2 Chronicles 36:1-23

God’s sovereign control over the nations of the world is clearly evident through the history of the nation of Israel.  He is never taken by surprise and He always takes His Word very seriously.  Just before the nation of Israel entered the land, God spoke to the people through Moses.  He promised that they would be blessed if they would obey the Word of the Lord.  However, God also promised that if they would not obey the Lord and start worshiping the idols of the land to which they were going; they would be taken captive and removed from the land.  Unfortunately, that warning did not keep the people from idolatry and God kept His Word.  We must not play with the promises of God.  He is very patient and may allow generations to go by before He judges, but He will judge.  He has promised to return to this earth and judge every person on the face of the earth.  The result of this coming judgment will be eternal based on whether or not we have trusted Christ.  In God’s sovereign timing He will bring life as we know it on this earth to a halt and then establish a new heaven and earth where the righteous in Christ will dwell with Him eternally.

JUDAH IS CAPTURED BY BABYLON: As long as Josiah was king, Judah experienced relative peace.  However within months of his wicked son taking over the Babylonians came and took the king and a good number of the people captive.  The time of bondage had begun and from this point forward the nation would be a nation that was under captivity of some sort.  Sin calls itself by names like liberty and freedom, but the reality is that sin always leads to bondage and enslavement.  Moses had warned the nation about this day but generation after generation ignored that warning and just considered it to be impossible that this would happen.  God’s judgments have always been foretold and He has always given the inhabitants of earth all they need to avoid this judgment.  God has also always been very patient and given His people ample time to repent and turn to Him.  Unfortunately, man has repeatedly ignored God’s warnings and spurned God’s patience to the point of coming under God’s judgment.  God has promised to judge this current world as well.  Many today scoff that it will never happen, but they would do well to consult the people of Noah’s day, Lot’s day and Israel’s day.  We must diligently prepare in our day for God’s coming day.

JERUSALEM IS CONQUERED BY BABYLON: Not only were the people removed from the city, but the temple, the palaces and the walls of the city were torn down and burnt.  David, Solomon and many other kings had built up an incredible number of buildings, walls and cities.  These were impressive structures, many of them made from imported lumber, specially cut stones and overlain with gold.  All of the people of their day were impressed with the structure and believed that they would stand forever.  They were wrong.  In just a few short days all the years of hard work literally went up in smoke.  We continue to dedicate enormous amounts of time, effort and resources to build buildings were we live, study and worship.  These structures are a necessary part of life, but they are never the purpose of our existence; nor should they be our focus.  We must remember that all of our possessions will either simply break down or fade away or they will be destroyed in God’s final judgment.  We must learn to live in light of this coming judgment.

ISRAEL IS CONTROLLED BY GOD:  At this point it may look like Israel has now come under the control of foreign kings.  However, that is simply and illusion.  The truth is that God is still firmly in control of His people and His property.  The nation had failed to allow the land to rest for 490 years so the Lord took the people off of the land for 70 years in order to make up for the time that the land was owed.  God was rising up kings and setting them down, all as a part of His plan for the nations.  There would be no more kings in Israel until the time with Jesus returns to establish His kingdom and fulfill the promises made to David and Abraham.  God did not lose control of His people or the circumstance they faced; He was simply demonstrating His justice and ability to judge.  Whenever we feel that this world is spinning out of control, we must simply remember that God is always in control and always knows what is best to accomplish His glory and our eternal good.