The Prophet, Priest and King of Lamentations

Lamentations 2:11-22
September 13, 2020
Abraham Hong

Sermon Script

We are going through the book of Lamentations. And the last several Sundays have been heartfelt and profound.

Four weeks ago, we were comforted by the fact that when we lament, we never lament alone. Jesus laments with us. And our God is a God of lamentation. Hashtag: There is no salvation without lamentation.

Three weeks ago, we learned about the meaning of the fall and exile of Jerusalem. It was a reminder of the fall and exile of Adam. It was a teaching moment about sin. It was an act of God. And it was a foreshadowing of the salvation of Jesus Christ. Hashtag: Look and see if there is any sorrow like Jesus’ sorrow.

Two weeks ago, we considered the judgment of God - the judgment that Jesus gives and the judgment that Jesus takes. Hashtag: Like a summer garden full of flowers.

And last week, we looked at what the narrator of the book of Lamentations really lamented about. He lamented because it seemed that God’s people lost God himself. He cared most about the communion bond, the covenant relationship, between God and his people, the daughter of Zion. Hashtag: Mulan.

Dear Highland, I don’t know about you, but these last four Sundays have been tough for me. There is so much suffering and misery in the book of Lamentations. The poetry is sad and dark. I can only begin to imagine the humiliation and the pain that the saints of old went through when Jerusalem was destroyed.

These last four Sundays have been tough. But today it gets worse. Because the narrator of Lamentations tells us what happened to the children of Jerusalem.

In the aftermath of the fall and exile of Jerusalem, there were infants and babies in the streets of the city. Imagine hearing the sobbing of a three year old boy in an alley. You find him and you see that he is covered in dust and ashes and dried up sweat and tears and blood. His mother comes and slowly picks him up in her arms. His life is poured out on her bosom. Imagine hearing the helpless cry of a fourteen month old girl in a poor home. You draw near to her and you see that her arms and legs are too thin. She is hungry. Where is the bread and the wine? Imagine two twins lying on the ground facing one another. But when you go up to them, they are barely moving at all. They are faint, faint like wounded men. The infants. The babies. This is what happened to them. They suffered. They wept.

And so the narrator was cut to the heart. He writes, “My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city.”

But it gets even worse. There is something mentioned in today’s passage that is truly horrifying and unspeakable. In verse 20, we are told that when Jerusalem fell, parents resorted to cannibalism. They ate their own children in order to survive. The narrator writes: “Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care?” Words cannot begin to explain how this is so messed up. Imgine adults who would kill infants and babies and eat them. Imagine mothers and fathers who raised their daughters and sons but they were so hungry that they killed them, boiled them, roasted them, cooked them, and ate them. The children of their tender care, cut into pieces, put into their mouths, and swallowed into their stomaches. This really happened. They were murdered. They were silenced.

Dear Highland, all of this is why sin is so terrible. All of this is why you must hate sin with all of your heart and mind. The narrator holds nothing back at the end of this second poem. Wake up. Do not forget this. Sin leads to heartbreaking loss. Sin is evil and demonic. Sin leads people to do things that are unthinkable and unimaginable. Sin results in generational poverty. Sin brings terror and misery and suffering and death. Sin is the reason why God has prepared justice and wrath and judgment and hell. Let us be a church that endeavors to hate sin through and through.

One of the main reasons why all of this happened, why sin was allowed to run rampant in Jerusalem, was because there were false prophets who spoke to God’s people. And God’s people listened to them. This may not be as heartbreaking as what happened to the infants and babies, but it is equally worthy of lament.

This is what happened before, during, and even after the fall and exile of Jerusalem. According to verse 14, false prophets gave God’s people false and deceptive information about God and his word. God is holy. God hates sin. And God commanded his people to be holy as he is holy. God told his people about how terrible and devastating sin is. But the false prophets took all of this truth and twisted it so that it sounded more appealling to the ear. Instead of exposing sin and iniquity against God, the false prophets covered up sin and encouraged and even blessed iniquity against God. When God does not say something, they say something or they say that God said something. When God does say something, they say something else or they spin or reinterpret or misapply what God says. They are wrong. They are rebellious. They are liars. They are satanic. For what did the serpent fundamentally do in the garden with Adam? The serpent falsely taught Adam God’s word. Satan is the first false teacher and ultimate false prophet. This is who the false prophets were. This is what the false prophets did.

Dear Highland, all of this is why being careful with God’s word is so important. Please continue to pray for me and all the other pastors of our church as we read and explain and study and bless you with God’s word. We try to be very careful here at Highland. And we will never apologize for doing that. We who teach will be judged by God with greater strictness than you. So please pray for us and please understand why we do the things that we do, why we say the things that we say, why we don’t say the things that we don’t say, why we strive to be careful with fear and trembling and serious and meticulous with our preaching and teaching. And please be careful as you read and learn and share God’s word with others. The idea of speaking against what God has said in his word should be intolerable and unspeakable to you. All of this is why you must love the truth of God’s word with all of your heart and mind. Wake up. Do not forget this. Let us be a church that endeavors to love truth through and through.

At the end of this poem, the narrator calls for the people of Jerusalem to repent. And the narrator himself addresses God on behalf of the city. This may not seem meaningful to you as infants and babies or false prophets. But listen carefully. This is where everything really begins to shift and turn to Christ.

The narrator seeks to fix everything. His solution is simple. The people of God must cry out to God for mercy and forgiveness and grace. There seems to be no other way. And so he calls upon the daughter of Zion to let her tears stream down like a torrent day and night. He calls upon God’s people to arise and pour out their hearts like water before the presence of the Lord. And he himself asks God for mercy and forgiveness and grace. He says in verse 20, “Look, O Lord, and see!” This is what the narrator tried. But it doesn’t work. He cannot fix Jerusalem. His solution fails.

And that is because he is not the prophet, priest and king that is needed to resolve everything in the book of Lamentations.

This is what is truly needed. There needs to be a true king who can truly represent his people. This king needs to step forward on behalf of his people just as David stepped forward for Israel and fought the Philistine giant. This king needs to have such a vital link with his people that he would even have himself baptized, even though he is without sin, for the sake of righteousness and for the sake of identifying with his people. This king needs to do what kings shouldn’t have to do: he needs to suffer. He needs to go through humiliation. He needs to be someone who could take the form of a servant and humble himself and become obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. There needs to be a true king like this.

This is what is truly needed. There needs to be a true prophet who can truly speak to God’s people. This prophet needs to not only speak the truth but be the truth. This prophet needs to wield and proclaim the law of God and the gospel of God against false teaching in such a way that if he were to be tempted by Satan himself who takes him to a very high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory and says to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me” - this prophet needs to be able to say something like, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” There needs to be a true prophet like this.

This is what is truly needed. There needs to be a true priest who can truly love and take care of God’s children. This priest needs to have the power to actually resurrect dead daughters and demon-possessed sons and children who are sick and deaf and blind and crippled and leporous. This priest needs to let the children have the kingdom. He needs to be able to say, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.” He needs to make known that the promise of God, the promise of his salvation, is for those who repent and believe, and for for their children. There needs to be a true priest like this.

There needed to be this kind of prophet, priest, and king. Our Father in heaven provided us with his Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Praise be to our Lord. Infants and babies cried to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” Jesus took bread and said, “This is my body, which is for you.” And Jesus took the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood.”

Praise be to our Lord. The fall and exile of Jerusalem was the day of the anger of God. The fall and exile of the Son was the day when the Father poured out his anger and wrath and judgment on Jesus on the cross for our sins.

Praise be to our Lord. The enemy mocks us in our sanctification and says, “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the joy of all the earth?” Jesus describes the church as the New Jerusalem. And it is as if he says, “Yes, this is the city of perfection of beauty. This is the joy of all the earth. This is my bride.”

Praise be to our Lord. The Lord has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago. He consummated his covenant of grace. He fulfilled his promise of salvation. He crushed the head of the serpent. And now we wait for his glorious return.

Dear Highland, I really hope that you grow in love for Jesus. You may not be an infant or a baby. But you will always be a child of God. That is your relationship with the Father. All because of the Son Jesus Christ. I also hope that you grow in obedience to Jesus. I do not see any of our married couples murdering and eating their children. But let us take great care not to murder our children in our hearts and devour then with exasperation. Let us not underestimate our sinfulness and how it can profoundly affect others around us. Let us love our children as Christ our Great High Priest loved us.

Dear Highland, I really hope that you grow in your trust in Jesus. Jesus is God. And as God, Jesus is the truth. His word is true. And he does not lie. Therefore, you can trust him fully. I also hope that you grow in application of his word. His teachings, his commands, his heart and mind and will - we ought to study all of it and be doers of his holy word. Let us listen to Christ our True Prophet.

Finally, dear Highland, I really hope that you grow in reliance on Jesus. Remember who is the king in your life. And go to him for help. Jesus is sovereign over all things. Everything knee will bow and every tongue will confess that he is the Lord. And he represents you. He belongs to you and you belong to him. Let us look to Christ our Lord and King.

Soli Deo Gloria