Video Transcripts: The Theology of Lamentations

We've looked through all of the books of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament through  Job and its wrestling's with why suffering and bad times happen at times, what are the  different possibilities for understanding it? And what are the outcomes through the Psalms  and the great variety of giving voice to our relationship with God as individuals and as  communities, in times of prosperity and in times of difficulty, in giving wisdom to the next  generation, we've looked at Proverbs and begin to understand how our relationship with God  is that of a marriage to wisdom, or if it's rejected, a walk with folly that self destructive, we've  looked at Ecclesiastes and the variety of different forms of worldview that are present in our  human experience, and how Ecclesiastes probes the outcomes that one might understand  from each of those different worldviews, and why a worldview that understands God as the  source of our life is the only one that brings hope and the possibility of the future. We looked  at the Song of Songs, and began to understand anew what it means for us to love  authentically as human beings in the manner in which the creator intended for us to love. And then we've been looking at these laments these five lamentation is probably from Jeremiah,  each of which speaks about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, from a different  point of view, and wrestles with self or God, about what next? How did this happen? Why did  this happen? And where do we go from here? Remember that each of the first four laments is  an acrostic poem in the Hebrew language, meaning that it's built to actually show a  completeness of thought from beginning to end from A to Z, from alpha to omega from aleph  to tau in the Hebrew alphabet. The fifth was more of just a prayer, God turn things around,  things are bad for us, but for your sake, and ours, turn things around, bring deliverance, that  your name might be honored, and we might find our place with you as ambassadors to the  world that God still exists, and that God still cares. Now, the message of limited lamentations  as a whole the five limits is certainly an absolute affirmation, that the judgments of Yahweh  against Jerusalem and the people of Judah were appropriate. That seems hard to understand,  because we are people who think we have a right to privilege, we have a right to blessing we  have a right to good things in life. Here are words from the Bible that say, there are times  when punishment, ill fortune bad things happening are a direct result of the righteousness of  God, rightly being expressed. In this case, because Israel was in partnership covenant  partnership with YAHWEH, there was a purpose that Yahweh was seeking to promote in the  world that is, in a world which has forgotten YAHWEH, creating a community more closely  attached to the Creator, expressing the values of the Creator, living the lifestyle that the  creator had intended, and placing this people in the center of the mass of human society, so  that everybody may say, may see Israel and say, Wow, what have you got? What's going on?  Who are you? Who's are you who are your gods, and in that way, turn back to the God of  creation, all the nations belong to God, Israel is merely the tool by which they see what God is doing. So if Israel doesn't reflect its unique relationship with God, its covenantal relationship  with God, then the other nations will know, so the Old Testament is extremely missional. We  sometimes think that only the New Testament is missional. That's not the case. The entirety of the Bible is very missional. God is on a mission, and the partner in God's mission in the Old  Testament times is Israel. So how Israel acts is a reflection of who God is. And when Israel fails to respond to the good ways of God. Israel herself comes under covenant judgment. And yet  there are questions that remain, how can Yahweh carry out this divine mission of contact with  the other nations? If Yahweh's human partner, Israel is annihilated, then suddenly, the voice  of God is also silent, not only Israel, but God Himself no longer has a voice to connect to the  nations around. And what's the message that sent if Israel is utterly destroyed? Is God not all  powerful? Is God not able to resolve this matter? Is God not able to bring goodness out of  this? Even if Israel herself limps along sometimes in failure and insecurity and responding to  other values or worldviews? How will the nations of the world Yahweh's ultimate target for  reclamation in the divine mission? View? YAHWEH. If the marriage of Yahweh and Israel ends  in divorce, you know what you begin to think about when relationships come undone? Whose  fault? Is it? Or could it not have happened in a different way? Or what's going on? Or what  don't we see behind the scenes and if YAHWEH is no longer in concert with Israel, or if Israel  has lost its relationship with Yahweh, then people not only see the devastating effects on  Israel, but they also see begin to think about, well, do we want to be in partnership with that 

God, and so the mission of Yahweh is lost? If Israel herself becomes undone or divorced from  this marriage? Can Yahweh be trusted to see things through? Even when Israel has  persistently been unfaithful? After all, didn't God choose to love Israel? And isn't God any  electing God? Doesn't God initiate a relationship with us, even when we are not able to follow  through? What does this say about God? Is there such a thing as divine election, which  actually lasts and goes beyond just this setback? How can a marriage between such unequal  partners ever last, maybe this was the way it was supposed to happen? Maybe God can't live  with us and we can't live with God, maybe the relationship is too much of unequals. And  maybe this is just the last thing to be said about it. But most of all, where do we go from  here? Okay, so this has happened? What's the next chapter? Is there a next chapter? And who gets to write it? And where do we find the outcomes? Well, all of this brings us to a sense that  there's a problem being identified in the laments, that doesn't have any immediate conclusion or resolution. The people of Judah are in exile, many have been destroyed the nation as a  whole, the old Israel of the times of David and Solomon has been ripped apart, some never to  be heard from again. God's covenant plans with Israel seem to be undone. So, if God is  sovereign, if God does have plans, and if God is able to bring those plans to fruition, then a  new act of God has to take place. Something more is in the offing. This cannot be the last  word to these terrible things that are taking place. What will resolve these matters? How will  God bring something new? The same issues resurface in the New Testament, particularly in  Paul's letter to the Romans where Paul writes with confidence to the Roman Christians, that  God begin something God predestined to God brings you to glory, who can separate us from  the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, nothing shall separate us from the love of God. So  there's this great confidence that when God initiates something, God will bring it to pass, that  there will be a resolution and it will be God's route, resolute resolution to it. Now, as Paul says, says those things with such confidence, particularly in Romans eight, he needs to reflect on  the very thing that is at the heart of the book of Lamentations. What happened in God's  relationship with Israel. If we can be so confident that God in Jesus makes a covenant with us  that cannot be broken? What exactly happened in God's actions with Israel. And so Paul will  take these themes developed or begun in the book of Lamentations, and proceed to move  through them saying God has not forgotten Israel, that the Israelites, the Jews will always be  God's special people, but that in order to change the missional tactics, in a world which is  larger than can be accommodated by just passing through the nation of Israel, in a much  more global sense, God's tactic has to change. And so God is now reaching, not just all of the  nations through Israel, but bringing communities of the new Israel, the church into the various nations of the world. This is the scattering of the people of God in the church, into the variety  of different countries that exist around the world. And so we have to think again, what was  said in lament three, I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  So I am being persecuted but I'm also wandering, and there's a sense in which the, the  covenant ties between me and God have begun to be loosened and come undone and I'm  feeling the pain And of that, and so I well remember them and my soul is downcast within me. Why is this happening? And yet, this I call to mind and therefore I have hope, because of the  Lord's great love, we are not consumed for his compassions never fail, they are new every  morning Great is your faithfulness. I can say to myself, The Lord is my portion, therefore, I will wait for him. So at the heart of these laments, is already the anticipation that another chapter has to be written, that this is not the final word of the song. This is not the final page in the  book that there's still a whole new episode to come. And while this is a tragic episode, if we  truly believe that God loves God's people, that God is in covenant partnership with God's  people, even when there is a time of punishment and judgment, something new is in the  offing. While Jeremiah certainly wouldn't know exactly what that is, and the Israelites in that  day wouldn't understand fully what was to take place. It is something that begins to take on  new confidence in the New Testament, when God actually steps into our world in the person  of Jesus, and resolve some of these unresolved questions. And we begin to see the fulfillment  of those promises. Because of the Lord's great love, we are not consumed. Great is your  faithfulness. One of the songs that has come to resonate with these themes is a song written  by Don Francisco which I think aptly summarizes sort of the torment that we find in the 

laments, though five limitations, but also the hope that they hint at, and the voice of God  which appears through that. I know what you've been hearing, I've seen you hide your fear,  embarrassed by your weaknesses, afraid to let me hear. I wish you knew how much I longed  for you to understand, no matter what may happen, child, I'll never let go of your hand. I  know you've been forsaken by all you've known before, when you failed their expectations.  They frown and close the door. But even if your heart itself should lose the will to stand, no  matter what may happen, child, I'll never let go of your hand, the life that I have given you.  No one can take away I've sealed it with my spirit, blood and word. The everlasting Father has made his covenant with you, and he's stronger than the world you've seen and heard. So  Don't you fear to show them all the love I have for you, and I'll be with you everywhere and  everything you do. And even if you do it wrong, and miss the joy I've planned, no matter what may happen, child, I'll never let go of your hand. That becomes the sort of underlying or  overarching hope and theme and anticipation of the laments. We're in the pits right now  things have fallen apart. But God's plans are bigger and larger. And we've only come to a  bend in the road and don't quite see where God is taking us. Well, that's been our look at the  laments and all of the literature of the wisdom literature of the Old Testament. And I trust that you'll find it helpful for reflecting on but also something that you want to pursue further and  perhaps you'll want to do that by taking a look at my book, Covenant Documents Reading the  Bible Again For the First Time.