2Kings 17:7-23
Thursday, 11 January 2024
Again and again the LORD had sent his prophets and seers to warn both Israel and Judah: “Turn from all your evil ways. Obey my commands and decrees—the entire law that I commanded your ancestors to obey, and that I gave you through my servants the prophets.” -2Kings 17:13 [NLT]
God's chosen nation became a dead branch floating down the river—its destruction as a nation was swift when God took His hand of protection and guidance from it. The tragic story of the nation of Israel due to their own sin had paved a way for Assyrian captivity. Time and again, God sent His servants to bring them to repentance. The judgment of God came after much warning through His prophets as we see from the key verse. God sent them away into captivity because they were irreparably corrupt as a nation. Since they were unwilling to heed, the only provision according to the mercy of God was to chastise them through the hand of the Assyrian king.
Sin of Israel—Idolatry:
The major sin of Israel was Idolatry. They made their own gods and worshipped them, just like the pagan nations before them. 2Kings 17:15 [NLT]: They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they despised all his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols, so they became worthless themselves. They followed the example of the nations around them, disobeying the LORD’s command not to imitate them. God had overthrown the pagan nations right in front of them because of the same sin, but they did not heed to the lessons learnt through the history of other nations. C.H. Spurgeon said: “Another person’s shipwreck aught always to be a beacon to us.”
Along with the sin of Idolatry, all kinds of pagan practices entered the community—including immorality, sorcery, causing their children to pass through fire, practicing witchcraft, soothsaying and all sorts of wicked things. The land became polluted in all ways and brought in the judgment of God into their nation.
Sin of Contemporary Christians:
It is easy to see how much of the world has entered the church today! Many sins mentioned in the Bible are no longer considered sin and are acceptable to many Christians. Paul takes the example of Israel to warn us: All these things happened to them as examples—as object lessons to us—to warn us against doing the same things; they were written down so that we could read about them and learn from them in these last days as the world nears its end. (1Cor.10:11 TLB).If we don’t take heed to what God says to His people, we will also end up in the same peril as our ancestors. In today’s churches we can see a lot of people who are self-catered and not Christ-centered. They want their way and not the way of the Lord—the principles in God’s Word are not given the priority as it should.
We are again warned about godlessness in the latter days: 2Tim.3:5 [NLT]: They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! Let us learn from the shipwrecks that happened to Israel and stay away from all kinds of idols in our lives. Turn away from a Self-centered life to a Christ-centered life. Trust in God with a child-like faith and walk in His ways!
Prayer: Dear Father in heaven, I pray that You guide me step by step every day to walk free of a self-centered life and to avoid idols in my life. Let my life be Christ-centered and may it be pleasing to You. In Jesus name. Amen.