Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: II Kings 23-25
II Kings 25:7
And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
The Jewish rule over the lands of Israel has come to a humbling end. It has been over four hundred and sixty years since David sat on her throne. The promises of God for her perpetuity (permanency) based upon their obedience to His Word were forfeited through the nation’s insatiable appetite for idolatry. Civil wars, usurpers of the throne, villains of every kind, and desire to be like the worldly nations surrounding them wasted Israel. It’s all over now. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah has his sons killed before him, and then his eyes were put out. How diabolical, for the rest of his natural life, the last memory of sight was his sons being put to death. Horrible.
Yet, his real-life story mirrors the real-life story of Israel as a nation. Before the eyes of a nation their sons, daughters, and kings were slaughtered. They could see the physical results but were blind to the spiritual cause. Israel’s ongoing agony and ultimate downfall can be backtracked to the rejection of one verse of the Bible, a verse given over eight hundred years earlier, Deuteronomy 28:1. And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: This is one side, the other is found fourteen verses later. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee: Over and over again, Israel chose to reject Him.
A person living in the modern world can almost understand why Israel fell. There were no printed Bibles like we have. There was no Holy Spirit indwelling them like we have. So, the question may not be so much, “Why didn’t Israel obey God, love Him, and serve Him?” But rather the question that may need to be answered is “Why don’t we?”
Today, every child of God has everything they could possibly need to live a victorious Christian life. But few do. Why? Perhaps the core reason is the lack of love of/and for God. After all, according to Jesus Christ the first and greatest commandment is: Thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:37 Love for God always results in obeying God. The greatest issue today is not one of economics, politics, or health and beauty; the greatest issue today is the same one that has echoed down through the millennia of time. That is the Love of God. His love to us, and our love to Him. If this is wrong, all will be wrong, and if this is right, all will be right. Not easy, but right.
If the history of Israel teaches us anything it teaches us what happens to any nation, or individual for that matter, that fails to love God and keep His commandments. They will ultimately be put in bondage, carried away captive, and their eyes (their spiritual eyes) will be blinded. Just as happened to king Zedekiah, the last king of Judah.
Dr. William T. Howe
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