A Complete Destruction

After King Zedekiah fled Jerusalem and drew the armies of Babylon away from the city, Babylon returned to finish the job. Jerusalem had been defiant against their God for years. YHWH had warned David and Solomon that idolatry would end up with both Jerusalem and the Temple being destroyed and forsaken by God. The City God chose for His Name to dwell and the Place He chose for His Name to dwell would be abandoned for a time.

Far off by the rivers of Babylon, Ezekiel was having a vision. As he sat in his house in the land of the Chaldeans where he had been exiled along with other Judeans, he had a vision of the Glory of God departing the Temple. Ezekiel had prophesied of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple while in exile, and now he was taken in the Spirit to Jerusalem. The Pre Incarnate Jesus showed him the hidden idolatry of the elders of the Jews, the secret worship place under the Temple Mount where they worshiped false gods and committed great abominations. Then he heard the command to defile the temple and fill the courts with the slain. The LORD had forsaken the land and city, He would not spare its destruction.

The glory of the LORD was seen by Ezekiel. Wheels within wheels, lifting up a crystal pavement on which the Throne of God sat, The Almighty God upon His throne, lifted up from Jerusalem and departed. This was not just symbolic, it was happening in real time. God had rejected the place He chose for His Name to dwell because of the sin of the sons of Israel. 

On the Ninth of Av, 586 BC, Nebuzaradan and the Babylonians army came into Jerusalem and burned the entire city. The palace and all the houses were burned. The Temple was burned. The great bronze sea and pillars of Solomon were broken into pieces and carried away in Babylon. All of the remaining Temple utensils were taken. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down all around the city. It would not longer be a place to hide from enemies, it had been defeated. 

Nebuzaradan took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, three officials of the Temple, and the last sixty men found in the city and brought them to Nebuchadnezzar. The King of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in Hamath. So Judah was led away into captivity, exiled from their land as Israel had been exiled from Samaria. All of this happened because Israel and Judah had rejected the Word of God. They were led out in exile according to the word of Jeremiah, so the land could enjoy its Sabbath rest for 70 years. It would remain desolate to fulfill the sabbath rest that sons of Israel had refused to give it. 

This judgment from God had been foretold. It would be accomplished, then He would bring the exiles back. It is related to future times of judgment that would come when Israel rejected the Messiah, with that timeline of judgment being extended until the Return of Jesus yet to come. God fulfills His Word to the letter. God used pagan kings to make it happen. Surely it is dreadful thing to come under God’s judgment, for there is not place to hide from it.