Children of the Ruins
2nd Kings 24: The Reign and Captivity of Jehoiachin
8 Jehoiachin[b] was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. His mother’s name was Nehushta the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem.
9 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city [c]was besieged.
11 And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, as his servants were besieging it.
12 Then Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon; and the king of Babylon, in the eighth year of his reign, took him prisoner.
The Captivity of Jerusalem
13 And he carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house, and he cut in pieces all the articles of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said.
14 Also he carried into captivity all Jerusalem: all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land.
15 And he carried Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land he carried into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon.
16 All the valiant men, seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths, one thousand, all who were strong and fit for war, these the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon.
Zedekiah Reigns in Judah
17 Then the king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s[d] uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah.
19 He also did evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
20 For because of the anger of the Lord this happened in Jerusalem and Judah, that He finally cast them out from His presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
2nd Kings 25: Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around.
2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.
4 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king[a] went by way of the [b]plain.
5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.
6 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him.
7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put[c] out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
9 He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire.
10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.
11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude.
12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers.
The first temple was destroyed during the Siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar II of the Neo-Babylonian Empire in 587 BCE.[1]
No remains of the destroyed temple have ever been found. Most modern scholars agree that the First Temple existed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem
When a nation forgets God, the price is beyond belief.
In 2nd Chronicles 24: Joash repaired the house of the Lord, just a kidd he was as long as the youth have Godly leaders, you know they will go right.
2nd Chronicles 24: 15 But Jehoiada grew old and was full of days, and he died; he was one hundred and thirty years old when he died.
16 And they buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, both toward God and His house.
17 Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king. And the king listened to them.
18 Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass.
19 Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord; and they testified against them, but they would not listen.
2nd Chronicles 24: 20 Then the Spirit of God [a]came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood above the people, and said to them,
“Thus says God: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ ”
21 So they conspired against him, and at the command of the king, they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord.
Some 940,000 people died leaving the ultra-poor, leaving children to starve and die. Thus, my title Children of the Ruins
Some ten thousand people from Jerusalem were deported to Babylon while 940,000 died in the siege.
Imagine the children left behind.
When a nation forgets God, they lose their covering.
Our nation has forgotten its God, and we have lost our covering.
Have you noticed the levels of violence and the total disregard for law and order?
It’s nothing to smell marijuana when you go to Walmart or Kroger.
Hear me, a medical marijuana card only costs you 100 dollars.
We have lost our covering.
Once again, our children are about to be left without parents.
Death is the devil’s greatest crown; death is the devil’s covering.
Two years into the pandemic, an estimated 6.7 million children have lost at least one of their parents or caregivers because of COVID-19.
As of 2021, 140 million children in the world were orphaned.
Does anyone care that this world has lost its covering?
In Luke’s Gospel, chapter 15, you have the story of the prodigal son.
He walked out of his covering, he left God, he left the church, he enjoyed life, he enjoyed the women, he enjoyed the best.
Life was one great party until he ran out of money.
His covering had carried him that far, but now his life was a wreck.
I want to know, are you one of the children from the ruins?
You have lost your covering.
At one time, you loved Jesus, but like the prodigal, you left home.
Or maybe you were forced to leave.
It’s sad when a child has to grow up where no one cares.
The prodigal son had a father who cared.
The son said, “I will arise and go back to my father’s house.”
The father saw him a long way off.
When he finally embraced his son, what was the first order of business?
He called for a coat, a covering.
No matter what he was, he is forgiven.
No matter what the neighbors thought, he was covered.
1 Peter 1:18-19
New King James Version
18 knowing that you were not redeemed with [a]corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.