Fallen

In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, a breach was made in the city.

Jeremiah 39:1-2

Prophecy is rooted in history. Jeremiah's prophetic pronouncements were placed specifically in time and location. The events recorded (to the very day) of the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar's invading forces fit the pronouncements that God made through His prophet Jeremiah in every detail. God had been warning the citizens of Jerusalem of impending judgment for a generation. And when the wall was breached, it all became very real.

Jeremiah warned king Zedekiah of this reality well before Babylon laid siege to the city for eighteen long months. Judah was warned that the city would collapse under the siege (Jeremiah 38:18-23). And just as God warned the king of Judah, so it happened. The patient Babylonian army shut off the city and began work at breaching the wall. And when they broke through, nothing would stop the fury of war. Zedekiah was blinded and led captive to Babylon as a humiliated war prize. His last sight before his eyes were blinded was to see his own sons murdered in front of him. Jeremiah however was given special care by the invaders because God was still speaking though His prophet (Jeremiah 40:11-12). A wicked king suffers. A prophet is protected.

One day, as God had warned, the wall fell and the city was plundered. The Jews in Jerusalem were rounded up. Leaders were executed. Families were broken up. Survivors were led captive to a far away Gentile culture to suffer the curses of the disobedience to the covenant that God had warned were coming. And in all this, God's Word was true. History shows it plainly to us. And it should serve as a vivid reminder of the power of God's sovereign will as He reveals it.