October 9, 2025 - Lamentations 3:1-23 - “The Man That Hath Seen Affliction”

Lamentations 3:1-23

"I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me, and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned; he turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me, and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places, as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy. Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer. He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people; and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness, he hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones, he hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace: I forgat prosperity. And I said, My strength and my hope is perished from the LORD: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."

“I Am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of His wrath” (v.1). In these opening words of Lamentations 3, the prophet speaks not only of himself but gives a shadow picture of Christ Jesus, the true Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:3). Jeremiah, under the hand of Divine judgment, stands as a type of the LORD Jesus Who was sent to bear the wrath of His Father on behalf of His people (Romans 8:32). Through his suffering, Jeremiah foreshadowed that greater affliction by which the salvation of the elect of God was accomplished. He was afflicted for the sins of Judah, the very tribe from which Christ should come (Genesis 49:10, Hebrews 7:14). So we behold in these verses a man afflicted of the LORD, and yet through him, the prefiguring of the Savior Who would bear all the grief, all the travail, and all the darkness that God's law and justice required for the sin of His people.

“He hath led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light” (v.2). How this pictures the hour of our LORD’s suffering—the darkness that covered the land (Matthew 27:45), the night of betrayal in the garden (Luke 22:53), the hour when they came to arrest Him. He endured the darkness that we might walk in His light (John 8:12). Jeremiah says, “Surely against me is He turned” (v.3). Even so, it was written, “He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32). It was not hatred, but justice. Wrath means justice. God never hated His Son, but His justice had to be satisfied (Isaiah 53:10–11). The law stood against Christ as the Substitute, and therefore He endured the sword, the bow, and the arrows of God the Father's purpose, until all was fulfilled to His satisfaction.

The prophet says, “He hath broken my bones” (v.4), and though no bone of our LORD was broken (John 19:36), yet His soul was poured out unto death (Isaiah 53:12). He speaks of “bitterness” and of being “filled with wormwood and gall” (Lamentations 3:5,15). Is that not what they gave our LORD to drink? (Matthew 27:34) The travail of His soul is here pictured—the bitter cup of God’s wrath drunk down to the last drop (Matthew 26:39). “He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out” (v.7). Christ never sought to be removed from under that heavy hand, for He came to fulfill all righteousness (John 18:11, Matthew 3:15). “He hath made my chain heavy.” The heaviest chain was the debt of sin He bore (2 Corinthians 5:21). Every step of affliction was by Divine purpose, and in that, Jeremiah’s suffering mirrors Christ’s willing submission.

In verse ten, he says, “He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places” (v.10). So it was with the sword of Divine justice that the LORD struck His Son (Zechariah 13:7). “He hath bent His bow and set me as a mark for the arrow” (v.12). The arrows of His quiver entered into His reins (v.13). Nothing missed its mark; every stroke was according to God’s perfect will (Acts 2:23, 4.28). He became “a derision to all my people, and their song all the day” (v.14). They mocked Him, wagging their heads, saying, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save” (Mark 15:29–31). “He hath filled me with bitterness,” the prophet says, and we hear in that the echo of Calvary, where the Judge of all the earth condemned sin in the flesh of His own Son (Romans 8:3).

Then comes the turning: “Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me” (v.19,20). Through the affliction, humility was wrought. Jeremiah bowed beneath the hand of God, acknowledging His justice and righteousness. Christ, though equal with God, humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross (Philippians 2:6–8). Out of that humility rises hope. “This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope” (v.21).

Here is the Gospel dawn: “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness” (v.22,23). Christ was consumed by the fire of God’s wrath as the burnt offering (Leviticus 6:12–13, Hebrews 10:10), yet as the Altar—Divine and Eternal—He was not consumed (Hebrews 7:24–25). Out of the darkness of judgment came the morning of resurrection (Matthew 28:1–6). Every morning ends the night. Every morning declares that His mercies are new, that His compassions fail not. The dawn that broke over the empty tomb declares, “Great is Thy faithfulness” (Deuteronomy 7:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:24).

Thankfully, what was a lament becomes a song of Hope. In the affliction of Jeremiah, we see the shadow; in Christ crucified and risen, the Substance (Colossians 2:17). Through His sorrow, peace is established (Isaiah 53:5, Ephesians 2:14–16); through His death, life eternal (John 11:25–26). We give praise and glory to the Father Who, through His faithful Son, has brought forth mercy that is new every morning. Great indeed is HIS faithfulness.