Often we hear or read the phrase "the destruction of Jerusalem" and don't really grasp what that was like. Jeremiah describes it vividly in Lamentations, the book of mourning over the destruction of Jerusalem.
It was an awful sight, reflecting God's anger at sin.
Here are a few examples from the first two chapters:
The city is empty and lonely (1:1).
Her friends have become her enemies (v 2).
No resting place. Overtaken by enemies (v 3).
The roads to Zion mourn. Her priests groan (v 4).
Her children are captives (v 5).
The majesty is gone. The princes wander about (v 6).
The temple and its treasuries have been desecrated (v 10).
The people search for food (v 11).
The mighty men were rejected by the Lord (v 15).
No comfort can be found (v 16-17).
The young men and women are captives (v 18).
Priests and elders perished in the city from hunger (v 19).
The strongholds have been destroyed (2:2).
The temple is in ruins (v 6-8).
The gates are destroyed (v 9).
Elders and young women are in mourning (v 10).
Infants and babies faint in the streets (v 11).
Hunger overtakes the children (v 12).
Enemies pass by and mock (v 15-16).
Young and old, men and women lie dead in the streets (v 21).
All because they refused to turn from their sin. they refused to listen to God's Word, so God punished them. His wrath was poured out in judgment.
Reading this makes me thankful that I am not under God's wrath. I am certainly not any better than the people of Jerusalem.
But the blood of Christ has removed the wrath of God (John 3:16-18).
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