@AnnOMaly:
Regarding the 2 Ki. 24:1 question I asked: "Do you agree that 2 Ki. 24:1 does not tell us in which year Jehoiakim became vassal to Nebuchadnezzar? A simple yes or no will suffice this time." Shall I assume your refusal to answer means you agree that it's a 'yes'?
You may assume whatever you wish; you have my permission. You are stuck on stupid, a "channel" that I generally skip when I can, except there are occasions when I have to admit tuning into it at times, doing so with the hope of making lemonade from lemons for the lurkers here, with so many rotten ones making it such a chore finding the best ones for lemonade. You want to use God's word to win arguments; I want to use God's word so that others 'might win when they are being judged by Christ.' (Romans 3:4) You wish to turn away as many folks as you can away from Christ; I have no wish to do that. Maybe by folks listening to your objections and my responses to your objections, they will be convinced to turn to God and not from him.
The importance of this discussion that the OP began in this thread really is to help those put to rest whatever doubt they might have as to the efficacy of Bible prophecies, whether they are reliable, for it follow that if they are reliable, then they give proof to Jehovah's being a God of prophecy as well as a God of truth. All of such divine revelations from God help us not only to come to know that the will of the true God, but by examining them we have convincing evidence on which to believe that he will surely deliver on the promises that he had made for the future, for not only has Jehovah caused his prophecies and their fulfillment to be preserved in a book, but in this book he has provided eyewitness testimony as well from those that were affected in some way by their fulfillment.
For example, without God's having had recorded in the Bible details as to the credentials of the Messiah, as well as eyewitness testimony from those that were living at his first coming, none of us today would have a real basis to put faith in what God purposes for the future, namely, a life free of suffering, sorrow and death, a world where no one lives in dread of catching some loathsome disease that impacts our quality of life, or in fearful expectation of ourselves or a family member being assaulted or murdered by someone or in anxious suspense over whether we will be able to eat or have a decent place to live.
In this thread we have been discussing a God that disciplined his people so that the land he gave them might pay off the sabbaths as well as to teach them that true worship requires obedience to his laws. By means of the prophetic word, as recorded in the Bible by the hand of some 40 men, we today now know things about the future that many do not; we have hope that many others do not have. From our consideration of this prophecy in particular, we know the folly of trying to prove our own righteousness by our own selfish works since only by repentance from dead works and pursuing godly works of faith can we can help others as well as ourselves enter into God's rest day.
But based on the fulfillment of some of Jehovah God's prophecies already and the things that his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, has taught us in enlarging upon God's will for mankind, and in his becoming sin for us to redeem and ransom those of the human family having faith, we now have even more convincing evidence that all of God's promises -- good and bad -- will come true.
What this means is that very soon now -- maybe in our own lifetime -- we will finally see the end of the present system of things and the ushering in of a new heavens and new earth that God has had in store for mankind since the founding of the world when, through Jesus, God brings to nothing the one having the means to cause death and restores life to the billions of folks that have died over the past six millenniums, people whose lives were cut short because of the effects of inherited sin.
And I personally thank God today that I have the privilege of being able to share the good news with others, including here on JWN, as to the grand hope of their being a part of what will be the nucleus of the new earth when Jesus is actively ruling here in the earthly realm of the Millennial kingdom.
@djeggnog
