It’s sad to see how far God’s people can fall. Adam and Eve plunged the world into sin but God promised a Savior. Then humanity continued to fall further from God so He sent a flood but saved humanity and His promise by using Noah and the Ark. God continued His plan through Abraham and his descendants and ultimately God raised His people up out of slavery to give them a great nation of their own. A nation that was prosperous and safe. A nation for which God Himself fought. All that nation had to do was remain faithful to their true King; the Lord of all creation. Unfortunately, God’s people begin to worship other gods and unapologetically broke every one of God’s commands.

As the people of Israel fell further and further away from the One who gave them the land in the first place, more and more of that land is stripped away. First the kingdom was divided into Israel and Judah. Then bits and pieces of the kingdoms were broken away by other nations. After that Israel was led off to captivity by the Assyrians. Which brings us to the kingdom of Judah. Just like Israel they have repeatedly turned away from God and ignored his pleas for them to return. In the end, like a parent who knows tough love is the only thing that will get through to their child, God follows through on what He has said He would do. However, as we read last week, even in exile God’s plan to save the world will continue on.