Return To God

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King James Bible Study[Mark 8:34  And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.]

Date: Monday, August 14, 2023
Chapters: II KINGS 24-25, II CHRONICLES 36
Study: Return To God

Hello My Brother/Sister/Friend,

The older a person gets the more they see just how corrupt the world has gotten over the years, things that we thought were immoral are considered the norm today. And it is the norm that is bringing God’s judgment upon our nations too, not just one, but all of them as nation upon nation turns away from God. False gods, false religion, abortion, idolatry, homosexuality, sex changes, these are all things that God greatly detests, and are bringing judgment. Why? They are attempting to play God and He has about had it. We have to face the fact that things are going to get worse, a lot worse, and it is time to put away the false gods, and return to the only living God and His Word.

[Joshua 24:14-15  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD.  15  And if it seem evil unto you to serve the LORD, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.]

As we return to and complete the reading of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, it also gives the account of the judgments of Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah, as Jeremiah had warned them would happen. First, Jehoahaz reigned, but only for three months when they were invaded by Egypt.

[2 Chronicles 36:27  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.  3  And the king of Egypt put him down at Jerusalem, and condemned the land in an hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold.  4  And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem, and turned his name to Jehoiakim. And Necho took Jehoahaz his brother, and carried him to Egypt.  5  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God. 6  Against him came up Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and bound him in fetters, to carry him to Babylon.  7  Nebuchadnezzar also carried of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.]

[and turned his name to Jehoiakim.] Jehoiakim, means, whom Jehovah sets up. God, is the one who set all this up. Now, this would be the only time that Egypt would be used by God as Nebuchadnezzar would take over. While natural disasters happen, wars and take overs such as these are what God sets up to judge not only His people, but the world as well. It was not God’s plan to use Egypt to take over Israel, He was going to use Babylon for that. Nebuchadnezzar, wasted no time coming after them, and God reminds them of why.

[2 Kings 24:1-4  In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.  2  And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.  3  Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;  4  And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.]

[Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah,] God, will tolerate many things, but when it comes to taking the lives of the innocent for their gods, it is an utter abomination to Him. He is the one who gives and takes life, not to mention that He would never think of using anyone to sacrifice another persons life to save their own, which is why He gave His own life through His Son, [John 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.]

Nations, once Christian centered, whom have forgotten God, and cannot continue to go in the direction they are going otherwise they too will face the wrath of God. I mean, come on, what happened to morality? You cannot even walk down the street without being exposed to sinful lifestyles. God has made His decision, judgment is coming, and we better get right with Him before final judgment comes. God, did not cause these things to happen, wicked, selfish, immoral, and religious people, caused it, but He is finishing it. After Jehoiakim was captured Jehoiachin reigned, and only lasted a few months as well, he was only eight years old.

[2 Chronicles 36:9-13  Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem: and he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD.  10  And when the year was expired, king Nebuchadnezzar sent, and brought him to Babylon, with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD, and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem.  11  Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.  12  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet speaking from the mouth of the LORD.  13  And he also rebelled against king Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God: but he stiffened his neck, and hardened his heart from turning unto the LORD God of Israel.]

[with the goodly vessels of the house of the LORD,] Once Nebuchadnezzar came into Jerusalem Egypt ran, fearing for their lives as they were too strong for them. For three years Jehoiakim served under the king of Babylon, that was until he rebelled, and once he did that armies of men from surrounding nations came in and destroyed the land. Not only did they take the treasures from the temple to Babylon, but people as well.

[2 Kings 24:13-15  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, 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 LORD, as the LORD had said.  14  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.  15  And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.]

[save the poorest sort of the people of the land.] Do you see why God took all the strong people? He did not want them to fight a battle that they would not have been able to win. When man goes over God’s limits nothing can stop His judgment except for repentance. If we should learn anything from this story it is that every nation that turns on God will be destroyed, but if we trust Him, and wait patiently, He will restore everything better than what it was, [2 Chronicles 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.]

You would think that at this point that they would have just surrendered to God, but they refused, each king becoming more proud and rebellious than the last one, and now we come to Zedekiah, who we know had Jeremiah arrested because he refused to listen and blamed him for all the chaos.

[2 Kings 24:17-20  And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.  18  Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.  19  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.  20  For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.]

[Mattaniah his father’s brother king in his stead] Mattaniah, was Jehoiakim’s uncle. Nebuchadnezzar, changed his name to Zedekiah, which means, the justice of God, for even he knew that God was the only reason why he was there. Zedekiah, was also carried away to Babylon because he tried to flee.

[2 Kings 25:1-3,5-7  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.  2  And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.  3  And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. 5  And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.  6  So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.  7  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.]

[And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes,] All judgments come from God because He cannot stand to see His people living more wickedly than the world. God is merciful, and quite patient, but at some point, enough is enough, and judgment will come because that is the only option left. God, did not even want to see the temple, it was completely destroyed, after everything had been taken out of it.

[2 Chronicles 36:17-20  Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand.  18  And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon.  19  And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof.  20  And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia:]

[And all the vessels of the house of God,] Notice that the vessels were not destroyed, only the building. Jesus, did not die to save our flesh, He died to save our souls, the flesh that lives through Him and is blessed is an added bonus. Our body could fall apart in an instant, what is more important than this shell od skin and bones that we carry around, is our soul, [1 Corinthians 3:13-15  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.  14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.  15  If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.]

Once they had taken all the Jews out of the city, the temple, the palace, and all the wealthy homes were burned, completely destroyed. All the glory in Jerusalem, the city of David, the Temple, and everything David and Solomon built for God was reduced to nothing, but ashes and crumbled walls. Remember, the poorest people were still in the land, but would soon be put to use.

[2 Kings 25:11-12,18-19,22  Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.  12  But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen. 18  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:  19  And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king’s presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:  22  And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.]

[left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.] God, is allowing His faithful to be in the fire of His judgment, He is trying our reins to see if we are going to endure it with Him or rebel. God, is calling on us and is depending on us. Are we going to stand up and help Him get people on the safe foundation of Christ? God, needs willing vessels, people who are not double minded, not trying to be God, and are strong in their faith. We need to stand true to Jesus, not fight with each other, love one another as Jesus does, and not provoke each other with pride and ridiculous laws that God never made or condoning sin as the norm.

[James 4:10-14  Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.  11  Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge.  12  There is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?  13  Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:  14  Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.]

Today’s Prayer: God, It is so sad to see the world falling apart, even my own nation has forsaken You, and turned to abominable lifestyles, idols, and wicked imaginations. I know Your Son is returning, and things are going to get worse before that happens, we need a revival, a spiritual revival of all who know You, but are afraid to stand up to the truth. A revival of faith, boldness, and passion to speak the Gospel, and not be ashamed. Lord, give us Your power to get up and fight, the strength to keep going in Your truths, and the plan, wisdom, and tools we need, to help You restore the Church before Your limit is up, and You do send Your Son. Give us Your mercy, grace, and hedge of protection from all the evils. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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