THE COST OF EVIL

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In Christ, Mark

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

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.

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

So in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem with his whole army. They encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it. The city was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city had become so severe that there was no food for the people to eat. Then the city wall was broken through, and the whole army fled. They left the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city. They fled toward the Arabah, but the Babylonian army pursued King Zedekiah and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. There at Riblah, the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes; he also killed all the officials of Judah. Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon, where he put him in prison till the day of his death.

On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, carried into exile some of the poorest people and those who remained in the city, along with the rest of the craftsmen and those who had deserted to the king of Babylon. But Nebuzaradan left behind the rest of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the movable stands and the bronze Sea that were at the temple of the Lord and they carried all the bronze to Babylon. They also took away the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, dishes and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The commander of the imperial guard took away the basins, censers, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, dishes and bowls used for drink offerings—all that were made of pure gold or silver.

The bronze from the two pillars, the Sea and the twelve bronze bulls under it, and the movable stands, which King Solomon had made for the temple of the Lord, was more than could be weighed. Each pillar was eighteen cubits high and twelve cubits in circumference; each was four fingers thick, and hollow. The bronze capital on top of one pillar was five cubits high and was decorated with a network and pomegranates of bronze all around. The other pillar, with its pomegranates, was similar. There were ninety-six pomegranates on the sides; the total number of pomegranates above the surrounding network was a hundred.

The commander of the guard took as prisoners Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest next in rank and the three doorkeepers. Of those still in the city, he took the officer in charge of the fighting men, and seven royal advisers. He also took the secretary who was chief officer in charge of conscripting the people of the land, sixty of whom were found in the city. Nebuzaradan the commander took them all and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. There at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king had them executed.

So Judah went into captivity, away from her land. This is the number of the people Nebuchadnezzar carried into exile:

in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews; in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem; in his twenty-third year, 745 Jews taken into exile by Nebuzaradan, the commander of the imperial guard. There were 4,600 people in all.

Jeremiah 52:1-30

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

What would lead God to ever thrust His people from His presence?

As we see in today’s devotion and the opening words of the closing chapter of Jeremiah, the answer is simple.

It is evil.

Now, before you start to think that this doesn’t or couldn’t apply to you or your nation today, you need to think again because the scriptures paint this picture about us and our human condition:

All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Now, insert evil in place of sin because it’s one in the same thing. No likes to say they have committed evil against the Lord or done evil in His sight. In fact, it’s as if the word “sin” has become more palatable for believers because it sounds a lot better than saying the word “evil” or its companion word, “wicked”. But no matter how much we want to wish it away, the following truth remains:

All of us have done evil in the eyes of the Lord and placed ourselves deserving of God’s judgment as a result. For there is always a cost for doing evil. Always.

Need an example?

Our scripture passage gives us one, providing a reminder of what happened to Judah and Jerusalem after they committed evil in the eyes of the Lord. This isn’t the first we are reading about this in the Bible. You can go back to 2 Kings or 2 Chronicles or even earlier in Jeremiah to see other accounts of the final events before Judah and Jerusalem were destroyed and the Israelites carried off into a seventy-year captivity by the Babylonians, all a part of God’s comprehensive plan to punish them for the transgressions they had committed against Him.

The evil doing in Judah started from the top and worked its way down. Our passage today begins with the king himself, Judah’s King Zedekiah who had this as the main bullet on his spiritual resume:

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehoiakim had done.

The king did evil and so his people simply followed suit. All of Judah and Jerusalem sinned liberally against God and did so with no reservation, shunning the warnings of the prophets. And so God responded in a way that was intended to send a message to Israel and any other person or nation who would choose to reject and oppose Him.

What was the message?

Simply put, the Lord essentially said, “If you turn away from Me, you will experience what it feels like when I turn away from you.”

And with that, scripture tells us He “thrust them from his presence” but not before they would experience the terror of facing an insurmountable enemy without God’s protection.

You see, King Zedekiah and his people found themselves surrounded and trapped inside the walls of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces who locked down the city, cutting off supplies from getting to the Israelites. Famine struck the people before too long as their food supplies became exhausted and a breaking point was reached, figuratively and literally. God’s word tells us that “the city wall was broken through and the whole army fled” leaving “the city at night through the gate between the two walls near the king’s garden”. Of course, Zedekiah chose to leave his people behind and went with the army as they “fled toward the Arabah” but they didn’t get far before the Babylonian army caught up with them “in the plains of Jericho.” The “soldiers were separated” from the king who was captures and “taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath” where the following sentence was carried out against Zedekiah:

1. His sons were killed before his very eyes.

2. All of Zedekiah’s officials were slaughtered in his sight as well.

3. His eyes were put out before he was “bound him with bronze shackles” and taken to Babylon where he was imprisoned until the day he died.

Did I mention there is a cost for evil?

As this was happening, Jerusalem was being laid to waste by the Babylonians. The beloved, sacred temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem were all set ablaze and burned to the ground. Not one important building was left standing. Ditto for the walls which were broken down, walls that had once fortified and protected the world’s holiest city.

As for the people, all were carried off into exile in Babylon with the exception of a remnant of the “poorest people of the land” who were left behind to “work the vineyards and fields.” The total number of Israelites who were hauled away numbered 4,600 and all of Jerusalem’s riches were taken away with them, most of it coming from within the Lord’s temple where bronze, silver, and gold were found in great prevalence.

And with that, God’s judgment had been executed in accordance with His will. His people chose to do evil in His sight, willfully and willingly turning from Him to sin, and in return, He showed them that there’s a serious cost to be paid for choosing that lifestyle.

Go back to my earlier statements about all of us today and where we stand before God. For indeed, all have sinned (committed evil) and fall short of His glory. Way short.

This is why God sent His only Son to serve as the atoning sacrifice for us all. Instead of killing us all because of the evil we had done in His sight, He chose to give up Jesus to die in our place but not before He suffered deeply while crucified on a cross, a cross we should have been nailed to. It’s because of this selfless act of love that we have a chance to be redeemed from the sins we have committed because when we place our faith and trust in Jesus as Savior, we gain justification which simply means we are made just as if we had never sinned, washed clean by His shed blood. Indeed, Jesus was, as Paul proclaimed Him to be, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world (John 1:29).

So friends, when you look to the cross, remember that there is a true cost for evil, a cost that we owed but Jesus paid for us. Then give thanks to Him as you realize that through Christ’s sacrifice, we have regained the opportunity to live in God’s glory one day forever if we believe that He is our Savior.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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