C.
God is the One whose mercies are renewed every morning, whose faithfulness is great, (3:19-39).
D.
We see the value of patience, prayer, and confession of sin.
E.
God does not hold grudges and is willing to start over anytime we are willing to acknowledge our errors and resubmit ourselves to him.
F.
Warnings of God’s judgment against sin are prominent throughout the book, but with that, there are also the messages of hope and restoration if the nation would genuinely repent.
IV.
The total desecration of Jerusalem and her people.
A.
Although the Book of Lamentations is anonymous according to the thinking of some scholars, there has never been any real doubt that Jeremiah was its author.
1.
It was written by an eyewitness of the destruction of Jerusalem, lamenting that fact, hence its name, Lamentations.
2.
It is a funeral song, written in the rhythm and style of ancient Jewish dirges.
B.
To the Jews of the Old Testament, Jerusalem's fall was the loss of everything.
1.
It was the loss of their temple.
2.
It was the loss of their priesthood.
3.
It was the loss of their sacrificial system.
4.
It was the loss of their capital city.
5.
It was the loss of their nation.
6.
It was the loss of large numbers of their loved ones.
7.
It was the loss of their self-determination because it meant that the survivors of the destruction were forced to march about 2,000 miles to Babylon.
8.
It was the loss of their right to live in the land God gave them because their sin took to live in exile.
9.
It was the loss of their freedom because they were taken into servitude as slaves to a strange land with strange gods.