2 Corinthians 10

WEEK  14                                     2 Corinthians 10

THURSDAY  Reflections

Paul begins to deal with false teachers who have questioned his authority and his apostleship. Paul will confront the things he has heard in the next few chapters.

 

The false apostles have boasted about themselves. Paul doesn't use boasting in the way the false apostles and teachers. Paul boasts that he had the authority to build them up rather than tearing them down. Paul says he won't boast about things that were not given to him by God. Finally, Paul says that he will boast in the Lord, for only the ones who boast in God will be approved by God.  Paul’s boasts run counter to what the false apostles are doing; thus, he is indirectly condemning them.

2Co 10:1-18
(1)  Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:
(2)  But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh.
(3)  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:
(4)  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;)
(5)  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
(6)  And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
(7)  Do ye look on things after the outward appearance? If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that, as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's.
(8)  For though I should boast somewhat more of our authority, which the Lord hath given us for edification, and not for your destruction, I should not be ashamed:
(9)  That I may not seem as if I would terrify you by letters.
(10)  For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.
(11)  Let such an one think this, that, such as we are in word by letters when we are absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present.
(12)  For we dare not make ourselves of the number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.
(13)  But we will not boast of things without our measure, but according to the measure of the rule which God hath distributed to us, a measure to reach even unto you.
(14)  For we stretch not ourselves beyond our measure, as though we reached not unto you: for we are come as far as to you also in preaching the gospel of Christ:
(15)  Not boasting of things without our measure, that is, of other men's labours; but having hope, when your faith is increased, that we shall be enlarged by you according to our rule abundantly,
(16)  To preach the gospel in the regions beyond you, and not to boast in another man's line of things made ready to our hand.
(17)  But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
(18)  For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.

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2 Kings 25 Fall of Jerusalem and hope

Or not?

WEEK  14                                          2 Kings 25

TUESDAY  Reflections

Warning after warning, prophet after prophet, and now the time has come. Many never believed it could happen. Even after the subjugation of Egypt and then Babylon. Now the city of Jerusalem falls! The Temple is destroyed! It was beyond belief, which is why perhaps they never listened to God's warning. 

 

Unbelief about the inevitable is why so few come to God. Me die? God real? Me a sinful person? They won't believe it even when they see the evidence, but eventually, judgment comes on people, nations, companies, churches, etc.

 

However, even now there is a glimmer of hope. After years of imprisonment, the king of Judah, Jehoiachin, is released and sits at the table of the Babylonian king. He is no longer a captive but has a place of honor. There is hope that the line of David is not ended. 

2Ki 25:1-30
(1)  And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about.
(2)  And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah.
(3)  And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
(4)  And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain.
(5)  And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him.
(6)  So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him.
(7)  And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon.
(8)  And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem:
(9)  And he burnt the house of the LORD, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire.
(10)  And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.
(11)  Now the rest of the people that were left in the city, and the fugitives that fell away to the king of Babylon, with the remnant of the multitude, did Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carry away.
(12)  But the captain of the guard left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen.
(13)  And the pillars of brass that were in the house of the LORD, and the bases, and the brasen sea that was in the house of the LORD, did the Chaldees break in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon.
(14)  And the pots, and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels of brass wherewith they ministered, took they away.
(15)  And the firepans, and the bowls, and such things as were of gold, in gold, and of silver, in silver, the captain of the guard took away.
(16)  The two pillars, one sea, and the bases which Solomon had made for the house of the LORD; the brass of all these vessels was without weight.
(17)  The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and the chapiter upon it was brass: and the height of the chapiter three cubits; and the wreathen work, and pomegranates upon the chapiter round about, all of brass: and like unto these had the second pillar with wreathen work.
(18)  And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the door:
(19)  And out of the city he took an officer that was set over the men of war, and five men of them that were in the king's presence, which were found in the city, and the principal scribe of the host, which mustered the people of the land, and threescore men of the people of the land that were found in the city:
(20)  And Nebuzaradan captain of the guard took these, and brought them to the king of Babylon to Riblah:
(21)  And the king of Babylon smote them, and slew them at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried away out of their land.
(22)  And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.
(23)  And when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
(24)  And Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.
(25)  But it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, came, and ten men with him, and smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah.
(26)  And all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees.
(27)  And it came to pass in the seven and thirtieth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, that Evilmerodach king of Babylon in the year that he began to reign did lift up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah out of prison;
(28)  And he spake kindly to him, and set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon;
(29)  And changed his prison garments: and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his life.
(30)  And his allowance was a continual allowance given him of the king, a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life.

Reflections on the Fall

WEEK  14                        Reflections on the Fall

WEDNESDAY  Reflections

Think about what brought Israel and Judah to the place where they lost all that God had blessed them with. Are you grateful for all God has given you? Are you showing that gratefulness with obedience?

2 Kings 24

WEEK  14                                              2 Kings 24

MONDAY  Reflections

For this chapter, I'm going to give a history lesson.

 

1. King Jehoiakim- evil king- Judah is a vassal (under authority) of Egypt.  Babylon invades, and Judah becomes a vassal state. Captives were taken to Babylon (Daniel and others taken)

 

2. King Jehoiachin- evil king until exile - Jerusalem was besieged - the king was taken into captivity with others, including Ezekiel

 

3. King Zedekiah - evil king -Ezekiel begins to prophesy, but he doesn't acknowledge Zedekiah -God removes His presence from the nation. 

  2Ki 24:1-20
(1)  In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.
(2)  And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldees, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the children of Ammon, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by his servants the prophets.
(3)  Surely at the commandment of the LORD came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;
(4)  And also for the innocent blood that he shed: for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood; which the LORD would not pardon.
(5)  Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
(6)  So Jehoiakim slept with his fathers: and Jehoiachin his son reigned in his stead.
(7)  And the king of Egypt came not again any more out of his land: for the king of Babylon had taken from the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates all that pertained to the king of Egypt.
(8)  Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
(9)  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
(10)  At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
(11)  And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it.
(12)  And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.
(13)  And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the LORD, as the LORD had said.
(14)  And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land.
(15)  And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
(16)  And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
(17)  And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
(18)  Zedekiah was twenty and one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
(19)  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
(20)  For through the anger of the LORD it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, until he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Photo by Giammarco Boscaro on Unsplash

Ezekiel 19

WEEK  13                                        Ezekiel 19

SATURDAY  Reflections

The lioness in this parable is the story of the nation of Judah. First, Egypt came and took their king and made the nation a protectorate (2 Kings 23). The king following it fell into the hand of Babylon.  The problem is that both kings disobeyed God and did what was evil in God's sight. The later king didn't learn from the mistake of the previous king, and now the entire nation paid the price. What makes this a sad story, a lament, is that this didn't need to happen; they were the children of Josiah; they should have known better. If they had done what was right, they could have stood secure, a lion among the nations.  



Eze 19:1-14
(1)  Moreover take thou up a lamentation for the princes of Israel,
(2)  And say, What is thy mother? A lioness: she lay down among lions, she nourished her whelps among young lions.
(3)  And she brought up one of her whelps: it became a young lion, and it learned to catch the prey; it devoured men.
(4)  The nations also heard of him; he was taken in their pit, and they brought him with chains unto the land of Egypt.
(5)  Now when she saw that she had waited, and her hope was lost, then she took another of her whelps, and made him a young lion.
(6)  And he went up and down among the lions, he became a young lion, and learned to catch the prey, and devoured men.
(7)  And he knew their desolate palaces, and he laid waste their cities; and the land was desolate, and the fulness thereof, by the noise of his roaring.
(8)  Then the nations set against him on every side from the provinces, and spread their net over him: he was taken in their pit.
(9)  And they put him in ward in chains, and brought him to the king of Babylon: they brought him into holds, that his voice should no more be heard upon the mountains of Israel.
(10)  Thy mother is like a vine in thy blood, planted by the waters: she was fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters.
(11)  And she had strong rods for the sceptres of them that bare rule, and her stature was exalted among the thick branches, and she appeared in her height with the multitude of her branches.
(12)  But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.
(13)  And now she is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty ground.
(14)  And fire is gone out of a rod of her branches, which hath devoured her fruit, so that she hath no strong rod to be a sceptre to rule. This is a lamentation, and shall be for a lamentation.

Photo by Christine Donaldson on Unsplash