July 18, 2026

2 Kings 24

3 Surely at the commandment of the Lord came this upon Judah, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he did;

This seems like a simple, unassuming verse, but there is a lot hidden in these words.

First off, while there is merit in the claim that Mannaseh's wickedness negatively impacted Judah, Mannaseh ruled almost 150 years prior to the Babylonian captivity. This verse feels very much like the blame game, because it definitely couldn't have had anything to do with them at the current present, right?

Unfortunately, this seems to be a theme we see play out with the Jews over and over again as they cannot seem to accept responsibility for their actions due to their overreliance on being God's chosen people and their over-conflation of works and salvation.

"We are the children of Abraham". "We follow the law of Moses". "This bad thing only happened because a wicked king 150 years ago made the Lord angry". "Our fathers liked the prophets because they were wicked... Now release Barabus".

Despite this, God loves each of His children and mourns their wickedness and departure from Him.

This pattern is etched in scripture so we can see it and avoid the same mistake. We cannot rely on who we are or what we've done in the past. We cannot rely on covenants made and entered into yesterday - we must ensure to the end. Exaltation is not inherited, the birthright is not inherited, God's people are chosen of God because they choose Him. Anyone can choose God. As Joshua taught, choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Every. Single. Day.

Saints - "Terrestrial glory was for those who had lived honorably in life but had not fully obeyed the gospel of Jesus Christ. Celestial glory was for those who accepted Christ, made and kept gospel covenants, and inherited the fullness of God’s glory."

What's the difference? Which are we?