A Judgment

Read 2 Kings 24:1, Jeremiah 22:18-23, 48-49, 2 Chronicles 36:8
 
Jeremiah 22:21-23 “I warned you when you were prosperous, but you replied, ‘Don’t bother me.’ You have been that way since childhood. You simply will not obey me! 22 And now the wind will blow away your allies. All your friends will be taken away as captives. Surely then you will see your wickedness and be ashamed.”
 
IS Jehoiakim’s story the story of all unrepentant sinners? Recall how the wicked king cut and burned the scroll God had spoken to Jeremiah (Jer 36:23). Remember how he killed the prophet Uriah for prophesying disaster on Judah (Jer 26:22). Jeremiah then prophesied a tragic end for the wicked king: Jeremiah 22:18b “The people will not mourn for him, crying to one another, ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!” His subjects will not mourn for him, crying, ‘Alas, our master is dead!  Alas, his splendor is gone!’”
   One may burn a scroll, but the fire of God’s judgment is unrelenting. The entire passages in this lesson refer to God’s final judgments on nations that have long rejected him, even as he had continually revealed his judgments against them. Remember Moab came from Lot. Edom came from Esau. And consider how all the nations had come from God first through Adam and Eve’s offspring and then through Noah and his sons. Yes, Israel was chosen for God’s specific blessings, but the LORD still revealed himself to all people through their human nature. Paul taught this in Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
   Yes, he warns us, but we cut his word from our hears and simply do not obey. The LORD had come to a point when he would judge all nations around Judah for their unbelief.
   This is another illustration of the final judgment on the world. One day the unbelieving kings and rulers will be destroyed. All people will see God’s wrath. His patience will be at an end. His redemption for his own will be at hand.