MANIFESTED. The Holy Land, Jerusalem, the temple, the holy of holies, the ark, — these are the sacred places, of increasing sanctity as the circle narrows, till the very footstool where God touches earth is reached. 1. The presence of God in our midst is no guarantee against the natural consequences of our misdeeds. On the contrary, if he is with us to protect in times of simple distress, he is with us as Judge to condemn when we fall and contract guilt. 2. The presence of God at one time is no guarantee of its permanenee. The footstool may be God's no longer if it prove unworthy of him. The Church which was once the temple of the Holy Spirit may become deserted by its heavenly Guest. That we enjoy the communion of God now is no reason for being con- fident that we shall not lose that privilege through unbelief or other sin. 3. We cannot assume that Ood will never reject us because he has once made use of ut. The footstool may be supposed to have been used by God as of some service to him. Nevertheless it was discarded. If the servant of God proved unfaithful, his Master's livery will not save him. He will be discharged and disgraced.
IL God no longer rembmbbbs his meroy-seat. The footstool of God's peculiarly manifested presence was also his mercy-seat. There the assurance of atonement was confirmed when the high priest entered with sacrificial blood and intercession. Yet even the mercy-seat can be forgotten in the day of God's anger. We trust that in wrath he will remember mercy. But there are clouds of anger too black for us to see the mercy that shines behind them. 1. The mercy which is in the heart of Ood is not to he regarded as nullifying his virath. It is so represented by some who take one- sided views of the Divine character. But the All-merciful can be a consuming fire. 2. If 0«d has once been mei-ciful to u$ we may not conclude that he can never be angry with iM. On the contrary, if we sin against light and love we provoke the greater wrath. The very fact that the footstool was priv ileged to be a mercy-seat will aggra- vate the wrath which must be poured upon it when it is disgraced.
III. God no lonoeb behembbrs the place of pbateb. At the footstool of Ckx]
20 THJS LAMBNTAllONS OF JEREMIAfl. laa. u. i—ii.
the suppliant kneels pleading for deliverance. But his prayer is unheard. God may refuse to hearken to prayer. Where he is wont to stoop and listen to cry and sigh of burdened souls he may be regardless. 1. Impenitence will lead to God's disregarding our prayer. 2. When wrath is necessary, the mere cry for escape must be unheard. 3. When chastisement is for our good, mercy itself will refuse to listen to the prayer for deliverance. The surgeon must disregard the cries of bis patient. He must harden him- self to save the sufferer.
Vers. 4, 5. — The Lord as an enemy. I. The Lobd mat beoohb to 0b as an
ENEMY. We must not suppose the relations of God to those who forsake him to be purely negative. He cannot simply leave them to their own devices. He is a King who must neeils maintain order and resirain and punish rebellion, a Judge who cannot permit law to be trampled underfoot with impunity, a Father who cannot abandon his children, but must chastise them in their wrong-doing just because he is so closely related to them. Let it be well undeistood, then, that, in opposing ourselves to God, we run counter to a power, a will, an active authority. Wo provoke the anger of God. We do not simply strike ourselves against the stone, we cause the stone to fall upon us and grind us to powder.
II. KoTHING CAN BE MOBE TEBBIBLE THAN FOB THE LOBD TO BECOME TO U0 AS AN
ENEMY. The veiy thought of God as an enemy should strike terror into one who finds it is a feet. 1. God is almighty. It is at once apparent that the war must end in defeat for the rebfl. 2. God is just. Then he must be in the right with the great controversy. We must be fighting on the wrong side when we are fighting against God. 3. God is gracious. How fearful must be the wrong-doing that provokes so kind a God to enmity ! 4. God is our Father. Our Father become as our enemy I The unnatural situation proclaims its own horror. The nearness of God and his love to us make the fire of his wrath the more fierce. The wrath of the " Lamb " is more awful than the raging of him who goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.
HI. God does not become to us as an enemy until we have proved oubsblvbb TO BE enemies TO BIM. He has no wish to quarrel with us. He is changeless in his constancy of righteousness and love. It is we who break the peace. The declara- tion of war between heaven and earth is always issued by the lower world. It is not necessary, however, that our enmity should be overt in order that God may be seen as an enemy. Secret alienation of heart, quiet neglect of God's will, self-willed indiffer- ence to (jod, will constitute enmity. The fact that the enmity begins on our side will take away all excuse suggested by our feebleness in comparison with the greatness of God.
IV. Though God mat become to us as an enemy, he will not ebally be an enemy. He may act like an enemy, but he will not act in enmity. He will never hate the creature that he has made. His apparent enmity is very fearful because it results in actions of anger and punishment. Still behind all is the pitying heart of Divine love. God pities most when he strikes hardest.
V. Theouqh the atonement of Chbist God ceases to be to us as an enemy. Christ is our Propitiation. By the sacrifice of himself he makes peace. And he does not simply influence our hearts in reconciling us to God. There is a Godward aspect of the atonement. This is not to induce God to love us, since the love of God precedes and originates the very mission of Christ. But in the mysterious counsels of Divine wisdom the atonement of Christ is rendered necessary for the cessation of God's inimical action (1 John ii. 1, 2).
Vers. 6, 7. — The rejected altar. In the first elegy we read how the feasts are neglected by the people (ch. i. 4). Now we see that God himself has broken them up and cast off his altar. Thus we advance a stage in understanding the deplorable con- dition of Jerusalem. At first the human side only is seen and the visible facts are lamented over. Then the Divine side is discerned and the terrible cause of the cessation of the solemn festivals revealed. It is not simply that the people cease to present them- selves before the altar. God has abandoned and rejected all the temple services.
I. How God bbjbots the altab. We must bear iu mind that the altar bdongs t«
OH. u. 1—22.] THE LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH. 2]
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