I have been reading the Old Testament book of Lamentations recently.  It  was research for a new routine that led me there kind of unexpectedly, actually.  I'll speak more to that in another blog soon.  While I've read this book a few times before, I found it absolutely fascinating this time around.  The imagery is haunting yet at times surprisingly beautiful.

I am no theologian, and if you're wanting an in depth study of this poetic book, I suggest you read Wycliffe or Calvin or Ryrie.  But if you're interested in the musings of a juggling layman, or if you have nothing better to do, feel free to keep reading.  The prophet Jeremiah wrote Lamentations around 850 BC grieving - or lamenting - the destruction of Jerusalem and consequently the Holy Temple by the Babylonians.  Clearly, Jeremiah identifies this invasion as the judgment of God upon His chosen people.  For example, chapter 1 verse five states:

 Her foes have become her masters;
    her enemies are at ease.
The Lord has brought her grief^P)">
    because of her many sins.^Q)">
Her children have gone into exile,^R)">
    captive before the foe.

As one reads this, it begs the question, "Does God bring judgment on individual nations still today?"  While God is "the same yesterday, today and forever," the fact is there is a reason why the Bible is written as two testaments or covenants.  At the time of Jeremiah, the 'elect' and the nation of Israel were one and the same.  To convert religiously was to become a citizen of Israel as well.  Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, when God judged a nation in the Old Testament, it was always , or almost always, Israel.  God's judgment was for His own people... those who presumably should have known better.

Today, the 'elect' are not limited to one nation.  Paul, a Jewish Pharisee himself, makes it abundantly clear repeatedly in his epistles that the church universal is the new chosen 'race'.  Consequently, it would be harder, if not impossible, to bring judgment on nations under the new covenant the way He did in the old.  There are no 'pagan' nations and holy kingdoms any more, no matter what FOX news seems to think.  Like salt or leaven, the church is mixing thoroughly into the whole dough.

However, carrying this thinking further, it seems to me that God may, in this day and age, bring judgment on the church, regardless of national boundaries.  This thought brings to mind the collapse of so many shameless celebrity Christian televangelists of the 1980's.  One could certainly make the case that the reformation is another example of God's judgment on His children , the church so many centuries ago.

Soon I will blog about some of the imagery of Lamentations and how i see it relavent today.  Then I will discuss the routine that brought me to this little read book.