Sat.’s Devo - The Last Kings of Judah

Happy Birthday America! May you enjoy freedom! Read: 2 Kings 23:31-25:30; Acts 22:17-23:10; Psalm 2:1-12; Proverbs 18:13 When Josiah died, his son Jehoahaz who was 23 years old began to reign over Judah. He was not good like his father Josiah. He did evil like the evil kings before him so Pharaoh Neco from Egypt came and put him in bonds and made Eliakim, Josiah’s brother the king. Neco changed his name to Jehoiakim. He was made to tax the people to give Egypt 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold every year. *** Two years later, Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and made Jehoiakim serve him for three years. Jehoiakim rebelled against him so the Lord sent bands of Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it just like God’s prophets said would happen. *** Jehoiakim was an evil king and filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, which means that he sacrificed many babies to his gods. When Jehhoiakim died, his son Jeoiachin became the king. At that time, Babylon had raided Egypt and taken everything. *** Young Jehoiachin only reigned 3 months before he surrendered to the king of Babylon who came and besieged Jerusalem. The king of Babylon took the king, his officers and servants to Babylon and carried off the treasures of the house of the Lord and all the kings’ treasures. He dismantled the temple to take all its worth. He also carried away all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives and all the craftsmen in the land to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar made Josiah’s brother Mattaniah king and changed his name to Zedekiah. *** Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon so Nebuchadnezzar sent his army to besiege Jerusalem. In the second year of the siege, they broke through the wall and the king and his officers tried to escape at night through the wall. They were caught and brought to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. There he slaughtered all of Zedikiah’s sons then had Zedikah’s eyes gouged out so the last thing he saw was his sons being killed. Then Zedikiah was taken blinded and in chains to Babylon. *** Nebuchadnezzar’s captain Nebuaradan came to Jerusalem and burned down the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses in Jerusalem. They broke down the walls around Jerusalem and took the rest of the people left in the city to Babylon. They left some of the poorest of the land to keep the vineyards and the fields. *** They carried away everything from the house of the Lord that had value. They brought the priests and the important people to Riblah where Nebuchadnezzar had them also killed. *** Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah to govern the people left in Jerusalem. Gedaliah met with all the captains left in the land of Judah at Mizpah. Gedaliah told them not to be afraid of the Chaldeans because if they would just serve the king of Babylon, things would go well for them. But, Ishmael of the royal family brought 10 men with him and struck down Gedaliah and all the people fled to Egypt because they were afraid of what Nebuchadnezzar would do to them. *** When king Jehoiachin had been in prison in Babylon for 37 years, Evil-Merodach became king of Babylon. He pardoned Jehoiachin and gave him a seat in his government. He was given royal clothes, a seat at the king’s table and a salary. *** In Acts, Paul was telling the people of Jerusalem his story. He was at the point where he went back to Jerusalem and was praying in the Temple when he went into a trance. The Lord told him to get out of Jerusalem at once because they would not believe his testimony because he had persecuted so many Christians. God sent him far away to witness to the Gentiles. *** They had been listening intently until he got to the part about going to preach to the Gentiles. Then they shouted that he should die. The tribune ordered him to be put in the prison and flogged to find out the truth. But when they were preparing to flog him, he reminded them that he was a Roman citizen by birth. Then they were afraid that they had bound him and took the straps off him. *** They sat Paul down to talk and he told them he had lived his life in good conscience. The high priest struck him on the mouth and Paul called him a whitewashed wall. When they told him he was the high priest, Paul said hd didn’t know or he wouldn’t have said what he said. *** Paul realized that he was speaking in front of a council full of Sadducees and Pharisees so he used that to his advantage. He said that he was on trial because he believed in the resurrection of the dead. This threw them into a tizzy because that was the great debate between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Pharisees proclaimed Paul innocent because they believed in the resurrection of the dead, and the Sadducees disagreed. They had to rescue Paul from them and had him put in prison. *** Paul met misunderstanding and persecution everywhere he went because he was living in the days of great transition from law to grace. We are in the same place of transition from grace to kingdom. There will be many who will be misunderstood and persecuted for preaching the kingdom age but it is coming no matter how many people push against it. *** Lord, I thank you that your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Nothing can stop what is coming.