Read Jeremiah 52:24-34
On Thursday we saw that the Babylonians were a fierce and merciless people. We saw that they mercilessly destroyed King Zedekiah, killed his sons and some officials. Here in today’s passage we see how some of those officials were killed.
Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard took several prisoners - Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. These men spent their life serving God. They worked in the Temple and were Yahweh’s servants in the most literal sense of the word. Now they were being marched to Riblah, to stand trial before the great victorious and merciless King Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuzaradan also took as prisoners the officer in charge of the fighting men and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was the chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land and sixty of his men who were found in the city.
Verses 26-27 describe, in a somewhat matter-of-fact tone, what happened.
“Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the King of Babylon at Riblah. 27 There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the King had them executed. So Judah went into captivity, away from her land.”
From Nebuchadnezzar’s point of view these men were in charge and had led the people in revolt against himself. These people were largely responsible for the revolt, the war and the treason Nebuchadnezzar had endured. For their crime, they were summarily and mercilessly executed.
From Yahweh’s point of view these men were the leaders of the people. They were in charge. The chief priest and his men should have led the people in holiness, in worship and in living in covenant faithfulness. Yet they surrounded themselves with lying prophets to say what their itching ears wanted to hear. They perverted the Word of God, lied to the people and used their positions for self gain and for profit. They encouraged the worship of false gods and defiled the Temple with their images, their false sacrifices and their blatant sinfulness.
Now they were being marched to their execution.
We often picture God as a loving God who would never hurt anyone. We are tempted to see God as a cuddly grandpa on the porch, smiling blissfully at everything we do. We are tempted to think that God doesn’t worry about or doesn’t see our sin behind closed doors, our desire to listen to false prophets who say what our itching ears want to hear and our attempts to lead other believers away from the living God. The people of Judah made this very mistake and now were either being led towards execution or exile.
We need to understand that God is a loving God, a compassionate God who is slow to anger and abounding in love. But He is also a just God who cannot and will not tolerate sinfulness and perversion. God is a holy God who will punish sin. That creates both a warning and a blessing for us. If we repent and come to God on His terms (not ours) He is loving and forgiving and pours out abundant blessing upon us. But if we seek to come to God on our terms and to live our way and if we seek to manipulate Him, we just need to recall what happened to Judah and it’s people.
Prayer:
Using today’s Bible passage and notes write down points for
Adoration:
Confession
Thanks
Supplication:
· Pray that the Word of God would be fearlessly preached and boldly proclaimed in your church this weekend. Pray that each person would gain a greater understanding of God through the service on Sonday.
· Pray that there would be a growing sense of awe and wonder in your congregation towards God’s holiness and love. Pray that people would willingly, even joyfully repent as they hear the Word proclaimed.
1. Someone reads today’s notes and says to you, ‘But we have Jesus. We can sin and ask for forgiveness. Therefore God won’t judge us like He did the Jews.’ What’s a biblical response to this comment?
2. What can we say to a Christian who continues to wilfully sin, thinking that God’s grace will continue to cover them?
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