Day 221 of 365
GOD'S CLEAR WARNING
God used the prophets to warn the people of their moral bankruptcy and their need to repent and return to God. The exile of the people of Judah, recounted in 2 Kings 24 - 25, had long ago been prophesied to the people (Dt 28:49 - 52). Even before the Israelites inherited the land, they were warned that they would be driven from the land if they did not obey God and keep his commands. Interestingly, the Israelites' fate was foreshadowed by their own conquest of the promised land. God told his people to drive out the nations in order to inherit the land, warning that Israel would face a similar fate themselves if they disobeyed (Dt 4:25 - 27).
Prophets such as Isaiah and Jeremiah foresaw the disaster that awaited the people of God due to their sin. Years earlier, Isaiah prophesied that God would use the Babylonian nation to purge his people from the land (Isa 39:5 - 8). Likewise, Jeremiah warned the nation of their impending time in captivity and later summarized the process by which the people were carried into exile (Jer 25:8 - 14; 52:1 - 30).
These prophetic warnings served two purposes. First, they demonstrated that God was providentially in control of all things. As an all-knowing and all-powerful God, he gave the prophets insight into the exact details that would not be fulfilled until much later. Second, they showed that God had left his people clear warnings. God did not simply let his people pursue the wayward longings of their hearts, but he continually raised up individuals who would urge them to return to him before it was too late. Sadly, they did not listen.
The same is true today. God is still perfectly in charge of all things and will accomplish his good purpose in this world (Ro 8:28). This purpose will include the judgment of God against sin. However, God has not left people without warning or without hope. The Word of God, the people of God and the Spirit of God are all at work in the world, reminding people to turn to God before they have to face his judgment (Mt 3:2; Lk 5:32; Jn 16:8; 1Jn 1:8 - 9).
Jesus, thank you for being in control of the circumstances in my life. Help me to listen to the Holy Spirit and to your Word as you guide me toward righteousness. Amen.
2 Kings 24:1-7 NASB
1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years; then he turned and rebelled against him. 2 The L ord sent against him bands of Chaldeans, bands of Arameans, bands of Moabites, and bands of Ammonites. So He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the L ord which He had spoken through His servants the prophets. 3 Surely at the command of the L ord it came upon Judah, to remove them from His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, 4 and also for the innocent blood which he shed, for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; and the L ord would not forgive. 5 Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
Jehoiachin Reigns
6 So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and Jehoiachin his son became king in his place. 7 The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
2 Kings 24:10-17 NASB
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon went up to Jerusalem, and the city came under siege. 11 And Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it. 12 Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. 13 He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the L ord , and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the L ord , just as the L ord had said. 14 Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
15 So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king's mother and the king's wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.
Zedekiah Made King
17 Then the king of Babylon made his uncle Mattaniah king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2 Kings 25:1-7 NASB
1 Now in the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he and all his army, against Jerusalem, camped against it and built a siege wall all around it. 2 So the city was under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4 Then the city was broken into, and all the men of war fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls beside the king's garden, though the Chaldeans were all around the city. And they went by way of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and he passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, then put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him with bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon.
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