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Today is Monday May 10, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of II Kings, chapters 24-25. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this link onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-may-10

Title: Bible Study: Heed The Warnings
One thing about life is that we are never prepared for the unexpected, life goes on and everything is great then all of a sudden something happens and we are left to question why this is happening to me. Now, there are times when things happen and there is no reason other than God's reason, we just have to trust God's judgment in the matter and seek peace from Him and to get through it. However, many of these sudden events are an accumulation of things that one has done over the years or one thing done years ago that just caught up to them. For instance, a man committing adultery has a child with the mistress, years later the family is suffering because of this one sin. Although we are accountable for our own sins, people in our lives suffer the consequences of them as well. No one ever thinks about the consequences of their sin, what it not only does to them, but what it does to the rest of the family, even generations later. God may be a forgiving God, but He is not a gullible God and will give only so many warnings before His judgment comes. We need to heed the warnings now because God never goes back on His Word, His judgment is coming and all who do not know Him need to repent accept the fact that they will suffer for going against God. Ignorance does not save us from hell, only Jesus Christ does.

Josiah was one of the best kings in the more than four hundred and fifty year history of the monarchy. When Josiah heard of the destruction that would take place for the sins of his father Manasseh, he did everything he could to get Jerusalem back to being a God fearing nation. No matter what he did God had already made His decision and there was no changing His mind. The death of Josiah ended the prosperity of Judah, just three months after his death, the Southern Kingdom of Judah was defeated and in control of the Egyptians, then later on Babylon. “In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets. Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did; And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.” - II Kings 24:1-4. The bands were united nations joining with Nebuchadnezzar to defeat Judah, if Jehoiakim would have served the Lord, he would not have been servant to Nebuchadnezzar and He would not have allowed the destruction to continue. However, they continued to do evil in His sight, including killing priests in the Temple, therefore, He continued to allow Jerusalem to be destroyed. God will give us many chances to change our ways before He allows judgment to come upon us, but when He does, look out, He will remove anyone from His sight that will continue to sin, especially those who cause others to live in sin.

Three more kings reigned, all of them evil, the last king Zedekiah suffered the most of them all, “So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. 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. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.” - II Kings 25:6-10. The army of Babylon brought Zedekiah before the king of Babylon, they gathered all of his sons, and killed them right before his eyes, then they put out Zedekiah's eyes and hauled away in brass fetters to Babylon. The temple, the palace and all the other wealthy homes were burned and completely destroyed. All of the glory of Jerusalem of David and Solomon's day was gone, the city was nothing, but ashes and broken down walls. The destruction of the once glorious kingdom of Judah and Solomon's Temple is a grim reminder that reformation alone will not bring lasting change in people, there must be repentance and renewal within the heart of a people, as well as a nation to see God change His mind. Even the greatest present day nation on earth, with all its wealth, military might, and nuclear defense, cannot survive, regardless of how much the people may pray, if its people continue to ignore the Word of God.

The people did not know it at the time, but those whom were taken captive into Babylon were being saved from the destruction of Jerusalem that was taking place. While God does place judgment upon our nations, He also provides safety to those who remain faithful to Him. Although we may suffer at times over someone else's sin, it is all for a reason as well. “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.” - Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Everything we go through has a season and as long as we put our faith and trust in God and live by every one of His words than we will always find peace and comfort even during the toughest trials we face.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and enjoy your week.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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