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2 Kings 25:8-9 "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 bodyguard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. And he burned the house of the Lord, and the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down."

 

After all the sliding into sinfulness, all the prophetic warnings, all the attempts at getting the people to change, all the drama surrounding the prophets, all the wickedness and the refusal to confront it, finally the terrible day has come. On that day, the seventh day of the fifth month, time ran out for Jerusalem. On that day the walls were breached. On that day the temple and the king's house burned.

 

God does not give idle warnings. When the signs of the times and His prophetic messages are telling us something is coming, we can be sure something is coming. His warnings may, as they are meant to, spur us to repentance, prayer, and fasting, and we might then lessen what is coming, or even avert it altogether, but that does not mean His messages were untrue, just effective.

 

There comes a point, though, when chastisement must happen. We do not know the day or the month in advance, but it will come. For those who hear the warnings and see the signs of our times, and who lament that more people do not, the best thing to do is to prepare through repentance, confession, prayer, and fasting for ourselves, others, and for the world. Remember that the day may be coming, but that terrible day is not the last day. The last day is one of victory, not defeat.