EXILED

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

He (God) brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

2 Chronicles 36:17-21

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever been rejected? Has anyone ever left you feeling exiled, abandoned, and alone?

I know I have and it’s one of the worst feelings in the world.

Nothing can make you feel emptier than desertion, particularly when the one who deserts you is someone close to you, someone you relied on, someone you trusted to honor, love, and protect you.

The Judean Israelites had to be feeling this way as we see the Book of 2nd Chronicles draw to a climactic finish. For the God that they once had on their side had now turned from them and allowed them to be taken from the Promised Land and its hallowed spiritual epicenter of Jerusalem.

We know that the people of Judah, having allowed themselves to slip into sin and away from God, had reached the point of no return with their Master and Creator. Despite God’s best efforts to communicate with His people as He tried to convince them to right their wrongs, the people refused to listen. Scripture actually tells us that they mocked God’s messengers, despised His words, and scoffed at every attempt to get them to repent and turn back to Him. Obviously, this angered God who had seen enough. If the people wanted to exile Him from their lives, then they would get a taste of what being exiled felt like.

As we look at our passage again, we see the penalty we can face when we decide to cherish sin and abandon God in our own lives. Look again at God’s word:

He (God) brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there.

He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.

Jerusalem, the city where God chose to make His dwelling place, was destroyed. The temple of the Lord in that city that had been restored and consecrated numerous times as Judah struggled with its spiritual identity was left in ruins. The Babylonians, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, had run roughshod over the southern kingdom, not only destroying property but killing Judeans without discrimination. Scripture tells us that the young, the elderly, and the infirmed were all victims of the sword. Only a remnant remained when the carnage ended and those fortunate enough to survive were hauled off into captivity for seventy years in Babylon.

I think it would have been a lot easier to just remain faithful and obedient to God, don’t you?

Friends, none of us like to be exiled by someone and as we see, God doesn’t take kindly to it either when we choose to treat Him that way. My hope is that we all learn from the mistakes of the Judeans and never choose to turn from the God who never wants to turn from us.

But rest assured that if we do reject Him, He will not hesitate to bring us into judgment and seek to correct our errors, bringing us out of sin and returning us to righteousness.

Please don’t even try to test God. For God’s word is crystal clear. It never works out in our favor when we do.

Amen

In Christ,

Mark

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