And the LORD Had Said

Read 2 Kings 24:6-18, 2 Chronicles 36:8-16
 
2 Kings 24:13 As the LORD had said beforehand, Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the treasures from the LORD’s Temple and the royal palace. He stripped away all the gold objects that King Solomon of Israel had placed in the Temple.
 
THIS is Babylon’s second deportation of the Jews from Jerusalem and Judah. It was customary for conquering nations to allow their subject nations to maintain some local rule. Babylon had done that with Jehoiakim. After Jehoiakim died, Jehoiachin became king. For some reason Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. Then he set Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, on Jerusalem’s throne. Zedekiah would be there 11 years as a third vassal king, subject to Babylon. The wicked Zedekiah would suffer greatly at Babylon’s hand. One person also taken captive was Ezekiel. We’ll hear much from this man who becomes a powerful prophet to the Jews in Babylon. In the midst of darkness, a light will keep shining.
   We know the LORD had said these things would happen. Babylon fulfilled God’s judgment. And more specifically, God had said Babylon would remove Judah’s wealth. When King Hezekiah welcomed envoys from Babylon here’s what happened: Isaiah 39:2 Hezekiah was delighted with the Babylonian envoys and showed them everything in his treasure-houses – the silver, the gold, the spices, and the aromatic oils. He also took them to see his armory and showed them everything in his royal treasuries! There was nothing in his palace or kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them. 3 Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did those men want? Where were they from?” Hezekiah replied, “They came from the distant land of Babylon.” 4 “What did they see in your palace?” asked Isaiah. “They saw everything,” Hezekiah replied. “I showed them everything I own, all my royal treasuries.” 5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Listen to this message from the LORD of Heaven’s Armies: 6 ‘The time is coming when everything in your palace – all the treasures stored up by your ancestors until now – will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.
          When the Holy God speaks, he will do as he says. His words are not vain empty promises. His words are true for all time. Are you listening to his promises? Do you know what God has said?