The time of the end (part 2)

We are told in Daniel 9:23 that at the beginning of Daniel’s pleas for mercy the angel Gabriel was sent to him with a response from God. Gabriel described his message for Daniel as “a word.” The word that Gabriel used, dâbâr (daw-bawrˊ) conveyed “divine communication” (H1697). Daniel was first introduced to Gabriel when he sought to understand his vision of the ram and the goat which he was told had to do with the appointed time of the end (Daniel 8:15-27). When Gabriel came to Daniel the second time, Gabriel laid out for Daniel a high-level overview of God’s plan of salvation for the nation of Israel, which would take place over a period he described as seventy weeks, beginning with Cyrus’ decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Daniel 9:24-27; Ezra 1:1-4).

Daniel 9:24-27 “is one of the most important prophesies in Scripture. Daniel had been praying about the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the return of his people. God gave Daniel a time frame for all his dealings with Israel…The seventy ‘weeks’ refer to years. Some biblical scholars suggest that the sixty-nine ‘weeks’ until the Messiah would come began with the decree that was issued to Nehemiah in 445 BC and ended 483 years later on Palm Sunday (based on 360-day years; see Rev. 11:3; 12-6; 13:5)…There is likely a gap, a feature that is characteristic of some prophesies, between the sixty-ninth and seventieth ‘week.’ If this is the case, then the ‘prince who is to come’ refers to the Antichrist, who will make a treaty with the Jews and then break it” (note on Daniel 9:24-27).

Daniel’s prophetic revelation moved methodically through the time period leading up to the birth of Christ and then fast forwarded to the appointed time of the end. The shift is made obvious in Daniel 11:36 “by the fact that Antiochus was one of the ‘king[s] of the north’ (a Seleucid), while the Antichrist is attacked by the kings of the North and the South (Daniel 11:40)…Daniel 12:1, which continues the narrative from chapter 11, identifies the time frame as the ‘time of trouble,’ also know as the great tribulation (cf. Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew 24:21)” (note on Daniel 11:36). Daniel 12:1-4 states:

“At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”

“This passage is one of the clearest Old Testament references to the resurrection of the dead…The implication is that the understanding of these visions would be made clear at ‘the time of the end’ (Daniel 12:4)” (note on Daniel 12:1-4). The Apostle Paul testified to his belief in the resurrection of the dead when he was on trial before Felix at Caesarea. Paul said, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything laid down by the Law and written in the Prophets, having a hope in God, which these men themselves accept, that there will be a resurrection of both the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:14-15).

Daniel 12:4 links the time of the end with the seventieth week of Daniel’s prophecy about the nation of Israel (Daniel 9:24-27). According to Daniel 12:1-4, the remnant of Israel goes through the great tribulation and Revelation 7:4 indicates there will be 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel. The seventieth week is expected to last seven years, but when he was asked, “How long shall it be till the end of the wonders?,” the pre-incarnate Christ, “swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished” (Daniel 12:7). The phrase “time, times, and half a time” appears in Revelation 12:14. Revelation chapter 12 describes the conflict between the nation of Israel, who is represented by the woman, and Satan, who is represented by the dragon. As the scene plays out, the woman escapes “into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time” (Revelation 12:14),” indicating that the shattering of the power of the holy people will occur during the last three and a half years of the great tribulation.

Jesus said, “When the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end, all these things would be finished” (Daniel 12:7). I believe the things that Jesus was referring to that would be finished were the things associated with the Old Covenant that God established with the nation of Israel. The millennial reign of Christ marks the beginning of the eternal kingdom of God that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jesus referred to this as the kingdom of heaven. Jesus told his followers, “many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:11-12). In this passage, Jesus distinguished between the physical descendants of Abraham who were under the Old Covenant and those who by faith received Christ.

Pleas for mercy

The prophet Daniel’s prayer for his people was a heartfelt plea for mercy that was intended to stir the LORD to action on behalf of the Jews who were in captivity in Babylon. Daniel’s prayer was the result of his discovery of Jeremiah’s prophecy that the Jews’ captivity would last 70 years (Daniel 9:2; Jeremiah 25:12). Daniel said, “Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession” (Daniel 9:3-4). Daniel’s prayer was based on him having a personal relationship with God. Daniel was seeking God’s favor, asking him “to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior” (H2603).

Daniel made confession to God, meaning that he approached God with a proper attitude, one of reverence and thanksgiving (H3034). Daniel prayed:

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. (Daniel 9:4-11)

Daniel’s pleas for mercy were focused on the goodness of God. Daniel confessed, “To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness” (Daniel 9:9). Daniel likened God’s mercy to a mother’s womb, having in mind the idea of compassion and tenderness (H7356). “God is a forgiving God (Nehemiah 9:17). He does not keep a record of sin, but with Him there is forgiveness (Psalm 130:4). Daniel also proclaimed that God is forgiving, even though the Hebrews had sinned greatly against Him (Daniel 9:9)” (H5547).

Daniel asked that God listen to his pleas for mercy for his own sake because of his great mercy. Daniel prayed, “O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city this is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake. O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name” (Daniel 9:18-19). Daniel recognized that it was God’s character that mattered when it came to changing the Jews’ circumstances. Daniel wanted God to pay attention and act because the Jews had damaged his reputation and were making him a laughingstock among the leaders of the world (Daniel 5:1-4).

The appointed time of the end

King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had the privilege of seeing what was going to happen in a time period that Daniel referred to as “the latter days” (Daniel 2:28). The latter days involve a future period of consequential events. Jeremiah said of the latter days, “That day is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, to avenge himself on his foes. The sword shall devour and be sated and drink its fill of their blood. For the Lord God of hosts holds a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates. The prophet Zechariah said of the latter days:

Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward. And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

Zechariah’s prophecy takes place at the end of the Great Tribulation. At that time, Jesus will return and establish his kingdom on earth. Chapter nineteen of the Book of Revelation depicts Christ’s return as a man riding on a white horse. It says, “The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war” (Revelation 19:11).

Daniel had a vision that paralleled Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in which four beasts came up out of the sea. At the end of Daniel’s vision was a depiction of the judgment seat of Christ. Daniel said:

As I looked,

thrones were placed,
    and the Ancient of Days took his seat;
his clothing was white as snow,
    and the hair of his head like pure wool;
his throne was fiery flames;
    its wheels were burning fire.
A stream of fire issued
    and came out from before him;
a thousand thousands served him,
    and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him;
the court sat in judgment,
    and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10)

The interpretation of Daniel’s vision was made known to him by an angel. Daniel wanted to know the truth about the fourth beast who was “terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong” (Daniel 7:7). The angel told Daniel that the fourth kingdom would be different from all kingdoms and would devour the whole earth. This kingdom will be led by Antichrist who will “wear out the saints of the Most High, and shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time” (Daniel 7:25). The phrase “time, times, and half a time” refers to the last half of the Great Tribulation. This phrase corresponds with Revelation 12:14 which depicts the nation of Israel as a woman who is being protected during the Great Tribulation. Verses 16 and 17 tell us, “But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.”

The angel who interpreted Daniel’s dream was identified as Gabriel. Gabriel “seemed to be God’s special messenger” (note on Daniel 8:16). Gabriel told Daniel that he was going to make known to him “what shall be at the latter end-of the indignation, for it refers to the appointed time of the end” (Daniel 8:19). The indignation signifies God’s displeasure with sin (H2195) and the appointed time of the end, a time when Antichrist will be removed from the earth and God’s people will be free to focus on God and their relationship with him (H4150). The angel told Daniel, “And at the latter end of their kingdom, when the transgressions have reached their limit, a king of bold face, one who understands riddles, shall arise. His power shall be great—but not by his own power; and he shall cause fearful destruction and shall succeed in what he does, and destroy mighty men and the people who are the saints. By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall become great. Without warning he shall destroy many. And he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes, and he shall be broken—but by no human hand” (Daniel 8:23-25).

Daniel experienced tremendous physical and emotional drain after his overwhelming visions (note on Daniel 8:27). Daniel said he was “overcome and lay sick for some days” (Daniel 8:27). Daniel was appalled by the visions, meaning that he was devastated or stupefied by them. The Hebrew word that is translated appalled, shamem (shaw-mameˊ) means “to stun” (H8074). The appointed time of the end will be marked by lawlessness and rebellion against the truth of God’s word. Paul said of Antichrist in his second letter to the Thessalonians, “The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, and with all wicked deception, for those who are perishing because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false, in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12).

Jesus’ disciples came to him on the Mount of Olives and asked him to tell them when the appointed time of the end would come. Jesus said many false prophets would lead people astray. “And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matthew 24:11-14). Jesus went on to say that no one knows the day or the hour when the end will come (Matthew 24:36), and then, told his disciples, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour” (Matthew 25:13).

Trusting in God

“Daniel was a nobleman of Israel (possibly a prince) who was taken to Babylon in the first deportation (605 BC), probably while in his early teens (Dan. 1:3, 4). His ministry lasted the entire length of the Babylonian exile, his last dated prophecy being made in 536 BC when he was in his eighties” (Introduction to Daniel). Daniel’s faith was likely tested numerous times over the course of his ministry. When King Nebuchadnezzar threatened to kill all of the wise men in his kingdom, Daniel responded by seeking God’s mercy, praying that he would reveal the meaning of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him so that he and companions would not be “destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:5, 13, 18). Later, when a decree was made that whoever prays to any god or man except to the king would be thrown into the den of lions, Daniel “got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before God as he had done previously” (Daniel 6:10).

Daniel was trusting in God when he continued to pray three times as he always had. We are told in Daniel 6:19-22:

Then, at break of day, the king arose and went in haste to the den of lions. As he came near to the den where Daniel was, he cried out in a tone of anguish. The king declared to Daniel, “O Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever! My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found blameless before him; and also before you, O king, I have done no harm.”

Daniel was pure in his devotion to God. Daniel did not waver when his faith was put to the test.

James said that believers should count it all joy when they meet trials of various kinds, “for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness” (James 1:3). Steadfastness is a quality of the mind. It has to do with the way we think about our circumstances. The author of Hebrews referred to steadfastness as endurance in Hebrews 12:1 and said that we need to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

James talked about the need for believers to put their faith into action. We are told in Hebrews 11:1 that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” We are not able to see God, that is why faith is necessary for us to have a relationship with him. When we have the conviction that God exists, we become hopeful about the prospect of living with him forever after we die. James said we shouldn’t just be hopeful about the prospect of living with God after we die, we should live our lives as if he is here with us now.

James said that faith by itself is not enough; you must also have works (James 2:17). James explained what he meant be works when he said, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness” (James 2:19-23).

Trusting in God involves action on our part. “Merely claiming to have faith does not mean that a person possesses saving faith. A faith that is not accompanied by appropriate deeds is no faith at all. It is a mockery, and James calls such faith ‘dead’ (James 2:17). It is ‘faith’ similar to what the demons possess (James 2:19), consisting only of an intellectual belief in the existence of God. Outward actions accompany and demonstrate genuine faith in Christ” (note on James 2:14-19). Abraham demonstrated his faith by doing what God told him to do. God said to Abraham, “take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you” (Genesis 22:2), Genesis 22:3 tells us, “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” We can see that Abraham believing God and Abraham obeying God were essentially the same thing.

James referred to the acting out of our faith as faith being completed. The Greek word that is translated completed, teleioo (tel-i-oˊ-o) is associated with spiritual maturity. It is “used in the epistle to the Hebrews in a moral sense meaning to make perfect, to fully cleanse from sin, in contrast to ceremonial cleansing. Moral expiation is the completion or realization of the ceremonial one (Heb 7:19; 9:9; 10:1, 14)” (G5048). James said, “a person is justified by works and not by faith alone” (James 2:24). Works were being “spoken of an external act as manifested in the production of something tangible, obvious to the senses” (G2140). Trusting in God means that we have translated the invisible attributes of God into something tangible that is evidence of our belief in his existence to the people around us.

A hard lesson

God sent the people of Israel into captivity to teach them a very hard lesson about his sovereignty over their lives. God had delivered the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob out of slavery in Egypt so that they could be his treasured possession (Deuteronomy 7:6). Moses explained to them, “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of the peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8). In spite of everything the LORD did for them, the Jews refused to give up their idolatry. God said, “Yet I persistently sent to you all my servants the prophets, saying, ‘Oh, do not do this abomination that I hate!’ But they did not listen or incline their ear, or turn from their evil and make no offerings to other gods. Therefore my wrath and my anger were poured out and kindled in the cities of Judah and in Jerusalem, and they became a waste and a desolation, as at this day” (Jeremiah 44:4-6).

While they were in exile in Babylon, the Jews were once again forced to choose between being obedient to God or following the idolatrous practices of their captors. Daniel and his companions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fought against the temptation to relinquish their right to serve the living and true God by refusing to adapt to the Babylonian culture (Daniel 1:8-16). When King Nebuchadnezzar exercised his authority by making everyone in his kingdom bow down to the huge golden image that he had made, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego paid no attention (Daniel 3:12). This act of rebellion enraged the king and resulted in a confrontation between the king and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Daniel 3:13-15 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar gave the men two choices, they could bow down and worship the image he had made or be cast into a burning fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar taunted the men by asking, “And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands?”

Nebuchadnezzar had the furnace heated seven times more than it usually was (Daniel 3:19). Because of this, the men who were tasked with throwing Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the furnace were killed by the flame of the fire (Daniel 3:22). And yet, the fire had no power over the bodies of the three men (Daniel 3:27). After Nebuchadnezzar told Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to come out of the furnace, everyone saw that “the hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire had come upon them” (Daniel 3:27).

Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged that there was no other god who was able to rescue the way God had rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:29), but he was not willing to accept God’s sovereignty over everything, especially his kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar had a second dream which Daniel interpreted for him (Daniel 4:4-16). After informing Nebuchadnezzar that his mind was going to be changed from that of a man to the mind of a beast, Daniel concluded, “The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, the decision by the word of the holy ones, to the end that the living may know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he wills and sets over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17).

A year later, Nebuchadnezzar was walking on the roof of his palace, thinking about his accomplishments, when his dream came true. Daniel 4:29-33 tells us:

At the end of twelve months he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon, and the king answered and said, “Is not this great Babylon, which I have built by my mighty power as a royal residence and for the glory of my majesty?” While the words were still in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, “O King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you, and you shall be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. And you shall be made to eat grass like an ox, and seven periods of time shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules the kingdom of men and gives it to whom he will.” Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven from among men and ate grass like an ox, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair grew as long as eagles’ feathers, and his nails were like birds’ claws.

After his sanity was restored, Nebuchadnezzar reflected on his experience and told Daniel, “At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:34).

Nebuchadnezzar learned a hard lesson during the time that he lived among the beasts of the field and ate grass like an ox (Daniel 4:32). According to the Apostle James, Nebuchadnezzar’s religion was worthless because it was merely a form of self-deception that resulted in him becoming proud and defiant toward God (James 1:9-10, 26). On the other hand, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego’s faith was genuine and it resulted in everyone knowing that they were “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:3).

James encouraged believers to embrace the testing of their faith (James 1:2). James didn’t see trials as something to be avoided, but opportunities for growth. James said, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him” (James 1:12). “God may allow those who belong to him to be tested, but he will never place inducements before them to lead them into temptations greater than they can bear” (note on Genesis 22:1, 2).

Paul told believers in his letter to the Corinthians, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). When King Nebuchadnezzar commanded everyone in his kingdom to fall down and worship the golden image, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego could have done so to avoid being thrown into the fiery furnace and justified the fiery furnace as something that they were unable to endure, but they didn’t do that. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego instead chose to believe that God was able to and would deliver them from the fiery furnace because he did not want them to practice idolatry (Daniel 3:17).

James encouraged believers to be “doers of the word, and not hearers only” (James 1:22). The word of God is intended to change our behavior. It’s not enough for us to just agree with the Bible’s principles. We must put them into practice. James said, “For if anyone is a hearer only and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing” (James 1:23-25). James described the gospel as the law of liberty, something that gives us the freedom to do as we please. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego weren’t compelled to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image. His threat of death meant nothing to them. These three men’s courage demonstrated to everyone around them their resolve to remain unstained from the world (Daniel 1:8; James 1:27) and contributed to Nebuchadnezzar’s change of heart toward God (Daniel 4:37).  

A mystery revealed

God’s promise to give Abraham the land of Canaan forever (Genesis 13:15) implied that his ownership would extend beyond this temporal sphere. God did not explain to Abraham how his promise would be fulfilled, but we are told in Hebrews 11:19 that Abraham believed God was able to raise people from the dead, implying that life after death and eternal life were a part of God’s plan for the nation of Israel.

The fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham became clearer after the people of Israel began to occupy the land of Canaan. During the reign of King David, God said he would raise up one of David’s offspring, a physical heir to David’s throne who would establish the throne of his kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13). Second Samuel 7:8-16 “is both an explanation and a clarification of God’s promise to Abraham. It represents an unconditional promise to David that he would be the father of an everlasting kingdom (v. 16)” (note on 2 Samuel 7:4-16), but it does not specifically state how this was going to be accomplished.

Things began to unravel for the nation of Israel when the northern kingdom was sent into exile because of idolatry. It says in 2 Kings 17:21-23, “When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the LORD and made them commit great sin. The people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them, until the LORD removed Isreal out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.” The Assyrians resettled Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, with “people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim” (2 Kings 17:24).

The prophet Jeremiah warned the people of the southern kingdom about the impending disaster for Jerusalem, but no one believed him. When Jeremiah announced, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words” (Jeremiah 19:15), it says in Jeremiah 20:1-6:

Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side. For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

Jerusalem was captured just as Jeremiah predicted (2 Kings 24:10-17). The king of Judah was taken prisoner, and it says in 2 Kings 24:14 that Nebuchadnezzar “carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.”

Among the people that were taken captive were four youths: Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; who were both of the royal family and of the nobility that were “of good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king’s palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans” (Daniel 1:3-4). “Scholars suggest three possible reasons for taking the youths of nobility and royal family into captivity: (1) to hold them as hostages, thereby ensuring the loyalty of their families; (2) to develop men who already had some education to serve in Nebuchadnezzar’s rapidly expanding bureaucracy; (3) and to indoctrinate them with Babylonian ideals in the hope of employing them as liaisons between Babylon and the province of Judea” (note on Daniel 1:4, 5).

Daniel 1:8 tells us that “Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the king’s food, or with the wine that he drank.” And it also says of Daniel and his companions in Daniel 1:20 that, “in every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters that were in all his kingdom.” God used this situation to reveal mysteries about his plan for the nation of Israel. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and threatened his magicians, enchanters, and sorcerers, “if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your house shall be laid in ruins” (Daniel 2:5), Daniel went to his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah “and told them to seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon” (Daniel 2:18).

Daniel believed that God could reveal King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream to him and also provide him with an interpretation of the dream. The fact that Daniel and his companions were in exile in Babylon didn’t seem to affect Daniel’s faith or his reliance upon God for deliverance from King Nebuchadnezzar’s threat of death. The Aramaic word that is translated seek conveys the idea of praying to God or seeking out a person, asking a person for something (A1156). Daniel’s reliance upon God was based on his belief that God was compassionate and still had affection for his chosen people.  

It says in Daniel 2:19 that the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. In other words, Daniel received a direct revelation from God, similar to the one John received and recorded in his book of Revelation. The Aramaic word that is translated vision signifies a literal sense of sight, the observation of something with the eye. Daniel 2:31 suggests that Daniel saw the same thing in his vision of the night that Nebuchadnezzar did in his dream. When Daniel interpreted the dream, he told Nebuchadnezzar, “You saw…As you looked…” (Daniel 2:31-35).

The mystery that was revealed through Nebuchadnezzar’s dream had to do with four world empires that would lead to a kingdom being set up by God that would never be destroyed (Daniel 2:44). Daniel told King Nebuchadnezzar that his kingdom was the first of the four world empires and that the final kingdom would “break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever, just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold. A great God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure” (Daniel 2:44-45).

King Nebuchadnezzar’s reaction to the mystery being revealed to him showed that he recognized God was more powerful than the gods whom he worshiped in Babylon (note on Daniel 2:46, 47). Daniel 2:46-47 states, “Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him. The king answered and said to Daniel, ‘Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.’” “The king bowed before Daniel in recognition that Daniel was the servant of the true God” (note on Daniel 2:46, 47). In spite of the king’s recognition that Daniel was a servant of the true God, Nebuchadnezzar was not yet willing to submit himself to God’s authority (Daniel 3).

Restoration from a state of shame

Jeremiah’s numerous warnings about the destruction of Jerusalem were repeatedly ignored by the Jews and led to the prophet of God being tortured and imprisoned on multiple occasions. Jeremiah identified the problem as the Jews refusing to repent. Jeremiah asked, “O LORD, do your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish; you have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to repent” (Jeremiah 5:3).

Jeremiah grieved for his people and expressed his concern about the spiritual condition of their hearts. Jeremiah admitted, “’The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved.’ For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn and dismay has taken hold” (Jeremiah 8:20-21). The Hebrew word that is translated dismay, shammah (sham-mawˊ) was being used by Jeremiah to describe the extreme dismay he felt at seeing the destruction of Jerusalem, a horror that filled him with deep sorrow.

God’s intention was to consume the Jews completely using the military power of the Chaldean army (Jeremiah 9:16). God said, “I will scatter them among the nations whom neither they nor their fathers have known, and I will send the sword after them, until I have consumed them” (Jeremiah 9:16). The Hebrew verb that is translated consumed, kalah (kaw-lawˊ) describes the transitory reality of fallen human nature. God knew what it would take to awaken the Jews to their need for salvation and was committed to bringing them to that point.

The Jews preferred to worship the idols of the nations around them. They had forsaken the one true God, the living God “who made the earth by his power, who established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding stretched out the heavens” (Jeremiah 10:12). Jeremiah acknowledged his dependence on God and asked him to make things right. Jeremiah prayed, “I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps. Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing. Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob; they have devoured him and consumed him, and have laid waste his habitation” (Jeremiah 10:23-25).

God’s response to Jeremiah’s request was harsh, but it reflected God’s commitment to bring his chosen people to the point where their relationship with him could be restored. Jeremiah recorded, “The LORD said to me: ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. Though they fast, I will not hear their cry, and though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence” (Jeremiah 14:11-12). The LORD was concerned because false prophets were prophesying lies to the people, making them think that they would not be overtaken by war and famine (Jeremiah 14:14). God told Jeremiah, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight and let them go!” (Jeremiah 15:1).

God prepared Jeremiah for what was coming and warned him not to try to live a normal life because the devastation of war was going to permeate every aspect of the Jews’ lives. God specifically told Jeremiah “not to marry because of the horrors that families with children would endure during the siege of Jerusalem” (note on Jeremiah 16:2-5). Jeremiah recorded, “The word of the LORD came to me. ‘You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth’” (Jeremiah 16:1-4).

Because he was a fallen human and had a sin nature like everyone else, “Jeremiah was subject to the wide range of emotions that are common to all men. He complained that God had deceived him (Jeremiah 20:7), sang praises to God (Jeremiah 20:13), then wished he had never been born (Jeremiah 20:14). Through it all, however, Jeremiah continued to preach God’s message (Jeremiah 20:8) because he was compelled by God’s call (Jeremiah 20:9; cf. 1 Corinthians 9:16)” (note on Jeremiah 20:7-18). At a point when he seemed to have lost all hope for the future, Jeremiah asked God, “Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?” (Jeremiah 20:18).

Near the end of his ministry, Jeremiah was threatened with death. The LORD told Jeremiah, “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, ‘You shall die!’…Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ‘This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears’” (Jeremiah 26:4-11).

Jeremiah was also accused of lying to the Jews. After he warned the people against going to Egypt (Jeremiah 42:1-22, it says in Jeremiah 43:1-3, “When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, ‘You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there,’ but Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may kill us or take us into exile in Babylon.”

The LORD made it clear that the Jews were being punished because of their idolatry (Jeremiah 44:3). “The group of Jews who had fled to Egypt were still involved in idolatry. These people somehow thought their well-being depended upon their worship of the ‘queen of heaven’ (Jeremiah 44:17, 18). It took seventy years in exile to finally cure Israel of idolatry. The Jews had problems with legalism and Pharisaism after the exile, but never again did idolatry become prevalent” (note on Jeremiah 44:8). Jeremiah told the Jews who were dwelling in the land of Egypt, “Behold, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord GOD lives.’ Behold I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them” (Jeremiah 44:26-27).

Jeremiah wrote about the devastation that he witnessed in his book of Lamentations. Jeremiah said, “Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace the ash heaps” (Lamentations 4:5). Jeremiah went on to lament, “For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her” (Lamentations 4:6).

Jeremiah also stated, “Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field. The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people” (Lamentations 4:9-10). “The famine in the land was so severe that the people resorted to eating their own children. A similar occurrence took place during the siege of Samaria by the Assyrians (2 Kings 6:25-29).

Jeremiah’s final plea to the LORD included an acknowledgment by him that God’s people were living in a state of shame. Jeremiah prayed, “Remember, O LORD, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!” The Hebrew word that is translated disgrace, cherpah (kher-pawˊ) is “a feminine noun meaning reproach, scorn, taunt” (H2781). Despite the desperation of their situation, Jeremiah’s prayer reflected “the hope that the people of Jerusalem would return to a proper relationship with God” (note on Lamentation 5:21). Jeremiah said, “The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!” (Lamentation 5:15-16). Jeremiah then pleaded, “Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be restored!” (Lamentations 5:21).

“The process called conversion or turning to God is in reality a re-turning or a turning back again to Him from whom sin has separated us, but whose we are by virtue of creation, preservation and redemption” (H7725). Jeremiah was referring to this process when he prayed, “Restore us to yourself, O LORD” (Lamentations 5:21) because regeneration is an act of God. Romans 3:23-25 tells us that “there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift. through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”

God spoke of Jesus when he told Jeremiah, “Behold the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land” (Jeremiah 23:5). The LORD promised to turn the Jews mourning to joy and said, “With weeping they shall come, and with pleas for mercy I will lead them back…For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and has redeemed him from hands too strong for him” (Jeremiah 31:9, 11). God promised to “restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first” (Jeremiah 33:7). God compared the security of his promises with the constancy of day and night when he said, “If I have not established my covenant with day and night and the fixed order of heaven and earth, then I will reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant and will not choose one of his offspring to rule over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them” (Jeremiah 33:25-26).

God is faithful

Knowing you are lost is an important first step in the process of salvation. Without an awareness that you are separated from God, you will not seek a remedy to the situation. “God does not want to have to bring hardships into peoples lives, but he may do so in order to teach, convict, and bring them into a right relationship with him” (note on Lamentations 3:33). It is often through suffering that our need for salvation becomes most evident to us. That is why God uses suffering to bring us to the point where we realize we need to get right with him.

Jeremiah was an eyewitness to the destruction of Jerusalem. In his book of Lamentations, “Jeremiah alternates between accounts of the horrible aftermath of the destruction of the city and the confessions of the people’s deep sins, and then to the appeals to God for mercy” (Introduction to Lamentations). Jeremiah recounted, “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. They cry to their mothers, ‘Where is bread and wine?’ as they faint like a wounded man in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mother’s bosom” (Lamentations 2:11-12).

Jeremiah encouraged the Jews to cry out to God for help. Jeremiah urged them, “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! Lift your hands to him for the lives of your children, who faint for hunger at the head of every street” (Lamentations 2:19). The phrase pour out your heart refers to a prayer that expresses dependence upon God (H8210). Jeremiah wanted the people to admit that they needed God to rescue them from their circumstances.

Jeremiah suffered along with the rest of the people of Judah. Jeremiah said, “I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light; surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long” (Lamentations 3:1-3). Jeremiah knew that God was sovereign over the events that were taking place but still expressed his confusion over the fact that God had allowed the suffering (note on Jeremiah 3:1-20). Jeremiah lamented, “He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes; my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; so I say, ‘My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the LORD” (Lamentations 3:16-18).

In Jeremiah’s darkest moment, when his endurance was gone and there was nothing good left for him to hope for, Jeremiah turned his attention toward God. Lamentations 3:21-27 states:

But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.
It is good that one should wait quietly
    for the salvation of the Lord.
It is good for a man that he bear
    the yoke in his youth.

Jeremiah’s statement “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth” refers to a person submitting himself to God. Jeremiah linked this to receiving salvation from the LORD. Jesus was also talking about submission to God in the context of salvation when told his followers, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

Jeremiah concluded that the LORD would not cast off his chosen people forever (Lamentations 3:31). God told Jeremiah, “I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and will be their God. I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them” (Jeremiah 32:37-40). The New Covenant was instituted the night before Jesus’s crucifixion during the Passover feast. It says in Matthew 26:27-28 that Jesus took a cup, and after he had given thanks he gave it to his twelve disciples, stating, “Drink of it all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”

God’s compassion is “a deep kindly sympathy and sorrow felt for another who has been struck with affliction or misfortune accompanied with a desire to relieve the suffering” (H7355). Jeremiah said the LORD would not cast off forever, “but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love” (Lamentations 3:31-32). The abundance of God’s steadfast love means that his kindness toward us has no bounds, it is a countless amount or something that can be multiplied by the myriad, a historical unit of ten thousand (H7230/7231). Paul said in Romans 5:8 that “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.” Jesus explained to the religious leader Nicodemus that God’s love was so abundant that “he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16), and then, Jesus said to his disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).

Jeremiah’s account of his own suffering included the solution that all of us need when we become aware of our lost state. Jeremiah said, “I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost'” (Lamentations 3:52-54). The Hebrew word that is translated lost, gazar (gaw-zarˊ) has to do with separation (H1504), and in this instance refers specifically to Jeremiah’s separation from God in the sense of him not having received salvation. Jeremiah said, “I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’ You came near when I called on you, you said, ‘Do not fear!’ You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life” (Lamentations 3:55-58).

Complaining to God

The book of Job teaches us that trials should be expected to be a part of people’s lives who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ. “The purpose of the book is to show the unfathomable wisdom of God’s providence, and the benevolence of God even in the trials brought upon his children. It also explains why God allows righteous people to suffer: to expose their frailty and sinfulness, to strengthen their faith, and to purify them. The spiritual perspective of the account and the fact that God exercised total control over Satan promotes complete trust in God. Throughout the book, Job’s friends relentlessly accused him of committing some great sin. Although he questioned God’s actions in the midst of these onslaughts, it should not be assumed that his queries were motivated by a resentful self-seeking attitude. On the contrary, they confirm his determination to hold on to his faith in God despite the circumstances that providence had brought upon him” (Introduction to Job).

Job reached a point in his suffering when he seemed to have lost all hope (Job 7:6). Job said, “Therefore, I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 7:11). The Hebrew word that is translated complain, siyach (seeˊ-akh) is “a verb meaning to ponder, to converse, to utter, to complain, to meditate, to pray, to speak…In Job, the word denotes the action that Job took against the bitterness in his soul, that is, his complaints (Job 7:11)” (H7878). Job’s complaints were intended to keep him from becoming bitter toward God.

In the midst of his misery, Job asked some honest questions of God (note on Job 7:17-21). Job asked in verses 7:17-21:

“What is man, that you make so much of him,
    and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning
    and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me,
    nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
    Why have you made me your mark?
    Why have I become a burden to you?
Why do you not pardon my transgression
    and take away my iniquity?
For now I shall lie in the earth;
    you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

Job wondered why his redemption was not having the same effect as it had before. Job asked, “Why do you not pardon my transgressions and take away my iniquity?” (Job 7:21). The phrase take away my iniquity has to do with Jesus’ substitutionary death on the cross (H5374). Job understood this to be the only way a person’s sins could be forgiven (Job 19:25).

Psalm 77 provides a similar glimpse into the heart of a suffering believer. The psalmist said of God, “You hold my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak” (Psalm 77:4) and then, continued, “I consider the days of old, the years long ago. I said, ’Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.’ Then my spirit made a diligent search: ‘Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has his anger shut up his compassion?” (Psalm 77:5-9). Asaph thought about his circumstances in the context of what he knew to be true about God’s character and concluded that he needed to take his complaint to God. Asaph said, “I will appeal to this; to the years of the right hand of the Most High” (Psalm 77:10). Asaph was grieved because God wasn’t treating him the way he had in the past.

Jeremiah’s complaint in Lamentations 2 was that the Lord had destroyed without pity. Jeremiah said:

How the Lord in his anger
    has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud!
He has cast down from heaven to earth
    the splendor of Israel;
he has not remembered his footstool
    in the day of his anger.

The Lord has swallowed up without mercy
    all the habitations of Jacob;
in his wrath he has broken down
    the strongholds of the daughter of Judah;
he has brought down to the ground in dishonor
    the kingdom and its rulers.

He has cut down in fierce anger
    all the might of Israel;
he has withdrawn from them his right hand
    in the face of the enemy;
he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob,
    consuming all around. (Lamentations 2:1-3)

Jeremiah was having a hard time seeing the point of God’s wrath being poured out against his people. “God in his providence, permitted foreign invaders to destroy his temple so that the people could no longer offer their vain sacrifices and worship false gods there” (note on Lamentations 2:4, 6).

God’s mercy involves much more than just taking pity on those who are suffering. The Hebrew word cheçed (khehˊ-sed) “is one of the most important in the vocabulary of Old Testament theology and ethics. In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: ‘strength,’ ‘steadfastness,’ and ‘love.’ Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. ‘Love’ by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet ‘strength’ or ‘steadfastness’ suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation. The word refers primarily to the mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Yahweh and Israel). But checed is not only a matter of obligation; it is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. The weaker party seeks protection and blessing of the patron and protector, but he may not lay absolute claim to it. The stronger party remains committed to his promise, but retains his freedom, especially with respect to the manner in which he will implement those promises” (H2617).

God told the people of Judah that he would bring them back to their land after being in captivity in Babylon for 70 years (Jeremiah 29:10-11) and said their mourning would be turned into joy (Jeremiah 31:8-12). God’s plan was to establish a new covenant in which he would forgive the people’s sin and remember it no more (Jeremiah 31:31-34). The new covenant would result in God’s chosen people not being plucked up from their land or overthrown anymore forever (Jeremiah 31:38-40), but that did not prevent God from judging the Jews for their idolatry (Jeremiah 44:1-6). “It took seventy years in exile to finally cure Israel of idolatry. The Jews had problems with legalism and Pharisaism after the exile, but never again did idolatry become prevalent” (note on Jeremiah 44:8). After Jeremiah recounted the fall of Jerusalem (Jeremiah 52:1-11); complaining to God, he stated, “The LORD has done what he purposed; he has carried out his word, which he commanded long ago; he has thrown down without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you and exalted the might of your foes” (Lamentations 2:17).

Exile

The exile of the Jews was the result of their disobedience to the voice of the LORD their God. Moses told the people of Israel, “The LORD will bring you and your king whom you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. And there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone. And you shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD will lead you away…You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity” (Deuteronomy 28:36-37, 41). The Hebrew word that is translated captivity, shᵉbîy (sheb-eeˊ) means “exiled, captured…and was normally used to describe those captured in war and taken back to the conquering country (Numbers 21:1; Ezra 3:8; Nehemiah 1:2)” (H7628). The prophet Jeremiah talked about the Jews being exiled to Babylon throughout his 50-year ministry. It says in Jeremiah 11:6-13:

And the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice. Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Again the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.”

Jeremiah complained to the LORD asking, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (Jeremiah 12:1), and the LORD answered him, “I have forsaken my house; I have abandoned my heritage; I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies…Say to the king and the queen mother: ‘Take a lowly seat, for your beautiful crown has come down from your head.’ The cities of the Negeb are shut up, with none to open them; all Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile” (Jeremiah 12:1, 7, 18-19).

Jeremiah recounted the fall of Jerusalem in the final chapter of his book. Jeremiah stated, “For because of the anger of the LORD it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence” (Jeremiah 52:3). The Hebrew words that are translated came to the point, hâyâh (haw-yawˊ), which means “to exist” (H1961) and ʻad, which means “eternity” (H5703), suggest that the timing of the Jews’ exile was a part of God’s eternal plan of redemption and was being carried out according to the appointed time for Christ’s arrival on earth.

Nebuchadnezzar’s army attacked the city of Jerusalem for 539 days, but was unable to penetrate the walls surrounding it. It says in Jeremiah 52:5-8 that due to a famine, “a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him.” Jeremiah had warned Zedekiah not to try to escape from the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 38:17), but Zedekiah refused to surrender. Zedekiah was captured and taken to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah, in the land of Hamath (Jeremiah 39:5). “The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Riblah before his eyes, and the king of Babylon slaughtered the nobles of Judah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon” (Jeremiah 39:6-7).

In his book of Lamentations, Jeremiah painted a sad picture of Jerusalem after the city was devastated by the Chaldeans. Jeremiah stated, “How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow she has become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave (Lamentations 1:1). Jeremiah lamented, “Judah has gone into exile because of affliction and hard servitude; she dwells now among the nations, but finds no resting place; her pursuers have all overtaken her in the midst of her distress” (Lamentations 1:3). The people of Judah going into exile was comparable to the experience of a woman being raped. Jeremiah said, “Jerusalem sinned grievously, therefore she became filthy; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness; she herself groans and turns her face away” (Lamentations 1:8). The phrase seen her nakedness was a common euphemism for sexual relations (H6172). Jeremiah wanted his readers to understand that going into exile was an extremely devasting experience. The people of Judah would never completely recover from it.