1 CHRONICLES 1-9 JUDAH IS CONQUERED2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 1 Chronicles 1-9 Judah Is Conquered

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, this evening, here we are. We're starting out in 2 Kings chapter 20.

We're changing things up a little bit for this evening. On Wednesdays, we're going through the Bible in three years, and so we're looking back at the chapters we read during the week for the Bible in three years. But last week, we didn't have service because we had the Light the Night event, which, by the way, thank you. You guys did an awesome job. It was a great time of ministry, lots of

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And we're not gonna spend a lot of time going through all of those names this evening. So we'll spend more time in the previous week and then get caught up to where we're at this week and then continue on as we start tomorrow, 1 Chronicles 10. You'll get a breath of fresh air as we begin the next part of the account, which is going back and revisiting the life of Saul and then David and Solomon and so on and so forth as we continue on in 1 Chronicles.

But we're starting out this evening, going back two weeks, to 2 Kings chapter 20. Now, the book of Kings is written by, it's really a compilation of many different authors who are recording the history, and then it was compiled and put together. So we don't have the exact author or authors who were recording the events throughout the time of the Kings.

But the book of 2 Kings covers the time period about 300 years from 863 to about 560 BC. And the book of 2 Kings is really focusing on the kings of Israel and Judah.

What it looks like on the timeline, here you see the timeline here. We started out, remember, with Saul and David and Solomon. The kingdom of Israel reached its peak, the pinnacle of its glory under Solomon. It was prosperous. Things were going great. But then after Solomon, the kingdom was divided...

under Solomon's son's watch. And so now the kingdom of Israel was split in two. The northern kingdom was called Israel and the southern kingdom was called Judah.

Now, as we finish up 2 Kings this evening, we're covering that last portion, really just looking at the last kings of Judah because Israel has already been conquered previously in 2 Kings. So we're just finishing up this time period of history where the divided kingdom, Israel was conquered by Assyria, and now we'll see Judah be conquered and taken captive by Babylon as we go through our chapters this evening.

What that looks like on the map, though, here on the left, you have the divided kingdom. So initially, under King Saul and David and Solomon, it was united. It was all part of Israel, but then it was split. And so you had Israel in the north, Judah to the south. The borders, you know, changed frequently, but they were reduced greatly towards the end. And so Israel has already been taken captive. They've been conquered by Assyria. So really, they're off the map. And Judah is

has really been shrunk down to just Jerusalem and a few surrounding cities as we pick it up in chapter 20. There's not much left of the nation of Judah at this point where we are in our chapters. On the top right, you have a map of the nation of Assyria, and they conquered many nations around Israel,

Israel and Judah. They conquered Israel, the northern kingdom, but they were unable to conquer Judah. And then Assyria was defeated by the nation of Babylon, which we'll see rise to power during our chapters this week.

And so Babylon there is on the bottom right. And so they extend, they take over the Assyrian empire, but then they extend it yet further, conquering Judah and also some of the other areas that Assyria did not conquer. So we're seeing all of these things develop as we go through our chapters together. Well, that brings us to our chapter for this evening. First, I'm sorry, 2 Kings chapter 20. The key verse is verse 15. And it says, and he said,

What have they seen in your house? So Hezekiah answered, They have seen all that is in my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them. Here in verses 1 through 11, we have God adding 15 years to Hezekiah.

We're jumping right in the middle or actually right at the end of Hezekiah's reign as we pick up in 2 Kings chapter 20. We covered previously the first part of his reign. As he came to power, he was a good king, one of the few good kings for Judah. He called the people back to worship. He repaired the temple and he really reinstituted the worship of God in the nation of Judah.

Well, here it's the end of Hezekiah's life or just about. He comes down with an illness and he prays and God gives him and grants him 15 extra years of life. The Lord speaks this to him through the prophet Isaiah, which we'll get to as we continue to read through the Bible. The prophet Isaiah, of course, is one of those major prophets, one of the major prophetic books that we're familiar with.

So Hezekiah, he's on his deathbed, but he prays and God gives him 15 extra years. He sends Isaiah to deliver the message and he gives him a sign to go along with it. And that is the shadow will go back on the sundial. He's going to turn back the clock 10 degrees in order to show Hezekiah that God will accomplish this word and give him extra 15 years of life. Well, as Hezekiah recovers, then in verse 12 through 19 says,

Hezekiah then shows his house to men from Babylon.

So Babylon sends some messengers to the nation of Judah, to King Hezekiah, to say, hey, we heard you were sick and then you got better. We just want to say congratulations. You know, we're happy that you got better. Now, Hezekiah then gives them a tour of his house. He gives them a tour of the temple and, you know, the things that are prominent and glorious within the nation, some of the treasures that they have.

Because as he receives these men from Babylon, Babylon was not a big threat at that time. During Hezekiah's time, Assyria is the world power. Assyria is the one that has come against the nation of Judah and tried to take the city of Jerusalem. God promised they're not going to. But Babylon was not a threat. In fact, it's going to be another hundred years or so before they really rise to power and conquer Assyria. So,

Hezekiah wasn't threatened by these men and so he had no problem showing them and letting them see all of the treasures and the things that were there in Judah.

Well, Isaiah rebukes Hezekiah for this and says everything you've shown them will be carried off by Babylon because Babylon is going to rise to power and then conquer Judah and take the people captive, but also take away all of the treasures to Babylon. Well, then in verses 20 through 21, you have the death of Hezekiah. His 15 years are up. He dies and then his son Manasseh begins to reign.

Well, here's a blown up version of the map of Babylon so you can see what's going on here. There's Jerusalem on the bottom left. That's where Hezekiah is ruling. Again, the nation of Judah is really at this point the city of Jerusalem and some of the surrounding cities, but it does not have the borders that it once had.

Nineveh there on the top, that was the capital of Assyria. And so when the Assyrian Empire was ruling, it was really the capital of the world empire at the time. But Babylon conquers Nineveh about 100 years after this and begins to rule and reign over this whole territory. And so they rise to power and Babylon, of course, conquers.

The empire of Babylon, its capital is the city of Babylon, which we'll be seeing much more as we continue on through the scriptures together. All right, chapter 21, verse 16 is the key verse. It says, moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides his sin by which he had made Judah sin and doing evil in the sight of the Lord. So in verses one through 10, we have Manasseh's reign and he reigned wickedly.

He reigned for 55 years, a pretty long period of time for the kings. And he was an evil king. He turned the nation of Judah really to idolatry. He promoted it. He supported it. He called people to it. He set up all kinds of altars.

He set up even altars and things within the temple and the temple courtyard and all throughout the nation. He set up these things for people to be able to worship these false gods, doing grotesque and hideous things that we would be even...

we would have a difficult time even talking about. It's the things that they were practicing of the day. One of the things we've seen throughout Israel's history is the worship of the God of Molech, where they would put their babies to death in the worship of this God by heating up the altar and laying the babies on the arms of the altar, and the babies would

burn to death there in their worship of this God. And Manasseh was involved in that amongst many other things in the worship of the gods around them. And so God was sending prophets to the nation during this time. He was ministering to them through Isaiah and other prophets as well. But verse 9 of 2 Kings chapter 21 says, but they paid no attention to

And Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel. And so this is giving us a little bit of a glimpse into the depravity of what is taking place within the nation. Because remember, going back to Moses and Joshua, right? God brought the children of Israel into the promised land, the land of Israel.

And God said, I'm driving out the inhabitants of this land because of their great wickedness. They were in full-out rebellion against God. They had these hideous practices in their worship of their gods. And they were rebelling against God. And so God says, I'm driving them out and I'm giving this land to you, the children of Israel.

But here, now this is several hundred years later, but Manasseh is now leading the nation into worse practices than the nations who were there before.

Now, if God drove out the nations who were there before because of their wickedness, and now the nation is practicing even more wickedness than that, it's no surprise that we come in the next couple of chapters to the final destruction of the nation because they were rebelling against God and continuing to pursue these practices that God had forbidden that were hideous.

Now what's interesting about the reign of Manasseh, he reigns for 55 years, he's taken captive actually, and there in captivity, he repents and he cries out to God.

In 2 Chronicles chapter 33, we'll get to that in the coming weeks and months. We'll see Manasseh and the change that happens. And he does repent and he tries to, you know, rid the nation of idolatry. And so there's a life change that takes place in Manasseh's reign. But in a lot of ways, we'll see the damage was already done. And so the nation will continue on to destruction. Well, verses 11 through 18 here, we have the Lord announcing judgment on

As a result of all of these evil practices, these hideous things that they were doing in the worship of these false gods, the gods of the surrounding nations, and even worse things that were happening before Israel was there, the Lord now announces, okay, that's it guys. Judgment is coming. And God says, it's going to be such a calamity that if you heard it,

That your ears would tingle. It's a way that God describes many times the severity of the judgment that would take place. If you heard what I'm going to do, if you heard the judgment I'm going to bring, it would cause your ears to tingle. Now,

We've seen throughout the scriptures and we'll continue to see as we head into the prophets. Whenever God announces judgment, it's an opportunity for people to repent and turn and get right. You might remember the city of Nineveh and the prophet Jonah that was sent. And Jonah's message from the Lord was, in 40 days, the city will be destroyed.

Well, that was an invitation to repent. And the people responded. The people of Nineveh responded. They repented. They turned from their wickedness and they began to walk with God. And God delivered them and he did not bring the judgment upon them that Jonah had declared. In the same way, God is pronouncing calamity here. He's going to bring destruction, but he's also calling his people to repentance. Why?

calling them to change their ways, calling them to turn from their wickedness and to walk with him. And if they do, well, things will change and God will deliver them even though he has announced and pronounced calamity. But the people refuse and they continue to practice their wickedness. Well, then in verses 19 through 26, we have Ammon reigning in Judah.

He is the son of Manasseh. He doesn't reign very long. He reigns for two years and he also did evil in the sight of the Lord and so his reign was cut short. Well that brings us now to chapter 22. Verse 2 is the key verse. It says, "...and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the ways of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left."

Here in chapter 22, we get introduced to King Josiah. In verses 1 and 2, he begins to reign in Judah. King Josiah is a good king, one of the few. I think there was eight good kings altogether for the nation of Judah. And

Josiah is the last one. He's the final good king before the destruction comes upon the nation. He reigns for 31 years in the nation of Judah. And during his time, he recalls the people to repair the temple. Verses 3 through 7, you have the repairing of the temple there. Now, I mentioned earlier, Hezekiah repaired the temple. That was about 75 years earlier. Now, Josiah...

He's seeing the need. Manasseh, you know, he didn't reign well. And so the temple was violated and abused with all kinds of idolatry. But also the temple was falling into disrepair. And so under Josiah, they're cleaning up, they're rebuilding, they're repairing so that people can come and worship God there at the temple. Well, as they're cleaning out the temple, in verses 8 through 11, you find the priest Hilkiah finds the book of the law.

This gives us a little bit of insight into the condition of the nation. They had lost the scriptures. They had lost the scriptures. They weren't aware of what God's word said because they didn't have it available for them. And so there they are cleaning out the temple as Josiah instructed. And they stumbled upon, they came upon

The scriptures. They rediscovered, relearned what the Bible has to say. I don't know if you've ever had that experience, but you know how it is, right? Where you're cleaning up, you're cleaning out a drawer, and you're like, I forgot I had this. That's basically what happened. They'd forgotten completely about the law of God.

And so their practices were not according to the word of God. And Josiah, as they realize this, as they hear about this, responds well in verses 12 through 14. He sends men to inquire of the Lord. Josiah's response as they find the word of God and they begin to read it, Josiah realizes,

We're deserving of great judgment. Our practices do not line up with God's instructions. Our practices are way off base from what God has commanded. And so he tears his clothes, which is an act of repentance or sorrow in their culture. As we talked about on Sunday, the need, the importance of dealing with sin is

We see Josiah doing that. He's agreeing with God about their condition. He's agreeing with God about their practices and saying, we are wrong. We are deserving of judgment. Our practices are wicked. And so he sends men to inquire of the Lord.

He says, for great is the wrath of the Lord that is aroused against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us. He recognizes the issue. He recognizes the need. We've not been obeying the word of God and so we are deserving the wrath of God. We talked about this on Sunday. This is something that continues to the present. The wages of sin is death.

that destruction and death follows those who practice disobedience to the instructions and commands of God. And so Josiah responds well. He's a good example for us of how to respond when we realize, when we recognize, when it's revealed to us that our lives do not line up with the word of God, that we need to have repentance. We need to agree with God, humble ourselves, and turn from sin.

Well, they go to inquire of the Lord and the Lord responds promising peace to Josiah in verses 15 through 20. Actually, the Lord pronounces judgment as well. In verse 17 here in 2 Kings 22 says,

God explains why. He says, So God says, You're right, Josiah.

The people of Judah have stirred up the wrath of God. Judgment is coming because they have forsaken me. Because they've turned away from me, there is judgment that is coming.

But he goes on to give a message of peace to Josiah in verse 19. He says to Josiah, Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, says the Lord.

So the Lord commends Josiah for his response. He says, your heart was tender.

This is key. This is how we need to be. It's a good model for us to have a tender heart. Many times when we discover that our lives do not line up with the word of God, we don't have a tender heart. We have a hard heart where we try to insist, no, no, no, I'm right in what I'm doing. I'm right in the position I have. I'm right in the attitude that I have. I'm right in what I'm doing. We insist in our way instead of having a tender heart.

And really allowing God to reshape us and redirect us and correct us in our practices, in our beliefs, in our attitudes, and in our heart. That we need to be tender and allow God to teach us humbling ourselves before the Lord. And so because Josiah has humbled himself, God has promised him peace. During his life and his reign, he will experience peace. The judgment will come later on.

Well, that brings us now to chapter 23. Verse 25 is the key verse. It says, Now before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might. According to all the law of Moses, nor after him did any arise like him.

Here you have the continuation of Josiah's ministry and the recognition of the character of this man, Josiah. There was not a king like him who turned to the Lord completely and wholly with all of his heart, with all of his soul, and with all of his might. That

thoroughly, fully, all the way through from head to toe, from, you know, feelings to emotions to actions to practices to heart to mind, everything about Josiah. He turned to the Lord. He devoted himself to the Lord. He sought after the Lord, just as God commanded in his word. Going back to Deuteronomy, right? God said, love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

And Josiah did that. He turned to God completely and wholly. And so in verses 1 through 20, we have the record of Josiah getting rid of idolatry.

He begins to clean house, not just at the temple now, but he's working throughout the area of Judah and removing idols and altars and things that are devoted to false gods. Then he actually extends that. Remember, the northern kingdom of Israel has already been conquered, but there's people there that were

put there by Assyria and they're worshiping false gods still. And so Josiah even has this boldness to go outside of Judah to Samaria, to the northern kingdom, to Bethel and to Dan and to...

deal with and remove the the altars and the idolatry that's happening there as well this is very bold moves that he's making because you know this is outside of his territory he really doesn't have authority and uh you know babylon and assyria could come against him in in his doing this but he goes to great lengths to get rid of idolatry and to remove those things the worship of these false gods

Then in verses 21 through 25, he calls Judah to keep the Passover. In verse 22, it says, Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.

The Passover was instructed by God. It was a call to remember how God delivered them out of Egypt. Back in the book of Exodus chapter 12, you see the instruction for that. And they were to practice that every year. But that had kind of gone by the wayside. They hadn't been practicing it. And so Josiah calls them back to practice the feast of Passover and to remember how God had delivered them out of Egypt. Then in verses 26 through 27 says,

God brings word that he will remove Judah. The Lord will remove Judah. Again, the judgment is still going to come. There is still going to be judgment that's brought out upon the nation of Judah. Now we might wonder why. We might consider, you know, well, Josiah was a good king. Why is God still pronouncing judgment? Well, here's the issue. The nation of Judah is

had eight good kings throughout their, I think it was 300 and something years of existence. Once the kingdom was split in two, they had eight good kings for that time period. And so every once in a while, a good king would rise to power. He would be on the throne. He would rebuild the temple and invite people and call people to worship God. But here's the problem.

Even though they had good kings from time to time, the people of the nation are still astray. They are still rebelling against God. And the kings would deal with kind of the national or the public altars and the public idolatry. But

In the homes, there was still personally within the family idolatry going on. And we see the insight to this as we study like the prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah and these guys who were ministering to the people during this time. That they're calling out. Even when there's a good king, there's a call back to the things of God. And many of the people respond, but it's an outward thing. And their hearts are not being changed. Their lives are not being changed.

David Guzik puts it this way. He says, And so as soon as that king was gone, even publicly they would go back to their old ways. Privately they never changed. Publicly they conformed. They kind of fit in. They held to what Josiah was instructing and calling the people to.

But personally and privately, their lives were not changed. And so secretly in their homes, they were continuing to worship these gods. They were continuing to rebel against God. And as soon as Josiah was gone, then they removed the charade. They didn't need to hold up the good behavior no more. And so then they would go back home

as well into their idolatry. And so even though there was good kings, the people were still walking away from God and rebelling against God. Josiah personally, he changed his life and he sought after the Lord with all of his heart and soul and mind and strength. But the rest of the people of the nation didn't follow suit. They didn't.

practiced the religion. They practiced the outward things, but their lives were not changed. Their hearts were not changed. And so God is looking to deal with their hearts. He's looking at their hearts. And so he announces the removal of Judah will take place. There will be judgment upon Judah because the hearts of the people are far from him.

Verses 28 through 30 now, we have the death of Josiah. He dies in Megiddo. He goes out to attack the Pharaoh as the Pharaoh is on his way to deal with another nation. And he tries to intervene and he's killed in the battle and he dies there at Megiddo. And then in verses 31 through 34, Jehoahaz begins to reign in Judah.

He reigns for three months, not very long. He was an evil king and then Pharaoh comes and imprisons him. And then Jehoiakim is set up as king in verses 35 through 37. He reigns for 11 years. He also was an evil king and he was paying tribute to Egypt because he was set up as king by the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Here's a quick map to see where Josiah died. So there in Megiddo is where he was, you know, he was brought there and that's where he died as he went out against Pharaoh of Egypt. Chapter 24, verse 12. Then Jehoiachin, king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his princes, and his officers went out to the king of Babylon and the king of Babylon in the eighth year of his reign took him prisoner.

So in verses 1 through 7, you have the nations that are sent against Judah. It's being described here, these nations that are coming against them. Now, King Jehoiakim experienced the attack of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar.

And he was defeated by Babylon. But then also you had these nations who were part of Babylon, the Chaldeans, the Syrians, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and they were raiding the nation of Judah, the area of Judah, and continuing to come against them even when they weren't under siege, even when they weren't under a direct attack. Then in verses 8 through 12, you have Jehoiachin reigning in Judah.

He is the next king now. He reigns for three months. He is an evil king. He does wickedly in the eyes of the Lord. And he rebels against Babylon. So Babylon now is raised up and become the ruling authority of the area.

Under Jehoiakim, they began to pay tribute. Jehoiakim tried to rebel. He was taken captive. Now Jehoiachin is set up as king. After three months, he tries to rebel. And so Babylon comes and lays siege to the city of Jerusalem. And then he surrenders. He gives up. He says, okay, well, let's just go out and surrender ourselves to the king of Babylon.

and not endure this siege. And so he's taken away captive. In verse 13 through 16, the temple treasures are also taken away and many others are taken away. The captains, the mighty men, the craftsmen, the worksmiths, it says 10,000 in total are taken away by Babylon and taken to Babylon in captivity. And so now at this point, only the poorest remain in the nation of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem.

And now Babylon sets up the next king, Zedekiah. And Babylon's thinking, okay, surely they'll get the point. You know, they've been defeated twice already by Babylon. They'll be submitted to Babylon. They'll pay tribute. They'll be good citizens and pay their taxes. You know, they're not going to rebel this time.

Zedekiah reigns for 11 years. He does evil in the sight of the Lord and he also will rebel against Babylon and we'll see that take place, the consequences in chapter 25.

Here again is a map of the Babylonian Empire. So Babylon is the capital. They would go up following the Euphrates River up to the north, and then they would come down towards the area of Israel, towards the nation of Judah. So they would go down, conquer Jerusalem, take the captives back. They've done that twice already. Now they're coming for the third time as we head into chapter 25.

Verse 10 is the key verse. It says, and all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around. So in verses 1 through 10 now you have Babylon conquering Judah. They besieged the city. It lasts for a couple years. Finally the walls broken through. Zedekiah then tries to escape. He runs for his life but Babylon catches him

They kill his sons before his eyes and they actually put out his eyes. So the last thing that he saw was the death of his sons and then they take him captive to Babylon. The walls are broken down at this time. So Jerusalem, the walls, their protection are demolished. The temple is completely destroyed and burned. And so at the end of this final attack of Babylon, there's just rubble. The city is no more. There's just rubble there where Jerusalem once was.

In verses 11 through 21, Jerusalem is carried away captive. Again, the rest of the inhabitants there, the people of Judah, they're all taken now except for a few poor people who are left. And so there's a few people left in the land, not very many, just a few left. The rest are taken captive to Babylon.

also it points out that the bronze pillars remember that solomon had made uh that were there in front of the temple those were taken all the the rest of the the treasures and things that hadn't been taken yet they were all carried off to babylon just as god had promised would happen well babylon then sets up a governor in verses 22 through 26 it's not a nation anymore it's

It's just a few poor people left. And so there's no king. It's a governor now that Gedaliah is set up as governor to rule over the few poor people that are left.

And he calls the people to submit to Babylon. He says, don't fear them. We can still live here. But then he's assassinated. And we read in the book of Jeremiah that then the people flee to Egypt. And so even the few poor people that were left in the land, they leave the land and go to Egypt and die there. Then in verses 27 through 30, we have the account of Jehoiachin being released from prison. So later on, after King Nebuchadnezzar had died, another king rose up and he said,

Showed kindness to Jehoiachin. Who was a king. A few kings back. And he was in captivity. And so he brought him out. And treated him kindly. And fed him. And that kind of thing. So that's recorded there at the end of chapter 25.

Well, here's a quick look at the summary. So Babylon conquers Judah. We typically think of it as one battle, but it's actually three times that Babylon conquers Judah in the city of Jerusalem. So about 605 BC, Jehoiakim is king. He rebels against Babylon and then he's defeated by King Nebuchadnezzar. And at that time, Jehoiakim

Young men from the royal family, including probably the prophet Daniel, and you can read about that in the book of Daniel, are taken away captive to Babylon. And so that's the time where Daniel is taken to Babylon. And then also some of the temple articles are taken to Babylon. So it's not cleaned out. All of the treasures aren't taken, but some of the things are taken to Babylon. And then Jehoiachin is set up as king.

And again, King Nebuchadnezzar is thinking, we defeated them. Now they'll be good citizens. They'll pay their taxes. And, you know, we won't have to do anything more. But Jehoiachin then rebels against Babylon as well and tries to defect and tries to be independent. And so in 597 BC, Jehoiachin surrenders

to Babylon as Babylon besieges the city of Jerusalem. So Jehoiachin is taken captive then. Then the treasury of the temple is cleaned out. Then the captains, the craftsmen, 10,000 of the people are taken captive as well and taken to Babylon. So much more of the people, much more of the treasures, much more of the articles are taken this time when Jehoiachin surrenders.

Then Zedekiah is set up as king. Now Zedekiah, he lasts a little bit longer, but he tries to rebel against Babylon as well. And he tries to make an alliance with Egypt. And so Babylon comes back and says, okay, we've already beat them twice. We tried this two times already. Three strikes, you're out. This time, we're just going to wipe out the land, the nation altogether.

And so Zedekiah is defeated. Jerusalem and the temple are completely destroyed. Again, there's only rubble left in the land now. And the whole population, just a few poor people are left, but they flee to Egypt later on. And so the whole land is left desolate.

As a result of their rebellion against God. And it will remain desolate for about 70 years. Which is in fulfillment of what the prophet Jeremiah said. And then you'll see the Lord deliver the people. And bring them back into the land. After 70 years of captivity. Here's a quick look at the timeline of the things that we've been talking about this evening. So you have Manasseh. He was an evil king.

And the nation of Judah is on a downward spiral. Ammon is after him, and then Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and then Zedekiah. The red bars there are the times that Babylon came and conquered the nation. So it happened first ending Jehoiakim's reign, then ending Jehoiachin's reign, and then finally ending Zedekiah's reign, and the land is left desolate.

In the green, you also have the prophets who are ministering to the nation during that time. And so as we get to the prophets later on, we'll be rewinding back to this time period. The prophet Jeremiah ministered under the reign of Josiah and then all the way to the end and the captivity of Babylon and taking away the people. But you also have Zephaniah and Daniel and Ezekiel and Habakkuk and Obadiah who are all calling out to the people. And this is the main point of this, that God is the whole time calling out

The people to repentance. Calling them back to himself. Giving them opportunity to turn and to get right. Giving them opportunity to experience deliverance and salvation. That God is not excited about bringing judgment. He doesn't get happy about it. It doesn't bring him any kind of joy. He hates it. But he is a holy God and he deals with sin. He deals with rebellion. And all the way up until that last part, until the final destruction, he's calling his people back.

He's calling you and I to him. He's calling us to get right, to turn, and to not continue on so that we do not experience the judgment as a result of our rebellion against God. And so we see incredible grace and mercy here, even in the midst of judgment, as he is sending prophets, and there's many more than this as well, messengers who are sent to the nation to call them to repentance.

Well, that concludes the book of Kings. And now we head into the book of Chronicles and we'll go through this fairly quickly. The book of Chronicles, the author is believed to be Ezra who compiled these accounts and put them all together in 1st and 2nd Chronicles for us.

The book of 1 Chronicles covers the time period of 1010 BC to 970 BC. We'll talk about that in just a moment. And the theme is the kings of Judah. In the book of Kings, 1 and 2 Kings, we're looking at Israel and Judah. Here we're just focusing on the nation of Judah in 1 and 2 Chronicles. Here's a quick breakout of how the kingdom books work. So 1 and 2 Samuel and then 1 and 2 Kings are consecutive histories.

So it begins in 1 Samuel. Where 1 Samuel ends, 2 Samuel begins. Where 2 Samuel ends, 1 Kings begins. Where 1 Kings ends, 2 Kings begins. It's just one long historical account of the nation of Israel.

1st and 2nd Chronicles now we're rewinding, we're going back and now 1st Chronicles is going to cover the same time period as the book of 2nd Samuel. So we're going to be revisiting many of the things that we read and studied already. There's going to be slightly different details and different perspectives and so we'll get a little bit more insight as we go through it this time.

And then 2 Chronicles covers the same time period as 1 and 2 Kings. And so we'll get to see the division of the nation. We'll get to see the destruction that's brought by Babylon to the nation as they come to the end. And so we're going to be going back and looking at these things that we've already seen, but with slightly different information, slightly different details to give us more insight into what took place.

So if you're looking at the timeline, this is what it looks like. Now, we just finished here where Babylon conquers Judah. There, that red bar, that's where we ended 2 Kings. Now we're going back to the time of David, the end of Saul's reign. Now the beginning of David's reign, heading into Solomon, the building of the temple. And we're going to see, again, that glorious height, the pinnacle of the nation, the pinnacle of their glory and prosperity here.

We're going back to that time period and then we're going to watch the decline once again as we continue on through the books of Chronicles.

Here's the geography of what it looks like. The first king of Israel was King Saul. He didn't have very impressive borders, but he, you know, had a united kingdom. And then David succeeded him. His borders were a little bit further. And then he actually expanded them much further. And we'll see that under Solomon's reign as he defeated and made arrangements with many of the surrounding nations.

Well, that brings us now to the chapters of 1 Chronicles. Now, the first nine chapters of the book of Chronicles is pretty much all genealogy. It's a list and record of names. And so, again, we're not going to go through all of the details here, but we're going to be just kind of touching some of the highlights here. So, in verses 1 through 28, it records for us the sons of Adam.

These records were really important for the Jewish people, for God's people. It was really important for them that they knew who they descended from. It was really important as far as, you know, for the Levites, they had to be able to prove and to know that they were of the tribe of Levi to be able to serve the Lord as priests and as Levites and so on and so forth. And so these are things that were very important to them, which may not be so important to us.

But the sons of Adam there, so we begin with Adam. We work our way all the way through to Abraham. And so we're following the lineage, really looking at the line of Messiah as we begin there with Adam. And then in verses 29 through 31, we kind of deviate from the line of Messiah and we follow the line of Ishmael for a short time. Ishmael was Abraham's son, remembered by Hagar, the concubine. And so it's a side trip, you know, it's not...

The Messiah, Jesus, is not going to be born of the line of Ishmael, but they record the genealogy. And then also they record the genealogy and the children of Keturah. Keturah was Abraham's concubine that he took after Sarah died. And so they follow those names for a little bit. And then we get back to Isaac.

And Isaac goes back to now the line of Christ. We're following the line of Christ, the line of the Messiah throughout the scriptures. Then you have Seir and Edom, which these are Esau. So remember there was Jacob and Esau. And so they're in Seir and Edom. That's where Esau went and became established. And so it's recording the history and the names of those who were involved in that. Well, that takes us to chapter two of Chronicles. And there we find the sons of Israel.

Jacob and Esau, right? You remember those? Those were the sons of Isaac. Jacob was renamed by God to Israel.

And so when it talks about the sons of Israel, it's talking about the sons of Jacob. He had 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of the nation of Israel. Later it developed into 13 tribes because he adopted Joseph's sons in Joseph's place. And that was Ephraim and Manasseh. But the 12 sons of Israel are recorded there who become the 12 tribes of the nation.

And then we're going to break down and walk through many of those tribes as we go through. So now the sons of Judah in verses 3 through 17. So Judah was one of the sons of Israel. And it records his lineage all the way to David. Now again, we're following the line of Christ. David is a forefather and Jesus was a descendant of David.

Then we're looking at a couple other families in the tribe of Judah. Hezron, they're in verses 18 through 24. This was Caleb's father. Then Jeremiel in verses 25 through 41. He was a son of Hezron. And then also Caleb in verses 42 through 55. These are all guys of the tribe of Judah. And so it follows their line for a short time. Chapter 3.

We have the sons of David. So David reigned seven years in Hebron. He had sons and daughters. And then he reigned 33 years in Jerusalem and he had more children there. And so it records there those children that were born to him in those two locations.

Then you have the sons of Solomon in verses 10 through 16. And it really follows Solomon all the way to Zedekiah, the final king of the nation of Judah in that portion. And then the sons of Jeconiah in verses 17 through 24. Jeconiah was Jehoiakim's son. He's also known as Jehoiachin. So Jeconiah, Jehoiachin are one in the same person.

Chapter 4, we have the sons of Judah again, looking not just at the line of David, but the further, more complete look at the line of Judah. And we're beginning now to really just focus on the 12 tribes of the nation. So it starts with Judah, then Simeon in verses 24 through 43. So Judah was a child of Israel or Jacob. Simeon also was a child of Israel or Jacob. Then chapter 5 now.

He had the sons of Reuben, the sons of Gad, and the sons of Manasseh. These are the next three sons in Jacob's family. Now these are describing here in chapter 5 those tribes that settled on the east side of the Jordan. Remember they didn't want to enter in. They said, hey, this land is good enough for us. And so they settled there on the east side of the Jordan.

Then in chapter 6, you have the tribe of Levi in verses 1 through 30. Those descendants, the tribe of Levi was special. Remember, they were dedicated to the things of God and serving the Lord at the tabernacle and then later on the temple. And so verses 31 through 48 describe the men who were ministering with music that were appointed during David's reign. Also the sons of Aaron in verses 49 through 53 describe

Aaron was of the tribe of Levi, but it was Aaron and his sons that were only allowed to be the priests. And so you're following the line of the priests as you look at the sons of Aaron there in verses 49 through 53.

Then it also describes the dwelling places of the Levites in verses 54 through 81. Lots of names, lots of locations going throughout the map of Israel, highlighting the different cities that were given to the Levites. Remember the Levites, they were the one tribe that didn't get a land inheritance. Everybody else, when they came into the promised land, Joshua divided it up. All right, your location is here. Your plot of land is here. And all the tribes had location or land in the land of Israel.

But Levi did not because God said, I'm your inheritance. You get to serve me. You know, that's your inheritance. And so then what God called all of the tribes to do is appoint cities for the Levites. So they didn't get, you know, large portions of land, but they got cities spread out throughout the nation. And those are mentioned there in verse 54 through 81.

Chapter 7, we're just following down now the lines of the sons of Jacob and their descendants. So the sons of Issachar, Benjamin, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Asher. Then in chapter 8, we revisit the sons of Benjamin, specifically looking at the line of Saul, who becomes the first king of the land of Israel. And so that's what's being focused on in chapter 8.

And then finally, chapter 9, our portion from today, we have the inhabitants of the land described and talked about in verses 1 through 9. Then the priests are mentioned in verses 10 through 13. The Levites in 14 through 16. The gatekeepers in 17 through 27. The charge of the Levites and some of their responsibilities in verse 28 through 34. And then once again, the genealogy of Saul in verses 35 through 44.

And so this is all, you know, it's kind of going back to the beginning, following the lineage, following all the history, and then bringing us up to King Saul. In chapter 10, which is our reading for tomorrow, we're going to see the end of Saul's life, the end of his reign, and the beginning of the reign of King David. And so we'll pick up right where 2 Samuel begins as we start chapter 10 tomorrow.

Now, as we finish up this evening, I just want to share a couple things with you to kind of wrap up. First of all, you know, going through all these names over the past week, I'm sure wasn't real exciting. And tomorrow you'll get a breath of fresh air, you know, as we begin back in the narrative and begin to look at the life of David again. And so there's some great things that God has in store as we revisit those things. But, you know, all of these names, they may not mean a whole lot to us.

But what I'd like to remind you is that your name is recorded somewhere as well. And it's meaningful to the Lord. It's meaningful to God. He knows who you are. He knows everything about you. And he's got records of you and of your life. You know, it talks about in the scriptures of, you know, the dead standing before the Lord God Almighty. And the books are opened. And the records of...

their lives. And so there are those records and God is keeping track of your name is written. And so it doesn't mean a whole lot to us, but it's a reminder that each individual and each person is important to God. He knows the details of their life and he is paying attention just like he's paying attention to you.

Also, another thought I was considering as we were reading through all of the names, you know, the lineage was really important to them. They needed to be able to trace their heritage back to show, to authenticate, I really am of the nation of Israel. I really am a child of Abraham. I really am a descendant of, you know, this line. And I do own this land because I'm of the tribe of Judah. Or I'm of the tribe of Issachar. I belong here. And so, you know,

tracing back their lineage, it was, you know, what they had their rights, you know, were based upon their lineage and who their forefathers were.

It was their credentials, really, for the land that they owned, for what they had, the rights that they had, but then also for their opportunity to serve. If you were of the tribe of Levi, you had to be able to trace your lineage back to the son of Jacob who is called Levi. And it was of that tribe that those were the ones who were authorized to serve the Lord at the tabernacle.

And so these things were really important to them. It's just a list of names for us, but these were things, records that they would study, that they would, you know, devote themselves to because they wanted to make sure and to be able to show that they, you know, deserved it. They had the right to the things, you know, that they were claiming that they had the right to the things that they had. So they had to list all of their forefathers. But, you know, for you and I today, I thought it was interesting. We're called children of God.

And so, you know, you and I might not bring our family tree, you know, to show, well, look, this is why I'm able to, you know, inherit eternity. You know, this is why I'm able to serve the Lord in this capacity or this way because I have this lineage. I have this, you know, this is my father and my grandfather and so on and so forth. But you and I, we get to

The book of John talks about those who believe in Jesus. He gave them the right to become children of God. And so we get to be direct descendants of God. We get to be direct descendants of our Heavenly Father. And as such, we have a right. We have a claim.

to eternity. As children of God, we have a right, we have a claim to the things of God. We have the opportunity to serve God. We have a right to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to be baptized, to walk with God. We have great blessings as a result of our heritage as children of God. And so remember that. Remember that God has given you those rights and those privileges.

as his children you get to partake of that well there's a lot that we could get into there but one last thing to wrap up this evening going back to the book of second kings we saw the final the tragic conclusion to the nation of judah because of their continual rebellion against god as i was preparing for this evening i came across a progression of things that david guzik had put together

It was the progression of Manasseh's reign and the wickedness as it developed. And I thought it was really interesting and important for us to consider this evening in light of where our nation is. And I've shared many times before, if you look at the nation of Judah, there's so many parallels between the nation of Judah and the United States of America and where we're at. We're on the same path. We're on the path to destruction as we continue to rebel against God. And so here he gives a

that I think is really interesting for us to consider. First of all, it begins with idolatry is tolerated. Under Manasseh's reign, idolatry, first of all, is allowed. That it's not, you know, dealt with. It's not really, you know, they're not getting rid of it. They're not dealing with it. They're just tolerating it. They're allowing it to take place amongst the people.

Then the next step is that idolatry is promoted. So not only is it tolerated, but now it begins to be popular. It begins to be, you know, something that's acceptable and it's promoted amongst the people.

Well, then the next step is that idolatry is supported and funded. And he's looking at Manasseh, how now he begins to, you know, set up public centers where people are able to go and to worship these false gods. And so idolatry now is, you know, it's being supported. It's being funded. It's being set up and people are, you know, giving provision or given provision to be able to worship false gods.

Well, then the next step is that the worship of the true God is undermined. This is something we often get confused about when we look at these historical accounts. The people of God weren't, you know, just waking up one day and saying, I don't want to walk with God. I don't want to serve God or worship God. I'm just going to turn and follow these other gods. No, what they would try to do is, well, I'm going to continue to sacrifice to God at the temple. And then I'm also going to sacrifice to this other God over here.

And then I'm also going to add on to that this other God over here. And so they were adding on to their worship of God the worship of these other gods. And so as these things are developing, they're still trying to go to church and be right with God. But now at this phase, now the worship of the true God is being undermined. Now it's being discouraged. It's being, you know, looked down upon.

And then it goes on to the next step. Then the worshipers of God in the next phase, the worshipers of the true God are now persecuted and murdered. So idolatry is being risen up, it's rising up. Then the worship of God is undermined. And then the next step is for persecution and murder to take place as the nation comes against those who worship the true and living God. And then the final step is the judgment of God comes soon after that.

Interesting to consider. This was the observations of the progression that he observed under the reign of Manasseh. But these things, I would say, again, we can see so many parallels between the nation of Judah and our own nation.

I would suggest to you, as you look at this progression, that we are here. As a nation, we're somewhere in this range here. Idolatry is tolerated. We're well beyond that now. Idolatry is promoted. That's going on. It's acceptable. Things that God has forbidden, things that God has declared are sin. It's promoted. It's accepted.

published it's publicized it's acceptable socially then idolatry is supported and funded we're experiencing that as well where the government our government is supporting and providing funds to help people disobey god and practice things that are forbidden in the scriptures and practice things that you know are not of god and that is taking place and so we're progressing down this line

I would suggest to you that we are here at this fourth step where the worship of the true God is undermined. That's what we're seeing take place as prayer is being removed, as people are declaring you can't pray to the name of Jesus under certain things and so on and so forth. That we're seeing the undermining of the worship of the true and living God.

The next phase, which we don't know when that's going to happen or if we'll follow this exact same progression, but it is interesting. We've followed the same path thus far. The next phase, what we need to get ready for is the worshippers of the true God are persecuted and murdered. And that's something that takes place all around the world.

But we don't experience it here that much. We don't experience real persecution yet. But that's the next phase. That's where we're at, really. And we need to be prepared. We need to be ready. Because then soon after that is when the judgment of God comes upon a nation. Now remember that Judah had good kings. Some people are pretty bummed out. Some people are really happy over the results of what took place yesterday. But you know what? What took place yesterday really was not that important.

It wasn't that big of a deal. Because the real issue is the hearts of the people. And even if we had, you know, our ideal person who wasn't even on the ballot yesterday, even if they were in office, if the hearts of the people aren't changed, it's just like the nation of Judah. There's a good king. There's some good outward reform. There's some good outward changes. But the same judgment still comes. The king is not so important. The president is not so important. It's the hearts of the people that matters. We really don't know

If the person who's in office today was, you know, the best person for the position, you know, many will say, well, Romney would have been the better candidate. He should have been in office. We don't really know if that really, I mean, this could be the mercy of God or it could be the expedient, the hurrying of the judgment of God. We really have no idea. We're clueless. But that's okay. We don't have to have that all figured out.

Here's what we have control of. Here's what we have authority over. Our own hearts. Our own lives.

And so the point I want to leave you with is that, look, it doesn't matter so much who's in office. We can see the progression of our nation, the progression of our society. We're on a path to destruction because we are insisting on rebelling against God and practicing the things that he has forbidden. But what you and I have control of is our own hearts. And Josiah is the model for us, that he had a tender heart and he turned himself to fully follow heart, soul, mind, and strength. He pursued the

The relationship with God that he commanded. And that is what you and I must do as well. That is really our responsibility. And as we follow him. As we stay in the center of his will. That's the most important thing that we can do. The real issue is people individually need to walk with God.

And so as we pursue him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then we have opportunity to reach out and encourage others and call them to that same walk with God. And that's what we need to be about. That's the business we need to be involved in because we're headed towards destruction just like Judah did as we continue to rebel against God. Let's pray. Lord, I pray for all of us here. I pray that you would help us.

To stop walking in darkness and to start walking in the light, God. Whatever areas of sin, whatever areas of rebellion exist within our hearts and lives, I pray, Lord, that you would help us to respond like Josiah, that our hearts would be tender, that we would fear you, that we would hear your word and respond to it, to pursue after you with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength by faith in Jesus Christ, recognizing that it's not about our works or how good we are, but

It's about what you've accomplished for us. And so, Lord, help us to grasp hold of you and to walk in a loving relationship with you, which includes obedience to your commands. Help us, God, to pursue you, to be soft and responsive, and to not insist upon your judgment by continuing to rebel against you. And so, Lord, I pray that you would draw us near to you. In Jesus' name, amen.

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