Prayer: Father, the reality of war is brutality. Real blood, real pain, and real people killed. There is no such thing as humanitarian warfare when the enemy comes against you. Peace comes when Your people are obedient to You. Amen.
Reading: 2 Kings 25 key: vs. 6-7 “So they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and passed sentence on him. They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes, then put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze chains and took him to Babylon.” TLV
Attention: There were two exiles which took place with Jerusalem and Babylon. The first one was with king Jehoiachin and king Nebuchadnezzar. The second was about ten years later with the installed king after the first exile, king Zedekiah (Mattaniah) and king Nebuchadnezzar. The second exile became necessary when Zedekiah rebelled against God (Adonai) doing “what was evil in Adonai’s eyes (2 Kings 24:19) and king Nebuchadnezzar. The Babylonian armies chased Zedekiah all the way down near Jericho where they captured him, then took him to the “king of Babylon at Riblah, a Syrian town near the border of Babylon.
It was in Riblah where Zedekiah witnessed the execution of his sons and then they put his eyes out. The judgement of God is not a bloodless picture.
There was a television show called MASH which aired in my youth. The show was centered around a mobile army hospital in the Korean war. The viewers never witnessed the war, just the casualties.
The scriptures declare the cause of war and the consequences of rebellion. The Bible spares no one from seeing and understanding that God is serious about His Commandments and Law. We are in the era of grace. However, Yeshua said, “Do not think that I came to abolish the Torah or the Prophets! I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17).”
May we not fall into the deception that God’s Laws no longer apply to our lives or to this generation.
Action: I choose to live obediently to the Laws of God.
Yield: I choose to submit to the Sovereignty of Adonai.
Engage: I choose to engage with the Holy in living wholly and holy unto God.
Relationship: I choose to live in intimate relationship with God.
Prayer: Father, there are consequences from living a life counter to demands of Your Law. Many times, the children of Israel pledged themselves to You and then walked away from You. May we not be like those who brought judgement on themselves. Amen.
Memory Verse: Hebrews 10:29-31 “How much more severe do you think the punishment will be for the one who has trampled Ben-Elohim underfoot, and has regarded as unholy the blood of the covenant by which he was made holy, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know the One who said, “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay,” and again, “Adonai will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” TLV
Music Video: Chris Tomlin—Sovereign https://youtu.be/KaO8U70M9Hs?si=daEe5TwnG7H8Rmpu
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”