Limited Mercy - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Kings 23:26,

"Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to arouse his anger."

Eight of the kings of Judah did what was "right in the eyes of the Lord" and the others did what was "evil in the eyes of the Lord." Josiah was a good king and rid Judah of all of the filth of idolatry his father, King Amon, and his grandfather, King Manasseh, had reestablished in the land.

"Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the Lord. Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the Lord as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." Verses 24-25.

In spite of King Josiah's devotion to the Lord and his actions in turning the nation back to the Lord, the Lord had already had enough. No mercy, no matter what. Judah was at the end of the line and no amount of good deeds, no amount of pleading, no appeal to the love of the Lord would have any impact on the Lord's determined destruction of the nation. Judah was done.

It reminds me of a reality we all face today. Where many appear to presume upon the love of the Lord and his forgiveness, no one will enter the kingdom of heaven apart from embracing the Lord in faith in this life. Just as Judah faced a bitter and horrific judgment from the Lord, so will all who reject the Lord today. There will be no mercy, no matter what. No appeal, no opportunity later on.

The Roman Catholic concept of a half-way house following this life, Purgatory, is a pure fiction. Found no where in the Scriptures, found no where in the writings of the Lord's prophets, found no where in the Lord's teachings, it is a pure fiction invented by men involved in a bastardized form of Christianity, rife with its own filth of idolatry. Each and every human will leave this life for one of only two destinations - heaven or hell. Those who embrace Jesus Christ in faith will be headed to heaven, and those who do not will be headed to hell. There will be no appeal, no opportunity to "take care of it later".

We all die, and when we do, our destination is firmly fixed - just as Judah's destination was fixed when they discovered the limited nature of the Lord's mercy.

Don't put it off! Embrace the Lord today!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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