THE BIG CONTRAST
Lamentations 4: 22
Sermon by:
Rev. P. den Butter
PUBLISHED BY
PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE
OF THE
FREE REFORMED CHURCHES OF NORTH AMERICA.
(December 2004)
The Big Contrast
Sermon by Rev. P. den Butter
(September 7, 2003 PM)
LITURGY
Votum and Salutation
Psalter: 2
Scripture: Lamentations 4
Text: Lamentations 4: 22
Psalter: 205: 11, 12, 13
Apostles Creed
Pastoral Prayer
Offertory
Psalter: 210
Sermon: The Big Contrast
Psalter: 422: 6
Prayer
Offertory
Psalter: 230: 1, 5, 6
Benediction
Doxology: 49: 1, 2
The Big Contrast
Congregation, the chapter of which our text is the concluding verse, is the fourth Song of Lamentation penned by the prophet Jeremiah. He penned these Lamentations after the destruction of Jerusalem and after the destruction of God’s house, the Holy Temple, in Jerusalem. These were destructions that were performed by the Babylonian armies. Many of the inhabitants of the royal city have been slain in battle. Those that have survived the onslaught were carried away into captivity and only a small remnant of the survivors were allowed to stay in the land. Among this small remnant is also this prophet Jeremiah.
You can well see that Jeremiah is in great distress. He suffers and he laments because of his suffering and because of the calamities that have caused so much misery. He expresses his sad feelings in the Songs of Lamentation. In the fourth chapter he again speaks about the misery that has come upon Jerusalem, the precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how they are esteemed as earthen pitchers; the work of the hands of the potter. Jeremiah sees this misery caused by the many sins of the people. It says in verse 13, “For 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 have wandered as blind men in the streets.” And then, in the verses 17 through 20, Jeremiah briefly tells about the vanity of all that the people had done to deliver themselves. In vain the people had looked for help in the direction of another nation; especially Egypt, and in vain did the king of Judah, as he is called in verse 20, “the breathe of our nostrils, the anointed of the Lord,” in vain did the king of Judah try to escape the besieged city.
Then at the very end of this chapter the prophet speaks the words of our text. The words of our text contain a “great contrast.” He uses the same words a few times but there is a terrible difference between the way he uses them; between what will happen to the daughter of Zion and what will befall the daughter of Edom; there is as much difference as there is between day and night. The daughter of Zion: to her Jeremiah may speak words of comfort. Words that are meant to encourage her…..But……the daughter of Edom must hear words of woe. The iniquity of the one is accomplished and will be remembered no more! The iniquity of the other will be visited and discovered. What a difference!! And it will be a great difference, congregation, whether we belong to the daughter of Zion or whether we belong to the daughter of Edom. Let us listen to these solemn words and let us take them up as they are presented to us in our text.
In the first place then: “The Daughter of Zion.” Who is she? Well, to answer the question “who is meant by the daughter of Zion?” we will look at a few other places in the book of Lamentations and I think, there, we will find an adequate answer to the question. And now, of course, the people among us that are use to Bible language; it goes even without saying that the daughter of Zion is the people of the Lord. It is the Israel of old. But, as we will see, in a moment, it has also application to the people of the Lord under the “new covenant;” the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, what does the book of Lamentations say concerning the daughter of Zion? Let me first refer to the 6th verse of Chapter 1, “And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed:” It says that there is nothing commendable in the daughter of Zion but all that she possesses is sufficient to condemn her. There is no virtue, there is no comeliness and there is no beauty. Instead she is godless. She is wicked for she had departed from her God as she has chosen to walk in the path of wickedness. Now, the Lord finds her to be utterly unfit and vile. She may continue to boast in her own righteousness but in the Lord’s estimation, she is full of unrighteousness. That is expressed in the same chapter in verse 8, “Jerusalem hath grievously sinned.” Jeremiah underscores this in verse 9, “Her filthiness is in her skirts.” She looks loathsome! She is detestable!
To look upon her makes God’s heart pain!!! Is this the people of His choosing? Did He bestow so much favor and goodness upon this people and has this what has become of them? Well, she may admit before the Lord, “I am vile.” And what is the result of all this? Look at verse 17 of chapter 1, “Zion spreadeth forth her hands, and there is none to comfort her: The Lord hath commanded concerning Jacob, that his adversaries should be round about him.” There is none to comfort the daughter of Zion. She has been brought into a comfortless state and even though she goes through all the rituals of her religion, she will not be able to find any relief in her ceremonies. She will have no comfort in that way! Her situation is really a hopeless one. Nobody cares for her! Nobody pities her!
Can she blame the Lord for her misery? Can she shift the burden of her responsibilities? NO, she cannot! She must confess, as she does in verse 18, that the Lord is righteous. She has rebelled against Him and because of her sins the Lord has visited her with his heavy hand.
Does she not pray now and beseech the Lord? Yes! This is what she does. What a penalty that here prayers are not answered. This we can conclude from the first verse of the second chapter, “How hath the Lord covered the daughter of Zion with a cloud in his anger.”
Heaven is closed. No petition penetrates the darkness that surrounds the throne of the Lord. Too long, the daughter of Zion has stopped her ears; not willing to listen to the Lord’s words and now the Lord stops His ears and He will not listen to the cries of His people.
Still further, the judgment of the Lord will be executed. It says in verse 8 of chapter 2, “The Lord hath purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. That implies that there is no safety for these people. Wherever they try to find shelter….it will be of no avail. ALL of her refuges will fail. The Lord breaks them all down!
Is there nobody that can be of any help? What about the Elders of the people of Israel? What about the Elders of the daughter of Zion? Well, look at verse 10 in chapter 2, “The elders of the daughter of Zion sit upon the ground, and keep silence: They have cast dust upon their heads; they have girded themselves with sackcloth.” There is DEEP humiliation. There is GREAT sorrow and Jeremiah himself also weeps because of the misery of his people. Look at verse 13, “What thing shall I take to witness for thee? What thing shall I liken to thee, O daughter of Jerusalem? What shall I equal thee, that I may comfort thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? For thy breach is great like the sea: who can heal thee?” The only thing Jeremiah can tell the people is that in spite of the darkness that surrounds God’s throne; and in spite of all the failing attempts that have been made to bring their petitions before the Lord…..to still continue to cry unto the Lord, as he does in verse 18 and 19, “Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease. Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like water before the face of the Lord: lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy young children, that faint for hunger in the top of every street.”
That is the only thing that the daughter of Zion should be doing!! Crying!! Continually crying to God for He is the only One able to yet bring deliverance! And who knows……He may yet pity this poor daughter of Zion. Well, this is the daughter of Zion as she is addressed in the words of our text. This is the picture that Jeremiah has drawn of her. A fitting picture……a real one……and above all…..a very sad one. This is the picture that the Lord, in His word, has drawn and it fits every sinner. And this is exactly how a man begins to feel and know himself, when the Lord, by His Spirit, opens his eyes for his real condition. What ever beauty and glory we once possessed…..it is all gone. Sin has polluted us. Sin has made us ugly to look upon! In God’s sight we have no comeliness! There is nothing left of the original beauty in which man has been created; created after God’s image in knowledge, in righteousness and in holiness. It is ALL gone. It is lost! It is lost forever!
Well, to see and to feel these things makes us deeply sad. These are the things that make us weep! We say, with the prophet, “Woe, unto me that I have so sinned. Where then shall we find comfort? Us there any comfort?” Not as long as God’s hand is heavy upon us and not as long as we feel that we do not deserve His just judgment. We must acknowledge that the Lord is just, must we not? Did He not warn us that the soul that sins shall die? Yet, a man under conviction cries, he cries for mercy. Though he cries for mercy he often feels that the Lord has turned away from him and that the Lord does not want to listen……Not even to our most earnest cries. We receive no answer and there is no comfort for our languishing spirits. In the meanwhile, every refuge fails us and is removed from us and there is no place, anymore, that we can find any rest for our soul. All of our confidences are beaten down! What then can we do?? Where then can we go?? Is not ALL helpless???
And yet, the daughter of Zion could not stop praying and crying and neither can any uncovered sinner stop crying to God! He cries during the day, he cries during the night, “Give me Jesus!!! Give me Jesus!! Else I die!!” But what if God denies me and will not give me Jesus? Then I shall ask again!! I cannot take a denial!! The need is to pressing!! If God denies me to give me the knowledge and the faith in His son….then that would be death; that would be perdition!! And yet, need urges me to cry on because I must reach God’s ears. Desperation causes me to cry….and to keep crying. Is that no so? Is this not what the daughter of Zion is going through…….THEN and well as NOW??
People that are truly turned to the Lord, people that have been drawn irresistibly by God, by God’s gracious hand and by God’s almighty power, I’m sure they will be able to confirm this truth from their own experience as well. This is how the Lord deals with sinners. This is how He makes the room for the gracious promise as we find it in our text tonight.
Then this case, of this daughter of Zion, was really a desperate case but to that people the Lord’s prophet was privileged to speak a word of great comfort, a promise full of fat and marrow, a choice piece of “spiritual food.” What is the promise that was made to the daughter of Zion? This is the promise: “The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished.” Because of their many sins the people of Judah have been carried away into captivity. So, God visited their sins upon them. So, the Lord poured out His anger upon them and in His anger He put them away; out of His sight. That was all deserved, for sin cannot go unpunished. Certainly not after the Lord has so many times spoken words of warning and these words of warning were solemn, they were sincere! According to His righteousness, according to God’s holiness, the Lord must…..He must visit the iniquity of the sinner with His punishments! And the punishment that the Lord brought upon the people of Judah was particularly the banishment, the captivity of 70 years.
Well, now Jeremiah may announce that after these years of being under God’s punishment they will be delivered. The punishment of their iniquity will be accomplished. Here he brings the same message as the message that we reading in the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah. The well known words, “Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her warfare is accomplished; that her iniquity is pardoned.” And because this is so, Jeremiah may add another word of promise. He may also announce, “He will no more carry thee away into captivity.” Now they are captives but as soon as the day of their deliverance has come, there will be no more captivity and that they may return to their own land and then they will be allowed to remain there. Then the punishment is fulfilled; it is accomplished!! Full…….full payment has been made! What has been made is sufficient. God does not demand anything more! His justice is satisfied.
Well, so far we have heard about the literal fulfillment of the words of our text and we know from God’s own word that these words have received fulfillment. It has happened that the people of Judah were privileged to return to their own country and to rebuild the destroyed city of Jerusalem. But, after we have said this we have not exhausted the message that is conveyed in the words of our text. By far not!! There is much more that can be said. There is a message, in the words of our text, for us as well: “The punishment of thine iniquity…The punishment of our iniquity…. for you and I have iniquity and we too deserve punishment for it. Is there any need for me to prove this from the Word? Do I need to use many words to prove that those that have iniquity and those that deserve punishment are also in the need, the great need of receiving forgiveness? These are facts! These are Biblical facts!! These are also experimental facts!! Those that have been taught by the Holy Spirit, they know that they have iniquity and that they deserve punishment and that they are in the need of forgiveness. Well, where there is sin, punishment must follow! Sin must be punished!! “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” “Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of law, to do them.” These are God’ own words and if sin would go unpunished then God would cease to exist!!