But LORD, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. Why do you continue to forget us? Why have you abandoned us for so long? Restore us, O LORD, and bring us back to you again! Give us back the joys we once had! Or have you utterly rejected us? Are you angry with us still? [Lamentations 5.19-22]
As I considered these words in Lamentations today, I wondered if, in Christ, we could not be abandoned or forgotten by God.
But then, verse 19 stood out:
But LORD, you remain the same forever! Your throne continues from generation to generation. [Lamentations 5.19]
God remains the same forever. And, for the record, this is not the only place in the Bible that makes such a statement! I think we need to explore this further.
Why we have secularized the world in which we live, while remaining religious about God as if "in Christ" the world and all its natural phenomena no longer speak for God, is beyond me.
The irony of our adultery with idols today is that one of the "big four" idols, insurance, clearly implicates "acts of God" for what man calls "natural disasters" and such. Imagine that! An idol serves up its promise as an idol (meeting a need God said He would provide) all the while telling us the real cause (to be dealt with) is God. The word "gullible" comes to mind when I consider our role in this. Or, maybe the word "stupid" would better fit...
In light of all this, we must remain aware that Jesus Himself said all the Bible is about Him too.
You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me! [John 5.39]
So, we cannot make a distinction between Old and New Testaments as if somehow God's character changed from Old to New. God remains the same forever! Idol worship is just as prevalent, or worse, than it has ever been. Faith in God's redemption was no less necessary in the Old Testament as it is today. Old Testament folks simply looked forward to Messiah while we today look back to Messiah.
"Messiah" means the same in both Old and New Testament times. And, you know what? "Idol" means the same in both Old and New Testaments! Further still, God's anger as well as His mercy have not changed. Curses still indicate God's call to repentance and blessings still indicate God's pleasure. Undivided faith in God alone (this includes Jesus - both before and after His Advent) remains man's duty. We need to stop separating the Old Testament and the New Testament!
Man's call from God is all about averting the lure of idols and pursuing faith in Jesus. This includes living as Jesus lived in every way (on the ground and on the cross). God's love and mercy are the same. Faith is the same. And, idols are the same. God's abandonment of unfaithful people remains the same too. God's anger still manifests in curses (Deuteronomy 28.15-68) upon faithlessness (disobedience). Repentance and faith in Redemption (obedience in Christ) remains the only solution.
How have we gotten it so wrong?
The New Covenant simply (and miraculously) took the Old Covenant of blood (insufficient animal sacrifices) in anticipation of Messiah, and exchanged it with a New Covenant utilizing the all-sufficient blood of the promised Messiah come in the flesh. In short, man was relieved of the duty to offer repeated insufficient sacrifices of animal blood because God provided "The All-Sufficient Sacrifice" of the blood of Jesus. Either way, FAITH always was, and always will be, required to enjoy the benefit! Everything else, including God, remains the same.
The all-sufficient Lamb of God was given so man's faith could be singular - undivided... Jesus said it like this:
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. [John 14.6]
The alternatives to Jesus have always been idols. The stories of Jesus' encounters with the religious elite of His day reveals that they had even made idols of their rituals. They trusted in their idols of religious ceremony and practices instead of Messiah. What a miss!
God, in His Son, remains the same forever. We must not miss this! Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. But that redemption is of no effect outside of the obedience of repentance and faith! To be "not redeemed" is to be under all the effect of curses (sickness, diseases, loss, suffering, and ultimate eternal separation from God) because God's justice remains in effect! Idols offer "relief" from curses, and like mentioned above, insurance even confirms at least some curses are from God, but these idols all come at a material price and a far worse spiritual price.
Curses, like God who gave them, remain the same. Curses, like God who gave them, do not lie. Curses call people to repentance and faith. Debt, insurance, medicine and technology all say the same thing: "trust in me" for relief from the curses of poverty, tragedy, sickness and hardships but require no repentance and faith.
Why do so many people feel abandoned and forgotten by God today? BECAUSE THEY ARE! This condition calls all people to repentance and faith - there - where God will be found - Jesus is the Way.
As the opening passage states that God remains the same forever, we can be sure that God is nothing if He is not consistent! It's time we stop with our inconsistencies and including our inconsistent view of God! When we do, our only conclusion will be that we need to repent and trust Him alone. Until then, we have debt, insurance, medicine and technology to help soothe our way to an unrepentant unbeliever's hell.
The questions posed in the opening passage above all tell us the same thing: we need to repent and return to faith in God alone.
Father, You remain the same forever. May we see that we have changed. May we see that we have allowed our 'advancements' (idols) to convince us not to repent and instead to trudge forward in more 'advancements' for relief from poverty, tragedy, sickness and hardships. Please help us to see our idolatry, and when we do, may we find grace as we repent and trust in You alone.
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