Though the Lord is not accountable to any of his creatures for what he doth; yet is he graciously pleased to manifest the equity of his dealings, and to prove, even to the conviction of the sinner himself, that the Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. He appeals, by his servants the prophets, to the minds of men, in proof of this. It was not the king of Assyria that could have ruined Israel, had not the Lord commissioned him. The Assyrian (as Isaiah saith) was the rod of his anger, and the staff in the Assyrian's hand was the indignation of the Lord. It was the Lord that sent the Assyrian against Israel, as an hypocritical nation; and it was the Lord which gave Jacob to the spoil, and Israel to the robbers, against whom Israel had sinned. See Isa_10:5-6; Isa_42:24-25. Reader! while you peruse these solemn scriptures, and behold God's just judgments executed upon his own people; read with trembling. Though God hath promised in covenant engagements by his dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that the redeemed shall not be cast off forever; yet the seed of Jesus, if they break his laws, and keep not his commandments, the Lord will visit their offences with a rod, and their sins with scourges. Psalms 89:30-32. I do not find in the whole bible a promise to give encouragement to a loose and careless life. But on the contrary, though the church of Christ must stand and shall prevail against all opposition, yet that church may be taken from one spot to flourish more in another. The golden candlestick is a moveable thing in the Lord's house. Revelation 2:5.
2 Kings 17:7-23
7 For so it was, that the children of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, which had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8 And walked in the statutes of the heathen, whom the LORD cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made.
9 And the children of Israel did secretly those things that were not right against the LORD their God, and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city.
10 And they set them up imagesc and groves in every high hill, and under every green tree:
11 And there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the heathen whom the LORD carried away before them; and wrought wicked things to provoke the LORD to anger:
12 For they served idols, whereof the LORD had said unto them, Ye shall not do this thing.
13 Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, byd all the prophets, and by all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets.
14 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the neck of their fathers, that did not believe in the LORD their God.
15 And they rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified against them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them, that they should not do like them.
16 And they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served Baal.
17 And they caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.
18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19 Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21 For he rent Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drave Israel from following the LORD, and made them sin a great sin.
22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they departed not from them;
23 Until the LORD removed Israel out of his sight, as he had said by all his servants the prophets. So was Israel carried away out of their own land to Assyria unto this day.