 Yes, we have covered Isaiah last week, so we have started off the prophetic books. We are looking at the five major prophetic books right now. And then of course we will be moving into the 12 minor prophets as well. So today we will aim to finish Jeremiah and Lamentations because both of them are written by the same person. And for Jeremiah, we will try to look at what happened during the last days before Jerusalem was completely destroyed. So we will be looking at the last one or two years and what they went through during that period of time. So Jeremiah as we know, this is something that maybe not everyone would know. If you remember during the kingship of Josiah, the godly king who tries to repair the temple and he tries to restore all of the feasts and festivals which Moses had commanded. During his time, when the repair work is going on in the temple, do you remember one priest who finds a book of the law of Moses? He finds it and he goes and gives it to the king and then the scroll is read out in the king's presence. And Josiah realizes that they have not been following most of the things which God had actually originally commanded and all of that takes place. So the priest who found that scroll, his son is Jeremiah. So Jeremiah is the son of a very godly man, Hilkaya. So Jeremiah is Hilkaya's son and he lives in the Levite city of Anatoth. So you know, the Levites were given certain specific cities in each of the tribes and so this was one of those Levite cities and this is basically where Jeremiah grew up. Now, Jeremiah was probably one of the most hated prophets, probably one of the prophets who was opposed more than anyone else. He went through a lot of persecution because the people looked upon him as if he was a traitor because he was openly telling them, God will bring judgment, God will wipe out the city. You must surrender to the enemy. So they were saying, what kind of a person are you? You're talking against your own people and you're saying, go surrender to the enemy. Instead of encouraging us and saying, fight the enemy, the Lord will stand with you. Instead of saying words like that, you are openly saying, go and surrender to the enemy. The sooner you go and surrender to the enemy, the better because Jeremiah is saying, submit to God's punishment. The time for punishment has come and now you must submit and accept it. So he was hated very much and it's really sad that Jeremiah does not realize that the people of his own hometown, you know, and I thought where he has grown up from childhood and I thought where he knows all his neighbors, his relatives, you know, all the other priests and their families, that is where he has grown up and they themselves conspire and make a plot to murder him and he's not even aware of it because he trusts them. He thinks that, you know, they're his friends. He thinks that actually they will stand by him but we learn in Jeremiah chapter 11 verses 18 to 23 that actually they prepare a plot against him and he says over here in 11, 18 to 23 because the Lord revealed their plot to me, I knew it and he says in verse 19, I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter. I did not realize that they had plotted against me. So his very own people rejected him. So it must have been very painful for him at an emotional level to be cut off by everyone, to be criticized by everyone, to not be appreciated for your sincerity with which you are doing your ministry. That is difficult, that is painful because when we are in ministry we at least expect the people who are in ministry to stand by us even if the other, you know, the world doesn't care about us and they point fingers at us. At least we think our co-brothers and sisters would be there to stand by us but he does not even have that privilege. So you have the people of his own hometown and in fact this is what they say in verse 21 therefore this is what the Lord says about the people of Anathot who are threatening to kill you saying do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands. Now here is a priestly city filled with priests and the priests are saying don't prophesy in the name of the Lord rather tell lies, you know, we imagine to what state this kingdom has fallen and that is why no wonder God said now is the time for judgment and God was not willing to wait any longer and in verse 23 God says not even a remnant will be left to the people of Anathot because I will bring disaster on the people in the year of their punishment. So God says because of this plot which they have planned against you because they were actually planning on murdering you and you were not even aware of what was going on therefore I will punish them. So God says that he will avenge what has been, you know, what was planned for Jeremiah. We kind of need to understand the background of what was going on in that last one or two years. The situation was extremely tense. If you and I were living over there inside Jerusalem's walls at that time, we would have lived in tension and fear almost every day because you see Nebuchadnezzar comes he that's his first invasion. He comes and invades. He removes the person who is on the throne because at that time, you know, after, in fact, Josiah is the last godly king. After him his son Jeho Ahas comes on the throne. Jeho Ahas is just there for a little while and then his son comes to the throne and that son is removed by Nebuchadnezzar. The invasion happens. He comes, he, you know, he removes him from his position and he instead appoints his uncle that is Zedekiah. He appoints Zedekiah on the throne. So after the first invasion, Nebuchadnezzar appoints Zedekiah over there and he goes back. So now onwards, they are no longer a free people. So around the city, you have Babylonian troops all around the city walls outside. With their permission, you can come in and go out because you see basically your crops, your fields are all outside, right? In the, in the outskirts outside and also you have connection to other, you know, towns and cities. So only with the permission of the army can you come in and go out. And Jeremiah is encouraging everyone and saying go and surrender. The enemy is sitting over there. Go and tell them, you know, from, we have no, we have now surrendering to you. We are no longer with our people. We will now be your slaves. So then, you know, they will give them special provisions. They'll give them extra food and all of that. So Jeremiah is over here inside, encouraging and saying, go and surrender to those troops which are outside. And every day when the city wakes up, it's waking up to the idea that outside their city walls, the enemy is sitting and waiting and very soon something is going to happen. So there's a lot of uncertainty going on and now the food supply has reduced because they are controlling what comes into the city, what, what goes out of the city. So they are no longer prosperous and happy and wonderful. They were as they were earlier. And so now at this time, you have all these false prophets giving all these words of encouragement saying, don't worry, God is merciful. Everything is going to be fine. Everything is going to be all right. And here is this one man standing and saying, no, there's going to be complete destruction. And so they look at him and they say, what kind of a man are you? Don't you, don't you even have heart for your people? The two words coming out of the mouth. And so he's criticized again and again. And Zedekiah comes to, you know, Jeremiah. He knows that Jeremiah is a true prophet. So in Jeremiah chapter 37 verse 3, what happens is, you know, he, I think the Babylonian troops at that time probably would have increased, you know, they're increasing the number of troops which are planted outside the city walls. And so he comes over there in chapter 37 verse 3 and he says, please pray to the Lord our God for us. Okay. So he comes and requests for prayer. And then in the meantime, what happens is the king of Egypt in the Pharaoh, he decides to come and support Judah. So he starts off with his army and starts coming towards Judah. And when the Babylonian troops hear about what's happening, they think, okay, fine, right now we are not in a position to fight against the Pharaoh's army. Let's leave. So they temporarily leave and go away. And everyone in the city thinks, oh, what the false prophets is correct. See this man, Jeremiah, he didn't know what I was talking about. All nonsense he was saying. But on the other hand, see the troops have gone away. And then this is what Jeremiah prophesies. And he says, that will be in verses six and seven. He says, you know, this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. He says, Pharaoh's army which has marched out to support you will go back to its own land and reach it. Then the Babylonians will return and attack the city. They will capture it and burn it down. Not to simply capture the city. He says, that place is going to be wiped out. It will be burnt literally with fire. So look at the strong judgment that he is speaking. And the people are very, very upset about this. And this is what they say in, yeah. He says in verse nine, he says, even if you were to defeat the entire Babylonian army that is attacking you and only wounded men were left in their tents, they would come out and burn the city down. So he's saying judgment is that sure. That's definite. He says you will not be able to escape from the judgment which is coming. So the Babylonian troops temporarily leave. And after they leave, Jeremiah wants to go to another place for some work which he has regarding some property matters. And so in verse 11 and 12, he goes towards the Benjamin gate. You know, the city had many, many gates. Each gate had a name. So he goes towards one of the gates. And as he's trying to go outside, the captain of the guard arrests him and says, oh, you're also now going over to the Babylonian side. And he says, no, I'm not going to the Babylonian army at all. In fact, you know, I'm not going over there to meet them and surrender. He says, I'm just going about my own work. But then the captain of the guard refuses to accept that. And he is arrested and put in a prison which they have made specially. I mean, it was not actually a prison. It was supposed to be somebody's house. But now they have turned it into a prison. He stayed over there in that dungeon in the basement for a long time where he was locked up. And now, just like he said, the troops come back. The Babylonians come back. And the food supply in the city is running short because they're controlling what, you know, how much supply comes inside. And so Jeremiah is not being given food. He's in a very desperate state. He's almost in a state of dying. He's come to that state. And at that point of time, you have Zedekiah coming back to him. That would be in verse 17. And he says, is there any word from the Lord? Because Zedekiah is still hoping that God will change his mind. And so he says, is there any word from the Lord? And then Jeremiah says, yes, you will be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon. And then he literally opens his mouth and he begs for his life. That would be in verse 20. He says, let me bring my petition before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan, the secretary, you know, where he has been imprisoned. He says, or I will die there because he's not even getting any food over there. It's in a very bad condition. He literally pleads for his life from this king. And then the king says, OK, fine, we'll put you in the courtyard of the guard in another place. We will lock you up over there. At least over there you'll get some food supply. So he's shifted over there to another place and he's basically given one loaf of bread per day. So his condition is very bad and he continues to prophesy for the Lord. He does not give up his loyalty. Jeremiah 38 is the prophecy which he gives. Jeremiah 38, he says, this is what the Lord says, whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives. OK, so he says they would be given food by the army. They would be spared. So now he's actively saying, go and surrender. And then this is what the officials say to the king. They say, you spared his life. You put him over there in the courtyard of the guard and now look what prophecies are coming out of his mouth. He's literally asking the people to go and surrender to the army. And this is what they say in verse 438-4. They say, this man should be put to death. He's discouraging the soldiers who are left in the city. So you see, if all the soldiers believe what Jeremiah is saying and they obediently go and surrender, Zedekiah will not have an army left. So they say, what you're doing is dangerous by allowing this man to go on prophesying because he's prophesying against us and he's discouraging the people from fighting for the city. He's telling, go and surrender. And so they say, you should kill him. They say this man is not seeking the good of these people, but they're ruined. And then Zedekiah changes his mind again and he says, he is in your hands. Do whatever you want with him is basically what he says. So now they take Jeremiah and they put him in a well which is there in the courtyard of the guard. They put him into a deep well, there is no water in it but it is filled with mud and slush at the bottom. So it says that he literally sinks into the mud. So maybe up to waist level, he literally sinks into the mud. So that's basically where he has to sit. That's basically where he has to sleep. That's his life. I mean, imagine what this man went through for the ministry that was given to him. We complain about the problems we have in ministry. It's nothing compared to what this man went through. So he literally sits over there in that pit and I think they lower down a little bit of water and maybe a little bit of food for him once in a while. So he's surviving over there and then it says in verse 7 that Ebed Melek, a Kushite official who belongs to the king when he hears about what has happened, he takes pity and he goes to the king and he says, this is what he says in verse 9, he says, Lord what they are doing, he says to the king, my Lord the king, what they are doing is not correct. So he says they have thrown him into a cistern. Cistern basically means pit. They've thrown him into a cistern where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city. So then again the king changes his mind and now the king says, okay, fine, take 30 men from here and go and lift him up out of there. So at least he can look after himself in case the enemy comes and finishes off. So they remove him from the pit once again and he once again starts living in the courtyard of the guard. So now again king Zedekiah comes to him and he says, tell me, is there any word from the Lord? Even now Zedekiah is refusing to believe the word of God which has been very, very plainly told. He's going on asking again and again for a word from the Lord and what does Jeremiah doing every day? He is giving the word of the Lord very plainly, very openly. But Zedekiah wants to hear a different word from the Lord. So again he comes and he asks and now over here Jeremiah says if I give you an answer, will you not kill me? So then Zedekiah says, no, no, no, I'll not kill you. Tell me plainly what is God saying and these are the very plain words which Jeremiah speaks in verse 17 he says if you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon your life will be spared and the city will not be burned down. You and your family will live but if you refuse, he says in verse 18 they will burn it down. You yourself will not escape from them and then Zedekiah says how on earth can I go and surrender to the Babylonian army because you see when a lot of people were surrendering they listened to your words, they listened to the prophecy and surrendered to the Babylonian army and that was going on. I criticized them, I condemned them. Now if I myself go and join them what will their reaction be? They'll be like, that day you spoke so much against us and you criticized and condemned us. Now here you are joining us and you know, surrendering, how can I do that? So which is what he says, he says I'm afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me. And then Jeremiah gives an assurance in verse 20 he says they will not hand you over. Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you then it will go well with you and your life will be spared. Even now in this final hours of judgment this man Zedekiah is being given opportunity after opportunity to obey God and change his ways. But Zedekiah chooses not to do that. And so finally we come to chapter 52 where the final events happen. Zedekiah tries to make an alliance with Egypt and when Nebuchadnezzar gets to know about it he's like really angry, he says I've given them two chances already and these people are simply not listening to what is being told to them and so he comes for the final attack. It comes with this entire army they completely surround the city and now no more going in and going out completely sealed off. The entire city is sealed off which means no food supply is going to come inside anymore. They do have water sources inside so they'll continue to have water but no food is going to come anymore into the city and so for four months and nine days after four months and nine days there's almost nothing left no food left. And we see the horrible thing mentioned in lamentations that people actually ate their children women killed their children and ate them. I don't know how anyone could possibly do that maybe they would just get demon possessed or something. Anyone in their same mind I don't think can do such a thing so maybe it's the maybe they were so controlled by demonic forces that they could no longer think straight is all I'm you know maybe so all these horrible things are going on in the city and Zedekaya thinks okay we can't just sit over here any longer we need to get out of this place. So one night they make a plan they break down one particular portion of the wall and the entire army just rushes out you know through that gap because maybe the Babylonian soldiers are less on that particular side of the city I mean I don't know so they quickly go out their idea is to go into the desert and then you know go and seek shelter somewhere but it says in chapter 52 that they are captured. It says in verse 9 all his soldiers were separated from him and scattered and he was captured and then in verse 10 it says that in front of him his sons are killed and the officials are all killed and then he himself is blinded they poke his eyes out and he's now blind and is dragged away to Babylon and what did the Lord say the Lord said if you listen to me your life will be spared the city will not be burnt even then he could have changed his ways but he chooses not to and he pays the price for it a very horrible thing you know watching your own sons killed in front of your eyes that is what he is subjected to so these are some of the terrible things that we see in the book of Jeremiah so Jeremiah does not speak hope he does not speak restoration he speaks what God has finally decided and he says submit to the Lord's judgment and then your life will be spared so those who actually listened to Jeremiah those who went and surrendered themselves they lived they were taken off to Babylon they built houses over there they lived you see even these people's lives could have been spared they were chosen to submit to the Lord but they choose not to do that so very quickly moving on to lamentations lamentations is the book where Jeremiah weeps over the city weeps over what has happened weeps over the destruction and suffering which has come upon the city now if it was me in Jeremiah's place I would probably say see nobody believed me I went on prophesying nobody believed me they only criticized me now finally it happened it's very good that he said but that was not his attitude the man sits down and weeps and cries because his heart is really for that city his heart was really for those people look at that attitude there's no desire for vengeance there's no desire there's no grudge there's no hatred he cries for the people who literally used to spit on him and criticize him and he weeps for the city and that is what lamentations is all about he writes out five poems five laments to mourn the city in their culture when someone would pass away they would compose a poem to weep over that person so in the same way people weep over a person a family member now Jeremiah writes a lament not to a dead person but to a dead city so he literally composes a series of poems to lament the city to mourn over the city and express his pain and grief about what has happened so in that sense he's honoring the city which has fallen the same way you would know honor a dead family member by composing a poem to them like they would do in those days he instead of doing it for a family member he is doing it for the for the city of Jerusalem and so you have this five lament poems which are contained in lamentations and it's quite painful if you really sit and read through it you can literally hear the pain in the words the grief that he is feeling because he would have been thinking in his mind if only these people had listened and repented then all of this would not have happened but the people stubbornly choose not to repent they make a choice not to submit to the Lord so you know it's basically their fault but still he grieves over them and there's some of the commentaries point out the connection between what Jeremiah did and later on what Jesus did because both of them weep over Jerusalem Jeremiah is weeping over Jerusalem after the destruction happens he looks at the ruined city and he weeps over it Jesus weeps for the city before the ruin happens because if you go to Luke chapter 19 verses 41 to 44 it says over there that as he approached Jerusalem and saw the city he wept over it and this is what he says in verse 45 he says the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side and then he goes on to say they will not leave one stone on another because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you that has been the problem with the people all along 60 you know many years earlier the same thing happened about 600 years before Jeremiah again and again crying out God was coming to them and saying I am willing to you know accept your repentance but they you know they failed to recognize the God's coming to them and the same thing is happening again over here in Jesus time where the people are refusing to repent and turn to Jesus and accept him as Messiah and so he says you know you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you and so the city will be destroyed so you have both Jeremiah and Jesus lamenting over the city and that should give us an idea of the heart with which Jeremiah wrote this book of lamentations the same kind of grief which Jesus felt for the city Jeremiah also felt for the city when he wrote the book of lamentations so it's not just a lightweight bunch of songs written just for the formality of writing but something that he felt from the bottom of his heart and so he was inspired to write these things because in a way God himself was sweeping over the city through Jeremiah because you see these are all poems which have been inspired by the Holy Spirit so God never actually wanted to bring about the destruction but it's something that he had to do because the people just refused to accept the forgiveness she was offering they refused the redemption she was offering, it's their fault but God weeps over the city through Jeremiah and so these poems are written out under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who is sweeping over the city and in chapters 1 2 and 4 in the book of lamentations you have 22 verses each and you know the Hebrew alphabet has got 22 alphabets so each verse begins with one alphabet so they are acrostic they are acrostic laments that would be chapter 1, 2 and 4 chapter 3 is also acrostic but that has got 66 verses which means every 3 verses one new alphabet will begin so all 1, 2 3 and 4 are all acrostic but chapter 5 is written in a different format so the main key message of lamentations is seen in chapter 3 verses 22 to 33 it's a little bit of a lengthy passage but that contains in the middle of all the lamenting and the grieving and the expressing of pain which he is doing right there in the middle of all of that you have this passage where Jeremiah says because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed for his compassion never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness very, very popular verse which we all use in our devotions, in our sermons and all of that but look at the context in which these words were written it says over here even though the Lord was angry even though he judged even though the sin of Jerusalem was very, very great in spite of all of that his compassion never fail they are new every morning great is your faithfulness and so he says in the next few verses he says, you know it is good for us to wait on the Lord it is good for us to submit to what has happened and say okay Lord your will was done and we accept it which is why he says in verse 27 it is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young let him sit alone in silence for the Lord has laid it on him let him bury his face in the dust they may yet be hope so rather than, you know, rebelling against God and saying Lord how could you do this what kind of a God are you and speaking a lot of foolishness rather than doing that he says the sensible thing would be now to put your face in the dust but what has happened and admit that it was your fault which, you know, led to this, you know, this disaster and so he says in the next verse in verse 30 let him offer his cheek to the one who would strike him and let him be filled with disgrace, why because no one is cast off by the Lord forever though he brings grief he will show compassion so great is unfailing love for he does not willingly bring affliction or grief on anyone he is not a God who wants to bring grief or affliction upon anyone he only does that when we refuse to repent from our side so he says humble yourselves he says, you know, submit to what the Lord has done and in his time the Lord will, you know restore us now over here in the book of Jeremiah in chapter 3 itself verses 52 to 58 Jeremiah talks a little bit about what he went through when he was in that pit when he was thrown down over there, you know and he was literally sitting in that mud day and night he talks about that and he says in verses in chapter 3 52 to 58 he says they tried to end my life in a pit and through stones at me so while he was there at the bottom of the pit helpless they actually stoned him, they actually threw stones at him and then he says, you know I called on your name Lord from the depths of the pit and he says do not close your ears to my cry for relief is what he cried out and he says you came near when I called you and you said do not fear you Lord took up my case you redeemed my life a little bit about what he personally went through in the pit when they had thrown him over there so let's just look I mean maybe I can just give you the structure of the book of lamentations in chapter 1 it mainly talks about the destruction of Jerusalem in chapter 2 the main emphasis is on the anger of the Lord in the third chapter is where you have the cry for mercy there's a prayer for mercy and in chapter 4 you have a description of how Jerusalem was sieged how it was attacked all of those details are given in chapter 4 and then finally chapter 5 talks about in chapter 5 it's a prayer asking God to restore them forgive them so this is the basic structure which we find basically what we see between Jeremiah and lamentations and the kind of wording that is used both in Jeremiah and lamentations you have the term daughter of Zion being used so again and again Jerusalem is described as if she is a person and she is described as the daughter of Zion both in lamentations and in Jeremiah and also in Jeremiah and in lamentations in both the books the author talks about how his tears were flowing like streams of water so you have that similarity also in both the books the sin of Jerusalem is referred to as if it is spiritual adultery and so in both of these books it talks about this daughter of Zion who has chosen to go into adultery and it talks about how the filthiness the sin is clinging to her skirts so you have the description in lamentations chapter 1 verse 9 again in Jeremiah 1322 also it talks about how the filthiness of her sin is clinging to her skirts in the sense it's talking about the spiritual adultery that she has indulged in by going after all those idols and not submitting to the Lord so these are some of the similarities we find between the two books now coming to some things that we can some details that we can look at in the book of lamentations some particular passages that I thought we could just quickly reflect upon so if you look in chapter 1 if you look in chapter 1 that is where you have Jerusalem being described as a person I am not able to find my lamentations where is my lamentations I know it has to be after Jeremiah where else could it be ok ok so she is described as a person and you know she if you look in verse 1 it talks about how the deep loneliness the entire chapter 1 emphasizes the great isolation everyone has abandoned her Egypt also has abandoned earlier Egypt was talking about how they want to make an alliance and partnership but now even Egypt has abandoned and so it talks about the deep isolation that she is experiencing it says how lonely sits the city that once was full of people how like a widow she has become she that was great among the nations so now nothing left and so in verse 2 it talks about how everyone has abandoned her and her friends have dealt treacherously with her and so it begins with a description of what has happened to her and then it talks about what she is feeling as a nation that would be maybe in verses 8 9 you know the descriptions are very very pathetic it's like very sad to see the descriptions that I have given over there in verse 8 it says Jerusalem sinned grievously so she has become a mockery all who honored her despise her for they have seen her nakedness she herself groans and turns her face away you know they are all mocking Jerusalem and saying the city used to say God's temple is over here so nothing will ever touch the city is what they were boasting and saying now look at them so people are mocking and it says here she herself groans and turns her face away because she has no answer to give them so when they are mocking her you know she is shamed and she just turns her face away so we see the humiliation that has come upon her and then it says in the next verse her uncleanness was in her skirts she took no thought of her future her downfall was appalling if Jerusalem had thought about its future none of this would have happened you see they were so busy enjoying their current sins their current idol worship and immorality they didn't bother thinking about what the future holds and that is an important lesson for all of us you know especially people who are kind of very weak in their will power they just live for the moment you know if they just want to go ahead and disobey the Lord regarding something they just go ahead and do it they are so casual about it the thing is they don't think about their future because what you saw you will reap and they forget about that so here it says Jerusalem came to the state because she took no thought of her future on the other hand if she had considered her future then you know these things could have been avoided so that's just one description and then when we come to chapter 2 which talks mainly about the anger of the Lord you know very strong wordings are used over there the verse that I was looking for you know in verse 3 and 4 you know it says he has cut down in fierce anger all the might of Israel he has withdrawn his right hand from them in the face of the enemy he has burned like a flaming fire in Jacob consuming all around and in the next verse it says he has bent his bow like an enemy with his right hand set you know if you look throughout the Old Testament the right arm of the Lord you know that's the metaphor which they used in those days your right arm is supposed to be your arm of strength so it always talks about how the right hand of God is with Israel and here that same right hand in 2 verses you know verse 3 and 4 how this right hand has now turned against them the right hand which defended them the right hand which was always there to protect them and give them victory that right hand has now become the hand of an enemy God himself has turned against them and so we see over here that God used his right hand symbolically of course to bend his bow and throw the arrows at Jerusalem okay so chapter 2 mainly talks about the anger of the Lord and of course in chapter 3 there is a Jeremiah cries out for mercy and he makes that grand declaration that you know great is his faithfulness so every morning his mercies are new even though he has you know been angry so we have those words of promise in chapter 3 and then of course in chapter 4 you have a description of some of the things which happened to Jerusalem and that is basically where it talks about you know the women eating their children that would be in chapter 4 verse 10 the hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children they became their food in the destruction of my people so there is a description of all the things which happened to Jerusalem in chapter 4 and finally in chapter 5 there is a cry to the Lord a prayer saying Lord you know you restore us when time comes you know in your time restore us so over here in verse 20 it says why have you forgotten us completely why have you forsaken us these many days restore us to yourself oh Lord that we may be restored renew our days as of old okay so this basically is a brief summary of the book of Lamentations okay so these are the main things that I just wanted us to look at from this book now anyone has got any doubts any questions any comments otherwise we'll just close with a word of prayer no I think the class is too distressed by what happened they're still recovering from the trauma of the experience you know we talk about how the COVID crisis was a great traumatic experience and you have a lot of articles talking about the you know the emotional scars which people are bearing in those days they had much much more severe trauma much more severe emotional turmoil where your where an entire army would come against you and you know literally seal you inside the city you can't even get food so I think the trauma that they went through in those days was much greater much higher so yeah if we can close with a word of prayer Lord we just thank you so much for the hard lessons which are there in Jeremiah and Lamentations in these two books so Lord we see the anger and holiness of God because so Lord we go on focusing on verses which talk about mercy and compassion we tend to forget that you are an extremely holy God you cannot just be taken lightly we cannot just continue playing with your holiness and disregard it forever and ever a time will come when Lord we would have to give account for our acts so Lord we pray that we would live in awareness of who you are let us not be like Jerusalem a Lord which refuse to regard its future did not thought what would happen to its future it took your holiness lightly and I pray that we would not make that mistake Lord rather help us to be like persons who are advised in Lamentations to bow down their head in dust and wait upon you and choose to accept direction so that one day they can be restored I pray O Lord that our attitude would be one of repentance and submission rather than rebellion O Lord Thank you Lord in Jesus name Amen Thank you so much for all of you concentrating and yeah thanks for those of you who are online