RTW 2023

During Jehoiachin’s reign, the officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and besieged it.

2 Kings 24:10

“Nebuchadnezzar not only took the material treasures of Judah, but also the human treasures. Anyone with any skill or ability was taken captive to Babylon.” – David Guzik

• Our enemy not only takes the material treasures of God’s children, but he also seeks to take God’s children.
• “The like craft useth the devil, when he endeavoureth to take out of the way such as are zealous and active, valiant for God’s truth, and violent for his kingdom.” –  John Trapp

“The fall of Jerusalem didn’t come about in one cataclysmic battle; it occurred in stages.” – Russell Dilday

• Nebuchadnezzar initially subjugated the city about 605 BC
• Destruction from Nebuchadnezzar’s marauding bands followed from 601 to 598 BC
• The siege and fall of Jerusalem occurred under Nebuchadnezzar’s main army on 16 March, 597 BC
• Nebuchadnezzar returned to completely destroy and depopulate Jerusalem in the summer of 586 BC

About the timely work of our enemy

• The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
  Genesis 3:1
• The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”
  Job 1:7 (ESV)
• Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
  1 Peter 5:8 (ESV)
• In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
  2 Corinthians 4:4 (ESV)
• And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
  2 Corinthians 11:14 (ESV)

Am I as diligent about the steadfastness of my faith that the enemy is in his relentlessness to snare me in a moment of weakness?

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King Nebuchadnezzar took all of Jerusalem captive, including all the commanders and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, and artisans—10,000 in all. Only the poorest people were left in the land.
2 Kings 24:14

The poorest of all, who were most likely ignored by the rich and powerful, now were the proprietors of the land and holdings of those who mistreated them.

Wow.

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Never underestimate the power and craftiness of the enemy.