The recounting of Jerusalem’s fall is one of the most shocking chapters in all the Bible, especially if you were a Jew in those days! Jerusalem, the city of David, would never fall! Jerusalem, the city of God, could never fall! Could it? And yet it did and great was its fall!
The city was besieged until famine struck every stomach! The wall was breached, and then it was torn down! The king was forced to watch his sons being slaughtered before his own eyes were put out. He then lived out his days as a prisoner in a foreign land. Worse of all, the temple was totally destroyed and every article of gold and bronze furniture was broken down and carried away! How could this happen? Has God forsaken His people?
No. Absolutely not. The people had forsaken God! Warning after warning and prophet after prophet was ignored while sin and idolatry were indulged. God would surely not allow Jerusalem to fall, the place of His holy name.?.
Now they would realize God’s holy name is more about His character than it is a geographical spot or a temple made with hands! The truly shocking part of the story is not Jerusalem’s fall though. That was to be expected. The truly shocking, remarkable part of the story is that God is not finished! Out of this judgment will arise redemption!
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, surrounded by a thick wall. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, had a great fall. All the false prophets and her arrogant king couldn’t stop the devastating judgment upon her sin!
But through the Messiah, God will make Jerusalem anew again!
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