Turn with me in your Bibles to
Lamentations chapter 4. Lamentations chapter 4. Now the
title of the message this evening comes from the very last verse
of Lamentations 4, verse 22, which states, The punishment
of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion. He will no
more carry thee away into captivity." And I'll stop there just for
a moment. The title of the message is, Judah's Punishment Accomplished. Or you could say, Zion's Punishment
Accomplished. For Judah here, Zion is a picture
and a type of the people of God, the true spiritual people of
God, the elect of God. And the point is that her punishment
is accomplished. And we'll look at that in just
a moment. Look back up at verse 1. It begins
in verse 1. How is the gold become dim? Now this is Jeremiah's lamentation. Sorrow. He's thinking about the
past and the present. He's sorrowing over how Judah,
Jerusalem, Israel, the nation, the Hebrew people, how they began
in their glory And of course, their glory was not their own.
It was not their goodness or their power or their personal
inherent glory. They had none, just like all
of us were sinners. But their glory was that which
set forth the power and the goodness and the glory of God. And that's
why he talks about gold. Gold, the luster of gold. They
were gold. How is the gold? And now the
gold has become dim. How is the most fine gold changed,
he says. The stones of the sanctuary,
that's the temple. Much gold in that temple. He
said, they're poured out in the top of every street, been taken. And he says, the precious sons
of Zion comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed? What is
the estimation of them now presently? And he says, as earthen pitchers,
just clay pots. the work of the hands of the
potter, the work of men. Now, I'm going to do one read-through
on this chapter, and I'm not going to come back and read through
it four times, but there are four different perspectives that
you can take as you go through this scripture. And the first
one is the most obvious, and the first application of Jeremiah
in his day lamenting the people of Israel, as we said. Jeremiah
laments the sad, sorrowful, spiritual state of the people of Judah
and Jerusalem. So here we see the fall of Jerusalem,
the fall of Judah, the fall of Israel, all Israel, the nation. And he was considering, as I
said, their glorious beginning. Think about that. We won't go
through their whole history. We don't have time. How has the
gold become dim? What was golden about them? Well,
as I said, it was the goodness and the glory of God. Think about
their deliverance from Egypt. Their formation as a nation. And think about their taking
possession of the promised land. I know they wandered through
the wilderness. They rebelled even between that time. And even
when they came upon the brink of the promised land. But think
about their taking possession of the promised land under Joshua.
the battle of Jericho. What a golden moment in their
history that was. And think of their time of obedience
during the days of Joshua. It is said in the book of Joshua
chapter 24 that the people were in obedience to God. That was one of the few times
in their history that the nation as a whole was in obedience to
the covenant that God made with them through Moses. It wasn't
long after that then That there came a great time of wicked disobedience. The book of Judges, right after
Joshua, which says the people did that which was right and
every man did that which was right in their own eyes. There
the gold became dim. Think of their national prominence
under King David. and Solomon. They were so gloriously
spoken of under Solomon that the Queen of Sheba came from
afar off just to sit down and talk with Solomon and his wisdom.
Think of things like the tabernacle and the temple that was built
by Solomon, wherein the glory of God resided. But now the gold
has become dim. Now the glory of the Lord has
departed. The temple's been destroyed.
The city of Jerusalem has been destroyed. They're going through
famine. The people have been conquered. They've been plundered.
They've been taken captive. And the city is destroyed. Look
at verse four, verse three, it says, even the sea monsters or
the sea calves, it's talking about sea creatures. That's what
he's talking about. They draw out the breasts. They
give suck to their young ones. The daughter of my people has
become cruel like the ostriches in the wilderness. Here's what
he's saying here, and I want you to understand. He's talking
about how bad things had gotten in this nation. And it's got
so bad that even the parents, the women here, were neglecting
their young. That's what an ostrich does.
They lay their eggs and they leave them. And he said even
the sea creatures will take care of their young. And so they neglect
their young. Look at verse 4. The tongue of
the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst.
The young children ask bread, no man breaketh it to them. The
people had become so, so poor that they couldn't even take
care of their children. It says in verse 5, they that did feed
delicately are desolate in the streets. In other words, they
did eat sumptuously. They did have plenty, but now
it's desolation in the streets. They that were brought up in
Scarlet. And of course, colored cloth
back then was a sign of wealth. Remember Lydia in the New Testament,
she was a maker of purple. And she was a successful businesswoman. But they that were brought up
in Scarlet, look what they embraced. They embraced dunghills. It's
kind of the equivalent of going through the garbage tump. They
say that when the stock market crashed in the 30s, those who
were rich were reduced to going through the garbage cans to find
food. Things like that. Verse 6, it
says, even for the punishment of the iniquity of the daughter
of my people is greater than the punishment of the sin of
Sodom. Now everybody knows about Sodom. How wicked. How awful. how depraved Sodom
was. If anybody deserved damnation
and punishment and destruction, it was Sodom. And yet he says,
the iniquity of the daughter of my people. Jeremiah is speaking
about Jerusalem and Judah. They had greater punishment than
the sin of Sodom. That was overthrown as in a moment
and no hand stayed on her. In other words, nobody was able
to stop it. You know, Ezekiel spoke of this while he was in
captivity. when he prophesied and he said
that Sodom had not done the things that Judah had done as far as
the degree of sin. Our Lord spoke of it in Matthew
chapter 11 when he spoke to the cities of Bethsaida and Chorazin
and other cities that had seen the miracles and heard the gospel
preached. And what he's talking about here
is sinning against the light. Sinning against great privilege.
Sinning, you know, we talk about, well, there's no degrees of sin.
Well, the Bible seems to indicate that there's degrees of judgment.
Now, whether that filters out the degree of punishment, I don't
know. Some say it does, and it may do that. But I know this,
and it may be just a mental punishment. I don't know, but I know this.
There's no greater sin in God's mind than to sin against the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. That strikes against every attribute
of God. That's a denial of His Son. And
that's what He's talking about there. Look at verse 7. He says, Her Nazarites were purer
than snow, they were whiter than milk, they were more ruddy in
body than rubies, their polishing was of sapphire, their visage
Blacker than a coal they are not known in the streets their
skin cleaveth to their bones. It is withered. It has become
like a stick You know the Nazarites that you know, you've heard of
the Nazarite vows Samson was a Nazarite for example Samuel
was a Nazarite that was those who took a vow in Israel to be
totally dedicated to God and They made vows they wouldn't
cut their hair They wouldn't drink alcoholic beverages. They
wouldn't do anything because they were totally, and there
were pictures there. And so I don't have time to go into all that
tonight. But to take the Nazarite vow is a picture of one who is
totally dedicated to the Lord. The Nazarites were pictures of
true believers. They were types of true believers
in Israel. When the Bible talks about how
we as sinners saved by grace are to dedicate ourselves to
the Lord, like over in Romans chapter 12. This is very similar
to a Nazarite vow in picture and type when he says, I beseech
you therefore brethren by the mercies of the Lord that you
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto
God, which is your reasonable service. and be not conformed
to the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind
that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect
will of God." Peter said it this way, you're a chosen people,
you're a holy priesthood, you're a peculiar people, a purchased
people. In other words, we're to be dedicated
to the Lord. Our lives are to be lived for
His glory. And what he's saying here is those Nazarites that
resided in Judah, you couldn't even recognize them now. You
used to be able to recognize them, but not now. That's how
bad things have gotten. The gold has become dim. You
see their visage, their appearance is blacker than a coal. They're
not known in the streets. You can't tell the difference
anymore. Their skin cleaveth to their
bones. They're just as bad off as the rest of us. Starving. And then look at verse 9. He
says, they that be slain with the sword are better than they
that be slain with hunger. To be slain with a sword is a
quick death. To be slain by hunger is a slow
death. And he says, for these pine away stricken through for
want of the fruits of the field. And then he says, the hands of
the pitiful women have sodden their own children. That word
sodden, you know what it is literally? It's boiled. So they've been
reduced to cannibalism. That was mentioned in another
passage in Lamentations. It was mentioned in the book
of Isaiah. And we sat and we marveled at that because we wonder
how in the world could a people come to that point in their lives?
It's amazing, isn't it? Verse 10 says, they were their
meat in the destruction of the daughter of my people. Now, is
there any doubt that the gold has become dim? In verse 11,
he talks about the Lord's wrath against her sin. The Lord hath
accomplished his fury. This is the Lord's wrath. He
poured out his fierce anger, kindled a fire in Zion, and devoured
the foundations thereof. The kings of the earth and all
the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that
the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of
Jerusalem. When you consider the glory that she had once had,
For example, under Joshua, or under David, or under Solomon,
the kings of the earth marveled at this. Then in verse 13, it
talks about the sins of the prophets and the priests. You see, their
religion didn't help them. Their prophets didn't help them.
They're false prophets. There were a few true prophets.
Jeremiah, he tried to tell them the truth, and they made light
of him, and they persecuted him. They persecuted the true prophets.
Christ said that. And the priest, the priesthood,
that priesthood, which was such a glorious picture of Christ
and His church, it had become so corrupt, look at verse 13,
the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests
that have shed the blood of the just in the midst of her. They
didn't act justly, they didn't tell the truth. The prophets
said, peace, peace, when there was no peace. They wandered as
blind men in the streets. Remember Christ told the Pharisees,
you're the blind leading the blind. They polluted themselves
with blood so that men could not touch their garments. They
cried unto them, depart ye as an unclean. You see, the priest,
if you were a leper and you got cured, you had to go to the priest
and go through the ceremony of washings. Now he's kind of describing
these priests as leprous. And what he means is they're
sinful. Depart, it's unclean. Depart, depart, touch not. When
they fled away and wandered, they said unto the heathen, they
shall no more sojourn there. And that's the anger of the Lord
hath divided them, separated them. He will no more regard
them. They respected not the persons of the priests. They
favored not the elders. This is how the people looked
on them. And then he talks about their
vain hope is shattered. They had hope, but it was vain.
It's like people today who trust in their own works for salvation
rather than trusting Christ and His righteousness. They have
a hope, but it's vain. It says in verse 17, As for us,
our eyes have yet failed for our vain hope. In our watching,
we've watched for a nation that could not save us. Their hope
was in Israel. Their hope was in their king. Their hope was in their circumcision. That nation couldn't save them.
They hunt our steps that we cannot go in our streets. Our end is
near, our days are fulfilled for our end is come. Our end
is come, he says, our persecutors are swifter than the eagles of
the heaven. They pursued us upon the mountains. They laid wait
for us in the wilderness. The breath of our nostrils, the
anointed of the Lord. That's talking about the king
as far as the earthly fulfillment of this. The anointing of the
Lord was taken in their pits, of whom we said, under his shadow
we shall live among the heathen. He's gonna protect us from the
heathen. He's gonna protect us from, not so, not so. And then in verses 21 and 22,
he expresses hope for the future. He says, rejoice and be glad,
O daughter of Edom. And we'll talk about that in
just a moment. That dwellest in the land of Uz. Now that's
not the same Uz that Job lived in. This is the one in Arabia.
The cup also shall pass through unto thee. Thou shalt be drunken
and shalt make thyself naked. Now that's what's said to Edom.
But verse 22, but the punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished,
O daughter of Zion. He will no more carry thee away
in the captivity. Now some commentators say that's
talking about the Babylonian captivity. That's true. Of course,
obviously Israel Later on was carried into captivity again.
In fact, they stayed in captivity under four empires. We know that. And some say, well, that's just
talking about the Babylonian captivity. And I think it has
an application there. But I believe it's reaching farther
out into the future. I believe that it's reaching
out to a prophecy of Christ and the accomplishment of the redemption
of his people. spiritual Israel, the elect of
God. And it says, he will no more
carry thee away into captivity, eternal spiritual freedom that
we have in Christ. And he'll visit thine iniquity,
O daughter of Edom, he will discover thy sins. Now hold on to that
thought. Now that's the first application of this. Here's Jerusalem,
here's Judah in ruins, in ruins. They never recovered from it,
still have never recovered from it. But I think another perspective
that we can see in this passage is we can see the sad condition
of the whole human race has fallen in Adam. How is the gold become
dim? Consider man in his original
state. Consider what God told Adam in
Genesis chapter 1. Listen to this in verse 26. God said, let us make man in
our own image after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the
fish of the sea, over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth. Man had dominion over all the
earth. What a golden moment that was. And over every creeping
thing that creepeth on the earth. So God created man in His own
image. Man created in the image of God.
And in the image of God created Him. Male and female created
He them. And God blessed them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful,
multiply, replenish the earth, subdue it. Have dominion over
the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, over every living
thing that move upon the earth. As fine as gold. Here's man in
his original state. Golden. Born without sin, or
created without sin rather. Truly righteous. Made in the
image of God. And then what happens? That whole
golden image is defaced. by sin, brought down, rebellion,
self-will, a declaration of independence from Almighty God. That's what
Adam did when he took sides with his wife and ultimately with
Satan against God. And what he did is he brought
the whole human race down into sin and depravity. That's the
ruination of this world, isn't it? Man fell in Adam. We fell in Adam. For by one man's
sin entered into the world, and death by sin, for that all sin.
And as a result, all of us are born in sin, dead spiritually
and trespasses in sin. And no matter how innocent the
world tells us that infant is, it's not long to where that nature
of sin comes out. Isn't that right? Can we honestly
look at ourselves and say we're as fine as gold? Well, obviously
not. But you know the Pharisee did.
He said, I thank God that I'm not like other men. He said,
I thank God that I do this and don't do that. What does Jeremiah
say about the fall of man? He says, the heart's deceitful,
desperately wicked, who can know it? What did Isaiah say about
it even earlier than Jeremiah? Over in Isaiah chapter 1, I think
about this passage a lot, where he talks about the state of Judah
in his day, a sinful nation, Isaiah 1-4, a people laden with
iniquity. You see, that gold in the garden
has now become dim, hasn't it? A seed of evildoers, children
that are corruptors. They've forsaken the Lord. They've
provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger and have gone away
backwards. It goes on and talks about why
should you be stricken anymore? You'll revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick. The whole heart is faint. From
the sole of the foot even to the head, there's no soundness
in it but wounds and bruises, putrefying sores. They've not
been closed. Religion can't close it. Science
can't do it. Economics can't do it. Philosophy
can't do it. Neither bound up, neither mollified
with ointment. The fall of man. Like earthen pitchers, back up
there in verse two of Lamentations 4, the precious sons of Zion,
comparable to fine gold, how they estimated now. Like earthen
pitchers, weak, broken, broken pots. Even Paul said of the ministers
of the gospel, sinners saved by grace, that we have this treasure
in what? Earthen vessels. We're still
sinful human beings. Thank God for His mercy. We read
it a couple of weeks ago. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. That tells you right now that
in ourselves we're not gold. We're very dim. The only gold
we can boast of is the gold of Christ. That's it. Some believe that man fell, but
not that far. He still retains some degree
of gold. retains some degree of the image
of God, some spark of goodness. All we need to do is fan the
flame. But what does the Bible say? It says there's none good,
no, not one. There's none that seeketh after
God. There's none righteous. You know, since the fall of man
and Adam, every generation has been marked by failure when it
comes to salvation and a relationship with God. Each generation has
set forth the incurable evil and depravity of man's heart.
And certainly that holds true even in Israel, even in Judah. He describes famine here in Lamentations
4. They were brought up in scarlet,
he said, they embraced dung hills. When I read that, I thought about
Hannah's prayer. God lifts the beggar off the
dung hill, the dung heap. Because you see, man, fallen
in Adam, lives in the dung heap. That's the dung heap of false
religion. Paul said, I count it all but
dung that I may win Christ. Here's the fall of man. And the
Lord hath accomplished his fury, he says. He poured out his fierce
anger. Man and Adam according to the covenant of works under
the wrath of God. That's another perspective of
this. Let me give you a third one. Turn to 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2 with me. When we talk about the gold becoming
dim and all these descriptions that He gives of sinful man,
Judah, Jerusalem, the whole human race. Let me give you another
perspective on this. Herein we can see the sad state
of the professing church in our world today. Those who profess
Christ, those who profess to be Christian, And here's what
Paul said in the last days. Look at verse 1 of 2 Thessalonians
2. Now we beseech you, brethren,
by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together
unto him, that you be not soon shaken in mind or be troubled
neither by spirit nor by word nor by letter as from us, as
at the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day, that is the second coming of Christ,
shall not come. except there come a falling away
first. An apostasy. That which started
as gold has become dim. There's a falling away. And I'm
not talking about the true church now. I'm not talking about the
true elect of God. I'm not talking about those who
have been truly redeemed by the blood and regenerated by the
Spirit. I'm talking about that which comes in the name of Christianity,
but denies the truth. That's the falling away. A falling
away and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition. And look
down. We won't go through all this
because I don't have time to explain all of it. I've preached
on this several times. But he talks about Satan, verse
9, whose coming is after this man of sin, that's antichrist.
whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs
and lying wonders, deceptive wonders, and with all deceivableness
of unrighteousness in them that perish because they receive not
the love of the truth that they might be saved. Now think about
that. I thought about this over in
Lamentations chapter four, where it talks about the sucking child
cleaving to the roof of his mouth for thirst. Asking for bread
and no man bread and I thought about people who deprive their
children of the Word of God the Word of life They take them to
quote church Unquote why to put them in the activities to keep
them off the streets? But whether or not the Word of
God the true gospel the doctrine of Christ is preached from the
pulpit That doesn't matter aren't we all preaching the truth? I?
There's been a great falling away. I thought about these Nazarites
that Jeremiah mentions here in Lamentations. Living symbols
of true believers. Living symbols of sanctification. The word Nazarite, the root word,
means separated. That's what it means. Emblems
of God's people having been set apart by God. But here, because
of the gold becoming dim, You can't even recognize them. You
can't even tell the difference. It's all the same. And I thought
about these false preachers, false prophets and false priests
like false preachers today. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Preaching
salvation by the works and the will of man. Leading people astray. That's what's happening. You
see? And that which is called Christian
today is Christian in name only in general. Now thank God that
in each generation there's been a remnant of grace, a remnant
of true believers. God has not left himself without
a witness. He says even, you read it over
there in 2 Thessalonians 2 and verse 13, but we're bound to
give thanks always to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth where
unto he called you by our gospel through the obtaining of the
glory of the Lord. God's always had his remnant.
But I'll tell you what, if you want to see the state, if you
want to describe the state of the professing church today,
right there it is. How has the gold become dim?
It's nothing like the true church in its beginnings and the true
church today where the gospel is preached. And then lastly,
the last perspective, and perhaps the most important, if you look
at Lamentations 4, you can see Christ. our Lord and Savior in
His great condescension to become man, and in His suffering under
death for the sins of God's elect. The gold becoming dim, that could
describe the process by which He cloaked His deity within the
veil of humanity, yet without sin. The Word made flesh, and
we beheld His glory, but that glory was hidden. He took upon
himself the form of a servant, gold being an emblem of his deity. And then he became an earthen
vessel with all the infirmities and weakness of human flesh without
sin, everything, pain, sorrow, hunger, Everything, he got tired,
he had to sleep, all the things that are the infirmities of the
flesh, he suffered and he had to put up with, just like you
and me, the exception with him is he was without sin. And when it speaks of famine
here in Lamentations 4, we can describe the famine that he went
through, that he willingly went through to suffer for our sins. Christ deprived himself of all
things and embraced the dunghill of our sins, the sins of His
people as they were charged to Him. He made Himself of no reputation. Now if there is anybody who deserved
a reputation, it was the Lord of glory. But He made Himself
of no reputation. He went upon that mountain and
deprived Himself of bread. So to show forth the power of
God under the testings, the power of the God-man under the testings.
and the temptations of the flesh. The punishment that he endured
was the greatest punishment of all. No one there to stop it,
he had to do it. When he speaks of the Nazarites
over here, you know Christ is the one true supreme Nazarite. Everything about him, everything
in him was dedicated solely to his Father. Everything he did
was for the glory of the Father. Everything he suffered was for
the glory of the Father. He suffered for his people, but
he was for the glory of the Father. Everything he said and thought
was for the glory of the Father. He was totally dedicated, totally,
totally sold out to the glory of God. So he's the true perfect
Nazareth. And I thought about this when
it says there in verse 8, their visage was blacker than a coat.
That's why I read that Isaiah 52 passage. where it talks about
Christ as the suffering servant. And it says, his visage was marred,
in verse 14. His visage was so marred more
than any man in his form more than the sons of man. Nobody's
visage was marred more than our Lord's. And that because of our
sins charged to him, imputed to him. So He's the perfect Nazarite. And then it goes on to talk about
how He's the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. His substitutionary
suffering unto death for the sins of His people. In Lamentations
chapter 4 and verse 11, it says, the Lord accomplished His fury.
He hath poured out His fierce anger and hath kindled a fire
in Zion. What was Christ going through
on the cross when He suffered for our sins? What was He suffering?
He wasn't just suffering pain, even though that was there. And
I can't describe the amount of pain he went through. It was
indescribable. He wasn't just suffering anguish,
even though that was there. You know what he was suffering?
He was suffering for His people based on our sins charged to
Him the entire wrath of God against all of us, all of our sins. The anger of the Lord, the fierce
anger was poured out upon Him and it got so bad that it came
down to where he cried out, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? That's why he was made sin. And it says the Lord hath accomplished
his fury. Well, hold on to that thought. Look at verse 22 of Lamentations
4. The punishment of thine iniquity
is accomplished. Now, what does that mean? Well
that means what Daniel said over in the book of Daniel chapter
9 when he prophesied of the coming Messiah. When he said he would
make an end of sin and finish the transgression and that he
would bring forth an everlasting righteousness. Over in the book
of Luke chapter 9 we see the Lord upon the mount
of what is called the mount of transfiguration. And in Luke chapter 9, verse 31, here he is, he's got
Peter and James and John. He took them up with him. And
they saw him in a vision. Verse 29 says, as he prayed,
the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment
was white and glistening. And behold, there talked with
him two men, which were Moses and Elijah. Moses representing
the law, Elijah representing the prophets. And it says in
verse 31, who appeared in his glory and spoke of his decease,
you know that word decease, you know what it is in the original,
it's exodus. Something's coming out of this.
That's what that means. His decease, which he should
what? Accomplish, Jerusalem. You see, his death was an accomplishment. And notice how he appeared based
on this accomplishment. He appeared white and glistering. That's the effulgence of his
glory. For in him dwelleth all the fullness
of God. The glory of God in Christ. The glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now what had to happen before he appeared
white and glistering his visage had to be marred first. He had
to suffer unto death for the sins of his people, accomplish
his decease, as Lamentations put it, accomplish the fury of
God, drink damnation dry, as one old writer said, that is,
God pouring out his fierce anger, and the punishment of the iniquity
of his people had to be accomplished. And what happened? He died, he
was buried, he rose the third day. For God to return us to
glory, he must accomplish first his fury. And then look over
there in verse 11 of Lamentations 4. Listen to what it says here.
The Lord hath accomplished his fury. He hath poured out his
anger and hath kindled a fire and hath devoured the foundations
thereof. You know what happens in the
death of Christ? Christ, in His accomplishment
of our redemption by His death, is the establishment of the one
and only foundation of salvation, the righteousness of God, freely
imputed and received by faith. And you know, in doing that,
He knocks out all of our other foundations. Just knocks them
out. What other foundations do we
have? Well, we have our heritage, we
have our pride, we have our self-love, we have our works, we have our
religious... All those foundations are knocked
out and we're left with one foundation and that's the work of Christ,
the merits of Christ, obedience unto death. You know, when it mentions here
the sins of the prophets and the priests, Think about who
were the most adamant haters of the Lord on earth. False preachers
and the priest, the false priest, weren't they? False religionists
were the most hateful of his enemies. But you think about
that. Judah put her hopes in all kinds
of things but the Lord, the Lord of glory. My friend, we put our
hope in Christ and Him alone. Now let me conclude with this.
Go back to Lamentations 4, verses 21-22. He says here in verse
21, Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom. Now you know who Edom
is as a nation, but they were descendants of a man named Esau. And who was Judah? Represented
as the daughter of Zion in verse 22. Well, they were descendants
of Jacob. What do we know about Esau? Well,
he despised his birthright, didn't he? What did that birthright
represent? Well, it represented a lot of
things, but mainly what it represented for Esau, individually, was his
love for the glory of God and the promised Messiah, the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. His love for
the grace of God, his position as the spiritual leader of his
family, to lead them in that truth and under the glory of
God. Well, what about the daughter
of Zion, the sons of Jacob? You could say it that way too.
Well, what does God say? I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. But what does he
say here? Well, he says in verse 21, Rejoice
and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwelleth in the land of
us. The cup also shall pass through unto thee. Thou shalt be drunken,
and thou shalt make thyself naked. You know what he is saying to
Edom there? Edom here is an emblem of all
those who are against God's Christ. All those who are in unbelief
of the gospel. And they look upon the death
of Jerusalem, of Judah. Or in the sense, they look upon
the death of the church as they see it. The church will not die.
The gates of hell will not prevail against it. But think about in
Revelation 11, when the two witnesses die, what do they do? They rejoice.
And you know what he's saying here to Edom and to all who stand
there? He said, go ahead and laugh. Just laugh your head off. But it's coming back to you.
You're going to be drunk. That is, your head is not going
to be clear, and you're going to be found naked. No righteousness
before God. That's what's going to happen.
The wrath of God is coming through. And unless you have a righteousness
that equals the demands of God's law and justice, you'll be destroyed. You'll be found naked. Just like
Adam in the garden when he fell and realized he was naked. Put
your fig leaves on. Laugh your head off. It won't
help you. But he says in verse 22, but
the punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of
Zion. Now your punishment is accomplished. He will no more
carry thee away into captivity. Now let me ask you this question.
When was our punishment accomplished? On the cross of Calvary when
Christ died for our sins. That's when our righteousness
was established in time. And when the wrath of God comes
through, when He visits the iniquity, O daughter of Edom, He'll discover
thy sins. You know, in the Old Testament,
the forgiveness and pardon of sin is sometimes represented
as covering sin. He covers it. That doesn't mean
He covers it over. It means that it's atoned for.
It means there's the blood. And that's picturing the blood
of Christ. Our sins are covered, not just covered over or hidden
from view, but they're taken away. Christ paid for them. And we have in this place righteousness
imputed, accomplished for us. And we receive it by faith. But
he says to Edom, I'll discover your sins. I'll discover them. In other words, they'll be exposed.
For God's people, he says, I'll remember your sins no more. They
won't be discovered ever again. There's no charge against us.
We have righteousness before holy God. Why? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished the punishment, the punishment of our sins on
the cross.