Sermon(Lam 2:11-22): Wise people and wise believers

The original Korean text: https://blog.naver.com/stevision/50025255848

 

 

>> 11 My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babes faint in the streets of the city. 12 They cry to their mothers, “Where is bread and wine?” as they faint like wounded men in the streets of the city, as their life is poured out on their mothers’ bosom. ... 14 Your prophets have seen for you false and deceptive visions; they have not exposed your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but have seen for you oracles false and misleading. .... 17 The Lord has done what he purposed, has carried out his threat; as he ordained long ago, he has demolished without pity; he has made the enemy rejoice over you, and exalted the might of your foes. .... 20 Look, O Lord, and see! With whom hast thou dealt thus? Should women eat their offspring, the children of their tender care? Should priest and prophet be slain in the sanctuary of the Lord? .... (Lam 2:11-22) <<

 

In the 9th Chapter of Judges, Abimelech, a son of Gideon, whom Gideon's concubine bore to him, went to Shechem and suggested to his mother's kinsmen, the inhabitants of Shechem, that they should make him (Abimelech) their king and be governed by him. The Shechemites preferred to be ruled by a son of their kinswoman rather than by one of the other sons of Gideon, a very renowned judge; so they gathered some money for Abimelech. Abimelech spent that money in organizing a gang and killed all his half brothers, 70 sons of his father, except Jotham, and became the leader (the king) of the country. The Shechemites returned Gideon's kindness to them with ingratitude. Gideon had defeated the enemy of Israel, that is, the Midianites, delivered Israel and given Israelites peace. God made antagonism break out between Abimelech and the Shechemites, so that Abimelech came to Shechem with his army and massacred the inhabitants, making the town a river of blood. However God also punished Abimelech. When he was attacking another castle, a woman from above threw an upper millstone upon Abimelech's head. He, an evil man, was severely hurt and, of course, died on the day. God keeps continual, special concern on him who has murdered his parents, or his sons or daughters, or his brother or sisters, and punishes him. What is God's lesson to us from this incident? Do not support the wicked to kill innocent people or to make them weep, for your own profit. The innocent children in Shechem were killed by swords or burned to death because of their parents' sins, without knowing why they should die. Can the inhabitants of Shechem protest to God, saying, "Oh, no! Perhaps we may deserve death. But why should God kill our innocent children"? I'll answer you on behalf of God. "Because you helped the wicked man kill innocent children of other people."

 

Many people died in a gas explosion during the construction of the subway in Daegu before, and hundreds of people died when a crazy man set fire to a subway train after its construction was completed. I'd rather say as a servant of God that it was God's judgment! It was the greatest casualties after the Korean War, and such two major accidents in a city is by no means incidental. Why should so many people of Daegu die? Why should they die, for some of them are innocent children or innocent Christians? Because the people of Yeongnam area, especially the citizens of Daegu, supported Abimelech-like politicians to cause many righteous people to die. Evil politicians (some rotten soldiers) hated the citizens of Gwangju, and boldly killed a lot of people of Gwangju, believing in the political supporters in Yeongnam area. Some of the victims were young people and devout Christians who were without sin. The price of their blood could never be paid by the worthless dirty blood of the wicked politicians, therefore, God had to pay it with the precious clean blood of the citizens of Daegu. God makes the tears of the righteous be repaid by the tears of the righteous, and the blood of the righteous by the blood of the righteous. Of course, he punishes the wicked as well on the day of retribution. If they could escape punishment here on earth, they'll surely be judged by God after death for what they have done on earth.

 

We must not become foolish and stand on the side of the wicked to make the righteous shed their tears or blood. On the day of judgment, God destroys not only the wicked or the supporters of them, but also their sons and daughters who are innocent. Why? Because some innocent people have been harmed thanks to their parents. Then, isn't it very regretable for the innocent ones to shed their blood because of the sins of their parents? You should look at the other side of the question. Their blood is recognized by God as shed to fulfill the justice of God for the redemption of the sins of others. Think of Jesus. He shed righteous blood, without any sins. Jesus' blood is the compensation for the blood of the righteous shed by the wicked deeds of all evil sinners. His blood was holy blood shed for the establishment of God's justice. God rewarded the righteous blood of Jesus. So is it with the innocent victims of Daegu subway accidents. The Christians who died in the accidents will be regarded as righteous casualties by God, and will be abundantly rewarded in heaven.

 

God says he will requite not only the sinners themselves but also their descendants, even to the 4th generation, for their deeds. However the children must not be punished for their parents' sins according to the law of God. Isn't there a contradiction between the two regulations here? Here God means that man can't punish a child for his parents' sins, that God will lay punishment on the sons of the wicked if a righteous suffering is needed, or will take their lives if righteous blood is needed, and that, instead, God will repay their righteous suffering and death later in heaven. Therefore the death of the righteous children can be certainly a punishment to their parents, but by no means to the children themselves. In general, however, God causes damage to the children of the wicked by not forgiving their (the children's) sins and by punishing their own sins. When Israel was ruined, the remnant who survived the invasion of Babylon complained to God, saying, "Why should we suffer thanks to our fathers?" But God said to them that they were suffering for their own sins, that they must not misunderstand the situation. Nevertheless there is certainly the suffering and death of righteous people in the world. We know that from Jesus' suffering and death. Such suffering and death is surely the redemption for the sins the former generations committed and the compensation for the suffering and death of the righteous people of the former generations. Maybe some of the parents of the victims of the Daegu subway accident hadn't supported wicked politicians, or maybe all their family had lived a good life. However, God couldn't help but set the collective responsibility for the collective sins to Daegu citizens.

 

Today's text was written after the prophet had witnessed Israel's miserable end. Soldiers and young men were killed by the sword, women were raped, and priests were killed in the temple of God. Of course, this was the incident when the castle fell. The misery before that day had been no less disastrous than that. Parents had nothing to do but look on while their children were starving to death on their bosoms. When they died, the parents ate them, for there was no food to eat. When the enemy broke into the castle, they didn't even show the least mercy to the children or the old people. The enemy were not lenient even to the priests. (They didn't differentiate the old from the young, the clergy from the laity.) They killed anyone they wanted to kill. When they got tired of murder, they left some survivers in Israel, and took the rest captive to their country. "He (God) has demolished without pity. (v. 17)"

 

My brethren, never make light of the God! Take his words as the sound of a thunder. My brethren, do not overlook the sins that the people of your nation have been committing for a long time. If there have been a lot of tears and death of righteous people in a country or in a region for a long time, thanks to the wrongdoing of wicked people; God sets a day for the destruction of the dirty wicked area. On that day one who is living there either must die for his sins or must die a righteous death as a compensation for the innocent blood shed from the previous inhabitants. Even children must die. So must the righteous. Of course, the wicked must die for their own sins.

 

The ruined people of Israel was a foolish people and foolish believers of Jehovah religion. They didn't expel evil politicians courageously, so they continued to shed the blood of the righteous in Israel. They rejected or killed the true prophets of the Lord, so they prevented the word of God from being proclaimed in the nation. Instead they didn't remove the false prophets, who overlooked their sins, but paid deep respect to them. The people of Israel believed the vain foolish visions and the false deceptive words of the false prophets (v. 14). God clearly had said that the false prophets should not remain alive, however the people of Israel, including the kings, followed false prophets who only pleased their ears. How many true prophets of God had warned against the sins of Israel? But the believers of the Jehovah religion in Israel kept ignoring God's warnings, and they continued worshipping idols, persecuting the righteous, and shedding innocent blood. Israelites relied more on God's temple than God himself. So they thought that neighbor countries around Israel will never be able to conquer the castle of Jerusalem where there was the temple of God. My brethren, neither the temple of God nor your status nor your position can protect you! Wise saints hear the voice of the true shepherd and follow him. Stupid believers believe the words of the hired false shepherd and follow him to go to ruin with him. Obviously God sent true prophets even when the hired prophets were playing the swindler. Rather than reproach wicked men having power, false prophets try to satisfy them for money and to prophesy as fortune tellers tell fortunes. In fact, such a prophecy can never be a prophecy in original sense. It looks like a prophecy, but only in terms of form. They must have given pleasant words to those who came to them, confessing their faith in God. True prophets scold in the name of God any one who has committed sins, whoever he is. True prophets prophesy to enhance human rights, seeing the people of God who live in sighs and tears due to lawlessness and injustice. Above all, the true prophets declare the stern judgment of God to those who do not want to turn around from evil. My brethren, your true servant of God is he who rebukes you when you sin and proclaims God's judgment to you when you refuse to repent your sins. If your spiritual shepherd leaves you alone when you have been committing obvious sins these days, he is not a good true shepherd at all. One of the two: either his spirit is so clouded and confused that he can't understand the state of the saints, or he knows it but ignores it for fear that he conflict with them. He is a false shepherd. He should never do that. To connive at the sins of the saints is not what a pastor can do. A prophet of God should rebuke the saints for their sins, make them repent to be forgiven by God and man and to enter the heaven.

 

"Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord! (v. 19)" "My eyes are spent with weeping; my soul is in tumult; my heart is poured out in grief. (v. 11)" The prophet who wrote the above text survived the hard tribulation. Priests were killed by sword in the temple, but God delivered from such hopeless situations true believers such as Jeremiah, Mordecai, Daniel and his friends. God allows all the true believers to keep their lives in such a tribulation. The genuine righteous believers escape the swords, the arrows, the fire, the plague, and the accidents. It is their characteristics, to feel sad when they see other's sins, and to feel sorry when they see other's misfortune. God is a strong fortress in the mountain to the truly righteous believers in the days of tribulation. Some die of hunger, or are eaten by others when dead, or die by sword or arrow. But God, turning away his eyes from them (the suffering wicked people) calmly, turns to his chosen people with infinite mercy in the time of tribulation. Because they are precious and their spirit is clean ㅡ already they have shed a lot of tears due to their sins and people's sins. God allows those who already have shed a lot of tears to avoid the terrible ordeal to come. Wise believers are not deceived by sweet words of false prophets, but repent of their sins with tears and pray to God in tears that the sins of the world may be removed. If you ignore the wicked people and their sins because they do not attack you today, God may ignore you when you're suffering with the wicked in the day of judgment. Of course you'll go to heaven then if you haven't committed sins as the wicked did; however, it would be somewhat a bitter affair. My brethren, do not be indifferent to the sins of the world. A true and wise Christian never overlooks the sins of the world, never neglects them, and never becomes a feeble onlooker. A wise Christian receives God's power, wages war with the wicked in the world and beats them, and is crowned with the crown of victory. With whom are we to fight now? With the filthy homosexual society, the family-destroying culture, for example divorce, the senseless culture of drug and sex, the distorted human rights thoughts defending the wicked, the syncretism of religion, and the greedy emperorlike priests.

 

May you become true believers and wise believers.

 

Chong Tack Kim

                                    - Dongtoma Sunshine Church -