No Remedy?

It all started with Adam and the first exile from the garden in 1 Chronicles 1:1 and today we end with the return of from exile in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23. This is the covenant history of God. The greatest sermon ever preached. Full of Gods covenant faithfulness. Full of encouragement. Hope. Joy. And unity. Full of the gospel of our Lord Jesus. This is his people. His story. His line. The story of a king and kingdom that will endure eternally. Today we celebrate that covenant again when we baptize this baby.

And today we look at the end. The end of the line of David before the exile to Babylon. The end of Judah living in the land. The end of sin. We see wickedness judged through the righteous judgement and wrath of God.

But we also see a new beginning that comes after exile. A beginning of being a light among the nations. A beginning of new life in the promised land. So, although there is an end, it is not the end. There is still a remedy. The life of Gods covenant people continues, for God is faithful.

No Remedy?

1. The people’s continuous sin lead to…

2. …Gods repeated call which ends in….

3. …Gods’ complete judgement which brings...

4. …Rest and Return.

 

The Peoples’ continuous sin leads to...

Remember last time, we noted that Josiah went to Egypt, and now they are under the dominion of Egypt again. Almost as if to say the first exodus was not the final exodus. The people’s sin had led back to slavery. And unless they broke free from the slavery to sin, they would never be free. The people take Jehoahaz the son of Josiah and make him king. But he does not make it for very long. We read, “The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred talents of silver and a talent of God.” Once again, the people of God are working for the enrichment of the Egyptian Pharaoh. He even carries the anointed king Jehoahaz to Egypt and puts his brother on the throne and changes his name to Jehoiakim (v.4). This act of renaming shows the superiority and control of Egypt.

This underscores that from now on they only rule under the oversight of gentile rulers, who install and replace them as they see fit. When it’s all over Jehoahaz is in Egypt, Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin are captives in Babylon, and Zedekiah just disappears.

The house of David collapses because of the weight of its sin. In the book of chronicles only 8 kings do evil. 3 of those eight appear this one chapter.

First Jehoiakim “does evil in the sight of the LORD his God.” God sends Nebuchadnezzar – the Babylonian king against them. And what does he do? He takes the Lords anointed some of the things from the house of the Lord and puts them in his own house. A picture of God removing his presence from his people. It seems like the end is near. There is no remedy.

Next is Jehoiachin, we are moving through kings fast here. Jehoiachin reigns for 3 months and ten days. I love it. When one reigns so short, ten days is worth mentioning at the end of three months. And he manages to do evil in those three months. And in the spring of that same year Nebuchadnezzar sends for him and brought him to Babylon. No longer does he come up against him – he now just sends for him, like a king sends for his servant. The king was a slave.

Next is Zedekiah. he reigns for 11 years and does evil in the sight of the LORD his God. He does not humble himself. He does not listen to the word of God. He rebels against nebuchadnezzar and thereby breaks an oath that he had made in God’s name. This is a covenant breaker – he broke an oath made in God’s name. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against the LORD the God of Israel. Who does that remind you of? Stiffened neck? Hardened heart? Despite repeated warnings… Egypt of Course. Pharoah had had repeated warnings from a prophet of the LORD. And yet he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart.

The depth of these people’s sins is emphasized. It is not only the king. But the people and the priest. Together they contaminate and polluted all that was holy.. Not only had the people become enslaved to the nations, but they had also not become like the nations. 

Dear church God’s eye is especially on God’s covenant people. Therefore, there is a unique way in which when a child of God sins, he sins before the eyes of the Lord. It is that picture of a father and a child. And the father has told his child that he must not do something. And the child looks at his father and right in front him does exactly that which he was not supposed to do. Over and over again. What Father would have this kind of patience that the Lord has had with Israel? Lets meditate on that patience.

…Gods repeated call which ends in…

“The LORD the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.” He was the God of their Fathers, and therefore their God. And he shows himself true and faithful by sending a long line of prophet throughout their history from Moses to Jeremiah to Malachi

Especially also in these last years, he had not given up on his people. Just read the book of Jeremiah – how he pleaded with them, and wept over them, and warned them. Over and over and over again. And that was just one prophet.  as we have gone through this we have seen 18 different prophetic messages in this book of which 14 are unique only to Chronicles. At least 10 of these prophetic messages are given by people found no where else in the Bible. When you add these prophets to all the other prophets that we read about in Kings, and also all the major and minor prophets, we see a God that is relentless in his pursuit of his bride.

he “send persistently.” Not giving up. Prophet after prophet. Why? Not because he wants them to judge the people – but to love the people. To call them to himself. To call them to enjoy fellowship with him through repentance and faith.

Listen to Jesus interpretation of the history of Israel he says, “there was a master who planted a vineyard…and leased it to tenants…. When the time for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants, more then the first. And they did the same to them. Finally, he sent his son to them, saying “they will respect my son.” But when the tenant saw the son, they said to themselves, “This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.” And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”

Dear church it is not as if Israel was judged because they didn’t know what was wrong and right. It was not like they were not aware. They knew! They knew full well and chose to disobey. Chose to raise their fist at their redeeming God. Chose to kill the prophets – knowing full well what God had said and done. his was willful sin. It was the type of sin that you have planned.

You and I have the same privilege. Every week we have the awesome opportunity to hear God speak to us through this word. The question is are we prayerfully listening in the Spirit. But the heart of the message is that God never ever gives up on his covenant.

For in the story that Jesus tells he knows that he is the SonGod sent and sent and sent to his people, and finally he sent his Son. He never ever stopped coming after his people. But just like the peoples sin led to exile, so the worlds sin led to Gods wrath being poured out on him.  

…Gods’ complete judgement which brings...

Hear these ominous words, “But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people.  Until there was no remedy.” No remedy. Can you imagine hearing those words after being diagnosed with a disease. You await the test results, and the doctor calls you and asks you to come in, and he says to you, “I have received your results the cancer has spread throughout the body. I am sorry. But there is no remedy.’ This is the fear of humanity. No remedy.

We like to think there is a remedy for anything if we just throw enough money at it and the right people. We like to think that education, or government, of technology, or science will fix it all.  The remedy for poverty is government grants, or capitalism, or socialism, or something. We all have a solution. For crime its more police, or gates, or alarm systems, for climate change its money. Etc. But here we read the ominous words. No remedy. What was he talking about? Sin. That’s what there was no remedy for. The wrath of God for sin. It is sin that so often leads to all these other things like poverty, crime, the destruction of the land. It is sin that kills us, and everything around us.

Sin would kill them. Sin would exile them from God’s presence. There is no remedy for sin. The only solution is the wrath of God. The just wrath of a holy God – to burn away the wickedness of his people and to give true rest.

And that is what God does in verse 17-21. Total destruction of the covenant people. This is the LORD carrying out this holy war of total destruction. The Lord sent the Chaldeans to kill “their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged. He gave them all in their hands.” Since they would not accept Gods compassion by listening to his word, he gave them over into a people who would have no compassion.

The treasuries were emptied out which in Chronicles was a sign of national and spiritual health. The people counting the money were the heroes of history in Chronicles – it only happened in good times. Now there is nothing to count. Nothing to distribute.  And after taking and pillaging everything the burned it to the ground.

Gods’ judgement is a complete judgment – sin cannot go unpunished.

And as we listen to the story we don’t wonder if this is the end. Neither did the people after the exile. Remember they had already returned. They knew that this was not the end. God had brought them back. But only after his wrath had been poured out. Yes the judgement of God had to happen.

the first born would have to die! Jesus! He is our remedy! His is the answer to the question of this chapter! There is a remedy for sin and death!

…Rest and Return.

We have known since 1 Chronicles 9 where the generation is mentioned that returned, that Israel would survive. That Gods covenant promises were greater than his people’s sins. They had suffered tremendous emotional and physical devastation. They had everything taken from them. Home, land, family, and communion with God. They were a valley of dry bones. … and yet! Yet, the door is still open to the future. The word of God speaks life into death. Hope into hopelessness. Light into darkness. And he does it through judgement. 

Only when sin is removed there can be a complete rest. The land was polluted. But it was not the land that was the problem. It was the people that polluted it. So, the land was crying out for rest. Just like creation today groans for the sons of God to be revealed. We read the sinners are sent away so that Gods land might enjoy its sabbath rest. Sin destroys a land. We even see it with our world today where sin abounds the country and the land also suffer under its weight..so God gave the land its rest for seventy years.

Every seven years, the land was supposed to be left fallow, debts were to be canceled, and slaves were to be set free. Judah had failed to give the land rest, oppressing the land, and by implication oppressing one another. They had not kept the law of release, and dependency on God, so now they would learn it forcibly. The land would have its rest and the people rather than being able to free their slaves every seven years, would learn what it was to be slaves.

And on the year of jubilee every 50 years there was to be a proclamation of freedom throughout the land. In Leviticus 25:10 we read, “And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants.” Does this not remind you of what Cyrus does at the end of our text? He makes a proclamation of liberty throughout his kingdom of freedom for the people of God. His decree announces that the great sabbath year has arrived. When we read all the genealogies in 1 Chroniclers which starts with Adam and ends with the exile, we find that this decree is made in the fiftieth generation since Adam. This may or may not be coincidental.

And he speaks almost in Davidic and Solomonic language. Cyrus confesses Yahweh the God of heaven. He claims to be appointed to build the house. He says to the exiles “may the Lord your God be with you,” Which echoes what David said to Solomon. Which also echoes the promise Jesus makes before his ascension. Beheld I am with you always!

Do you realize in the Hebrew bible these are the final words in the book? It is almost like a great commission. GO and build God’s house. Go up to the promised land.

And the task is unfinished.. For it was Jesus and his work which gave ultimate rest. Which was the ultimate year of jubilee.

Freedom from slavery. Freedom from sin, through judgement! The year of Jubilee has started with the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ – and it has not stopped as slaves are being freed weekly around this world, and finding rest as they return to the promised land.

 Yes, it was him, the king of kings himself who said at the very beginning of his ministry “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” We have been set free.

Beautiful. Dear church the living God is faithful to death, and then faithful again. Israel could not stay dead. Why? Because Judah’s king is his Son, and the throne of David is his throne. And that Son is king Jesus. That He sits on the throne. “he will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing it and upholding it with righteousness and justice for ever more.”

Our identity is found in the covenant promises of God. It is found in trusting God. Our identity is found in our king. Who has set us free from all the power of the devil! So that we might be a royal priesthood. A holy nation. Forever. That is the hope of this book. For a king who will lead us. A priesthood that cannot fail. A temple that will last into eternity. And in Christ we have it all!

And so, we come to the end of another series. Together over the last years we have looked at Galatians, Daniel, Matthew 1-7, and 2 Chronicles. We have together gone through the whole catechism, and the whole of the Belgic confession. Dear church it is not as if you have you don’t know. We know. The word of the Lord comes to us! It should change us and form us. so that our entire identity is to be found in the God of the covenant. Can that be said about us?

Amen.