Today’s Reading: 2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 51-52, Psalm 79

So on January 15, during the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon led his entire army against Jerusalem. They surrounded the city and built siege ramps against its walls. Jerusalem was kept under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah’s reign. – 2 Kings 25:1-2

It had been two and a half years of terror. Those who were still in the city had been hiding behind the protection of the walls of Jerusalem. The famine within the city had become severe and there was nothing left to eat. A section of the wall finally succumbed to the siege and collapsed. The city was surrounded by Babylonians; there was no hope for survival.

The king and his soldiers decided to make a run for it. They waited until nightfall and escaped out of a gate behind the king’s garden, but the king was quickly captured. The Babylonians pronounced judgment on King Zedekiah, and made him watch as they slaughtered his sons. Then they gouged out his eyes so that the last image he would ever see would be the painful death of his family and the destruction of his city. They bound him in chains and led him to Babylon.

So this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I will bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle with horror. – 2 Kings 21:12

King Nebuchadnezzar and his officials came to Jerusalem to celebrate their victory. They set fire to the Temple, the palace, and all of the houses in Jerusalem. If a building was important, it came down. The army continued to pull down the wall around Jerusalem until there was very little left to what was once a magnificent city. It had been the place where families came to offer their sacrifices and celebrate the religious festivals. The Temple had been the pride of the people — the place where the God of Israel dwelled among His creation.

Everything made of gold, silver, or bronze was carried away by the Babylonians, as were the remaining residents of Jerusalem. Only a small group of the poorest people in the land were left to tend to the vineyards and fields. The last of the priests and leaders were brought before the king of Babylon and executed.

O God, pagan nations have conquered your land,
your special possession.
They have defiled your holy Temple
and made Jerusalem a heap of ruins.
They have left the bodies of your servants
as food for the birds of heaven.
The flesh of your godly ones
has become food for the wild animals.
Blood has flowed like water all around Jerusalem;
no one is left to bury the dead.
We are mocked by our neighbors,
an object of scorn and derision to those around us.
O Lord, how long will you be angry with us? Forever?
How long will your jealousy burn like fire? – Psalm 79:1-5

In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king’s table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived. – 2 Kings 25:27-30

HE PUT ASIDE HIS PRISON CLOTHES.

After 37 years of being imprisoned, God gave Jehoiachin favor with the new king of Babylon. I love the symbolism of Jehoiachin taking off his prison clothes in order to sit at the king’s table. The weight of the chains was gone, and he was experiencing some level of freedom and luxury once again. But what if Jehoiachin had continued to wear his prison clothes while feasting at the king’s table? What if he continued to identify with his old life instead of embracing this new opportunity?

So Christ has truly set us free. Now make sure that you stay free, and don’t get tied up again in slavery to the law. — Galatians 5:1

We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus. – Romans 6:6-11

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Father God, we thank you for the freedom that is available to us because you were willing to give your Son as a sacrifice for our sins. We are grateful for the opportunity today to cast off our prison clothes — to stop identifying with our sin and to no longer allow our shame to define who we are. We are a new creation in you, and so we come to your table as a child of God — redeemed, restored, renewed, and ready to be used by you today.