peace but has been a city of strife, secular and spiritual, and no city has had so much sorrow, y e t at t h at city was laid the founla- tion of peace on Golgotha, and it shall be w h a t. its n ame implies and secure on its foundation, its gates shall not be shut day nor night (Rev. 22:25-27). "They beseiged it." The horrors these words include are beyond imagination. For. two years hell must have reigned in the city. Read Deut. 28:51-57 for suggestions of such an ancient seige. II. THE FALL OF JERUSALEM. For two years the aw f ul conditions pre- vailed, and the horrors increased, till the bat- tering r a ms crashed through the walls be- fore them and "the city was broken up," and hope was gone; and the long threatened w r a th fell upon t h em; and their fatal error in forsaking the Lord, denying and abusing His prophets; in worsnipping false gods; and in t r u s u ng ialse propneis, Became, too late, eviaent enough. "The harvest was past, the summer was ended, and they were not saved" (Jer. 8:20) but lost! Even heart-repentance, the only efficient grace, was impossible to them. And so at last it will prove with all who leave the true God and the true gospel. Though it tarry, wait for It, because It will suiely come, it will not tarry" (Heb. 2 3) applies to the destruction of the sinner as truly as to the deliverance of the saint. III. THE CONFERENCE OF THE EN- They "sat In the middle gate," between the double walls, having penetrated the first. Like the soldiers at the cross (Mark 15:24) they deliberated over the sack of the city and wh at they should do with the spoils; whom they would blind; whom they would flay alive; whom they would slaughter; and how they would distribute the sorrowful maidens. "The way of the transgressor is hard" (Prov. 13:15) and his foes are cold and calculating, and "take council together" how they c.an multiply the jagged stones t h at tor- ture his flying feet. IV. THE FLIGHT OF ZEDEKIAH. "Then they fled." "How are the mighty fallen!" (2 Sam. 1:19, 25, 27). "O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end! How should one- chase a thousand" —(Deut. 32:29, 30). "If thou hadst known, even thou, the things that belong to thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes" (Luke 19:42). V. THE CAPTURE OF ZEDEKIAH. The Chaldeans . . . overtook Zedeklah. "The wicked shall fall, they shall not es- cape" (Job 1:20; Jer. 34:3). "Kiss the Son lest He be angry and ye perish from the way" (Psa. 2:12). "He that sitteth In the "Strength" and "Beauty" were broken and carried away. So vanishes the strength and beauty of all who a r r ay themselves against righteousness. The "brasen sea," the "cald- rons, snuffers, bowls> spoons, candlesticks, brasen bulls," etc., etc. (Jer. 52:17-20), gold, silver and costly bronze ("brass") all fell into the hands of the victor; but of w h a t use was all, or the city itself, since the worship
of God and the practice of holiness and truth, for which alone they existed, had failed? VIII. THE FATE OF THE UPPER CLASSES. "Carried away captive to Babylon." They had long lorded it over their poor brethren, they had' robbed and enslaved them, and now poetic retribution overtook t h em and they themselves are oppressed, robbed, and sub- jected to servitude; and on t h em who have worn the purple and fine linen, and fared so heavens shall laugh" (Psa. 2:4) when H e sees tho.se formerly bold and daring sinners t r y- ing to run a w ay from Him! VI. THE FATE OF ZEDEKIAH. His sons were put to death "before his eyes"; his eyes "put out" (which explains Eze. 12:13); with t h at last cruel scene in- delibly impressed on his memory, more gall- ing to his soul t h an the "chains" t h at bound his fettered ankles, he was carried off to Babylon. S'o the eyes of wicked men will take, their last look at all t h at is dear, and go into the "blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 13) with bitterest recollection. VII. THE SACK OF THE CITY. "They burned" and "brake down." The "Jachln," sumptuously in the midst of their oppressed brethren, the first and severest blow falls. Monopolists and exploiters of the, commodi- ties and the populace of the world may wise- ly weigh this oft repeated dispensation of history. . IX. THE SETTLEMENT WITH THE UP- PER CLASSES. "The poor of the people which had noth- ing." Blessed were they t h at had nothing, for they lost nothing, and gained much. They were left in the land, delivered from their tyrants, and put in possession of the land, the vineyards and fields (farms). This is an object lesson—and by it we learn to ex- pect t h at "yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be; yea, thou shalt diligently con- sider his place, and It shall not be," "but the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves In fatness" (Psa. 37:10, "Yea, the Lord Is mindful of His own." They suffer, in the world they have tribula- tion" (Jno. 16:33), but He who overcame the world, conquered for them. He can make even their "enemies to be at peace with them" (Pro. 16:7); and when issues are de- cided He " p u ts a difference between them and the Egyptians"—the ungodly—(Ex. 11:7). "Nebuchadnezzar gave charge" (the king's heart is in the hands of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth It withersoever He will" (Prov. 21:1). Therefore p ut your trust in such a King of Kings. As to Jere- miah (1) "take him"; (2) "look well to him"; (3)"do him no harm," on the contrary, "do unto him" anything, everything, "he shall say." ' Haste, ye great ones of Babylon, Neb- famous* pillars, "Boaz" and X. THE CHARGE CONCERNING JERE- MIAH.
Made with FlippingBook HTML5