^7b This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, ⁸ when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength —2 Thessalonians 1:7b-9

He is before all things,
and by him all things hold together. —Colossians 1:17

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. —Proverbs 9:10

א Aleph
How the Lord has overshadowed
Daughter Zion with his anger!
He has thrown down Israel’s glory
from heaven to earth.
He did not acknowledge his footstool
in the day of his anger. —Lamentations 2:1

ב Beth
Without compassion the Lord has swallowed up
all the dwellings of Jacob.
In his wrath he has demolished
the fortified cities of Daughter Judah.
He brought them to the ground
and defiled the kingdom and its leaders. —Lamentations 2:2

ג Gimel
He has cut off every horn of Israel
in his burning anger
and withdrawn his right hand
in the presence of the enemy.
He has blazed against Jacob like a flaming fire
that consumes everything. —Lamentations 2:3

ד Daleth
He has strung his bow like an enemy;
his right hand is positioned like an adversary.
He has killed everyone who was the delight to the eye,
pouring out his wrath like fire
on the tent of Daughter Zion. —Lamentations 2:4

ה He
The Lord is like an enemy;
he has swallowed up Israel.
He swallowed up all its palaces
and destroyed its fortified cities.
He has multiplied mourning and lamentation
within Daughter Judah. —Lamentations 2:5

ו Waw
He has wrecked his temple
as if it were merely a shack in a field,
destroying his place of meeting.
The Lord has abolished
appointed festivals and Sabbaths in Zion.
He has despised king and priest
in his fierce anger. —Lamentations 2:6

ז Zayin
The Lord has rejected his altar,
repudiated his sanctuary;
he has handed the walls of her palaces
over to the enemy.
They have raised a shout in the house of the Lord
as on the day of an appointed festival. —Lamentations 2:7

ח Cheth
The Lord determined to destroy
the wall of Daughter Zion.
He stretched out a measuring line
and did not restrain himself from destroying.
He made the ramparts and walls grieve;
together they waste away. —Lamentations 2:8

ט Teth
Zion’s gates have fallen to the ground;
he has destroyed and shattered the bars on her gates.
Her king and her leaders live among the nations,
instruction is no more,
and even her prophets receive
no vision from the Lord. —Lamentations 2:9

י Yod
¹⁰ The elders of Daughter Zion
sit on the ground in silence.
They have thrown dust on their heads
and put on sackcloth.
The young women of Jerusalem
have bowed their heads to the ground.

כ Kaph
¹¹ My eyes are worn out from weeping;
I am churning within.
My heart is poured out in grief
because of the destruction of my dear people,
because infants and nursing babies faint
in the streets of the city.

ל Lamed
¹² They cry out to their mothers,
“Where is the grain and wine?”
as they faint like the wounded
in the streets of the city,
as their life pours out
in the arms of their mothers.

מ Mem
¹³ What can I say on your behalf?
What can I compare you to, Daughter Jerusalem?
What can I liken you to,
so that I may console you, Virgin Daughter Zion?
For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
Who can heal you? —Lamentations 2:10-13

ע Ayin
¹⁷ The Lord has done what he planned;
he has accomplished his decree,
which he ordained in days of old.
He has demolished without compassion,
letting the enemy gloat over you
and exalting the horn of your adversaries. —Lamentations 2:17

צ Tsade
¹⁸ The hearts of the people cry out to the Lord.
Wall of Daughter Zion,
let your tears run down like a river
day and night.
Give yourself no relief
and your eyes no rest.

ק Qoph
¹⁹ Arise, cry out in the night
from the first watch of the night.
Pour out your heart like water
before the Lord’s presence.
Lift up your hands to him
for the lives of your children
who are fainting from hunger
at the head of every street. —Lamentations 2:18-19

ר Resh
²⁰ Lord, look and consider
to whom you have done this.
Should women eat their own children,
the infants they have nurtured?
Should priests and prophets
be killed in the Lord’s sanctuary?

שׁ Shin
²¹ Both young and old
are lying on the ground in the streets.
My young women and young men
have fallen by the sword.
You have killed them in the day of your anger,
slaughtering without compassion.

ת Taw
²² You summon those who terrorize me on every side,
as if for an appointed festival day;
on the day of the Lord’s anger
no one escaped or survived.
My enemy has destroyed
those I nurtured and reared. —Lamentations 2:20-22

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,
and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. —Proverbs 9:10

• “Gehenna”
• “people gnashing teeth in anguish”
• “outer darkness”
• “unquenchable fire”
• “worm does not die”
• “eternal torment”

1) WAKE UP CALL

“Prisons are in the interest of the free. Hell is the safe-guard of heaven. A state that cannot punish crime is doomed and a God who tolerates evil is not good. Deny me my biblical revelation of the anger of God and I’m insecure in the universe. But reveal to me this throne established, occupied by One whose heart is full of tenderness; whose bowels yearn with love—then I am assured that He will not tolerate that which blights and blasts and damns, but will destroy it and all its instruments in the interest of that which is high and noble and pure.” —G. Campbell Morgan

2) CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD

^8b This is the message of faith that we proclaim: ⁹ If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. ¹¹ For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, ¹² since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. ¹³ For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. —Romans 10:8b-13

3) CALL TO ACTION

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. —Romans 1:16

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