Jehoiakim is king of Judah as things spiral down towards God’s judgement. The nation is weak and sin-sick under his leadership. Now Nebuchadnezzer the king of Babylon has his sites on Judah, because it is a strategic location against Egypt and Assyria. In 605 b.c. he invades Jerusalem and takes Jehoiakim captive, setting up the kingdom as a part of Babylon.
Jehoiachin the son of Jehoiakim is made king for a mere three months. He tries to rebel against Babylon, but is easily conquered as they are utterly decimated. Nebuchadnezzar takes tens of thousands captive and pillages the land of all it’s valuables. He empties the temple and makes prisoners of all the skilled artisans and soldiers.
He then placed the king’s uncle who he thought he could easily control as king. His name was Zedekiah. As all of this turmoil is broiling the prophet Jeremiah and others are pleading for the people to turn to God. They are warning of the coming judgement, but not only are they ignored, but actually punished for speaking out.
Listening to the false prophets and ignoring God’s men, Judah tries to rebel yet again. And as we will see, it will not go well. What we are seeing play out before us is the punishment that comes from the awful sins against God we have seen. Manasseh and others blasphemed the Lord and rebelled against Him, thus bringing this punishment upon the Israelites.
Throughout all of these kingdoms God has sent His messengers to appeal to the hearts of the people. They were given a choice to either serve God or man. As we have clearly seen, they prefer to serve their flesh, rather than submit to God. This is the same rebellious spirit that we struggle against today. We may not have prophets like Isaiah or Jeremiah pleading with us, but He is still beckoning humanity. The Holy Spirit of God compels us through the Bible, the preaching of His Word and Christians who are willing to be used. God’s desire is to redeem mankind to Himself because He loves us even if we deny His existence or rebel against Him.
God loves you and He wants to walk hand in hand like a parent and a child. He is already reaching out to you, the thing you have to decide is to reach out to Him. That’s what I did fifteen years ago and it’s the best decision I’ve ever made!!! 😀😀😀😀😀
2 Kings 24