17/02/2022 - THEY BURNED JERUSALEM

• 
• 
• 
• 

Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. Judges 1:8

The city of Jerusalem has a troubled history, for it seems that the devil knew the Lord’s plans for it and sought to occupy it. The enemy wanted it to remain defamed, without the manifestation of divine mercy. It was there that Abraham had offered his son on the wood of the burnt offering, obeying God’s command. Without knowing it, the patriarch proved to the Most High that he also had the courage to give his son, to get him back later (Hebrews 11:17-19). What a revelation!

The first Adoni, known as Adoni-Zedek who reigned in Jerusalem, gathered a confederation of Amorite kings to teach Gibeon a lesson for making peace with Israel. This king wanted to destroy him, because he thought that he had betrayed the origin of the Amorites. So, he gathered four other kings of the same race and set out to fight against the Gibeonites. Actually, he was partially right, but everything did not go as planned, for God cooperated with Joshua, and the five kings lost, including their lives.

The warriors of the enemy king had no idea that Jacob’s sons would go out to put an end once and for all to the wickedness of their king and his subjects. The struggle was great, but the victory they thought they would achieve was not on their side. Judah took Jerusalem, which would no longer be the capital of any evil kingdom, because there were orders to reduce it to ashes. Nothing that belongs to the evil people is good for anything. Judah was being led by the Lord´s angel, who was using him. Amen!

Those guarding Jerusalem resisted, but were no match for Israel, who fought until victory was achieved. The Amorites fought bravely to keep possession of the city, but they saw Adoni-Bezek, their greatest, fall into the hands of their opponents, with the thumbs of his hands and the thumbs of his feet cut off. Then, they felt that all was lost, because the Israelites had arrived to teach a lesson that would never be forgotten by all of Canaan. Hallelujah!

Judah struck all by the edge of the sword; no one survived. To them, the spoils that their eyes saw were like sin, so they soon turned the city into a huge bonfire, and everything was burned. It was like a token that, at the return of the Son of God, the whole earth with its riches, its beautiful palaces, its mighty industries, and other goods, which are the pride of men, will be consumed by fire. Then God will make new Heavens and a new Earth!

Whoever saw the pomp of that mad warlord could not imagine that it would be completely destroyed. So it will be at Christ’s return: not one stone will be left, and the burning elements will weld together. There is no escape for the world. Those who wish to be saved must seek salvation in Jesus, for the day of His return will be so terrible that no one will bear to look upon such destruction. The saved will be with the Lord whom they love!

God is warning that there is still a way to be saved, provided they stop living for worldly pleasure, lust, and the deceitfulness of riches. The redeemed cannot see what the lost do, nor imitate them, but rather give themselves to God by repenting of their sins and receiving salvation with the baptism in the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Oil, no one will enter the Kingdom of God!

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares