Hearing from Her

In the second section of Lamentations, the city that we have been told about in the first section of the poem (my notes here) steps up to the microphone and tells us her story first-hand. The first thing we see is that she desires mercy. She asks her inhabitants to “look and see”. She has asked God to look on her and see. In the same way that Jerusalem asks her inhabitants to look and see, so our city yearns for the people of Jesus to address her concerns as well. One of those concerns, both in Greenville and in Jerusalem, is the lack of men. The men of Jerusalem were mighty, but did not chase after God, and therefore were killed, useless to the city. The poem wraps up with a yearning on the city’s part for justice. But how can Jerusalem yearn for both mercy and justice from God? Justice requires that Jerusalem be destroyed, mercy requires that Jerusalem be saved. How can we reconcile these two yearnings? Answer: the Cross of Christ. It is only at the Cross of Christ that justice and mercy are both fulfilled and provided. Sin is punished by the wrath of God, and the people of God are spared from the punishment that they deserve. You can listen to the full message here: Hearing from Her or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes. The full outline, notes, application and such again is included in the Lamentations Guide, as linked to above.