Prophetic Prospective Daily Devotional

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.

The sorrow of Jeremiah expressed in Lamentations is from the loss of the City of Jerusalem to the mighty Babylonian army under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar. The chapter preceding Lamentations 1 is the 52nd chapter of Jeremiah, which is a record of the destruction of Jerusalem and the carrying away into the Babylonian captivity of the Jewish people.

In his third siege of Jerusalem, the Babylonian King killed the leadership of Judah, many of its Jewish residents, burned the city down and destroyed the Temple (read Jeremiah 52 and II Chronicles 36). The loss of all that was sacred to the Priest-Prophet Jeremiah was what motivated him to write Lamentations, of course under the "inspiration" of the Holy Spirit.

Once a year, even until today, the Jewish people will gather at the entrance to the Temple Mount to pray for the Temple to be rebuilt. They also mourn as they read through the book of Lamentations. This is their effort to have the Lord restore their Temple worship and sacrificial system to meet the needs for purification as they search for "redemption" outside the person and work of Jesus Christ.

According to Bible Prophecy, there will be another Temple in Jerusalem, in fact, two more Temples, but neither one will give them the "salvation" that only Jesus can give. By the way, all the preparations have been made for the next Temple to be erected in Jerusalem.

The next Temple in Jerusalem will be the one built during the Tribulation Period. All that must be done to build and operate a Temple has been done except for removing the gold-domed structure known as the "Dome of the Rock."

When the Temple Mount is clear of any other religious building on this very sacred spot then the Jews will erect their Temple. Remember, this will happen sometime after the Rapture - which could happen today.

PRAYER THOUGHT: Help me Lord to live today as if the Rapture will happen today.