God Will Do What He Promises to Do

By Al Baker - Posted at FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS:

volume 20, number 32, August 12, 2021

“Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.” -Jeremiah 7:34

The Scriptures are replete with references to the consequences of sin. A person, family, church, or nation cannot live long without experiencing the consequences of disobedience to God and His word. God will do what He promises to do.

As the nation of Israel prepared to enter the Promised Land, Yahweh spoke through Moses to tell His covenant people that if they obeyed Him they would be blessed and prosper in the land (Dt.28:1-14), but He also told them that if they disobeyed Him they would be cursed with horrifying consequences (Dt.28:15-68). Israel very quickly disobeyed Him and went after false gods. God sent many prophets but the people continued in their disobedience. The northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. and the southern kingdom of Judah faced the same fate when Jeremiah began preaching around 630 B.C. Judah had fallen into unmentionable and unrepentant idolatry under wicked King Manasseh (697 to 643 B.C.) but experienced a brief respite under King Josiah (640-609) where he brought some religious reform. It did not last however. In 605 B.C. the Egyptian army and the remnant of the Assyrian army met the combined forces of Babylon and Medo-Persia at Carchemish in Syria. The Egyptians and Assyrians were routed and never again were major players in the Middle East. More importantly for Judah, the protection they had from time to time experienced through alliance with Egypt was gone. Very quickly the Babylonians moved on Judah.

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