Lamentations (Program #3) – The Third Lamentations (2)

The prophet Jeremiah in the Old Testament had much to be sorrowful for.  For all around him is God’s judgment.  This judgment fell upon God’s people Israel because of their degradation and their unfaithfulness.  It also fell upon the nations that surrounded Israel for opposing God’s people and His purpose.  And finally God’s judgment fell upon the prophet himself, not so much for his own failures and sins but rather because the prophet Jeremiah properly identified with his people Israel and thereby shared in their judgment.  It was these sufferings that brought him to pour out his heart and soul to Jehovah in the short book called Lamentations.  But in so doing, we see some wonderful passages that can be immense help to those of us in the New Testament economy.  For Jeremiah learned to practice three marvelous things that sustain him and likewise can sustain us.  We will look at these three in today’s program.

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Lamentations (Program #2) – The Third Lamentations

The book of Lamentations was written by the prophet Jeremiah after he had witnessed the devastation that had befallen on the nation and people of Israel.  Altogether he includes five lamentations in this short book.   The third of which is perhaps the most important for us, God’s New Testament people because this lamentation is one of the prophets being identified with the rebellious people of God, the apostate nation of Israel.  Even though Jeremiah himself had remained utterly faithful to the Lord.  Yet because he still was an Israelite, God was demonstrating to him that every true prophet must identify with God’s people even in their chastisement and suffering.  But another striking element of this lamentation bears a uniquely New Testament quality and even hints of God’s desire to restore His chosen people, even to impart Himself to the deepest part of their being.

With that in view, now listen closely to Jeremiah’s own words in this third lamentation. “It is Jehovah’s loving-kindness that we are not consumed, For His compassions do not fail;They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. Jehovah is my portion, says my soul; Therefore I hope in Him. Jehovah is good to those who wait on Him, To the soul that seeks Him.“

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Jeremiah (Program #23) – A Supplement to the History of Captivity

After so many chapters in Jeremiah dealing with God’s judgment upon the sins of His people Israel, the prophet turns his attention to the judgment upon worldly nations and governments.  The height of this judgment is centered on the one nation throughout history that has been the greatest evil and the greatest offense to God, Babylon.  In chapter 51, Jeremiah uttered these prophetic words about what will befall this evil city. “And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words; And say, O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that nothing should dwell in it, neither man nor animal, for it will be an eternal desolation.”  But as severe as this judgment sounds, it was not the final judgment against this mighty city and what it represents.  For at the end of the New Testament, the judgment of Babylon is once again a key factor in the events related to the end of this age.  What is this city Babylon?  What does it represent and why does it occupy such a prominent position in the history of mankind and all that stands and opposes God?  We will consider the judgment of Babylon on today’s program.

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Jeremiah (Program #20) – Jehovah’s Promise concerning the Restoration of Israel

The history revealed in the Bible is a history of the covenants that God made with man.  In reality, only two of these covenants have great significance.  The first of which from Exodus 25 was the covenant of law that God made through Moses when He gave Israel the ten commandments.  The second covenant called the new covenant was also the last covenant.  And though it was not enacted until the Lord Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross for our redemption.  It was clearly foretold by the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah chapter 31, listen to the word of this marvelous new covenant as spoken by the Old Testament prophet.

“Indeed, days are coming, declares Jehovah, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, Not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by their hand to bring them out from the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was their Husband, declares Jehovah. But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares Jehovah: I will put My law within them and write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And they will no longer teach, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah; for all of them will know Me, from the little one among them even to the great one among them, declares Jehovah, for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.“

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Jeremiah (Program #18) – Jehovah’s Condemnation of and Punishment upon the Kings and Prophets of Judah

In the middle chapters of Jeremiah, the Lord is condemning and chastising the kings and prophets of Israel for how they had so fully turned their backs on Him. Listen to this verse from chapter 22, “I spoke to you in your prosperity; But you said, I will not listen. This has been your way from your youth, That you have not listened to My voice.” But despite how this must have deeply offended the very God that had brought them through so much and had proven Himself to them again and again, it’s in the midst of His exposing how utterly unrighteous His people had become that He offers the most hopeful and encouraging promise through the prophet Jeremiah. Just a few verses later, we hear “Indeed, days are coming, Declares Jehovah, When I will raise up to David a righteous Shoot; And He will reign as King and act prudently And will execute justice and righteousness in the land.”

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Jeremiah (Program #15) – Jehovah’s further Commission to Jeremiah (2)

When we read a verse from the Bible, particularly from an Old Testament book like Jeremiah, there’s usually a fairly clear and straightforward meaning. For example, Jeremiah 17:7-8, “Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah And whose trust Jehovah is. And he will be like a tree transplanted beside water, Which sends out its roots by a stream, And will not be afraid when heat comes; For its leaves remain flourishing;” On the surface we read and come away with a thought that if we trust in the Lord, He surely will bless us. Wonderful and certainly accurate according to the truth of this verse. But there is another equally accurate and yet far more profound understanding that can gleaned from such verses. It is this deeper and more intrinsic aspect that beckons our consideration and fellowship on this life study program.

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Jeremiah (Program #9) – Israel’s Sin against Jehovah, Jehovah’s Punishment upon Israel (2)

During one of the dark hours in Israel’s history, Jehovah poured His heart out to Jeremiah, the prophet that He raised up to speak to Israel on His behalf. Listen to his word and see if you can sense in His speaking the anguish of a distraught husband over the unfaithfulness of a wife to whom He had been faithful to the uttermost. Jeremiah 3:6-9 “Then Jehovah said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel the apostate has done? She went up on every high mountain and under every flourishing tree and committed fornication there. And I said, After she has done all these things, she will return to Me; but she did not return…And I saw that because of all the adultery that Israel the apostate committed I divorced her and gave her a certificate of divorce, And because she treated her fornication lightly, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.”

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Jeremiah (Program #8) – Israel’s Sin against Jehovah, Jehovah’s Punishment upon Israel (1)

The Lord told the prophet Jeremiah that He held two things against Israel above all else. First, they had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters. And second, they had hewn out for themselves broken cisterns incapable of holding water. The context of this passage is in chapter 2 of Jeremiah. And in a way can be considered the conversation between a distraught husband and an unfaithful wife. Listen to this sweet and intimate way that Jehovah began His word to Israel, “I remember concerning you the kindness of your youth, The love of your bridal days, When you followed after Me in the wilderness, In a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness to Jehovah, The firstfruit of His increase;” (Jeremiah 2:2b-3a) As we consider these two great sins before Jehovah, sins that did not only plague Israel but also that we ourselves have to be constantly aware of.

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Isaiah (Program #47) – The Servant of Jehovah as the Anointed of Jehovah…

Isaiah, unlike nearly any other book of Scripture captures the most beautiful and compelling images of Christ.  Listen to these lovely poetic utterance from the final chapters.  in chapter 61 “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon Me, Because Jehovah has anointed Me To bring good news to the afflicted… To grant to those….the oil of gladness instead of mourning, The mantle of praise instead of a spirit of heaviness;” and also chapter 63 “In all their affliction He was afflicted, And the Angel of His presence saved them; In His love and in His mercy He redeemed them, And He bore them up and carried them All the days of old.”  Today is our final program from this beautiful and majestic book of Isaiah.  Please stay with us for today’s life study of the Bible.

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Isaiah (Program #37) – Jehovah the Savior

The word “gospel” means glad tidings or good news.  Isaiah chapter 40 declares “Go up to a high mountain, O Zion, who brings glad tidings; Lift up your voice with power, say to the cities of Judah here is your God.”  As if to serve God on a fine platter to mankind, Isaiah 40 is truly a deep and profound presentation of the glad tidings.  Stay with us today as we examine one of the most magnificent chapters in Scripture on life study of the Bible.

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