In 930 BC, King Solomon died, and his son, Rehoboam, took over. The kingdom of Israel descended into civil war and divided into two kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. The Northern Kingdom consistently strayed from God’s commands and rebelled. God sent prophets warning them to turn back to Him, but they would not. In 722 BC, God allowed them to be conquered by the Assyrians. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, was consistently inconsistent. God also sent prophets to them. Sometimes, the king of Judah was a good king and listened to His prophets. Other times, they were bad kings and led the people to turn away from God.

The last good king of Judah was King Josiah. He led a great revival among his people, and they turned to God as they should. But the kings that followed Josiah were not good kings. First his son Jehoiakim and then his grandson Jehoiachin led the people astray. In 605 BC, the empire of Babylon, led by King Nebuchanezzar, invaded and conquered Jerusalem and installed a puppet king, Zedekiah, over Judah.

Zedekiah was the final Jewish king. He was crowned in 598 BC at the age of 21, and he reigned in Jerusalem for only 11 years. When Zedekiah was crowned, he did not know he would be the last king. Like the others kings before him, God sent a prophet, Jeremiah, to warn Zedekiah of the dangers of disobedience. Even though he had seen what rebellion had done in his brother’s life and his nephew’s lives, he did not listen. He thought, like some of us do, that things would work out differently for him.

Zedekiah was arrogant. He thought he knew best, and he did not want to take counsel from anybody. Not only did he rebel against God, he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him king. He built a secret alliance with the King of Egypt against Babylon. Instead of doing things God’s way or even Nebuchadnezzar’s way as he had promised, Zedekiah tried to do things his own way.

Early in his reign, the prophet Jeremiah came to Zedekiah and told him God needed him to bow to Nebuchadnezzar and submit to his authority. If he did that, he and his people would live. If he refused to surrender, he and his people would die. Jeremiah reminded him that although he did have the freedom to choose, there would be consequences to his choices.

Zedekiah preferred the advice of his friends, who just told him what he wanted to hear. One morning, he woke up to find that the Babylonian army was outside the city. Zedekiah ran to Jeremiah and begged him to pray for them. Jeremiah told him that the time for prayer had passed; now was the time to surrender. You cannot pray your way out of a situation you behaved your way into.

He imprisoned Jeremiah but regretted it. When Jeremiah said he had received word from God, Zedekiah released him. Jeremiah immediately began preaching in the streets that everyone in the city would die if Zedekiah did not surrender. He was arrested again, but the message didn’t change.

The Babylonians camped outside Jerusalem and cut off their supply lines. The city suffered famine and sickness. People even resorted to cannibalism. The suffering was immeasurable. Jeremiah continued to preach, and Zedekiah continued to refuse. On July 10th, 586 BC, the Babylonian soldiers breached the city walls. Eight days later, Jerusalem fell.

Zedekiah and his family fled the city but were caught on the plains of Jericho. Nebuchadnezzar had his sons killed in front of him. They plucked out Zedekiah’s eyes so that was the last thing he would ever see, and they led him off in shackles to be imprisoned in Babylon. Surrendering to God and the Babylonians would have cost Zedekiah something, but refusing to surrender cost him far more. That didn’t have to be how his story ended. That didn’t have to be the tragic story of the last Jewish king.

Five hundred years later, the Magi from Babylon arrived in Jerusalem, asking “Where is the newborn King of the Jews?” (Matthew 2:2 NLT). Five hundred years after the last Jewish king, God sent a king of David’s line, as He had promised. Thirty years later, when that baby was a grown man who was crucified on a Roman cross, the cross was inscribed mockingly with “King of the Jews.”

This Christmas, remember that we have a King who loves us, a King who died on the cross for us. He came once to die for our sins, and He will come again to establish a perfect Kingdom that will last forever. That is what Advent is all about.