“Jerusalem’s gates have sunk into the ground. He has smashed their locks and bars. Her kings and princes have been exiled to distant lands; her law has ceased to exist. Her prophets receive no more visions from the LORD” (Lamentations 2:9, NLT).

I did a lesson on Lamentations 2:8 (Lesson 42) about God carefully planning Jerusalem’s destruction. We’re going to look at what He chose. Now in verse eight, it says the walls are fallen. In verse nine, their gates and locks are destroyed. The wall, the gate and locks, they were a defense. God was their defense.

They were supposed to be relying on God for their defense. The walls needed to come down. What else? The kings were exiled. Who was to be their king? God was supposed to be their king and they rejected Him as their king and asked for Saul. They rejected God as king and they lost their kings.

It also says that “her law ceased from the land.” What was the law? It was supposed to be God’s law. It was supposed to be the Torah. They had rejected God’s law, ignoring it, so they lost God’s law. Finally, it says that the prophets receive no more visions. God will still speak to His prophets and still care for His people, but there is no more warning voice at this point. They have been warned and warned and warned. They ignored the warnings, even attacking the messenger bringing God’s Word, and so they lost the warning. Has your nation received any warnings? I bet it has. What can you do about it? Have you received warnings? What can you do about that?