Lament like a virgin wearing sackloth, for the bridegroom of her youth. (v8)
God's people had failed, and there would be consequences. While nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, there were clear earthly consequences for the rebellion of God's people in the Old Testament: exile from the Promised Land. In order to stay in the land of milk and honey, God demanded that the people keep the Law of the land (Deut. 28).
Of course, the people would not and could not keep the Law. They were sinners, like us. And God knew that they would fail and that He would exile them. Why then would He put them in this position? To point both them and us to the cross (Gal. 3:24). If God's people in the Old Testament couldn't maintain an earthly promised land by their obedience, how could we possibly merit our heavenly promised land with ours?
We would need a new Israel, Jesus, who would perfectly obey God's law and earn heaven for us by His own righteousness, and then suffer our hell--our exile--in the grave.
In our passage today, we see the physical demise of Israel, fulfilling God's promise of exile and illustrating the spiritual consequences of our sin--death, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. We also see a picture of the Final Judgment, when man will not only face the terror of earthly judgment, but the hellish terror of eternal judgment.
Yet here is our assurance: We need not lament like a virgin wearing sackloth, bearing the filthy, damn-worthy rags of our own deeds. Our bridegroom is Christ Jesus, who has dressed us in His own righteousness--who has washed us white in His own blood. Secured in Christ alone, we prepare for an eternal wedding feast in a heavenly promised land, not a funeral and exile in Hell. Let us rejoice.
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