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7/25 Reading Portions: Judges 8; Acts 12; Jeremiah 21; Mark 7
Jeremiah 21:25
“I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, in anger and in fury and in great wrath.”
POURING
Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, was placed upon the throne by Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, when he carried Zedekiah’s nephew, Jehoiachin, to Babylon (2 Ki 24:17). Zedekiah was weak in will because he was void of gospel faith. He wanted the blessings of the LORD (Jer 21:2), yet he trusted in the arm of the flesh and the armies of other nations. He aligned himself with Egypt for strength and confidence against the Chaldean invaders (Jer 37:5). He wouldn’t listen to word of the LORD through the prophet Jeremiah (2 Chr 36:12), and he did what was evil in God’s sight (Jer 24:19). Therefore, God sent judgment upon Zedekiah, Jerusalem, and Judea through King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian armies.
Like Zedekiah, Satan had set us up as selfish kings over our own individual lives; thus, being enemies of God, as those possessing worldly wills who were void of gospel faith, as it is written:
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by His life. Romans 5:10
God Himself fought against the kingdom of “self-centered me” by pouring out His unbridled, holy justice (in anger and in fury and in great wrath) upon His only Son when Jesus was pinned to that tree at Calvary (with outstretched hand). The LORD took our souls captive and redeemed us by Christ’s gospel truth, delivering us from the kingdom of “carnality and worldly will” (with… [a] strong arm). Our sins are insidiously wicked against a holy God; and we deserve His fiercest anger in great wrath for every sin we commit against Him. Yet the LORD has provided one way of hope: and it is by gracious faith in Jesus Christ (Eph 2:8-9), which contains godly sorrow for sin and produces repentance unto eternal praise and joy (2 Cor 7:10). Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Your justice You will carry out
Deliv’ring those oppress’d,
Lest Your wrath burn unquenchable
On all our wickedness.