Reconize False Gods 05.11.08

Hello My Friend/Guest,

It is Sunday May 11, 2008 and today we are completing our studies on the book of II Kings. Please read Chapters 23-25 in your Bible or Click Here to read.

Today we will read and learn about Passover being restored; the destruction of Jerusalem and Temple being foretold; the death of Josiah; the fall of Jerusalem; and the captivity of Judah. Today's message focuses on the importance of reconizing false gods and putting our trust and faith on our One True God.

Josiah was the last godly king of Judah before the destruction of Jerusalem, "And the king sent, and they gathered unto him all the elders of Judah and of Jerusalem. And the king went up into the house of the LORD, and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests, and the prophets, and all the people, both small and great: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the LORD. And the king stood by a pillar, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all their heart and all their soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people stood to the covenant." (II Kings 23:1-3)

Josiah went beyond Judah, into the Assyrian-controlled former northern kingdom to Bethel, where Jeroboam had built one of the golden calves, this was propheized almost 300 years ago. ( I Kings 13:1-3). "And he brake in pieces the images, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he brake down, and burned the high place, and stamped it small to powder, and burned the grove. And as Josiah turned himself, he spied the sepulchres that were there in the mount, and sent, and took the bones out of the sepulchres, and burned them upon the altar, and polluted it, according to the word of the LORD which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words." (23:14-16).

Just twenty-three years after the death of Josiah, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was defeated and Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. Under the reigns of its last four kings, who were mere puppets of Egypt and then Babylon, it was trodden down by successive conquests and the pitiful deportations into heathen lands. Jerusalem was invincible while its people were obedient to the Word of God. But eventually it became powerless because of sin. As a result of unfaithfulness and continued disobedience to the Word of God by its national immorality and violence, they were reduced to suffering and loss of everything.

Nebuchadnezzar, with an immense army, swept down upon the northern parts of the country and marched directly against Jerusalem to beseige it. At length, the city was reduced to starvation. King Zedekiah, with his wives, children, and guards, fled through an opening that was made in the wall, but they were captured in the plains of Jericho. "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. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. 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. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain." (25:1-4).

Zedekiah was forced to witness the horrifying death of his family; then his own eyes were gouged out and he was forced to walk more than 800 miles in chains to Babylon (II Kings 25:7). The agonizing ordeal fulfilled two prophecies that had appeared contradictory: Zedekiah would be taken to Babylon, but would not see it.

How gruesome pathetic was the fall of the once-wonderful Kingdom of Judah. At that time in history, only Judah was known as the worshipers of Jehovah God and the prophets that God used to provide the Old Testament dwelt there. We need to see the handwriting on the wall. The United States is recognized as worshipers of the One True God. But our sins betray our trust.

This great nation known throughout the world as a Christian nation cannot survive the rejection of God and His righteousness. America, like the Kingdom of Judah, is experiencing similar sins before its destruction. We are reminded, "Thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels. Let now the astrologers, the stargazers, the monthly prognosticators, stand up, and save thee from these things that shall come upon thee. Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: there shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it. Thus shall they be unto thee with whom thou hast laboured, even thy merchants, from thy youth: they shall wander every one to his quarter; none shall save thee." (Isaiah 47:13-15).

For a nation to forsake the One True God is utter madness and chaos. May every nation see the example of Israel and turn to the Lord.

In today's messgae Jesus Christ is revealed through the Passover (II Kings 23:21-23), which was a type foreshadowing how Jesus Christ, our Redeemer will keep us from spiritual death by His having overcome it. "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." (Revelation 1:18).

Today's Psalm: 80:3
"Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved."

Have a wonderful day and Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers.
God Bless,
Christina

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