Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Judgement is Coming | Historical Books | 2 Kings 23:31-35

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

Do you believe that sin is a big deal? Do you believe in a final judgement? How can we be free from sin? In today's episode, Keith shares how 2 Kings 23:31-35 encourages us to put our hope and faith in Jesus. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we’re exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 2 Kings 23:31-35

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Keith Simon. On the first day of teaching his class of 250 college freshmen, the professor, a guy named R.C. Sprole, carefully explained what his expectations were for each of the three term papers. Each paper was going to be due on the last day of a month. The first one would be due the last day of September, the second, the last day of October, and the third, the last day of November.

Sprole said, look, I've given you plenty of warning, so there won't be any extensions granted. Well, at the end of September, about 225 of the 250 students turned in their paper, while 25 students quaked in fear. They said, we are so sorry. We just didn't make the proper adjustments from high school. Could you please be kind to us and let us turn it in late? We promise we'll do better the next time. So the professor, R.C. Sprole, he gives in and he says, okay, that's fine.

I'll give you an extension, but don't be late the next month. Well, the end of October rolls around, and this time, only about 175 of the 250 college students turned their paper in on time. About 50 students showed up empty-handed. They begged the professor, please, it was homecoming, time got away from us, please be kind to us, please let us turn the paper in late. And so the professor's role, he relented one more time, and he warned them, okay, look, you can turn it in late this time, but no excuses next time. Next time you will get an out. The end of November came by, and this time only a hundred of the 250 students turned their papers in on time. The rest told them, we'll get to it.

We'll get to it soon enough. Sorry, Sproul said. It's too late. You get an F on this paper. And the students, they were shocked. They said, this is not fair. And so Professor's Roll said, okay, great, you want fairness, you want justice? Here's what you'll get.

You'll all get an F for the papers that were turned in late, not just the one in November, but any of that were turned in late in September, October. I mean, that was the rule, right? The professor reflected on this later and he said, look, the students had quickly taken my mercy for granted. They just assumed it. So when justice fell, they were unprepared for it. It came as a shock. They were outraged.

I think that story kind of parallels our relationship with God. God is merciful and patient with us, but we take it for granted. We begin to presume upon his grace and when judgment comes, we're shocked. It's almost like we misinterpret God's patience to mean that he's a pushover or that sin isn't a big deal or that all the warnings in Scripture are a bit exaggerated. According to most surveys on the subject, many Americans are like those students in that they doubt there will ever be a final judgment in which they'll have to give an account of their life before God. A few years ago, a company called Lifeway Research that is associated with the Southern Baptist churches,

published a report called Americans love God and the Bible but are fuzzy on the details. And in this survey, they asked people if they believed in a place of eternal judgment where God sins all people who do not personally trust in Jesus Christ. Less than half of the people surveyed

said they believed what the Bible taught. More than half of the people believed in heaven. None of that's really surprising, right? It's easy to believe that sin isn't a big deal or there won't be any consequences for our sin. that's something we want to believe it's also the lie that satan's been telling us from the beginning all the way back in the garden of eden when sin hadn't entered into the world the serpent tempts adam and eve to eat the forbidden fruit eve resisted the serpent she said no god told us that if we eat of that

forbidden fruit we will surely die genesis three verse four records what the serpent said back to you won't die, the serpent replied to the woman. So from the very beginning, Satan has been trying to get us to believe that sin isn't a big deal, that judgment won't come. And most people want to believe the lie because most people don't want to think about judgment. But when we ignore the Bible's teaching, we lose something very important for our faith. We might end up like those students who thought they'd never be held accountable for their choices. It is true that God is patient with sinners like,

but the Bible also declares that God judges sin. My wife and I had the chance to go to Rome last year, and we got to visit the Vatican and go inside the Sistine Chapel. It was an amazing experience. If you ever get to visit the Sistine Chapel, one of the things you'll see is Michael Angela's painting in the front of the church. And the theme of the painting was the last judgment. So in this painting, you see the dead rising and descending as they are judged by Christ.

They're going to spend eternity with Christ. or eternity away from him. But here's what I want to point out. The painting is at the front of the church, not at the back, which is where most artists depicted the last judgment if they depicted it at all. It's almost like Michelangelo and the popes he worked with knew that the people who attended the services needed to be confronted with the reality, that one day they would stand before Jesus and give an account of their life. That's why they put that painting at the front of the church. We need to be reminded of that too, don't we? Because if we thought daily about God's future judgment, wouldn't it affect our present choices? The Bible keeps the fact of the last

judgment in front of us. Here's what Jesus says in Matthew 25. He says, when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separate. operates the sheep from the goats. So Jesus talks about his own coming judgment. Here's what Jesus says in Luke 12. He says, I tell you, friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. I will show you whom you should fear. Fear him who after your body has been killed has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him. And then at the end of the biblical story in Revelation 20 we get a picture of this future judgment. It says, then I saw a great white

throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. So the Bible is really clear. Jesus is really clear. The end of the story is really clear, we will face God's judgment. But the Bible has other ways about talking about judgment too. See, in Second Kings, we've been talking about God's judgment against Israel. We should see that as more than history telling us about what happened in the past, but also giving us a warning about the future for those who find themselves apart from Christ.

The reality of future judgment always helps us live wisely in the present moment. And 2 Kings 22, the prophetess Hilda said, This is what the Lord says. I'm going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the King of Judah has read. Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and aroused my anger by all their idols that they have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.

Now, the prophet says, judgment is coming. we learn in these chapters that Josiah was the last good king of Judah. From here on to the rest of the book, all the kings are called evil, and as a result, the judgment that the prophet has talked about is coming to Jerusalem. That brings us to the story of a man named Jehovah Has, who followed Josiah on the throne of Israel. Here's what we read in 2nd Kings 23, verse 31. Joahaz was 23 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem. three months. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord just as his predecessors had done.

So, Joha has reigned only three months, and he did evil in the Lord's eyes. He must have lost a military battle to Egypt, because we read that Pharaoh put Jehovahaz in chains and took him back to Egypt, and then the Pharaoh levied an expensive tax on all those who lived in Jerusalem. The Pharaoh probably took Jehovahaz back to Egypt, because it was a way for him to display his power. It was common for a victorious king to take a defeated king back to his hometown and then parade him through the streets of Egypt to humiliate him. So now the king of Israel is back in slavery in Egypt. And it sounds a lot like where the Israelites found themselves before God delivered them from Egypt in the book of Exodus. See, this is what sin always does to you. It promises freedom, but it ends in slavery. It promises happiness, but it makes you miserable. It promised you so much. but it always fails to deliver.

We're in the same position Joahas was in, because in John chapter 8, Jesus says that anyone who sins is a slave to sin. He was a slave in Egypt, we're a slave in sin. But a couple verses later, Jesus says that he has come

to set us free, free from bondage, free from slavery, free from sin. The way to be free from sin, the way to not have to fear final judgment, is to put your hope and faith in Jesus. He is the one who has paid for our sin. He is the one who delivered us from slavery. Let God's patience, let God's mercy, let God's kindness lead you to repent of your sin,

to turn back to the grace that is found only in Jesus so that you do not need to fear judgment and you are prepared for the day where you will stand before God. Father, I pray that we would put our hope and faith in Jesus. You alone can rescue us. You alone can save us. Thank you that you love us so much that you gave your life for us. I pray that we would not turn our back on your offer of forgiveness, but that we would embrace you, submit to you, surrender to you, and follow you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.