God is Sovereign Over the Nations - 2 Kings 21-25

 2 Kings 24:1-4 (ESV)

In his days, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him. And the LORD sent against him bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the LORD that he spoke by his servants the prophets. Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the LORD, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD would not pardon.

God is sovereign!  That is a major take-a-way when reading the Bible in general and the books of the Kings in particular.    First and Second Kings are the stories about the leadership of the kings who lead God’s people after the nation split between Israel and Judah.   All the kings of Israel were evil leaders.   Most of the kings of Judah were evil leaders. In the above passage we read about one of the last kings of Judah, Jehoiachin.   He was evil.     But, when Judah was taken captive under his leadership it was not only because of his evil leadership but because of all those who came before him and lead in a way contrary to God’s Law.   The interesting aspect of this is that God used Babylon, another evil nation, to take His chosen people into captivity.  If we read the prophet Habakkuk we will read about his objection to using this evil nation to punish God’s “people.”  Yet, that a the truth to take from this.  God is sovereign and He will do what He pleases.    He uses one evil peoples or person to punish and/or correct another.   God’s ways are hard for us to understand, but even more difficult if we refuse to believe and worship and respect His sovereignty.  He can do what He wants as long as He does not violate His own character.  That is the one thing God can’t do - violate His divine attributes.   We are to worship Him for how He sovereignly directs the nations.