Start Time:	06:09 AM
End Time:	07:03 AM
Date:	July 22, 2014

 

TITLE: Jehoiakim King of Judah

Scripture: 2 Kings 24:1 – 20

God’s Message / God’s Commands / God’s Promises:

→ During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled. The Lord sent Babylonian,^[a] Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive. As for the other events of Jehoiakim’s reign, and all he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors. And Jehoiachin his son succeeded him as king. The king of Egypt did not march out from his own country again, because the king of Babylon had taken all his territory, from the Wadi of Egypt to the Euphrates River.  Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan; she was from Jerusalem. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father had done. At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it. Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his attendants, his nobles and his officials all surrendered to him. In the eighth year of the reign of the king of Babylon, he took Jehoiachin prisoner.  As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord.  He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.  Nebuchadnezzar took Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. He also took from Jerusalem to Babylon the king’s mother, his wives, his officials and the prominent people of the land. The king of Babylon also deported to Babylon the entire force of seven thousand fighting men, strong and fit for war, and a thousand skilled workers and artisans.  He made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah. Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah; she was from Libnah.  He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.  It was because of the Lord’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence.

NOTES:

Ø  God is true to His words both His promises for us and the consequences He declared for sins!  Know that God is true to His words, not just on the promises and victories He gave us but we ought to remind ourselves that God is true to His every word including the consequences of sin that He so detest!  Jehoiakim was Judah’s king and under the lineage of David, yet he is a king who is a slave to Babylon.  A king with no power and influence because God turned His back from Judah.  Let us not test our Lord and experience His wrath as Judah did that Josiah’s acts of returning back to God like no other, according to the Bible, was not able to convince God to turn His anger away. 

Ø  Life is a disaster when God is not with us.  The worst of all situations that we can have on earth is living with God turned against us.  Disasters upon disasters come and our enemies will be all around us waiting to devour and destroy everything we built and own.  God’s favor will be no where to find and it will be just a dark dark time.  Let us not drive ourselves into this situation and repent now!

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, gracious and loving God.  You are faithful and Your love endures forever.  You are slow to anger and abounding in love.  Jesus have mercy and let Your love overflows these times of our lives, when we are stubborn and hard headed and we want what we want without considering and understanding the actions we take.  Lord I am sorry for everything that I have done against You.  For everything that have caused You pain; for everything that have broken Your heart.  Lord I am sorry for such actions and I know no words are ever enough for man but I am grateful because all it took is our humility, Lord.  And so today, I come to You humbly, laying down everything, wash me Lord and let this cleansing poured out to the world.  I cannot speak for the world Lord but I know that it has not been doing what is right in Your eyes and possibly, disasters have come because of it but Lord, I believe that Your love and grace is greater than the sins of the world and You have redeemed us so thank You Lord for my salvation.  I praise and declare Your Name above all names because You alone have removed us from the pit that we are in and have covered us in every disasters that come our way.  Thank You because Your hands are stronger and powerful than any disasters coming and I can fully trust in You and You will keep us safe always.  Thank You Lord.  Give me a heart who seeks to please and do what is right Lord.  I never ever want to experience Your wrath Lord that’s because Your love and grace for me is stronger than Your anger.  Thank You Jesus!  I Love You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!