 4, as we

624
00:49:58,600 –> 00:50:03,200
said, are the three main laments
that all acrostic, they all have

625
00:50:03,200 –> 00:50:07,000
22 verses 1 verse for each
letter of the Hebrew.

626
00:50:07,000 –> 00:50:13,600
Alphabet They are two, three
lines per stanza, three lines

627
00:50:13,600 –> 00:50:15,800
per stanza in two lines per
stanza.

628
00:50:15,800 –> 00:50:20,200
So by the time we get to chapter
4, there’s a little less coming

629
00:50:20,200 –> 00:50:23,600
into the lament of chapter 4.
Just a little less.

630
00:50:24,900 –> 00:50:29,300
The overwhelming grief is
subsiding by chapter 4.

631
00:50:30,500 –> 00:50:34,500
But they are all national
laments that start with the

632
00:50:34,500 –> 00:50:37,700
word.
How, how could this happen?

633
00:50:39,700 –> 00:50:45,400
But when you come to chapter 3,
chapter 3 and chapter 5 are

634
00:50:45,400 –> 00:50:48,900
quite different.
Firstly, chapter 3 is still an

635
00:50:48,900 –> 00:50:53,300
acrostic, but it gives three
verses to each of the letters of

636
00:50:53,300 –> 00:50:57,800
the Hebrew alphabet.
So this 66 verses in chapter 3

637
00:50:57,900 –> 00:51:03,400
and when we come to chapter 5,
there’s only one line per stanza

638
00:51:03,400 –> 00:51:07,000
and it’s not acrostic but still
22 verses.

639
00:51:08,300 –> 00:51:11,400
So something’s happening, isn’t
there in the story?

640
00:51:12,000 –> 00:51:18,100
And when we come to chapter 5,
look how it starts, it does not

641
00:51:18,100 –> 00:51:24,000
start with the word how it
starts with the word.

642
00:51:24,800 –> 00:51:29,900
Remember o Yahweh.
Now there’s a change, isn’t

643
00:51:29,900 –> 00:51:32,000
there?
This is no longer the nation

644
00:51:32,000 –> 00:51:34,000
asking.
How has this happened to us?

645
00:51:34,500 –> 00:51:38,000
This is the nation seeking to
remember now.

646
00:51:38,100 –> 00:51:40,500
Is that idea come from?
And the answer is, it comes out

647
00:51:40,500 –> 00:51:44,900
of chapter 3.
We’re in verses.

648
00:51:46,100 –> 00:51:51,200
Say 17 to 21.
The prophet is going to

649
00:51:51,200 –> 00:51:54,700
remember.
He’s going to recall to mind

650
00:51:54,700 –> 00:51:58,800
certain things in chapter 5
draws.

651
00:51:58,800 –> 00:52:05,200
Its inspiration from chapter
three, chapter 3 is an

652
00:52:05,200 –> 00:52:10,200
individual lament and a prayer
in chapter 5 is going to be the

653
00:52:10,200 –> 00:52:15,000
National Prayer after the
national lament so we can see

654
00:52:15,300 –> 00:52:22,000
that chapter 3 really becomes
the basis for the change in the

655
00:52:22,000 –> 00:52:25,400
nation’s thoughts that we can
see in chapter 5.

656
00:52:25,400 –> 00:52:29,700
It’s different It’s different by
the time we get to chapter 5.

657
00:52:30,000 –> 00:52:34,600
So chapter 3 is the turning
point before the nation appealed

658
00:52:34,600 –> 00:52:39,500
to the passes by for sympathy.
Is it nothing to you only that

659
00:52:39,500 –> 00:52:44,100
pass by Lana grief?
By the time you come to the end

660
00:52:44,100 –> 00:52:48,300
of the book, they’re no longer
appealing to passes by for

661
00:52:48,300 –> 00:52:51,800
sympathy.
They’re appealing to God for

662
00:52:51,800 –> 00:52:55,300
Mercy.
There’s a change in this book.

663
00:52:56,900 –> 00:53:00,500
Is a turning point.
So what’s happening or

664
00:53:00,500 –> 00:53:04,600
Lamentations one and two, the
situation is confusing hopeless

665
00:53:04,600 –> 00:53:09,400
and overwhelming, the city that
was described as the Perfection

666
00:53:09,400 –> 00:53:11,500
of Beauty.
And the joy of the whole earth

667
00:53:11,700 –> 00:53:15,900
is is in smoldering ruins.
It’s gone from being full of

668
00:53:15,900 –> 00:53:23,000
people, vibrant bustling, Two
solitary in empty Jerusalem, has

669
00:53:23,000 –> 00:53:27,500
gone from being a princess to a
slave from wealthy to being a

670
00:53:27,500 –> 00:53:30,300
widow.
The walls in the towers symbols

671
00:53:30,300 –> 00:53:35,000
of God’s protection gone.
The prophets and the wise men

672
00:53:35,200 –> 00:53:40,700
symbols of God’s guidance, gone
the temple and its priests

673
00:53:41,100 –> 00:53:46,200
symbols of God’s presence, gone
and Lamentations one, and two

674
00:53:46,700 –> 00:53:49,300
the expression of almost in
Express.

675
00:53:49,400 –> 00:53:53,400
Double grief, disbelief and
hopelessness.

676
00:53:55,400 –> 00:53:59,900
But then, out of the smoking,
ruins of the city emerges in

677
00:53:59,900 –> 00:54:06,000
chapter 3, a single Survivor, a
man who has seen Affliction, a

678
00:54:06,000 –> 00:54:10,400
single individual, one faithful
man who in the heart of the book

679
00:54:10,600 –> 00:54:14,500
and chapter three is going to
bring hope to a hopeless

680
00:54:14,500 –> 00:54:18,200
situation.
He’s going to make sense of what

681
00:54:18,200 –> 00:54:21,200
has up until now been
incomprehensible.

682
00:54:22,100 –> 00:54:26,000
A man who can see past the
suffering to the ultimate good,

683
00:54:26,200 –> 00:54:30,700
who doesn’t just ask how, but
who remembers who it is?

684
00:54:30,700 –> 00:54:34,100
That is in control.
However, desperate the situation

685
00:54:34,100 –> 00:54:39,600
is This man.
Is of course our Lord.

686
00:54:39,600 –> 00:54:43,400
Jesus Christ.
He knows that it is God who has

687
00:54:43,400 –> 00:54:47,200
brought the Affliction and even
though we might not comprehend

688
00:54:47,200 –> 00:54:53,600
why he always has a reason.
And amongst the devastation, the

689
00:54:53,600 –> 00:54:57,400
ruin lives that have been left
behind this man, who’s seen

690
00:54:57,400 –> 00:55:00,300
Affliction steps forward to
offer hope.

691
00:55:00,300 –> 00:55:05,600
And meaning in the climax of the
book is there in chapter 3 in

692
00:55:05,600 –> 00:55:14,700
verses 31 to 33, For Yahweh will
not cast off forever, but though

693
00:55:14,700 –> 00:55:18,000
he caused grief yet.
Will he have compassion?

694
00:55:18,200 –> 00:55:21,500
According to the multitude of
his mercies for?

695
00:55:21,500 –> 00:55:26,600
He does not afflict willingly
nor grieve The Children of Men.

696
00:55:27,900 –> 00:55:32,500
This man who was also shared in
the Affliction of the nation.

697
00:55:33,500 –> 00:55:36,900
But in chapter 3 is we read in
verse 52.

698
00:55:37,400 –> 00:55:39,700
Mine enemies.
Chase me soar like a bird

699
00:55:39,700 –> 00:55:42,800
without cause this man is
innocent.

700
00:55:43,500 –> 00:55:47,000
So here’s a man who shared all
the sufferings of the nation,

701
00:55:47,000 –> 00:55:49,600
but he hadn’t done a single
thing wrong.

702
00:55:51,600 –> 00:55:55,700
And he still suffering.
This man is able to bring

703
00:55:55,700 –> 00:55:59,500
perspective and awareness of
God’s presence and his

704
00:55:59,500 –> 00:56:03,300
chastening hand and appreciation
that this chastening is

705
00:56:03,300 –> 00:56:07,200
necessary.
And an acknowledgement that he

706
00:56:07,200 –> 00:56:11,400
ultimately will save us if we
turn to him.

707
00:56:11,900 –> 00:56:18,000
So this book is actually a
parable of Our Lives, a parable

708
00:56:18,800 –> 00:56:23,000
of Our Lives.
It starts out in chapters 1 and

709
00:56:23,000 –> 00:56:27,400
2 with the community Afflicted
because of sins suffering

710
00:56:27,400 –> 00:56:31,400
terribly.
Then in chapter 3, we’re

711
00:56:31,400 –> 00:56:37,400
introduced to this individual
man who is Afflicted with the

712
00:56:37,400 –> 00:56:42,500
community.
Despite his innocence verse 52

713
00:56:44,200 –> 00:56:49,800
And this one individual is able
to inspire the community, to

714
00:56:49,800 –> 00:56:53,500
pray to God and to return back
to him.

715
00:56:53,700 –> 00:56:57,100
This is the story in the picture
of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

716
00:56:57,300 –> 00:57:03,300
And so, the nation does they see
in this man, the man who is able

717
00:57:03,300 –> 00:57:09,400
to provide that hope they
participate with him in his, in

718
00:57:09,400 –> 00:57:13,800
his hope, in seeing purpose and
meaning and he in turn.

719
00:57:14,000 –> 00:57:16,600
Able to become their
representative.

720
00:57:16,800 –> 00:57:21,400
This is a parable, a picture of
the atonement the saving work of

721
00:57:21,400 –> 00:57:25,300
Christ, who suffered more than
all of us, despite being

722
00:57:25,300 –> 00:57:28,400
completely Innocent.
But who is able to inspire us

723
00:57:28,700 –> 00:57:32,100
with meaning, and hope even in
the most desperately Bleak

724
00:57:32,300 –> 00:57:35,200
situations.
So that we can turn to God

725
00:57:35,800 –> 00:57:40,600
become associated with the one
who is able to bring Salvation,

726
00:57:40,600 –> 00:57:43,800
its Christ perspective in the
face of suffering.

727
00:57:43,900 –> 00:57:49,200
That can bring meaning yet
learned he obedience by the

728
00:57:49,200 –> 00:57:53,100
things which he suffered.
So chapter 3 becomes the turning

729
00:57:53,100 –> 00:57:58,500
point of this book what Was
incomprehensible despair.

730
00:57:58,700 –> 00:58:03,000
Now has meaning though he will
cause grief yet?

731
00:58:03,000 –> 00:58:07,100
Will he have compassion?
We are not the victims of the

732
00:58:07,100 –> 00:58:10,000
capricious forces of natural
selection.

733
00:58:10,100 –> 00:58:13,500
We have a heavenly father, who
cares?

734
00:58:14,200 –> 00:58:19,800
For us who is merciful as well
as faithful to his word is good

735
00:58:19,800 –> 00:58:23,700
to those that wait for him.
So this book has a development

736
00:58:23,700 –> 00:58:28,300
of understanding and progression
of how we think about suffering

737
00:58:28,300 –> 00:58:32,300
and affliction.
We start out and chapter one

738
00:58:32,300 –> 00:58:37,000
with Jerusalem’s affliction.
By the time we come to chapter

739
00:58:37,000 –> 00:58:42,300
2, we realize that has been
brought by God himself a growing

740
00:58:42,300 –> 00:58:45,100
realization.
This is not just random God has

741
00:58:45,100 –> 00:58:50,100
done this.
In chapter 3, we see that same

742
00:58:50,100 –> 00:58:53,500
Affliction as a necessary
chastening tool.

743
00:58:54,700 –> 00:58:59,900
That could turn the nation if
they confess their sins and

744
00:58:59,900 –> 00:59:04,600
repented and lastly be delivered
from that Affliction in chapter

745
00:59:04,600 –> 00:59:06,300
5.
There is a progression of

746
00:59:06,300 –> 00:59:11,400
thought, through the book of
Lamentations in really chapter

747
00:59:11,400 –> 00:59:17,500
4, is there so that we can learn
the attitude of the man of

748
00:59:17,500 –> 00:59:22,300
chapter 3, we can be conformed
to His Image.

749
00:59:22,700 –> 00:59:25,200
The man of chapter 3 brings,
Perspective.

750
00:59:25,200 –> 00:59:29,300
And meaning it’s a similar book
and some ways to the Book of

751
00:59:29,300 –> 00:59:34,900
Job, whereas The Book of Job is
all about personal suffering.

752
00:59:36,000 –> 00:59:41,700
And God’s Assurance of control.
The book of Lamentations is

753
00:59:41,700 –> 00:59:48,100
really about National suffering
and God’s Assurance of meaning.

754
00:59:49,300 –> 00:59:52,500
So Lamentations once unwrapped a
little bit brothers and sisters

755
00:59:52,500 –> 00:59:58,300
as far from a miserable poem
about depression, it’s really

756
00:59:58,300 –> 01:00:03,400
God’s Assurance to us that when
we suffer, whatever is happening

757
01:00:03,400 –> 01:00:07,600
to us, or has happened to us,
the Lord will not cast off

758
01:00:07,600 –> 01:00:13,400
forever, he will have compassion
according to the multitude of

759
01:00:13,600 –> 01:00:19,800
his mercies.
Christ can make us see the sinks

760
01:00:20,000 –> 01:00:23,200
amongst their despair offer
light when everything seems so

761
01:00:23,200 –> 01:00:26,800
dark bring hope to hearts and
dreams that have been utterly

762
01:00:26,800 –> 01:00:31,100
crushed and broken.
This poem is a dramatic play

763
01:00:31,100 –> 01:00:35,000
about our response.
To God’s Affliction.

764
01:00:35,000 –> 01:00:36,900
It’s not bemoaning the
Affliction.

765
01:00:36,900 –> 01:00:40,200
Although it does.
It’s describing what ought to be

766
01:00:40,200 –> 01:00:43,900
our response.
And, you know, Brothers and

767
01:00:43,908 –> 01:00:45,800
Sisters.
Let’s Not kid ourselves.

768
01:00:46,500 –> 01:00:51,800
While we might not be dying of
hunger, among the smoking and

769
01:00:51,800 –> 01:00:56,900
smoldering ruins of Jerusalem,
all of us have suffering of some

770
01:00:56,900 –> 01:01:00,600
description.
And as I was contemplating this

771
01:01:00,600 –> 01:01:04,000
and putting some thoughts
together for these classes.

772
01:01:04,000 –> 01:01:05,800
I looked around our own
Ecclesia.

773
01:01:06,100 –> 01:01:11,300
And I went through our ecclesial
list and this is what I found.

774
01:01:12,600 –> 01:01:16,900
I found husbands and wives
struggling to have children.

775
01:01:17,800 –> 01:01:23,000
Or having miscarriages, I saw
brothers and sisters and young

776
01:01:23,000 –> 01:01:25,700
people, still suffering from
anxiety.

777
01:01:25,700 –> 01:01:29,500
And stress from the earthquakes,
I saw brothers and sisters

778
01:01:30,700 –> 01:01:35,900
bearing, the burden as well as
the joy of disabled children.

779
01:01:36,800 –> 01:01:40,200
I saw brothers and sisters, who
experienced the tragic loss of a

780
01:01:40,200 –> 01:01:43,200
sibling or a loved one may be at
a young age.

781
01:01:43,300 –> 01:01:48,000
Maybe a 20 year old brother who
got taken away in a car crash or

782
01:01:48,000 –> 01:01:51,700
a motorcycle accident.
Broken marriages, marriages

783
01:01:51,700 –> 01:01:55,200
Under Pressure brothers and
sisters with unbelieving

784
01:01:55,200 –> 01:02:00,200
Partners brothers and sisters
dealing with childhood abuse.

785
01:02:00,700 –> 01:02:03,700
I saw brothers and sisters
dealing with the loss of a

786
01:02:03,700 –> 01:02:06,600
spouse.
I saw brothers and sisters who

787
01:02:06,600 –> 01:02:09,300
might have wanted to marry but
never did.

788
01:02:09,700 –> 01:02:13,700
I saw parents with children who
didn’t come into the truth or

789
01:02:13,900 –> 01:02:15,900
parents with children, who left
the truth?

790
01:02:16,100 –> 01:02:20,600
I saw depression mental illness.
I saw cancer other related

791
01:02:20,600 –> 01:02:25,000
afflictions, artificial limbs
that people had to put up with

792
01:02:25,000 –> 01:02:28,400
all their lives suffering,
brothers and sisters is not an

793
01:02:28,400 –> 01:02:34,700
optional part of discipleship.
And Lamentations is a dramatized

794
01:02:34,700 –> 01:02:40,200
poem on our response to that
suffering, if it hasn’t come.

795
01:02:41,700 –> 01:02:45,200
It certainly will.
You know, it’s good to reflect

796
01:02:45,200 –> 01:02:51,400
on the inevitability of
suffering because sometimes I

797
01:02:51,408 –> 01:02:55,300
think we, we think to ourselves.
Well, if I go to the meeting and

798
01:02:55,300 –> 01:02:59,300
in the truth and I’m, I’m
faithful then good things should

799
01:02:59,300 –> 01:03:02,800
happen to me, right?
I mean good things blessings

800
01:03:02,800 –> 01:03:05,800
should happen.
I’m following and obeying God.

801
01:03:07,100 –> 01:03:11,000
we did we get that idea from
That’s not from the scriptures

802
01:03:11,800 –> 01:03:14,000
over and over again.
In the scriptures, as we will

803
01:03:14,000 –> 01:03:19,500
see, God promises suffering,
trials, Temptations.

804
01:03:19,600 –> 01:03:24,700
It is his way of relentlessly
conforming us to the image of

805
01:03:24,700 –> 01:03:28,000
his son.
Do you know in the parable of

806
01:03:28,300 –> 01:03:32,300
the two houses at the end of
Matthew chapter 7 there’s a

807
01:03:32,300 –> 01:03:37,400
house built on the rock and a
house built on the sand.

808
01:03:37,400 –> 01:03:42,700
In the point of the story is not
that if we build our house on

809
01:03:42,700 –> 01:03:49,500
the rock, That the storms will
never come because the storms

810
01:03:49,500 –> 01:03:55,700
come to both houses.
Suffering and sorrow and

811
01:03:55,700 –> 01:03:58,000
heartache.
Will inevitably come?

812
01:03:58,200 –> 01:04:01,600
It is only through much
tribulation pressure that we

813
01:04:01,600 –> 01:04:05,700
will enter the kingdom and
suffering brings that pressure.

814
01:04:05,700 –> 01:04:08,900
It’s not optional brothers and
sisters it is an inevitable.

815
01:04:10,000 –> 01:04:14,000
And if it hasn’t happened in
your life, then give thanks

816
01:04:14,500 –> 01:04:16,900
build.
Stores of trust and faith

817
01:04:16,900 –> 01:04:20,900
because it is coming.
None of you will get into the

818
01:04:20,900 –> 01:04:24,400
kingdom.
Without suffering.

819
01:04:24,400 –> 01:04:26,400
I’m not going to be able to look
at you and go.

820
01:04:26,500 –> 01:04:28,200
Wow!
Brother Stu got in there and he

821
01:04:28,200 –> 01:04:32,200
just had a sweet ride because
it’s not going to happen.

822
01:04:32,400 –> 01:04:35,700
You’re not going to see my life
without suffering because

823
01:04:36,100 –> 01:04:41,300
suffering is God’s way of
pushing the unyielding clay of

824
01:04:41,300 –> 01:04:46,100
are characters in molding us
into the Exquisite vessel of

825
01:04:46,300 –> 01:04:50,400
proportion and beauty that he
desires the mind of our Lord

826
01:04:50,400 –> 01:04:53,300
Jesus Christ.
It will happen.

827
01:04:53,600 –> 01:04:57,000
It’s a bit like the music
teacher, who had a lazy

828
01:04:57,100 –> 01:05:01,400
nonchalant student, but they had
a fine voice.

829
01:05:01,900 –> 01:05:05,600
And after weeks of frustration,
he says, if only, I could

830
01:05:05,600 –> 01:05:09,400
somehow bring you some sorrow
that would break your heart, you

831
01:05:09,408 –> 01:05:12,800
would have one of the finest
voices in the world because

832
01:05:12,800 –> 01:05:17,900
sometimes brothers and sisters,
we can be technically sound, but

833
01:05:17,900 –> 01:05:22,900
it’s the emotions of suffering
that brings out the the finest

834
01:05:22,900 –> 01:05:27,400
notes in our lives.
And sometimes it’s the same with

835
01:05:27,400 –> 01:05:29,900
our discipleship.
We can be technically

836
01:05:29,900 –> 01:05:35,500
well-versed in the truth, plenty
of theoretical knowledge and yet

837
01:05:35,500 –> 01:05:40,600
there’s something lacking in the
spiritual maturity of Our Lives

838
01:05:40,600 –> 01:05:47,000
as disciples and in the Angels
hands suffering provides that

839
01:05:47,000 –> 01:05:50,500
maturity.
It shapes our hearts and Minds

840
01:05:50,500 –> 01:05:58,100
like books Never Can It teaches
us, it forces us to turn to him

841
01:05:58,400 –> 01:06:00,700
win before we just knew that we
should.

842
01:06:01,900 –> 01:06:05,700
Lamentations is God’s witness
that he will bring that

843
01:06:05,700 –> 01:06:08,000
pressure.
A heavenly father keeps his

844
01:06:08,000 –> 01:06:10,900
promises.
He means what he says he

845
01:06:10,900 –> 01:06:13,900
foretold judgment.
He brought it.

846
01:06:15,300 –> 01:06:19,900
Just as suffering is inevitable
in our lives as disciples if we

847
01:06:19,900 –> 01:06:23,300
respond.
If we learn the lessons of this

848
01:06:23,300 –> 01:06:28,100
book, he has also promised
inevitable salvation and

849
01:06:28,100 –> 01:06:31,200
deliverance.
If we put our faith and trust in

850
01:06:31,200 –> 01:06:35,400
him, this is our perspective on
affliction.

851
01:06:36,900 –> 01:06:40,600
Now, no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous,

852
01:06:41,000 –> 01:06:45,700
but Grievous, nevertheless,
afterward it yieldeth, the

853
01:06:45,700 –> 01:06:50,800
Peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them that exercise there by

854
01:06:51,400 –> 01:06:54,700
for our light Affliction, which
is, but for a moment, works for

855
01:06:54,700 –> 01:06:58,600
us, a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of Glory.

856
01:06:59,900 –> 01:07:05,900
Or some 34, his anger and Jews
for a moment in his favor is

857
01:07:05,900 –> 01:07:10,400
life weeping.
May endure for a night but joy

858
01:07:10,700 –> 01:07:14,400
cometh in the morning.
This sport to be our perspective

859
01:07:14,400 –> 01:07:18,100
on the sufferings of this life
just for a second just for a

860
01:07:18,100 –> 01:07:22,500
moment.
Just for the present, the hard

861
01:07:22,500 –> 01:07:26,600
times might be here, but they’re
going to bring righteousness and

862
01:07:26,600 –> 01:07:30,800
Glory life.
Enjoy, how thankful are we

863
01:07:30,800 –> 01:07:32,300
brothers and sisters for our
Lord.

864
01:07:32,300 –> 01:07:38,100
Jesus Christ, the man who has
seen fiction terrible

865
01:07:38,300 –> 01:07:43,600
Affliction, but who can show us
how to see past the suffering,

866
01:07:44,200 –> 01:07:47,700
to the righteousness, and the
glory, and the life in the joy,

867
01:07:47,700 –> 01:07:52,500
the ultimate good.
That God has in store for all of

868
01:07:52,500 –> 01:08:00,800
us. but before, before we get
there, We have to go into the

869
01:08:00,800 –> 01:08:05,000
black depths of Despair.
The inconsolable

870
01:08:05,300 –> 01:08:10,200
incomprehensible grief of The
Afflicted, Daughter of Zion.

871
01:08:11,100 –> 01:08:13,000
And this we will do tomorrow,
God willing.

872
01:08:29,800 –> 01:08:31,899
Thank you very much, brother,
Nathan.

873
01:08:32,800 –> 01:08:42,000
It’s now, morning, tea time and
will be until I was going to say

874
01:08:42,000 –> 01:08:43,500
11:00.
But no morning.

875
01:08:43,500 –> 01:08:45,899
Teas, going to finish a long
time before 11:00.

876
01:08:46,200 –> 01:08:49,700
Could you be back here?
Well, in time.

877
01:08:49,700 –> 01:08:56,899
Maybe five minutes to 11:00.
We will close this session now

878
01:08:57,000 –> 01:09:02,000
with Prayer and and also thanks
for the morning.

879
01:09:02,000 –> 01:09:05,600
Tea led by Brother.
David Dangerfield, please.

880
01:09:19,899 –> 01:09:24,800
Gracious, Father in Heaven
above, we draw near to you once

881
01:09:24,800 –> 01:09:31,899
more thankful for your Mercies.
And we are thankful that for

882
01:09:31,899 –> 01:09:40,399
this, this time that we have.
Been able to consider the life

883
01:09:40,399 –> 01:09:46,600
of Jeremiah and his insights in
into the fall of that City

884
01:09:46,600 –> 01:09:51,000
Jerusalem.
A city that is so precious and

885
01:09:51,000 –> 01:09:57,100
close to your heart.
And so, please help us to

886
01:09:57,800 –> 01:10:03,100
consider these things.
And to reflect upon the

887
01:10:03,100 –> 01:10:10,200
necessity of suffering, we thank
you for the food that you have

888
01:10:10,200 –> 01:10:14,900
provided for us and we seek your
blessing now through Christ

889
01:10:14,900 –> 01:10:16,600
Jesus your son, amen.

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