BACK INTO SLAVERY. 2nd Kings 25 Three times, the Assyrians invaded Israel over one hundred years before the Babylonians invaded Judah three times. Neither Israel nor Judah repented and turned from evil and idolatry to seek the Lord as His sons and daughters should. In grace, the Lord gave them ample opportunities to repent time after time. The prophets had preached and warned in Israel. Circumstances in life were allowed to make them aware of the wrong they were doing, but they persisted in the downward course they were on and were scattered. Israel has been known as the "ten lost tribes." Now, three times, the Babylonians invaded Judah, and God dealt in grace the same way He did to Israel. Still, evil practices continued. Even the famine in which Jerusalem was starved out did not bring an earnest call for mercy to the Lord.
Our gracious God still does not hasten to judgment but is "longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." Patience and long-suffering (a long temper) are virtues that must be cultivated in the people of God. Quick snap judgments may be made, and because they are premature, the consequences may not be satisfactory. The evil that continues despite warnings does have to be dealt with in our families, assemblies, and country, but it is important to give the opportunity to repent, turn to the Lord, and do what is right. Willful acts on our part because of self-interest have an effect on others and ultimately lead to failure.
Even though Zedekiah and the whole army escaped at night through a passage between two walls, they were soon captured. Just as Ezekiel had prophesied, Zedekiah saw Nebuchadnezzar but didn't see Babylon because his eyes were put out after his sons were killed before his eyes. If Zedekiah had listened to the prophet Jeremiah, the destruction of Jerusalem would have been prevented, and lives would have been spared. The sorrow of the prophet was deep and real (the book of Lamentations) as he watched the city being torn down, all the valuable treasures taken away, some broken in pieces so they could be carried, and the last of the leadership led away as captives.
There are many kinds of bondage today that people are in and, for some reason, do not reject. Substance abuse, moral perversions, materialism, pleasure, and self-centered motivation have captured much of society. Even professed Christians fall into this trap of the world, and when the flesh is catered to, the devil takes advantage of such people so that they are enslaved physically, morally, and spiritually.
Jeremiah and Gedaliah, the governor appointed by the Babylonians, both urged non-resistance to their captors. Jeremiah knew that God allowed these events to occur because both Judah and Israel had turned away from their covenant with Him. Exile was the greatest of the curses when the covenant terms with God were rejected. Now, it had happened inevitably, even after the periods of grace that had been extended to the Jews.
Jerusalem was demolished; Judah was no longer a functioning entity, and all of those who were leaders or were capable of becoming leaders were taken away. Yet both in the land and Babylon, God had His servants like Daniel and Ezekiel, who kept the Lord before the minds and hearts of the people of God. The spiritual kingdom of God was not taken captive. The nation's hope to regain what they had lost was gone because of their willful sin. But some people like Daniel and his friends, doubtless others, had been prepared by godly parents and instructors who could see what would happen. They could keep alive the promises and principles of living by faith.
People make a serious mistake when they take God, His mercy, and His grace for granted. "Without faith, it is impossible to please God" is an unchanging principle. We may not understand all the reasons for life's events, but we can trust in God's grace to enable us to pass through dark times without compromising our light. God has His people worldwide despite declension and departure, giving light in dark places.
Elijah was carried into heaven in a whirlwind at the beginning of the book of Second Kings. Now, the book is closed with the people being carried away as humiliated captives who have lost everything because of sin and unwillingness to follow the Lord. The last remnants of Solomon’s glory were taken away in pieces, as was the last king of the Hebrew monarchy. God’s dealing with Israel as a kingdom was officially over. It will remain so until our Lord Jesus Christ, “The King of the Jews,” returns to reign in Jerusalem during the millennium.
Our consciences can become seared and unable to help us discern right or wrong when we ignore God's will and word. Like He was toward the Jews, God is ready and willing to forgive His people when they repent and turn from sin to serve Him by faith. More than one of His children has gone down a wrong path until there is no real evidence that they are a child of God. Then they stop for some reason and are willing to turn again to the Lord, who is willing to forgive and let us start again.
For some reason, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, who followed him as king of Babylon, was inclined to show kindness to Jehoiachin, the last of Josiah's sons. In this way, the line of David was preserved and promised by God. We learned from the Book of 2nd Kings what happens when we do not obey our Lord and/or give Him the first place in our lives as His children. When we take matters into our own hands without considering what God wants and says in His word, we ruin a life that could have been fruitful.
Thankfully, we have the Spirit of God within us, the Person who understands right and warns us of wrong. Being under the authority of the New Covenant is certainly a great privilege and blessing as long as we keep the terms of the covenant. If one chooses to ignore the Holy Spirit's leading and guiding, it is possible for us to become like those who "go down into the pit."
Wise people read and pay attention to the lessons taught by those before us. This will protect us from the failures and consequences that those people in Israel and Judah went through. The challenge to us is to read, listen, learn, and act upon what is written in God's word, is right, and pleases God. Then, our history will not be a dark period of time that is given as a warning to our children and our children's children.
It is bound to come: payday comes someday when a nation chooses to turn away from the Lord. It may not be identical in every nation, and the means of carrying out judgment may be different, but there will be some way that which once was a power now falls by the sword of divine justice. It may not be with the sword of an army in which a great battle is fought and the willful acts of disobedient people are punished, but the inward weakness becomes so wormy that truth is sold, and righteousness comes to naught.
In Judah’s history, leaders failed; the wise men stopped thinking, religious leaders forsook the ways of the Lord, and only the poor remained to keep the Jews from permanently sinking into oblivion the memory of God’s Word. It seems to have to be repeated over and over because lessons we should often have learned, we ignored and despised. We can no longer cover over the awful results of the wrong road where we turned to our own way instead of following the Lord.
The God of the past is still the God of the present. We may think He has changed His word and His ways, but that is not true. When we refuse to repent of our sins and turn to God, He doesn’t compromise at all what He does and says in His word. God is true to His word despite what people think is suitable to them. Let no one ever think that sin has no wages. Those wages God has declared are spiritual death, which is separation from God forever. It is the same today as down through past ages; men bring His judgment and wrath on themselves.
“I thank Thee, O God, for giving us examples of failure for ‘our learning and admonition.’ Help me to be alert to any practices that will bring about defeat and despair to Thy people. Give me the courage to stand and declare ‘the righteous acts of God.’ In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”