The hall of mirrors at the Linderhof, a Mad King Ludwig II palace in Bavaria. The Linderhof was the only palace in which King Ludwig II resided. Herrenchiemsee and Neuschwanstein were under construction at the time of his death. Yet, heaven shall be greater than this.

March 10, 2026 / 0 comments

Going Too Far

“Inquire now of the Lord for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the Lord will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us.”
But Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will gather them inside this city. I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in furious anger and in great wrath. I will strike down those who live in this city—both man and beast—and they will die of a terrible plague. After that, declares the Lord, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion.’
“Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; they will escape with their lives. I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’

  • Jeremiah 21:2-10

“To inquire of the Lord is to request knowledge, not necessarily help. Nebuchadnezzar, the most famous ruler of the Babylonian Empire (605–562 BC), attacked Jerusalem because Zedekiah rebelled against Babylon.”

  • Dorothy Kelley Patterson, General Editor, NIV Woman’s Study Bible (Paula Reinhart, Major Prophets contributor)

This story could be the Scripture for a number of sermons.

When have you taken it too far?  How bad can you get before God’s patience runs out?  Obviously, Zedekiah did that.  Then again, God was getting tired of the Israelites lack of repentance during the reign of Hezekiah.  Then Manasseh, Hezekiah’s son, does the worst atrocities of any king.  Manasseh is defeated, but then Manasseh is placed as a governor, and he rules justly in his last years.  But God had to get his attention.

But although we have freedom, we should never test God.  We should never get close to the point where we wonder if we have gone too far.  Even in knowing that he had gone too far, Zedekiah was still playing the odds.  Notice the quote from the NIV Woman’s Study Bible, Zedekiah inquired for information only.

Absolute power may corrupt absolutely, as Lord Acton is famous for saying, but did Zedekiah have absolute power?  Josiah, a good king, reigned as king of Judah, but he attacked Egypt as they travelled through Judah.  The Assyrians and the Egyptians became allies against the Babylonians.  And Josiah mistakenly thought they were attacking him.  As a result, Josiah died from his injuries and Judah never again reigned as a sovereign nation.  Josiah’s son, King Jehoahaz, was made a puppet by the Egyptians, but since they could not be loyal, Jehoahaz was taken to Egypt where he died.  His brother, another son of Josiah was made puppet king, and he reigned for eleven years.  This was Eliakim, but Pharoah Neco changed it to Jehoiakim.  When he died, with a mystery of how he died, he was succeeded by his son, Jeconiah (also Coniah), name changed by Egypt to Jehoiachin.  Then after three months, Babylon took Jehoiachin to Babylon.  Then, Jehoiachin’s uncle, another son of Josiah, Mattaniah, became king and Nebuchadnezzar gave him the name Zedekiah.

You cannot have absolute power corrupting you if you are not allowed to rule under your name at birth.  These kings may have thought they had absolute power due to God rescuing their ancestors in the past, but that rescue always came after repentance, and these kings were unrepentant.

So, did they push God too far?  Probably.  Did absolute power corrupt?  No, for they had no true power at all.  Did delusion of absolute power corrupt?  Certainly.

But why did Zedekiah even ask Jeremiah?  It’s the old idea of doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different result.  God had rescued the former generations, but the sons of Josiah, and one grandson never connected the dots.

They never repented.

And maybe that is in part why Jesus said it was basically impossible for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.  When you live a life of privilege, can you see reality?  I have known some people that were very comfortable who had servant’s hearts.  As Jesus follows the line about a camel passing through the eye of a needle, Jesus said that with man it may be impossible, but anything is possible with God.  The miracle is not that the rich person accepted Jesus, and that is a miracle with each of us.  It is how the rich person found that there was something in life that could not be bought.  Then, there is the repentant heart and turning to Jesus.  God can make that happen if they come to their senses.

So, they went too far because they had lived a life of privilege and thought their position, status, and their wealth could give them invincibility.

We each have a little of that in our heart until Jesus gets our attention.  Will we turn from our sin and lay our burdens at the foot of the cross, or will we take one more step in the wrong direction and go too far?  Do not think yourself invincible.  It does not end well.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.

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