The Real Meaning of Life

Since we’re studying in chronological order, we now take a break from Isaiah and return to lessons about the kings of Israel and Judah.

Greetings, broken record here.

Did you ever read about Jesus being wrathful? The only time Jesus was angry was when they had turned the Temple into a flea market, and even then, Jesus never harmed anyone, He simply turned over tables. And we already know that God is just like Jesus (“If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”), why would we believe that God is angry and punishing? That is a lie created by Satan and has been perpetuated throughout the years, even unto this day.

So when we read about God being angry with the children of Israel and letting the Assyrians conquer them and take them captive, I don’t believe it. There is either something wrong with our limited knowledge of the meaning of words, something wrong in the translation, or perhaps the author misperceived God’s intentions, but I know God is not angry with sinners. God is love.

However, the scripture plainly describes how the children of Israel distanced themselves from God. The worshiped idols, and put more trust in them than they did God. They failed to move the occupants of the land out so that Israel could inhabit it, that was commanded by God. And it wasn’t because God hated the Canaanites, it was because they were not godly people; they worshiped idols, they sacrificed their own children to their gods. And since the land of Canaan was the land of “milk and honey”, God gave it as a gift to Israel. But the stipulation was that they drove the sinners out of the land, and they failed to complete that task.

So they removed themselves from God and His protection. How many times did the children of Israel go up against their enemies, and they asked God if He would bless them in battle. If they were true and faithful in loving God, He protected them and let them win. But if they separated themselves from Him, He was not able to protect them, and that is what happened in this case. Assyria involved Israel and took everyone captive, then moved pagans into Israel to occupy their cities. The land that God gave to Israel, they squandered away with their sins. This is yet another lesson in how, if we love God and stay with Him, He is able to protect us, but if we distance ourselves from Him, we fall prey to the cruel world.

The chapters of 2nd Chronicles today talks about King Hezekiah, who was a good king of Judah and returned things to order. He restored the Temple, and he commanded the priests and the Levites to return to the practices and rituals which the Lord had commanded. When you read these chapters, you’ll see the differences in the actions of Hezekiah versus the actions of previous kings who were not good. Hezekiah, scripture says, tried to return Judah to the way it was under King David.