He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light.
Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day.
He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old.
He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.
Lamentations 3 KJV excerpt
Harsh words, seemingly without hope. Who would say such a thing?
In fact, a most godly man, the Prophet Jeremiah, after Jerusalem had fallen to enemies.
These are not Psalms of restoration praising the LORD; in fact, these songs are best described as a funeral dirge. And what is the question they ask?
These sad songs of Jeremiah lament the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Nearly six centuries later in the time of the Messiah Jesus, Jerusalem yet remained in the hold of her enemies. A great darkness yet weighed on the hearts of God’s chosen people.
Lamentations 1: English/Hebrew
The Lord is righteous, for I have rebelled against His word; hear, I pray, all you peoples, and behold my pain; my maidens and my youths have gone into captivity. יחצַדִּיק הוּא יְהֹוָה כִּי פִיהוּ מָרִיתִי שִׁמְעוּ נָא כָל הָעַמִּים (כתיב עַמִּים) וּרְאוּ מַכְאֹבִי בְּתוּלֹתַי וּבַחוּרַי הָלְכוּ בַשֶּׁבִי:
A Second Temple was rebuilt and rededicated after Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem in 445 B.C. It, too, would be destroyed. A Temple of Herod, built to glorify Rome in Jerusalem, would eventually be destroyed by the Romans. The alliance of Herod the Great with Rome also built Caesarea.
A King allied with Caesar to rule over the people? Who can really rule when the captives disagree?
Israel is destroyed for her sins. Yet no King or Caesar can prevail over the LORD. A place, Israel, is not heard in the darkness for more than two millennia, until a remnant is restored to share in some of its blood-stained soil in the year of our Lord, 1948.
Once more, a renewed Israel had no King and a remnant worshiped recaptured soil rather than the Lord.
As light fails sooner and the days diminish into darkness, our hope of restoration remains in the Lord and not the remembering of miracles of the past.
Where is your hope, O Jerusalem,
Your light, O people of God?
Why do we insist on restoration without repentance?
Another Prophet even before Jeremiah had seen a greater King and a more perfect worship.
Isaiah 9 ESV: {Chapter 8 in Hebrew}
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shone.
” … in the land of the shadow of death,” reads the King James Version of the Bible; “upon them hath the light shined.”
It is prophesy of the birth of a Messiah, God With Us, in a manger in Bethlehem.
Even Charlie Brown and Linus know the verses to follow.
Will you not repent of the darkness of your sin and be restored in the Light of the Messiah Jesus?
6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, Melech haolam, shehecheyanu v’kiy’manu v’higianu laz’man hazeh.
In the year of our Lord, 2015, we worship the Light which shines in the darkness. Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand! Even now in these last days, the Lord would be your Redeemer in Christ Jesus.
To be continued…
In preparation for the holidays of Hanukkah & Christmas for the beloved chosen of the Lord and peoples adopted into the Light of the Lord, in His Redeemer, Christ Jesus.
