August 3, 2026; 2 Kings 24

Daily Dose of Hope August 3, 2026   Scripture: 2 Kings 24   Prayer:  Lord Jesus, How thankful I am that we live on the other side of the cross and that your grace is incredibly abundant. And yet, I know that you still allow me to experience the consequences of my behavior; there is still accountability. Lord, help me grow to reflect you more and to gradually live a life characterized by your holiness rather than my own inclination to sin. More of you, less of me. Amen   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope church daily Bible reading plan.  We are almost done with 2 Kings after a summer of learning about the divided kingdom, the various kings, and the exile.  Starting Wednesday, we will be deep diving into Genesis and Exodus.  Hope you will stay with us for that.  Emmy Roberts has agreed to keep up our Friday going deeper discussion.  I've loved my chats with her and I hope you do too.   For hundreds and hundreds of years, God warned his people: Obey the covenant, do not worship other gods, do not neglect the poor. And with just a few exceptions, the people disobeyed. There were judges and prophets sent to warn the people. In fact, there was no shortage of warnings. Yet, the people continued to turn away from God, to be influenced by the culture around them, and to follow the ways of the pagans.   In today's Scripture, 2 Kings 24, we see God lifting his hand of protection. His people have not held up their end of the covenant and he is finally allowing them to experience the consequences of their actions. It's hard to read and yet, we know it had to happen for the next stage of the journey to occur.   Let's talk a little bit about the invasion.  When Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, King Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. To be a vassal meant that Judah was subject to Babylon and under its control.  For some context, Nebuchadnezzar came against Jerusalem because the Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Babylon. In response, Nebuchadnezzar defeated the Egyptians and then he pursued their fleeing army all the way down to the Sinai (that's why in verse 7 it mentions that the Egyptian ruler does not come out of his country again – he's been thoroughly defeated).  On the way back, Babylon conquers Jerusalem, who had been loyal to the Egyptian Pharoah.   There will be two more invasions.  In fact, the siege on Jerusalem takes about one year.    King Jehoiachin follows Jehoiakim and not surprisingly, he is also evil.  He actually surrenders to Nebuchadnezzar, hoping to appease him in some way.  But that doesn't happen.  King Jehoiachin is taken captive and sent back to Babylon, as are thousands of Jerusalem's best and brightest.  All the wealthy and skilled people are exiled into Babylon and the treasures found in the Temple are carried off as well.  Jerusalem is impoverished of resources and skill.  Among the captives was the prophet Ezekiel, who wrote his book of while in captivity in Babylon.   Since Nebuchadnezzar has now completely humbled Judah, he puts a king on the throne whom he was pretty sure would submit to Babylon. He chose the uncle of Jehoiachin, and called him Zedekiah.  Shocking, he also did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  By this point, God is done.  The Scripture says he finally cast them out from His presence.   The final line of the chapter says that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.  I think we learn more about that tomorrow, in the final chapter.    And once again, we learn that sin has consequences.  God has a tolerance for just so much, and then he is done.  And he is sovereign so he can and will do anything among the nations to make his plan unfold.  We see this here.  Now I don't know about you, but I am incredibly thankful for living on the other side of the cross.  We know grace.  That doesn't mean that sin still doesn't have consequences though.  How have you seen this in your own life?   Tomorrow is the end of 2 Kings.  This should be interesting.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki