The End of History (2 Chronicles 36)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.880 --> 00:00:06.240 Let's turn our attention now to a second chronicles, the very last chapter. 2 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:13.029 Second Chronicles thirty six. Brothers and sisters, let's give our attention to the 3 00:00:13.150 --> 00:00:27.339 reading of God's Word and let us hear it with faith. The people of 4 00:00:27.420 --> 00:00:31.219 the land took Jehoah has, the son of Josiah, and made him king 5 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:36.729 in his father's place in Jerusalem. Jehoah has was twenty three years old when 6 00:00:36.729 --> 00:00:41.890 he began to reign and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Then the king 7 00:00:41.929 --> 00:00:46.250 of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the tribute, laid on the 8 00:00:46.289 --> 00:00:51.399 land, a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold. 9 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:57.600 And the king of Egypt made Eliakim, his brother, King over Judah 10 00:00:57.640 --> 00:01:03.520 and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. But NECO took Jehoah has, 11 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:08.390 his brother, and carried him to Egypt. Jehoiakim was twenty five years old 12 00:01:08.590 --> 00:01:14.349 when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did 13 00:01:14.469 --> 00:01:18.230 what was evil in the side of the Lord is God against him came up 14 00:01:18.269 --> 00:01:22.340 Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, and bound him in chains to take him to 15 00:01:22.420 --> 00:01:26.980 Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels out of the House of the 16 00:01:26.099 --> 00:01:32.819 Lord to Babylon and put them in his palace in Babylon. Now the rest 17 00:01:32.819 --> 00:01:36.609 of the acts of Jehoiah, him in the abominations that he did and what 18 00:01:36.769 --> 00:01:40.730 he and what was found against him. Behold. They are written in the 19 00:01:40.769 --> 00:01:46.049 book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. Johoyachen, his son, reigned 20 00:01:46.090 --> 00:01:51.280 in his place. Johoichen was eighteen years old when he became king and he 21 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:55.799 reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in 22 00:01:55.840 --> 00:01:59.560 the side of the Lord in the spring of the year. And now King 23 00:01:59.640 --> 00:02:05.069 Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of the House of 24 00:02:05.150 --> 00:02:10.909 the Lord and made his brother Zedekiah, King over Judah and Jerusalem. Zadekaiah 25 00:02:10.990 --> 00:02:15.180 was twenty one years old when he began to reign and he reigned eleven years 26 00:02:15.219 --> 00:02:19.500 in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the side of the Lord is 27 00:02:19.580 --> 00:02:23.900 God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah, the Prophet who spoke from 28 00:02:23.900 --> 00:02:28.020 the mouth of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had 29 00:02:28.099 --> 00:02:32.530 made him swear by God. He stiffed his neck and hardened his heart against 30 00:02:32.569 --> 00:02:38.129 turning to the Lord, the God of Israel. All the officers of the 31 00:02:38.169 --> 00:02:43.770 priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the 32 00:02:43.889 --> 00:02:47.400 nations, and they polluted the House of the Lord that he had made holy 33 00:02:47.800 --> 00:02:53.639 in Jerusalem, the Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to 34 00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.120 them by his messengers because he had compassion on his peace people and on his 35 00:02:58.199 --> 00:03:04.550 dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words 36 00:03:04.590 --> 00:03:07.389 and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his 37 00:03:07.550 --> 00:03:14.979 people, until there was no remedy. Therefore, he brought up against them 38 00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:19.099 the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in 39 00:03:19.139 --> 00:03:23.180 the house of their soul, of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on 40 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:27.849 young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all into 41 00:03:27.889 --> 00:03:30.250 his hand and all the vessels of the House of the Lord, Great and 42 00:03:30.449 --> 00:03:34.689 small, and the treasures of the House of the Lord, the treasures of 43 00:03:34.770 --> 00:03:38.849 the king and of his princes. All these he brought to Babylon, and 44 00:03:38.770 --> 00:03:43.879 they burned the House of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned 45 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:50.400 all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels. He took into 46 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:54.949 exile and Babylon those who would escape from the sword and may became servants to 47 00:03:55.069 --> 00:04:01.469 him and to his sons until the establishment of the Kingdom of Persia. To 48 00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:06.389 fulfill the were filled the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, 49 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:14.219 until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days that lay desolate, 50 00:04:14.860 --> 00:04:21.220 it kept Sabbath to fulfill seventy years now, in the first year of Cyrus 51 00:04:21.259 --> 00:04:26.649 King of Persia, that the word of the Lord might, by the mouth 52 00:04:26.689 --> 00:04:31.329 of Jeremiah, might be fulfilled. The Lord Lord stirred up the spirit of 53 00:04:31.529 --> 00:04:36.050 Cyrus King of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all this kingdom and 54 00:04:36.209 --> 00:04:43.680 also put it in writing. Thus says Cyrus King of Persia, the Lord, 55 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:46.439 the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth 56 00:04:46.439 --> 00:04:51.160 and has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in 57 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:58.110 Judah. Whoever is among you, of all his people may the Lord has 58 00:04:58.230 --> 00:05:04.189 God be with him. Let him go up sends the reading of God's word. 59 00:05:04.910 --> 00:05:21.529 May he bless it to us. Well, here at the end of 60 00:05:21.850 --> 00:05:30.250 this great history and the greatest histories that have been ever recorded in the history 61 00:05:30.290 --> 00:05:40.759 of the world, we have a very tragic ending, with a surprise bit 62 00:05:40.800 --> 00:05:46.399 of light right at the end this history that we've been going through for some 63 00:05:46.560 --> 00:05:50.149 time now, over two years, and chronicles, this is somewhat could be 64 00:05:50.310 --> 00:05:56.310 thought of in some ways as a history of the world, least up until 65 00:05:56.389 --> 00:06:00.269 this point. Do you remember what the very first word in chronicles is? 66 00:06:02.029 --> 00:06:09.980 Adam? That's how chronicles starts. It starts with the Word Adam. Seth 67 00:06:10.300 --> 00:06:17.100 Enosh, Keenan, Mahalalel Jared Enoch, methuselah, laymick Noah Shem Ham jff. 68 00:06:19.490 --> 00:06:26.329 The chronicler has been chronicling everything in a way, of course not every 69 00:06:26.449 --> 00:06:30.889 detail, but he's been telling a story that helps us to understand what God 70 00:06:30.009 --> 00:06:36.439 has been doing from the very, very beginning. And what have we learned? 71 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:42.879 This is something I want you to be thinking about, even if you've 72 00:06:42.920 --> 00:06:46.079 been with us for only part of this time or even just today. I 73 00:06:46.230 --> 00:06:50.430 want you to think about over this next week, maybe even after that. 74 00:06:51.470 --> 00:06:57.829 What have you learned? What have you learned as you've thought through and heard 75 00:06:57.949 --> 00:07:06.579 God's word proclaimed from this history? Some things that I think are highlighted and 76 00:07:06.819 --> 00:07:15.500 emphasized in chronicles include God's Great Authority and Supreme Power over all the earth. 77 00:07:15.529 --> 00:07:20.170 The very fact that we have a history here spoken by a prophets is a 78 00:07:20.290 --> 00:07:26.529 reminder here that God is in control of it all from beginning to end. 79 00:07:26.649 --> 00:07:31.519 We see the Lord as Supreme, as sovereign, over all things, over 80 00:07:31.639 --> 00:07:36.720 the greatest powers, over the weakest people, in the most desperate situations, 81 00:07:36.759 --> 00:07:44.310 in the in the great joys of strength, every moment, God is in 82 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:50.029 control and reigning over it all. And that leads to another extremely important theme 83 00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:56.709 in the book of Chronicles. First and second and that is how are we 84 00:07:57.069 --> 00:08:03.300 to react and respond to God's Kingship, to God's authority in not just our 85 00:08:03.379 --> 00:08:09.019 individual lives but over everything? How do we respond to that? Do we 86 00:08:09.420 --> 00:08:13.889 submit to him and trust him and depend on him? Do we love him 87 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:20.529 and worship him and join a together under his authority, under his faithfulness, 88 00:08:22.769 --> 00:08:26.279 or do we go our own ways and do our own things? We've seen 89 00:08:26.519 --> 00:08:31.680 a lot of insight into what that means and what that looks like, as 90 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:37.360 we've as we've seen various kings, especially, having to make that decision for 91 00:08:37.399 --> 00:08:41.590 themselves. Will they recognize God's authority over them and over his people, or 92 00:08:41.590 --> 00:08:46.549 will they not? We've seen the great blessings that come when they do, 93 00:08:46.710 --> 00:08:54.750 the great curses and consequences that come when they don't. We've seen the psychology 94 00:08:54.909 --> 00:08:58.419 of that or their own hearts, as they are tempted by other powers, 95 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:07.460 by false gods, by a desire to control things, win battles or even 96 00:09:07.500 --> 00:09:15.169 even really silly things. We've also come to see that in God's great sovereignty 97 00:09:15.330 --> 00:09:18.889 over his kingdom and over all the kingdoms of the world, we've seen that 98 00:09:20.009 --> 00:09:24.960 he rules as a perfectly good king. He is holy and everything he does 99 00:09:26.320 --> 00:09:31.600 he acts in a way that is always righteous. And on the flip side 100 00:09:31.600 --> 00:09:37.519 of that, he hates evil, he despises it. He brings judgment on 101 00:09:37.629 --> 00:09:43.629 those who are unrepentant, but he also receives those who repent of their sins, 102 00:09:45.309 --> 00:09:50.549 who turn away. Even in this last chapter, one of these kings 103 00:09:50.710 --> 00:09:56.620 is mentioned and it's mentioned that he didn't hear, he didn't listen. This 104 00:09:56.940 --> 00:10:00.580 was his his sinning against God was a tragedy, but what it was made 105 00:10:00.580 --> 00:10:07.169 all the worse because he didn't turn when he had a chance. Well, 106 00:10:07.289 --> 00:10:13.049 as we've heard these great themes, we've seen ups and downs in the kingship 107 00:10:13.250 --> 00:10:20.490 of Israel and Judah in particular. There have been good kings and bad kings, 108 00:10:20.570 --> 00:10:26.080 great kings and terrible kings. Right before this last chapter, you may 109 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:33.559 remember, as we thought through the story of Josiah, we had a truly 110 00:10:33.600 --> 00:10:37.870 great king, a Wonderful King, and Chapter Twenty six is this, as 111 00:10:37.909 --> 00:10:43.149 I think I said last time, a race to the bottom. It's a 112 00:10:43.389 --> 00:10:48.309 tragic thing. One commentator compared it to a bird of prey sort of hovering 113 00:10:48.350 --> 00:10:54.460 over it's it's prey and then very quickly boom, attacked, taken away or 114 00:10:54.659 --> 00:11:01.139 taken out. This fast decline is striking in many ways in this last chapter 115 00:11:03.220 --> 00:11:05.850 and I want you to think about it as we think about the ways in 116 00:11:05.970 --> 00:11:11.169 which all of these themes have been displayed throughout the book and come to this 117 00:11:11.769 --> 00:11:20.360 crashing conclusion in chapter thirty six. Throughout the book we've seen these various formulas 118 00:11:20.480 --> 00:11:24.000 for the Kings, a way of telling the history. He was so many 119 00:11:24.039 --> 00:11:28.639 years old when he came to power. Oftentimes there was mention of the King's 120 00:11:28.759 --> 00:11:35.470 mother, who she was. There would be notes about the king's history and 121 00:11:35.590 --> 00:11:39.389 the d his deeds he did, final notes about his death, when he 122 00:11:39.669 --> 00:11:45.309 died, where he was buried. All of this is compressed to a great 123 00:11:45.389 --> 00:11:52.259 degree in these four kings that all come in second chronicles thirty six. These 124 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:58.100 formulas that we've had, these expositions of the these kingships are, are compacted, 125 00:11:58.299 --> 00:12:05.850 they're shrunken together and I think for this reason there's this kind of singular 126 00:12:05.889 --> 00:12:11.129 experience that these people have in the at the end, and really it's just 127 00:12:11.370 --> 00:12:15.090 happening in a generation or two. If you look at the if you pay 128 00:12:15.129 --> 00:12:20.480 attention to the details here, it starts with Jehoah has, the son of 129 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:24.799 Good King Josiah. He rules for three months. I think I've waited for 130 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:31.269 a check longer than three months. There's a very short period of time to 131 00:12:31.389 --> 00:12:35.350 do anything, but yet that's all he has, three months and then he's 132 00:12:35.429 --> 00:12:41.070 done. The King of Egypt swoops in, deposes him and lays on the 133 00:12:41.149 --> 00:12:46.700 land a tribute. You remember what this means? Right to had be to 134 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:52.620 be required to give a tribute as a way of essentially paying attacks, and 135 00:12:52.659 --> 00:12:58.139 if you're paying attacks, it means that you are under someone's authority. They 136 00:12:58.220 --> 00:13:05.009 are coming under the authority of Egypt. God had brought them out of Egypt, 137 00:13:05.649 --> 00:13:13.879 but now NECO is demanding Israel to pay at taxes to him. Worse 138 00:13:13.000 --> 00:13:18.840 than that, he deposes. When he deposes JEHOAH has, he makes his 139 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:22.919 brother King. We're not told why, but you could probably take a good 140 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.470 guess. And then, his further humiliation, he changes his name to Johoyah 141 00:13:28.470 --> 00:13:33.870 Kim. These are ways in which Necho is establishing the fact that I'm in 142 00:13:33.070 --> 00:13:39.070 charge now. I pick the Kings, I decide who's in who's in charge 143 00:13:39.190 --> 00:13:43.539 all. Even decide what your name is. You remember, Daniel and his 144 00:13:43.740 --> 00:13:48.779 friends experienced a similar thing when they went in to Babylon. So JEHOAH has 145 00:13:48.779 --> 00:13:54.299 has three months, Johoya Kim comes in. He's a young man, twenty 146 00:13:54.379 --> 00:14:00.570 five years old, and he reigns eleven years in Jerusalem. But he does 147 00:14:00.690 --> 00:14:03.370 what is evil in the side of the Lord and, as we should come 148 00:14:03.490 --> 00:14:09.970 to expect, what happens is what is expected. Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, 149 00:14:09.440 --> 00:14:13.519 a greater king than the king of Egypt comes in. He binds this 150 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.759 king in chains, we read in Verse Eight, and he takes him, 151 00:14:20.399 --> 00:14:22.919 and I'm sorry, in six, and then he takes him, in verse 152 00:14:22.000 --> 00:14:28.269 seven, with vessels from the House of the Lord to Babylon. This is 153 00:14:28.309 --> 00:14:31.549 yet a further humiliation and this is a way in which Nebuchadnezzar is trying to 154 00:14:31.629 --> 00:14:37.029 show that he is stronger even than Israel's God. I will go into your 155 00:14:37.149 --> 00:14:43.820 temple and I will take what is mine, not yeah ways. And so 156 00:14:43.059 --> 00:14:48.980 he takes the king and he takes the vessels to babyl on. Then we 157 00:14:48.100 --> 00:14:52.419 read in verse eight that the rest of these acts and the abominations he did, 158 00:14:52.620 --> 00:14:56.730 these are are written down. Then in the next two kings we have 159 00:14:58.009 --> 00:15:01.850 an interesting parallelel again, a three month reign, three months and ten days, 160 00:15:03.210 --> 00:15:07.799 with another eleven year reign. The parallels between these these times are another 161 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:11.360 way in which they are sort of all. They all come together in a 162 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:18.480 way, as one Jehoiachim, the son of his father, Jehoiachim, come 163 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:24.350 Johoyah him, comes to power when he's eighteen years old, and he did 164 00:15:24.429 --> 00:15:28.470 what was evil in the side of the Lord. Verse Nine, and like 165 00:15:28.710 --> 00:15:31.909 his father, Nebuchadnezzar, comes and takes him away to Babylon with more from 166 00:15:31.909 --> 00:15:37.659 the House of the Lord and Makes Zee Kaiah his brother King over Judah and 167 00:15:37.779 --> 00:15:43.139 Jerusalem. Brother here likely means a relative in a more general sense, just 168 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:50.210 as a side note, because Zedekiah is his uncle. Zedekiah comes to power, 169 00:15:50.250 --> 00:15:54.049 and that's why I say it's basically in one generation. Still we have 170 00:15:54.850 --> 00:16:03.649 this sort of one little family group and as various kings taking Israel, God's 171 00:16:03.730 --> 00:16:08.200 people, to the bottom. Finally, Zee Kiah. He also does what 172 00:16:08.360 --> 00:16:11.679 is evil in the side of the Lord. He did not humble himself before 173 00:16:11.720 --> 00:16:18.080 Jeremiah the prophet. He rebelled even against King Nebucha are. This guy cannot 174 00:16:18.120 --> 00:16:22.269 take authority. He is rebellious in every way. He stiffens his neck, 175 00:16:22.309 --> 00:16:29.629 he hardens at heart. Strong, strong words about Zeekiah. He doesn't listen. 176 00:16:30.789 --> 00:16:34.620 And it's not just the king. We come to see that the problem 177 00:16:34.659 --> 00:16:40.539 is not just isolated in this one person, but it's a kingdom wide problem. 178 00:16:40.580 --> 00:16:45.620 Verse Fourteen. All the officers of all the priests and the people likewise 179 00:16:45.980 --> 00:16:55.129 were exceedingly unfaithful, it says, following all the abominations and they polluted the 180 00:16:55.250 --> 00:17:02.159 House of the Lord and that he had made holy in Jerusalem. They didn't 181 00:17:02.159 --> 00:17:04.880 need to wait for foreign kings to come in and ransack the temple, they 182 00:17:04.880 --> 00:17:11.200 were doing it themselves. All the abominations that God had forbidden, the very 183 00:17:11.359 --> 00:17:15.519 things that they were brought out of Egypt so that they might worship the one 184 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:19.910 true God. As Moses says, let my people go that we may worship. 185 00:17:22.309 --> 00:17:25.670 They were brought into a land to worship, to be a holy people. 186 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:30.059 God expunge the people that we're in Cainan, and all their abominations and 187 00:17:30.140 --> 00:17:36.700 all their practices, so that this people could be his people, a kingdom 188 00:17:37.420 --> 00:17:42.299 to him, a holy people. But he warned them. If you go 189 00:17:42.500 --> 00:17:45.690 back and you read at the law as it was given, he tells them 190 00:17:45.769 --> 00:17:51.529 very clearly if you do the things that the people did here before you, 191 00:17:52.089 --> 00:17:56.529 you will be spit out, vomited out of the land, just as they 192 00:17:56.569 --> 00:18:00.599 were. If you or after other gods, if you take bad if you 193 00:18:02.519 --> 00:18:08.640 take a bad leadership, if you fall into the ways of of of idolatry 194 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:15.470 and sin, you will face the very same consequences, in a way, 195 00:18:15.509 --> 00:18:19.630 as Israel entered into the land and put to death the people around them, 196 00:18:19.710 --> 00:18:25.589 the people of Canaan. They were for telling their own judgment to come. 197 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:36.019 And that's what happened when finally Babylon it gained its complete power and came over 198 00:18:36.140 --> 00:18:42.049 Zedekiah and captured Jerusalem, burned it to the ground and took away Daniel and 199 00:18:42.170 --> 00:18:51.490 kings and princes and many others into exiles to make them not servants of Yahway 200 00:18:52.130 --> 00:18:56.119 but servants to him, to his sons, to the establishment of the Kingdom 201 00:18:56.200 --> 00:19:03.440 of Persia. Until that point. What a far cry this is from God's 202 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:08.359 words earlier in the history when he says to David, I will establish your 203 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:15.509 house forever. What's is going on? He are the people of God are 204 00:19:15.549 --> 00:19:19.750 being enslaved, are being brought under the rule of First Nebuchadnezzar and then other 205 00:19:19.829 --> 00:19:26.740 kings after him up until Cyrus caught. Is Very, very clear about what's 206 00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:30.900 going on. All of the details in this chapter, all of the details 207 00:19:30.940 --> 00:19:36.059 in this whole book, in fact most of everything that said in the whole 208 00:19:36.140 --> 00:19:41.210 Testole Old Testament, is making this point that God was perfectly fair and just 209 00:19:41.769 --> 00:19:48.009 in exilings people out of the land. He told them to listen, he 210 00:19:48.210 --> 00:19:53.839 told them to obey and said if you refuse, you will be cast out, 211 00:19:55.799 --> 00:19:57.920 you will face death and punishment. You, who are my people, 212 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:03.400 as he says in Joseah, will be not be my people. But they 213 00:20:03.440 --> 00:20:10.230 didn't listen. Like in the days of Noah, they didn't listen. We 214 00:20:10.549 --> 00:20:15.950 read here at the end of or right Middle Issh of this chapter, Verse 215 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:22.859 Fifteen. He persistently sent to them his messengers. Why? Because he had 216 00:20:22.940 --> 00:20:26.900 compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. This is what all the 217 00:20:26.940 --> 00:20:33.019 prophets are about. A prophet after profit coming and testifying to Israel. Turn, 218 00:20:33.619 --> 00:20:38.849 turn, turn, repent, repent, repent. Disaster is coming here 219 00:20:40.009 --> 00:20:44.809 the word of the Lord and on the heels of their calls to repentance and 220 00:20:44.930 --> 00:20:48.609 their prosecutions of the various ways in which they've broken them law. These prophets 221 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:52.920 also spoke to them about the glories of the Kingdom of Heaven, Zion to 222 00:20:53.079 --> 00:21:00.079 come and God's Great Faithfulness and grace. You go and you read Isaiah and 223 00:21:00.240 --> 00:21:10.390 Jeremiah, it's hard not to cry, even at the expressions of beauty and 224 00:21:10.589 --> 00:21:15.269 glory, at the wonders of God's love and his promises. Over and over 225 00:21:15.430 --> 00:21:18.460 and a go over again. God says, I will take care of you, 226 00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:23.539 I will establish you as my people. Turn to me, hear me. 227 00:21:25.539 --> 00:21:34.210 Why these other gods? But Verse Sixteen. They kept mocking the messengers 228 00:21:34.329 --> 00:21:40.730 of God, despising his words, scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath 229 00:21:40.769 --> 00:21:48.079 of God rose against his people, until there was no remedy. When you're 230 00:21:48.160 --> 00:21:55.519 caught up in sin, sometimes it can be a pretty heavy time. Feels 231 00:21:55.640 --> 00:22:00.759 good, you're having a high, you're enjoying your time, you've got new 232 00:22:00.839 --> 00:22:03.829 friends, New People. You're like the prodigal son. You've got money in 233 00:22:03.990 --> 00:22:08.950 your pocket, things to spend it on. It's good, it's nice, 234 00:22:14.109 --> 00:22:19.779 but it doesn't last. The kings of this world, treasures that we have, 235 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:26.900 they they don't last, even the best ones, as we have seen, 236 00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:34.009 even the best kings and the best errors are eras of God's of God's 237 00:22:34.009 --> 00:22:45.640 kings and Judah. They didn't last, they send they died. The God 238 00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:52.079 keeps sending his prophets again and again and again, that they that we might 239 00:22:52.279 --> 00:23:00.190 hear these prophets, and the whole history gives us these glimmers of hope, 240 00:23:00.430 --> 00:23:04.549 our reminder over and over again of the great character of God, that he 241 00:23:04.670 --> 00:23:10.150 is Gracious, that he is merciful, that he is abounding in steadfast love, 242 00:23:10.950 --> 00:23:17.579 and that we need a king to bring these things finally to us. 243 00:23:18.940 --> 00:23:26.660 We need a king, chronicles teaches us, that's better than David, better 244 00:23:26.740 --> 00:23:33.970 than seven, Solomon, Josiah, but like them as well. We need 245 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:37.609 a king to do the work of God, that heeds the prophets, that 246 00:23:37.809 --> 00:23:42.480 heeds his words, that builds the foundation of the kingdom, as Josiah did, 247 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:48.920 as David did, on the very word of God. But we not 248 00:23:48.119 --> 00:23:52.880 only need a king who does these things perfectly, but we need a king 249 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:59.910 who's able to bring about the righteousness and obedience of the people perfectly, a 250 00:24:00.390 --> 00:24:07.470 permanent heart change. God gave every part of the law that could have been 251 00:24:07.630 --> 00:24:12.660 possible in order for them to do this. This is a perfect set up, 252 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:18.380 you might say, for righteousness and obedience. Right God gives them great 253 00:24:18.420 --> 00:24:22.500 kings, God gives them a perfect, holy law. He cast the people 254 00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:26.369 out of the land, a fresh start with vineyards and wells and flocks. 255 00:24:26.410 --> 00:24:33.450 It's all there. All you got to do is obey. It's like the 256 00:24:33.490 --> 00:24:37.720 Garden of Eden. It's all they're all you got to do is obey. 257 00:24:41.119 --> 00:24:48.279 But we can't obey, especially after the fall. Adam and Eve chose not 258 00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:53.430 to obey, and in that they permanently and forever change the condition of the 259 00:24:53.509 --> 00:25:00.509 human heart that we are all infected by this poison, a poison which cannot 260 00:25:00.549 --> 00:25:06.269 be rooted out of God's people by the power of the law. As good. 261 00:25:06.309 --> 00:25:10.019 As good as it is, as one wonderful it is, it is 262 00:25:11.140 --> 00:25:17.099 something deeper needs to happen, something that the law, as Paul says, 263 00:25:17.140 --> 00:25:22.690 is unable to change. But when that changes, and as we've seen, 264 00:25:22.970 --> 00:25:32.970 when the heart is truly after God, wonderful things happen. Stability, order, 265 00:25:33.289 --> 00:25:38.880 structure, love, peace, strength, freedom from enemies, generosity, 266 00:25:40.000 --> 00:25:45.079 worship. At the high points of the kingdom, these are this would be 267 00:25:45.119 --> 00:25:49.549 a place that you would want to live, move to, long for. 268 00:25:52.710 --> 00:25:59.349 But it always disappeared and the king never came, and at the end of 269 00:25:59.390 --> 00:26:06.099 chronicles we find, as the history is told, the people not in the 270 00:26:06.259 --> 00:26:17.900 land anymore, but in the foreign land under a foreign king. After all 271 00:26:17.980 --> 00:26:23.369 of these warnings, after all of this clarity about who god is and who 272 00:26:23.410 --> 00:26:33.000 how we must obey him, the time for judgment finally arrived. The prophets 273 00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:37.319 came and spoke again and again and again, and finally the time for judgment 274 00:26:37.400 --> 00:26:44.720 arrived and, like Noah's flood, there was no turning back, as the 275 00:26:44.799 --> 00:26:51.349 Lord says, there was no remedy left. The hour had been appointed. 276 00:26:51.750 --> 00:26:57.029 Babylon swords were drawn and they were in the hand of the Lord. The 277 00:26:57.269 --> 00:27:03.859 sacking of Jerusalem was not a random act of violence by some random foreign power. 278 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:11.619 They were God's scalpel in his hand. He allowed this to happen, 279 00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:23.130 he caused it to happen. Judgment came. There is a perspective, though, 280 00:27:23.170 --> 00:27:27.650 that we have to bring in before we conclude, and it's this. 281 00:27:30.440 --> 00:27:33.880 I've been placing you in the moment of the histories as much as I can 282 00:27:34.759 --> 00:27:41.319 that we might understand and feel what these people fell but we have to remember 283 00:27:41.440 --> 00:27:47.109 that the people who were reading this book for the first time knew all this 284 00:27:47.349 --> 00:27:52.230 already. They weren't in the middle of it. Many ways, they were 285 00:27:52.430 --> 00:27:56.430 on the other side of it, and that itself is a remarkable thing. 286 00:27:59.539 --> 00:28:04.859 Why? Because, just as the earthly king, or the earthly kingdom rather, 287 00:28:07.019 --> 00:28:11.660 in Judah, Israel was not the final kingdom, neither was this the 288 00:28:11.890 --> 00:28:22.289 final judgment, the final judgment of the world, and that's important because it 289 00:28:22.450 --> 00:28:29.759 means there was yet another opportunity to get on the other side of judgment, 290 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:34.759 and in fact these words and how that happened is expressed right here at the 291 00:28:34.920 --> 00:28:41.869 very end. A lot of history compacted into this one paragraph. Were Cyrus, 292 00:28:41.390 --> 00:28:45.190 not king of Judah or King of Israel, but King of Persia, 293 00:28:48.670 --> 00:28:52.509 that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. 294 00:28:53.630 --> 00:28:59.460 His heart was stirred up, his spirit were stirred up, the inward change 295 00:28:59.779 --> 00:29:04.859 that has to happen in order for people to truly follow after God, something 296 00:29:04.940 --> 00:29:10.690 like that at least, was happening in Cyrus. And he speaks these words. 297 00:29:11.329 --> 00:29:18.210 The Lord Yahweh is the word he uses. The God of Heaven has 298 00:29:18.329 --> 00:29:23.680 given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me to build him 299 00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:30.359 a house at Jerusalem. This is an amazing thing, where, just previous 300 00:29:30.440 --> 00:29:33.319 to this we were reading of the people, the kings of Judah, and 301 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:40.950 being been caught up in the removal of God's house by foreign powers, now 302 00:29:41.309 --> 00:29:48.069 at this foreign king, not of Abraham, is deciding to build God's house. 303 00:29:49.029 --> 00:29:55.299 An amazing thing and a fulfillment not of Cyrus's great sovereignty but of God's, 304 00:29:55.339 --> 00:29:59.099 because it's being fulfilled by the words of the Prophet, or fulfilling the 305 00:29:59.140 --> 00:30:02.980 words of the Prophet. His heart stirred up with the Lord. He's going 306 00:30:03.059 --> 00:30:06.740 to build a house. Why not? Because he has decided this great thing, 307 00:30:07.140 --> 00:30:12.890 because he's going to create this outpost for his territory. Why? Because 308 00:30:14.049 --> 00:30:18.089 the Lord God, Yah Way, the father of the God and of our 309 00:30:18.170 --> 00:30:23.920 fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that God commanded him to build, 310 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:33.200 just as Solomon was commanded to build. And so Cyrus says to his people, 311 00:30:33.440 --> 00:30:41.029 this great mixed multitude of people, Jew and gentile, whoever is among 312 00:30:41.109 --> 00:30:45.109 you, of all his people, may the Lord has God be with him. 313 00:30:45.109 --> 00:30:53.819 Let him go up, go up, go home. An amazing, 314 00:30:53.859 --> 00:31:02.019 an amazing thing. On the other side of this judgment of Jerusalem is God's 315 00:31:02.059 --> 00:31:08.450 Marvelous Grace and a decisionian that we all have to make. Will we go 316 00:31:08.609 --> 00:31:15.289 up? Will we follow? Do we belong to Yah way, to the 317 00:31:15.369 --> 00:31:29.200 God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and David and Solomon and Josiah? This 318 00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:33.150 book has taught us that in each and every moment of our lives, individually 319 00:31:33.390 --> 00:31:37.869 and corporately, as a people, as a human race, we rise and 320 00:31:37.069 --> 00:31:44.789 fall as we follow the word of the Lord and because of the sin in 321 00:31:44.869 --> 00:31:48.980 us. We fought all again and again and again, and we rise only 322 00:31:48.140 --> 00:31:53.059 by one thing, when God's Word is spoken into our lives in such a 323 00:31:53.140 --> 00:31:57.819 way that he causes us to rise up, that by his strong arm and 324 00:31:57.980 --> 00:32:02.450 mighty works of Grace, he lifts our souls and our spirits and he speaks 325 00:32:02.529 --> 00:32:09.049 to foreign kings and he moves people on armies and establishes us on the rock 326 00:32:09.170 --> 00:32:17.359 of his grace. And this is how we come to Jesus. When Jesus 327 00:32:17.480 --> 00:32:22.599 comes into the world as the son of Abraham, is the fulfillment of the 328 00:32:22.720 --> 00:32:28.799 promises for an eternal kingdom, to bring a people into a land that will 329 00:32:28.839 --> 00:32:37.509 forever Sabbath, that will forever rest and no longer suffer persecutions and and and 330 00:32:37.789 --> 00:32:44.740 sin and idolatry and and false worship and all other kinds of horrors, but 331 00:32:44.940 --> 00:32:52.380 will be perfect. God sends this Jesus to us and he is not just 332 00:32:52.619 --> 00:32:58.259 like any other king. God comes, God comes to us in the flesh 333 00:32:58.849 --> 00:33:01.490 to rescue us out of all of this sin and misery, out of our 334 00:33:01.849 --> 00:33:07.170 constant race to the bottom, to the grave itself, and raises us us, 335 00:33:07.529 --> 00:33:16.000 raises us up, up, Paul says, even into the heavenly places, 336 00:33:16.960 --> 00:33:24.160 as we saying earlier, of Zion City, the new Jerusalem, heavenly 337 00:33:24.240 --> 00:33:31.269 places. And this is very, very important, because there is no other 338 00:33:31.430 --> 00:33:37.430 king coming. With every king that we've read about in chronicles, you might 339 00:33:37.549 --> 00:33:38.950 look at him and you look at his life and go, yeah, I 340 00:33:38.990 --> 00:33:44.220 can pretty much guarantee you this isn't the end. Is A man, he 341 00:33:44.339 --> 00:33:52.700 makes mistakes, things aren't going perfectly, but with Jesus they did go perfectly, 342 00:33:52.900 --> 00:33:58.609 perfectly according to God's plan. He acted in perfect righteousness, perfect love. 343 00:33:59.009 --> 00:34:05.730 He came to establish the law own and waited for kingdom, and he 344 00:34:05.930 --> 00:34:15.159 did, which means that, since the final king is here, the final 345 00:34:15.280 --> 00:34:22.000 judgment will be the final one too. There's no other side after that. 346 00:34:23.039 --> 00:34:30.349 There's no yet one more offer of grace and opportunity. That will be it, 347 00:34:30.550 --> 00:34:36.630 and we can know that for certain because the Lord has already come, 348 00:34:37.389 --> 00:34:44.340 the kingdom has already been established. We are his people and following him. 349 00:34:46.420 --> 00:34:52.099 So if you find yourself in a position where you're living your life like one 350 00:34:52.139 --> 00:34:55.690 of the people in the generation of Noah or in the generation of Zedekiah, 351 00:34:57.210 --> 00:35:00.809 that you're living your life, not worrying about judgment, not worrying about the 352 00:35:00.889 --> 00:35:02.690 Kingdom of God, doing what you want to do, when you want, 353 00:35:04.329 --> 00:35:08.280 not caring. If this is your life, then you ought to be very, 354 00:35:08.400 --> 00:35:15.559 very afraid, as afraid as the Israelites were when they heard the beat 355 00:35:15.599 --> 00:35:21.039 of hooves and the flow, saw the flashing of Sword Coming Down upon them 356 00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:25.429 and judgment over them. As terrifying as that was, and we have expressions 357 00:35:25.469 --> 00:35:30.269 of it in the Bible, you can go and read them, much more 358 00:35:30.710 --> 00:35:35.110 parrifying will be God in his judgment when he comes with a mighty host of 359 00:35:35.309 --> 00:35:44.139 angels to pluck up the people that are his and to devote all the rest 360 00:35:44.380 --> 00:35:50.610 to destruction. If you live your life in a way that doesn't care about 361 00:35:50.650 --> 00:35:54.329 the sovereignty of the Lord, that doesn't recognize his kingship, that wants to 362 00:35:54.489 --> 00:35:59.929 live for your own ways, in your own idols, then you have death 363 00:36:00.570 --> 00:36:04.840 facing you right now, and we don't know when this day will come, 364 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:15.199 but it is guaranteed and it will be the last one. But there is 365 00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:22.789 yet time, while there is today, there is yet time. We are 366 00:36:22.949 --> 00:36:28.829 here right now. My job is to declare to you, as a prophet 367 00:36:28.989 --> 00:36:34.099 of the Lord as one who is called to proclaim the word of God, 368 00:36:35.059 --> 00:36:39.699 to tell you these things, to call you to repentance, to speak to 369 00:36:39.739 --> 00:36:45.260 you God's words and say turn to the Lord, the King, Jesus Christ, 370 00:36:46.449 --> 00:36:51.889 and you will be saved. And all of the wonderful things that we 371 00:36:52.050 --> 00:36:57.489 see expressed and promised and hoped for under the good kings of Israel, they 372 00:36:57.530 --> 00:37:04.039 are magnified to the great is degree in Jesus the things of this world, 373 00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:09.199 the kings of this world, will not last. We've just spent over two 374 00:37:09.239 --> 00:37:15.190 years pointing that out. You've been experiencing this in your own lives. They 375 00:37:15.269 --> 00:37:22.869 don't last. Don't hang onto them, hang on cling to the only thing 376 00:37:22.110 --> 00:37:29.550 that will last, Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. How can you 377 00:37:29.710 --> 00:37:37.420 belong, how can you go up? But simply trusting and believing in him. 378 00:37:39.420 --> 00:37:45.409 Turn from your sins, embrace the promises of forgiveness, and he is 379 00:37:45.570 --> 00:37:52.369 yours. We live in his name, we walk in his name, because 380 00:37:52.690 --> 00:37:58.210 he is who he is. As you reflect on the lessons of chronicles, 381 00:37:59.519 --> 00:38:06.400 reflect on these things, remember what God has done in the past, what 382 00:38:06.519 --> 00:38:10.000 he has done even after this moment, in the coming of the our Savior 383 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:15.829 and the son of David, and what is coming in the future. Rest 384 00:38:15.909 --> 00:38:22.110 your hope entirely on Jesus and you will be saved, for God is sovereign 385 00:38:22.190 --> 00:38:25.829 and he is powerful to save. Let us pray