Sermon Title: The Lord’s Anger
Scripture: 2 Kings 24:18—25:7
Theme: God’s anger most often takes the form of allowing our foolish choices in life to bear their bitter fruit. He doesn’t have to send lightning bolts or earthquakes. He simply allows us to make a choice and live with the consequences.
The sermon topic today is probably the most unpopular one in the Bible. We live in a “feely-touchy” time and even many Christians simply reject the idea that God has anger. Many will say that God is a God of love, and He would never punish anyone. Some parents even say that they never punish their children because “they love them too much.” The parents who say that will probably bring up maladjusted children who may have major problems in their lives.
Psychologists tell us that a very natural part of a child’s development is knowing that there are certain boundaries in life and that one might experience pain and suffering if he/she crosses those barriers. They further say that a child who lives with boundaries set by the parents actually feels loved, not hated, by his/her parents.
Regardless of how parents choose whether or not to discipline their children, the Bible is clear that God is willing and able to discipline His children. This discipline is not contrary to His love—it is a profound expression of it.
Hebrews 12:7 says: “Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their fathers?”
One extreme is to deny that God would ever punish His children. The other extreme is to focus so much on the judgment of God that God seems to be a tyrant who delights in catching us in sin.
One of the most famous sermons ever preached was by Puritan preacher Jonathan Edwards in Enfield, Connecticut on July 8, 1741. The sermon is “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God.” Edwards describes God’s judgment of sinners in such a dramatic way that people in the audience were wailing and crying out for God’s mercy! Some even fainted.
The Old Testament shows us that God’s anger is sometimes expressed dramatically and powerfully. Sodom and Gomorrah were 2 evil cities filled with people who were guilty of every manner of idolatry and sexual immorality.
God sent Lot to warn them of His impending judgment, but the people refused to listen. In Genesis 19, He warns Lot to leave and then He rains down fire and brimstone from heaven and totally destroys these two cities.
In Exodus 7-11, God inflicts the Egyptians with 10 plagues as He seeks to break the Pharaoh’s will. God had sent Moses with a demand to the Pharaoh to let the Hebrew slaves go. Out of pride and arrogance, the Pharaoh refuses, and God sends suffering upon the Egyptians until the Pharaoh finally relents.
Sometimes, God’s anger is dramatic and explosive and is unleashed on pagan nations as well as Israel. This shows us that God is Lord not only over Israel but also over the nations of the world.
The passage we have read today describes the saddest event in the Old Testament. Babylon is building its empire that will control the entire Ancient Near East. The Babylonians lack one nation—Egypt. Judah lies in the path.
Although Babylon had a strong army, their preference in conquering nations was not to destroy them. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon and the leader of the army, seeks only to occupy Judah peacefully. He only wanted to make Judah a vassal state which meant that the people would not fight the Babylonian army, and Judah would pay tribute money to prevent Babylon from destroying them.
During this time, God had sent Jeremiah the prophet to warn the people of Judah that God’s judgment was coming on them because of their unfaithfulness to the covenant they had made with Him.
Jeremiah’s message is that God will allow Babylon to conquer them and that they should surrender to the Babylonians! We cannot imagine how unpopular such a message would be. It would be like a national leader today who calls upon our nation to surrender to the demands of the terrorists of the world and not to resist them when they enter our nation.
Because of this unpopular message, Jeremiah was hated and despised. He was imprisoned more than once and attempts were made to kill him. It is little wonder that he is called “the weeping prophet.” God called him to preside over the funeral of Judah!
While Jeremiah warns them that resisting Babylon is futile, the advisors to the king of Judah convince him to oppose the Babylonians. Apparently, they have become influenced by a fanatical kind of patriotism which maintained that since the Temple was in Jerusalem and God lived in it, He would never allow the pagans to conquer Jerusalem and the Temple.
Our passage tells us that Zedekiah is the king of Judah. He is young and weak. His advisors convince him to revolt against Babylon by refusing to pay the tribute money. They assure him that God will miraculously spare Judah from harm. Nebuchadnezzar is the king of Babylon and the leader of the army. Upon hearing of Judah’s revolt, he wastes no time in leading his army to surround the walled city of Jerusalem. His army lays siege to Jerusalem. Some are able to escape, but most are trapped inside.
Nebuchadnezzar erects battering rams around the city. These primitive weapons actually pound the wall at its base. For almost 2 years, his army pounds the walls. He is able to cut off the city’s food supply. Fortunately, an earlier king, Hezekiah, had built a tunnel underground which protected Jerusalem’s water supply.
In 586 B.C., a part of the wall collapses, the Babylonian soldiers crawl into the city, but they encounter little resistance. Most of the Jews have died of starvation and the few who are left are too weak to fight. Nebuchadnezzar plunders the temple, taking out the sacred vessels of gold and silver which were used in the sacrificial rites. Then, he orders his men to set fire to the temple, the palace, and all the buildings. Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed.
Zedekiah and his guards flee, but Nebuchadnezzar’s soldiers catch him and bring him back. Nebuchadnezzar brings Zedekiah’s 2 sons to him and executes them before his very eyes. Then, his soldiers put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and he is bound in chains and taken away to Babylon where he is never heard from again. We are told in verse 20 of the text we have read today that these things happened because of the Lord’s anger.
God never unleashes His anger on His people without warning them. He sent Jeremiah His prophet to preach to them and warn them that judgment was coming. In Jeremiah 6:8, the prophet warns the people of Jerusalem that destruction is coming. On one occasion, Jeremiah puts an ox’s yoke around his neck and walks around Jerusalem telling people that this is the way they will be taken from Jerusalem by the Babylonians unless they repent and change their ways. God always warns His people.
Almost every hurricane season, some parts of our country will be threatened with heavy winds and rain. Days before the storm comes, television stations will cut into their normal programming and tell people to leave their homes and seek safety on higher ground. Yet, inevitably, we’ll see newscasts where people have climbed onto their roofs waiting for a rescue boat to save them. Why is it so hard to heed warnings?
Despite all the claims to the contrary, God will punish us as His people when we refuse to heed His warnings and live our lives for ourselves instead of for Him. Sometimes, His judgement comes to us in dramatic, powerful ways, but most often, He simply turns us over to our own devices and allows us to suffer the consequences of the foolish and selfish choices we make.
