Nebuchadnezzar, Divine Judgment, and Lamech's Reversal

Nebuchadnezzar was an evil man, but God called him His servant in Jeremiah 25. God called Nebuchadnezzar His servant for divine judgment upon the Middle East because the Middle East were out of alignment, including Judah as well. So, God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant in the context of bringing judgment upon the Middle East and upon Judah as well. Yet Babylon is subsequently judged for its own wickedness as well, 70 years later. So, God's use of a nation for His purpose does not imply His approval of everything that nation does. So again, just because He raised up Nebuchadnezzar, that didn't mean Nebuchadnezzar was righteous and holy and all that. He used him as an instrument of judgment on the Middle East. Jeremiah 25 will go through that with you, and also to Judah as well, because they were out of alignment. And He will use a Nebuchadnezzar, or an Antichrist, or Antiochus Epiphanes IV, or General Titus, or whoever it may be, to get our attention.

So, that is His divine judgment using violence by Him. He's the one who declares that, just like the prophets declared that Nebuchadnezzar would do that. So, God was not just a mean God to Israel. He warned Israel for 23 years, Jeremiah did, and all the other prophets did, and they didn't listen. They didn't want to go back to the ancient past. So, God just didn't bring violence and judgment upon them. He gave them ample time to repent. Remember about Nineveh, Jonah. Nineveh was wicked, and then Jonah went into Nineveh, told the people they were about to be judged for 40 days, 40 nights, and they repented. And God did relent. So again, God doesn't, God doesn't want violence. He doesn't want any man to perish. At the same time, after a nation or an individual has enough time to repent, according to Him, the gavel will come through whatever measure that may be, through divine judgment, through Nebuchadnezzar, through another human being, to us, or whatever that may be, with pestilence, with whatever it may be.

In Joshua 6, we have another understanding of this as well, as God's divine judgment through Joshua. The conquest of Jericho is presented within the biblical narrative as an act of divine judgment. This must be distinguished from personal vengeance or a general permission for individuals to wage war whenever they believe their cause is righteous. Okay. And that's where I believe we are today with the world is this distinction here from personal vengeance or a general permission for individuals to wage war or terror whenever they believe their cause is righteous and not from Elohim. Let's look at David as well. David in 1 Chronicles 22:8. We know that David did a lot of divine judgment for the Lord. He and Joshua did. The thing about the difference between Joshua and David and our generation now is we don't have a Joshua and we don't have a David. Joshua was holy. He was in the tabernacle of God all the time.

If you read it, he never left. If you read some of the passages, totally amazing. The people were holy after the 40 years in the desert. They crossed over. They were circumcised. They ate the Passover. They were holy. And then they got the victory of divine judgment. But who is in front of them doing this? In Joshua 5, Yeshua is in front of them doing this. So again, Joshua didn't do it by Joshua. Joshua did it by Yeshua, the Commander of the Lord's armies, that he ran into in Joshua 5, and then they went to go conquer Jericho and then the rest of the promised land, or not the rest of the promised land, but the portion that they were going to conquer. Joshua did not conquer all of the promised land. You can read that in Joshua 13 and Joshua 23, that he left the land for I myself to do it at the second coming events. So that's where people really need to look at the book of Joshua to understand how God Himself left the promised land for His Son Yeshua to completely fulfill, conquer the seed of David, the seed of Abraham.

So again, that's Joshua. Now let's go to David. David was another warrior for the Lord, divine judgment. Remember, David was righteous, the Davidic covenant. We do not have a David here today. So, David fought many battles. He asked the Lord before he went to battle. If you go read that, he always asked Him, "Should I go?" And most of the time he said, "Yes, go. You've got the favor. You got the victory." So God, David always prayed to the Lord about the battles, and that's why he never lost a battle, David didn't. Yet God tells David that he has shed much blood and will not build the temple. Instead, Solomon, whose reign is associated with rest and peace, will build the house of the Lord. So, even again, great King David, the Davidic covenant, who Yeshua is going to sit on His throne for a thousand years and forevermore. Even King David had blood on his hands that he could not build. Now, it was righteous, but he still could not build the temple because of the blood on the hands.

Very important. God does not want violence and blood on the hands, even through the great King David that we all love. God's desire for repentance. This is Ezekiel 33:11. This is very important for all the believers to understand how God's heart posture is for all of mankind, not just the Jews, not just the Christians, but for all of mankind. God declares that He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but desires that the wicked turn from their ways and live. These passages establish a consistent biblical principle. God is righteous in judgment, but He does not delight in human cruelty or the love of violence. That distinction prepares us for the teaching of Yeshua. So, Part Three, Yeshua reverses the principle of Lamech. Remember Lamech said that 77-fold vengeance becomes 77-fold forgiveness. This is really awesome. And most people don't put this together, but if you're just joining us, Lamech pronounced that if Cain was sevenfold judgment on whoever killed Cain, that Lamech would have 77-fold judgment because of his arrogance and all of these things.