2 Kings 24:8-17 / Matthew 7:21-29
The kingdom of Babylon was one of the many kingdoms of the ancient world that we might come across in history books.
And Nebuchadnezzar was one of the powerful kings of Babylon when the kingdom was at the height of its power.
Though Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar are names and figures of the past, nonetheless they were a painful reminder for the people of God in the Bible.
Israel would rather forget, or would remember bitterly, what king Nebuchadnezzar and the army of Babylon did when they conquered Jerusalem in the year 586 BC.
The glorious Temple built by king Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonian army and most of the people of Jerusalem were deported to Babylon where they would be in exile for about 40 years.
But that glorious Temple was destroyed not so much by the might of the Babylonian army but because the people of God had turned away from God who is their Rock and their protection.
In the gospel, Jesus tells us to build on rock and not on sand.
God is the only Rock that we should build our lives on. The others are just passing and shifting sands.