For hundreds of years, the nation of Judah had been storing up God’s wrath by their wickedness. But what caused that wrath to rise to the point that there could no longer be a remedy was when the generation after Josiah mocked the messengers that God sent out of his compassion for them. It remains true in our generation that what brings about God’s wrath is not just wickedness but the rejection of his gracious remedy in Christ. But, as we will see in our New Testament reading, even as believers, we must take care not to take for granted God’s kindness that is meant to lead us to ongoing repentance in our lives.