{"id":3489,"date":"2019-06-12T20:00:06","date_gmt":"2019-06-13T03:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=3489"},"modified":"2019-06-12T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2019-06-13T05:27:14","slug":"2kings_24_8-25_7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/2kings_24_8-25_7\/","title":{"rendered":"How God Expands His Territory in You"},"content":{"rendered":"

2 Kings 24:8-25:7 \u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nHi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 24:8-25:7.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 24:10-14 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it,
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it.
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Jehoiachin 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.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0As the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed all the treasures from the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and from the royal palace, and took away all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the\u00a0LORD.
\n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He carried into exile all Jerusalem: all the officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans–a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

On 2 Kings 24:8-19:\u00a0 These verses describe how in approximately 597 B.C. while Jehoiachin is king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invades Judah again, this time deporting back to Babylon approximately 10,000 Judahites, including King Jehoiachin, his mother, wives, officials, 7000 soldiers and 1000 craftsmen and artisans.\u00a0 Only the poorest of the poor are left in Judah.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar also takes all the gold inside the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, just as Isaiah the prophet had predicted in 2 Kings 20:13-18.\u00a0 This is the second time that people from Judah are deported to Babylon (the first time being in 605 BC during Babylon\u2019s first invasion of Judah).\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar then makes Jehoiachin\u2019s uncle Zedekiah king in place of Jehoiachin.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?
\n1.God is true to His Word.<\/strong>\u00a0 He will accomplish what He says He will do.
\n2.When King Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s kingdom advanced upon God\u2019s people in Judah, it was an invasion by force that hollowed the land of its best resources.\u00a0 Compare that to the way God\u2019s kingdom advances upon God\u2019s people:God\u2019s preferred way of dealing with people is not to invade their lives by force.\u00a0 Rather, God gently and patiently waits for us to open the gates ourselves and welcome Him.\u00a0 During our lifetime, He will only take over as much land as we willingly give Him.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0That\u2019s how God likes to expand His territory in us.\u00a0 As Jesus says in Revelation, \u201cHere I am: I stand at the door and knock.\u00a0 If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

God\u2019s goal in letting His kingdom take over your life is not to hollow you out like Nebuchadnezzar, but to fill you.\u00a0 God\u2019s goal in advancing His kingdom in your life is not to abuse you and enslave you, but to have you a love relationship with you and to set you free.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>And while Nebuchadnezzar\u2019s kingdom did not last, Jesus\u2019 kingdom will last forever.\u00a0 Those are crucial differences between the kingdom of men and the kingdom of God.<\/p>\n

2 Kings 24:20 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It was because of the\u00a0LORD’s anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah, and in the end he thrust them from his presence. Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.<\/em><\/p>\n

On 2 Kings 24:20-25:7:\u00a0 King Zedekiah of Judah has rebelled against Babylon, refusing to pay tribute to King Nebuchadnezzar.\u00a0 So King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invades Judah a third time, this time intent on destroying the capital city of Jerusalem completely.\u00a0 After laying siege to Jerusalem for almost 2 years, King Nebuchadnezzar sends the Babylonian army to break into Jerusalem, takes Zedekiah prisoner, and kills Zedekiah\u2019s sons in front of him before putting out his eyes and deporting him to Babylon.\u00a0 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sets fire to Jerusalem, burning down the temple, the royal palace, homes and every important building.\u00a0 Anything of worth in the temple is removed and taken back to Babylon.\u00a0 The priests and leaders of Jerusalem are executed.\u00a0 Jerusalem has fallen and lies in ruins.\u00a0 In Jeremiah 39, you can read of how the prophet Jeremiah experienced the fall of Jerusalem first hand.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0 While the fall of Jerusalem was triggered by Zedekiah\u2019s rebellion against King Nebuchadnezzar, in 2 Kings 24:20 we read of the ultimate reason why Jerusalem fell:\u00a0 it was because of God\u2019s anger against Judah\u2019s sin and Judah\u2019s persistent rebellion that Jerusalem finally fell.<\/p>\n

It goes to show that\u00a0rebelling against God always comes at a cost.\u00a0 When we keep rebelling against God, we risk losing everything that God has entrusted to us.<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0We are always better off trusting God than rebelling against Him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, thank You that when Your kingdom advances in my life and in my land, it is not a burden that enslaves me, but a blessing that sets me free. Thank You for being a king who does not force His way into our lives, but who is patient and merciful even when we are rebellious, and who gently waits for us to open the door to You. Expand Your territory in my life today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is 2 Kings 24:8-25:7.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

2 Kings 24:10-14 (NIV)\u00a0
\n10\u00a0\u00a0At that time the officers of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon advanced on Jerusalem and laid siege to it,\u00a0
\n11\u00a0\u00a0and Nebuchadnezzar himself came up to the city while his officers were besieging it.\u00a0
\n12\u00a0\u00a0Jehoiachin 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.\u00a0
\n13\u00a0\u00a0As the\u00a0LORD\u00a0had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed all the treasures from the temple of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and from the royal palace, and took away all the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the\u00a0LORD.\u00a0
\n14\u00a0\u00a0He carried into exile all Jerusalem: all the officers and fighting men, and all the craftsmen and artisans–a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On 2 Kings 24:8-19:\u00a0 These verses describe how in approximately 597 B.C. while Jehoiachin is king of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon invades Judah again, this time deporting back to Babylon approximately 10,000 Judahites, including King Jehoiachin, his mother, wives, officials, 7000 soldiers and 1000 craftsmen and artisans.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3489"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3628,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3489\/revisions\/3628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}