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2 Kings 24 Bible Study (Jerusalem Captured/Jehoiachin & Zedekiah Reign) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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Meet me in Second Kings chapter 24.
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I hope you have a copy of God's Word with you.
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I want to let you know in advance that there will be many
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scriptures that will be visiting this Bible study.
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This will be more of a teaching than anything else.
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Sometimes studies like this can lean more on the preaching, but
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this time we'll be heavy on teaching.
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So it's going to require your faculties to be focused, a Bible
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in your hands, and a willingness to turn to different pages if
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you're going to make the most of this time.
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We are now entering the final two chapters of the Book of
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Second Kings. This is fascinating because we
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are now being brought to the concluding moments of this
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powerful historical account. And what we're going to discover
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in these last two chapters are the reigns of the last three
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kings of the Kingdom of Judah, the final three rulers.
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The name of the first one is pronounced Yahuah Kim, spelled
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Jehoiakim. The second is Yahuah Hin.
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And the last and final ruler of this Kingdom will be Zedekiah, a
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little bit different than the first two.
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Now, as we come to these kings, we're going to learn a lot.
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But the first thing I want to ask you is, who was the
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conscience of this nation at this time?
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In other words, who was the main prophetic voice that confronted
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and challenged and reminded these rulers and the people of
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Judah at this time? Does anybody have an idea?
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You can answer if you know Jeremiah is the main voice.
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And the reason I bring that up is because we studied Josiah at
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great length and we learned that in the 13th year of Josiah's
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reign, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
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But that is not the only thing that is highlighted about
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Jeremiah's ministry. So I told you to turn to the
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Second Kings 24, but we're already going to go to a
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different passage. Look with me at Jeremiah chapter
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one verse 3 and highlight this and maybe put it in one of the
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margins of Second Kings 24. Here's what we read in Jeremiah
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one verse 3. It came also.
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What is the IT the word of the Lord.
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It came also in the days of Yahuah Kim the son of Josiah
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King of Judah, and until the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah the
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son of Josiah King of Judah, until the captivity of Jerusalem
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in the 5th month. So I I bring this up at the
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outset of the study to inform you that in order for us to know
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greater depth and color to these historical facts and 2nd Kings,
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we must heavily rely on Jeremiah's writings, which we
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will do. But Jeremiah was not the only
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instrument that God raised up in this period.
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While we will witness the rapid decline of the Davidic dynasty,
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we will simultaneously see the rise of another dominant power,
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Babylon. In fact, Babylon will be the
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agent that the Lord permits to bring Judah to its knees and to
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ultimately bring them into captivity by way of exile.
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But this will not happen all at once.
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When people hear about the Babylonian exile, they think it
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just happens in one episode. It doesn't.
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It will actually take place by way of three deportations,
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separate exiles over the span of some years.
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And what every single wave will under score is the profound
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stubbornness of God's people who will refuse to repent despite
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the mounting judgement and the frequent prophetic warnings.
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It's really staggering, as you will see.
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And that's just the overarching truth of these events.
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As we will do tonight, we'll pull out our magnifying glasses
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and investigate these verses more carefully, and the Lord
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will surely speak to us in deeper ways.
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And I think it will be helpful to actually begin in Second
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Kings 23, verse 36, because this is where we are introduced to
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the first of the last three kings.
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And we'll read into Second Kings 24 until verse 2 of that new
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chapter. Shall we do that beginning in
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Second Kings 23, verse 36? Yehoyakim was 25 years old when
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he began to reign, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.
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His mother's name was Zebeda, the daughter of Padaya of Ruma.
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And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to
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all that his father's had done in his days.
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Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Yehoyakim became
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his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled
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against him. And the Lord sent against him
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bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands
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of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them
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against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the
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Lord that he spoke by his servants, the prophets.
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Father, we ask, like Samuel, that You would speak, for Your
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servants are listening. We want to be more than just
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students of these scriptures. We want to be obedient to them.
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And we ask, Lord, that You would grant us greater insight and
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revelation into these wonderful truths so that we would be
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conformed to the image of your beloved Son.
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Lord, we pray that there would be true unction, true power,
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true clarity in a way that will benefit your people.
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We ask, Lord, that You would supply that grace because we're
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desperate for your voice. We ask these things in the
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precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen and Amen.
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We're meeting the first of the last three kings right here in
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the beginning of this chapter, Yo Hoya Kim.
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And when you read about Yo Hoya Kim in the book of Jeremiah, it
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doesn't take very long for you to learn that this man was
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wicked to the core. Yo Hoya Kim haunted down the
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true prophets of God and ruthlessly killed them.
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Yoho Akim was also notoriously known for taking Jeremiah's
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scroll containing his prophecies and ripping them piece by piece
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and throwing it into the fire that's found in Jeremiah chapter
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36. In fact, I encourage you to read
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that chapter at a separate time because it provides a wonderful
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illustration of how God preserves His Word despite the
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attempts of man to destroy it. This man was evil, but the most
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notable fact about him in this chapter is 1 main thing, how
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during his reign Babylon emerged on the world scene.
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Babylon became the world power. Babylon was the instrument that
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God would use to subdue Judah into a vassal state.
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And actually Judah is not the only target of Babylon's
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conquest. Scroll down quickly to verse 7
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and notice this little anecdote. Second Kings 24/7 reads.
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And the king of Egypt did not come out again out of his land,
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Rather, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to
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the king of Egypt from the brook of Egypt to the river Euphrates.
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So even Egypt felt the force of Babylon as it bulldozed in the
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nations. So the geopolitical scene here
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is drastically changing. Things are shifting and remember
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God is orchestrating all of it. Judah now is in a different
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place. And rather than this king
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humbling himself because of the dominance of this new nation, he
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tries to shake his way out. He tries to struggle in his own
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strength to be free again while trying to also hold on to his
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sin. And I have no doubt in my mind
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that this king serves as a cautionary example of what will
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take place and what will follow. Anybody who is outside of the
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will of God and chooses to remain there despite being
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disciplined for it. What should anyone expect if
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they consciously defy the word of God, ignore it, choose to
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cling to their human wisdom when they should know better?
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I want to give you 2 thoughts. The first thing is this.
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When a person follows in the steps of Yahoo Hakim, stubbornly
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turning their backs on God, being warned over and over, and
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still choosing to hold on to their sin, maintain their
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autonomy, try to figure out life without God's rule, the things
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they once conquered will find a way to gain victory over them
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again. Look at verse 2 of this chapter
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once more. And the Lord sent against him
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bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands
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of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them
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against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the
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Lord that he spoke by his servants, the prophets.
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Do these foreign people groups sound familiar to us?
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They should because we've been studying the Old Testament
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carefully, and we learned that over the centuries, it is these
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very same groups that God allowed the people of Israel to
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overcome, to keep at Bay, to dominate.
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And now, because of Yo Hoya Kim's continual defiance, these
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same people groups are harassing him with the goal of devastating
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him and the people of Judah. Here's the lesson.
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When we choose to walk independently of the Lord, we
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open the door for all kinds of sin to wreak havoc in our lives,
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all kinds of iniquity, the same pestering things that we knew
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victory over will somehow overpower us.
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Because, you see, only closeness to Jesus Christ guarantees the
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sensitivity, the conviction, the guidance, and the contentment to
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overcome the mastery of the flesh and the temptations that
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surround us and are always ready to pounce.
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Yahoo Kim is nowhere near God's presence.
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He's actually rejecting it. He's running headlong in the
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opposite direction. And here's the rule.
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You run away from God. You open doors for other things
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in your life, things that will in fact torment you, destroy you
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in the end. You know, at Maranatha
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Conference, somebody approached me and asked are we going to
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speak about Psalm 91 at any point and that we didn't have a
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chance to explore that wonderful Psalm.
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I don't blame them for asking. If you've never read Psalm 91,
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read it before you go to bed tonight.
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It is packed with God's glorious promises.
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There's actually room for nothing else.
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Verse by verse, all you're reading is 1 glorious thing
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after the other. But people tend to forget as
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they quote that wonderful chapter of the condition.
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It begins with a very practical condition.
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In fact, so important is it that I had to memorize it.
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Psalm 91, verse 1. He who dwells in the shelter of
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the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
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Why memorize that one out of all the things?
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Because everything that you read in verse 2 onward depends on
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verse one. And what is he saying there in
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Psalm 91.1? You want to experience these
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treasures. You want to sit under this
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waterfall of wonder. You have to stay close to God.
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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the
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shadow of the Almighty. I've said this before, it's
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worth repeating. How close do you need to be to
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somebody for their shadow to be cast upon you?
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Pretty close. This isn't going to work.
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Almost shoulder to shoulder. And that is what the psalmist is
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saying. You want to know all these
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things. Live in his shadow day by day.
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Let his presence be your home. Walk in communion with God and
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everything that you read. And the rest of that Psalm is
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yours is you already came in the shadow of the Almighty.
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No, he's living beneath his thrown all the things that he
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ignored with Jeremiah's prophecies, all the things that
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he warned with the that he ignored with the warnings that
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came his way. But there's a second thing that
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befalls the spiritually stubborn, as exemplified by this
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man. Yes, we learned here that we not
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only invite defeat the longer we stay away from the Lord, but we
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also forfeit treasures that only humble obedience can guarantee.
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That truth is not entirely clear from this passage, but it is in
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another book. Does anyone remember how Daniel
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one one starts? You can go to the book to find
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it. Look how Daniel 11 starts.
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The very first words of this awesome text.
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Daniel 11 in the third year of the reign of Yohoiakim, king of
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Judah. Stop.
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Don't ignore these time stamps in your Bible.
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In the third year of the reign of Yohoiakim king of Judah, that
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very same king that we're reading about in Second Kings
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24, what happened? Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
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came to Jerusalem and besieged it, and the Lord gave Yohoiakim,
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king of Judah, into his hand with some of the vessels of the
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House of God, and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to
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the House of his God, and placed the vessels in the treasury of
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his God. Then the king commanded Aspinas,
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his chief eunuch, to bring some of the people of Israel, both of
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the royal family and of the nobility.
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And we read past that, that it's Daniel and his friends that were
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part of what this is the first deportation, by the way, the
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first wave during the reign of Yahoo Kim, King Nebuchadnezzar,
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Cain, he besieged it. He made Judas surrender.
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And with that, he took some of the vessels from the temple and
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some of the royal nobility. And he took some of the young
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people, says I'm going to train you, make you like my nation,
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like my people to serve my gods. You know this very well.
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Unrepentant sin robs us. It will steal your peace.
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It will steal your joy. It will stifle your fellowship
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with Christ. It will bar you and I from the
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warmth of godly community. It will rot meaningful and
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beautiful relationships even in the church.
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It will spoil your resources. It will devour your time and it
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will tarnish your testimony and mind.
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I don't know if this has ever happened to you.
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Have you ever had somebody, more specifically a friend at any
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point in your life, steal from you?
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If you have, then you know the sense of betrayal that fills
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your heart upon discovering that no matter how small the item.
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And with that sense of betrayal, there's this instinct to set up
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boundaries so it never happens again.
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And I think it would be extremely helpful for you and I,
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followers of Christ, to train ourselves to view sin as a
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thief, because the more we believe that, the less likely we
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are to welcome it into our lives.
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See if you even have a hint of understanding that sin, the
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false idea that it can profit you in any way, even in a small
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way. You'll never know the strength
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to reject it. You'll never know the ability to
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persist in your resistance against its temptation.
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But if you understand the nature of sin and the history of sin,
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then no matter where it goes, it robs, it steals.
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Then when it knocks on the door of your heart, will you open it?
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You and I would be foolish to open it, in the same way that we
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would be fools to entertain the presence of a thief in our home.
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View sin as a thief. And thieves are clever, right?
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What makes a thief successful? It doesn't.
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It doesn't come off as a thief. They come off trusting.
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And sin is no different. It masquerades as a friend.
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It comes trying to promise some kind of a bargain.
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You invest in this and I'll, I'll give you this, this, here's
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the ROI. Here's the return on investment.
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If you, if you actually take this, digest this, apply this,
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but it's a thief, it's a scam con artist.
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Every time, no matter what the sin is, Nebuchadnezzar came and
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that all not only reintroduced these ammonites and all these
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other things that he controlled and allowed to ransack Judah,
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but he also took from Judah. Sin is no different.
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We invite things that we once knew victory over because we
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were close to Christ, and we also forfeit things that can
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only be maintained when we stay close to Christ.
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There is no doubt that Yo Hoya Kim played a major part in
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hastening the final judgement of this Kingdom.
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However, interestingly, he doesn't receive the main blame.
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There's somebody else that actually receives greater
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accountability apart from your Hoya Kim.
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Go back to chapter 24, Second Kings.
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He's found in verse 3. Surely this came upon Judah at
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the command of the Lord to remove them out of His sight for
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the sins of Manasseh according to all that he had done, and
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also for the innocent blood that he had shed, for he filled
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Jerusalem with innocent blood. And the Lord would not pardon.
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I can't think of any more depressing and dreadful words in
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these the last few verses, words of verse 4.
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The Lord would not pardon. It's one thing for my dad to
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never forgive me, my mom to never forgive me, my friends, my
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pastor, church members to never pardon me, but it's a whole
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entire different thing if God chooses not to pardon.
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Now, just taking this at face value is challenging enough, but
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it comes more difficult when we try to reconcile it with the
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glorious truth of the abundance of God's pardon and how he is
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rich in mercy. Does not God forgive all sin,
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even the sin of shedding innocent blood?
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So why is he not willing to forgive here?
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Well, here's what we have to establish.
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Did God forgive Manessa for his sin?
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We studied this in the past, right?
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He did, did he not? We rejoiced in that study
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together. He did forgive this man.
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So this is not a case of God not willing to forgive certain sins
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or arbitrarily choosing not to pardon other individual
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individuals. That's not the case at all.
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So then what does this mean here?
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That the Lord would not pardon in verse 4?
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Here's what it means. It refers to the Lord's
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unwillingness to reverse the consequences of Manessa's sins.
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There's a big difference. So what you find here is because
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Manessa's actions were so pervasive, so impactful, that
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they corrupted the nation to the degree that the effects of it
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were still evident to this point.
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In other words, what Manessa had done, though he was personally
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forgiven by God, his actions on the nation required justice to
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be served, especially because his practices were still being
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imitated. Here during the reign of Yoho
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Akim we see Meneses practices still being repeated.
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So again, the main prophetic voice of this time was Jeremiah.
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And you can't even get past chapter 2 before Jeremiah
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rebukes the people for this one crime among many crimes.
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And Jeremiah 2. Listen to these words in verse
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34. Also on your skirts is found the
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lifeblood of the guiltless poor. You did not find them breaking
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in. Yet in spite of all these things
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you say I am innocent. Surely his anger has turned from
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me. Behold, I will bring you to
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judgement for saying I have not sinned.
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So the people, the common people had blood stained on their robes
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and Jeremiah highlights You didn't kill these people out of
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self-defense. Did you notice that verse 34?
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You did not find them breaking in.
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Why would he mention that? Because in Exodus there was a
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law permitting those who are in their homes.
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If an intruder came in at night and you defend yourself to the
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degree that you killed the person, there's no guilt on you.
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But the prophet highlights, you're not doing this out of
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self-defense, out of selflessness, out of cruelty.
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You're actually killing the guiltless poor out of
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convenience, out of irritation. And on top of that, you say I'm
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innocent. And when you continue in
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Jeremiah, you realize that Yahoyakim was not the best
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example. In fact, there were contemporary
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prophets in Jeremiah's day, one of them not very known by the
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name of Uriah, Uriah the prophet.
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Uriah the prophet really echoed Jeremiah's message.
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And one day he's preaching. The word gets to Yoho Kim.
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Yoho Kim's like he's a dead man. Uriah finds out.
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He flees to Egypt. Yoho Kim was not satisfied.
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He takes a couple of his officials.
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He says you go to Egypt, you're not coming back till you find
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him. They find Uriah.
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He comes into his presence. He slays him, and he dumps him
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outside the city like garbage. So the spirit of Manessa is very
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much still alive at this point. The people are killing each
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other. The king is killing the true
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prophets and said, Lord says I'm not pardoning, You've crossed
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the line. Enough is enough.
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Manessa repented, you're forgiven.
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But I got to deal with the consequences of this sin and
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exiles the answer. So that's what we find here.
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And Yohoiken was such a wicked man.
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You have to turn there in Jeremiah 36 to see what the
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prophet pronounces on top of all the other judgment he warned
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about. He gives us harrowing prophetic
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word. Jeremiah 36 verse 30.
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I'll wait for you to get there. This is something that you got
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to put a star beside or something because it goes way
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beyond this context. Jeremiah 36 verse 30 Therefore
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thus says the Lord concerning Yahoo a Kim, king of Judah, he
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shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead
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body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by
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night. You threw my profits out in the
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day to rot out there without any honour.
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The same is coming for you. But before that, notice what he
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says. He shall have none to sit on the
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throne of David. That's massive and a face value
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presents at least 2 problems. The immediate issue is what we
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find back in our main text. Come back to Second Kings 24 and
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look at the concluding comments of the reign of Yahoo Akim in
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verse 5. Now the rest of the deeds of
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Yahoo Akim and all that he did, are they not written in the book
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of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
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So Yahoo Akim slept with his father's and Yahuah hen his son
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reigned in his place. How Jeremiah prophesied that
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there would be no more who would sit on the throne of David
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following Yahoo A Kim. And here we realize that his son
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actually does contradiction. Now a call for careful study.
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I think the answer is in the very same passage of Second
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Kings 24. Look down at verse 8.
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Yahoo a hen was 18 years old when he became king, and he
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reigned 3 months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Nahushta,
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the daughter of Al Nathan of Jerusalem, and he did what was
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evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father
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had done. Raining for three months isn't
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much of A rain, is it? You barely were able to warm the
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seat before the king of Babylon comes and removes you from that
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position of authority. So this is a really a legitimate
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governance. Essentially, the moment he
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enters in, he was taken out. So that satisfies that potential
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issue. But the second and more
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important implication of Jeremiah's prophecy is where we
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need to spend more time. So Jeremiah 3630, he says he
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shall not have anyone sit on David Stone.
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Nobody following you, none of your direct descendants are
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actually going to occupy this position of power again.
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We think that that's not the case because you heard him sits
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on the seat. When we learn.
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Actually, no, He is besieged. He's taken over.
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He is removed, brought to Babylon and dies there.
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He never returns. What does this imply about God's
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promise to David, though? Do you understand?
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What did God promise David? That you will have your sons
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occupying this throne forever. One of your descendants will
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have an eternal reign. And clearly that didn't happen.
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And what we find here as we approach the total decimation of
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this administration of this Kingdom altogether is a
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reversal, seemingly, of this promise.
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Did God break his promise? Did God change his mind?
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And if you think, well maybe that's what the Lord is really
27:48
saying about Yahoo Kim's descendants, go to Jeremiah and
27:53
look here chapter 22 and verse 24.
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This is a lengthy portion of Scripture.
27:59
Why am I reading this to you? Why do you need to know this?
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Because you will have anti missionary Jews and you'll have
28:06
other people of different cults and faiths who want to try to
28:08
discredit the messiahship of Jesus.
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And they'll say here, well, what do you do with this curse?
28:16
Here's what I'm saying. Look at Jeremiah 22, verse 24.
28:19
Are you there with me as I live? Declares the Lord.
28:24
Though Kanaya the son of Yehoyakim, King of Judah, Kanaya
28:28
is the same person as Yehoyakin. Though Kanaya the son of
28:33
Yehoyakin King of Judah, were the signet ring on my right
28:37
hand, yet I would tear you off and give you into the hand of
28:42
those who seek your life, into the hand of those whom you are
28:45
afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,
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and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
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I will hurl you and the mother who bore you into another
28:54
country where you were not born, and there you shall die.
28:58
But to the land to which they will long to return, they shall
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not return. This is the main part.
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Look at verse 28. Down is this man Kanaya
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despised? Broken pot, a vessel no one
29:10
cares for. Why are he and his children
29:13
hurled and cast into a land that they do not know?
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Oh land, land, land, hear the word of the Lord.
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Thus says the Lord. Write this man down as
29:24
childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days, for none of
29:30
his offspring shall succeed in sitting on the throne of David
29:34
and ruling again in Judah. Oh, none, none of his
29:42
offsprings. It's over the final straw, and
29:49
we should gulp a little bit because we've been studying this
29:51
text since the days of Genesis and we've been clinging to this
29:57
promise that there's a king who will arrive, who will emerge and
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fulfill that promise that God made to David in Second Samuel
30:05
7. And it seems like it's not going
30:09
to happen. How do we answer this?
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I'm actually going to open it up.
30:19
You don't have to give a lengthy answer, but if you have a brief
30:22
idea how we can solve this, I'd love to hear it.
30:25
Any idea of how we can figure this out?
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There are three possible answers.
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There are three ways of solving this, and these are worth
30:42
remembering and noting down. The first answer that we can
30:46
give is that this prophecy speaks of Yahoo Kim's immediate
30:53
descendants, his own children, not speaking about the dynasty
30:59
as a whole, but speaking about his own offspring.
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Look again at Jeremiah 22, verse 30.
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It says here. Thus says the Lord, write this
31:09
man down as childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days.
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Now you read Chronicles and you learned that there's actually
31:20
more than one child that this king has.
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So what he's saying here, though, is write him down as
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childless. Not that he will never have
31:26
children, but that he will never have any of his children
31:28
reigning on the throne. Write this man down as
31:31
childless, a man who shall not succeed in his days.
31:35
So it seems to enforce here the reality of his lifetime, not an
31:42
indefinite period of time. And all you have to do listen.
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Listen, this is the end of chapter 22 of Jeremiah.
31:49
All you have to do is go to Jeremiah 23 to realize that the
31:52
Lord wasn't speaking about the entire dynasty.
31:55
Go to chapter 23. Look at verse 5 of Jeremiah.
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Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will
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raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign as
32:05
king and deal wisely. He shall execute justice and
32:10
righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved
32:13
and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which
32:16
you will be called. The Lord is our righteousness.
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Well, hold on. You just told us a few verses
32:20
ago that none of his offspring will rule, reign.
32:23
And in just the same breath almost, he says, actually,
32:26
remember I told you that David was going to have his son.
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He's still coming. So that should pretty much end
32:34
this debate, right? He's not speaking about his
32:36
children. And I told you that we're
32:38
studying the last three kings, right?
32:41
Of the king of Judah, Yahoya Kim, Yahuah Hin.
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And who's the last one? Zedekiah.
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Yes, that will be a very important thing to remember if
32:49
we ever hypothetically have a quiz on 2nd kings.
32:51
By the way, who's the last reigning king of the Kingdom of
32:55
Judah? Zedekiah.
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Zedekiah is not the son of Yahuah Hin in Second Kings 2417
33:05
says here in the king of Babylon made Matania Yahuah Hin's uncle
33:12
king in this place and change his name to Zedekiah.
33:15
You see that so the word was fulfilled.
33:18
None of this King's children would reign and when it came to
33:21
his successor was actually his uncle.
33:23
Case closed right? Full stop.
33:26
Well, people are going to press, People are going to press, and
33:30
you should expect that pushback from those who will try to
33:33
disqualify Christ as being the promised Son of David and be
33:36
prepared to be taken to the genealogy of Jesus of Nazareth
33:39
in the New Testament. For what reason?
33:42
Because people want to show you how Jesus's lineage based on
33:47
this prophecy is a cursed 1 Matthew 111.
33:56
What do we find here? Matthew 111 and Josiah, the
34:01
father of Yoho Kanaya and his brothers at the time of the
34:06
deportation to Babylon. And after the deportation to
34:10
Babylon, Jack Kunaya was the father of Shout Out.
34:13
Shout Out was the father of Zero Bubble.
34:17
You see that name there, Jack Kunaya?
34:23
And people will press and they'll say you claim that Jesus
34:29
is a descendant of this royal line.
34:31
But did you forget what Jeremiah said about this very man?
34:33
That none would reign from his offspring.
34:40
And so they'll go on to say you Christians invented the virgin
34:44
birth to try to wiggle your way out of this.
34:49
And so the first answer that you can use and trying to solve this
34:53
apparent dilemma is that the prophecy does not deal with the
34:57
King's immediate children or the his his his latter children.
35:01
Rather it deals with his immediate children.
35:03
But second to that, we can say that even if that line remain
35:06
cursed, that the virgin birth delivers Christ from that curse.
35:13
It's not an excuse, it's actually divine strategy.
35:16
Think about it this way. Just as the curse of sin did not
35:19
transfer to the Lord because of his miraculous conception, is it
35:22
really so hard to believe that the curse of Kanaya didn't
35:24
transfer either? Was Christ infected with Adam's
35:29
fault? Please say no No.
35:35
So are we limiting the implication of his virgin birth
35:38
to that curse alone and not any other curse?
35:42
No. You can say that the virgin
35:43
birth rescues, in a sense, Christ from this judgement.
35:49
He's separate from it though, attached to this heritage.
35:54
But I don't even go there. I don't, I don't even speak
35:57
about the virgin birth and get into all these kind of
36:00
hermeneutic gymnastics. I don't do that.
36:02
You know why this is the third and most important point and try
36:04
to answer this dilemma. The curse was reversed.
36:10
Look back at Matthew 111. Did you see a few names there?
36:13
Look at the end of verse 12. Jack and I was a father of shell
36:17
tell and shell Tell the father of Zerubbabel.
36:24
Zerubbel was one of the leaders who'd returned from Babylon to
36:29
the land of Jerusalem to rebuild everything, and he was a
36:33
governor for the people of Judah, and he appears in a
36:37
couple of different prophetic books.
36:39
But notice what Haggai says about Zerubbabel in Haggai
36:43
chapter 2. I, I already warned you that
36:45
we're going to go to different passages, but this is going to
36:48
be worth it. Haggai chapter 2, verse 23.
37:00
Now as you're turning there, do you remember the symbolic
37:02
imagery that the Lord gave in his denunciation and his curse?
37:12
Though you be like a signet ring on my hand, I will tear you off.
37:17
A signet ring is a symbol of power and authority for for
37:20
royalty. And the Lord says it doesn't
37:22
matter if you're on my hand. It doesn't matter how valuable
37:24
this ring may be, because of your sin, I will RIP you off and
37:27
throw you away. And notice what he says here to
37:29
Zerubbabel, who's the descendant of that very same king Haggai
37:33
223 on that day declares the Lord of hosts.
37:35
I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shall
37:39
tell, declares the Lord. And make you like a signet ring,
37:45
for I've chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.
37:49
Is it coincidental that the Lord is using the same imagery back
37:53
when he spoke through Jeremiah to curse this line, to restore
37:57
this line? It's not coincidence, it's
38:00
intentional. Yeah, I might have thrown you
38:03
away, but now I am bringing you back.
38:06
So way before Jesus Christ of Nazareth even appears on the
38:10
scene, the curse was reversed and we find it right here.
38:17
Hold on, although it was reversed, it was not totally
38:24
restored because Zerubbabel was not a king, was he?
38:30
No, he's a governor. You read that in the prophetic
38:33
writings. So the the beginning of the
38:37
restoration happened in Zerubbabel's day, but when's the
38:39
full realization of it going to be known?
38:41
Do you remember what the Angel said to Mary and Luke?
38:44
One, let me read it to you in verse 32.
38:47
The latter portion says and the Lord God will give to him the
38:49
throne of his father David. The full restoration would not
38:55
be known in Zerubbabel. It will be known in Christ.
39:00
So if you can just remember this reference, Haggai 223 If anybody
39:04
approaches you and says you're supposed a Messiah actually
39:08
belongs to a cursed line, and you say, well, yeah, well, the
39:11
curse was reversed. And here's where Jews, Jews will
39:15
get in trouble because you'll hear this mainly from them.
39:20
If you look at their own tradition and their own ancient
39:23
writings, many of their beloved scholars and rabbis believe that
39:31
the curse was reversed, not because they're trying to make a
39:35
defense for the messiahship of Jesus.
39:36
Just because it's plain. It's here.
39:38
So I was going to provide you quote after quote.
39:41
This is all accessible in these days.
39:42
You can find this stuff anywhere, the click of a few
39:45
buttons. But resource after resource
39:48
confirms that even Jews who don't believe in Jesus of
39:52
Nazareth as their savior confirm that the curse was indeed
39:57
changed back and the promise remained.
40:02
Choose any one of those answers and you'll be more than OK God's
40:06
Word never fails, and we should rejoice in that.
40:10
And so we find here the end of Yoho A Kim's reign.
40:16
But let's come now to the final verses of our study.
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We read about a little bit about Yoho Akin.
40:25
Let's continue to read about him in Second Kings 24 verse 10.
40:29
At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
40:32
came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
40:36
And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to the city while
40:38
his servants were besieging it. And Yahuah Kin, the king of
40:41
Judah, gave himself up to the king of Babylon himself and his
40:45
mother and his servants and his officials and his palace
40:49
officials. The king of Babylon took him
40:51
prisoner in the eighth year of his reign and carried off all
40:55
the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of
40:57
the King's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold
41:00
in the temple of the Lord, which Solomon king of Israel had made,
41:03
as the Lord had foretold. So what's happening here?
41:06
Now the second deportation, The first one is described in Daniel
41:11
one. The second one now appears here.
41:14
Yehoya Kim, Daniel was taken. Yehoya Kin.
41:18
The second wave of deportation much more severe than the first
41:22
one. In the first one, he took some
41:25
of the vessels and brought it to the House of his God.
41:27
Now he's stripping the gold off of the temple.
41:33
And more than that, look at verse 14.
41:35
He carried away all Jerusalem and all the officials and all
41:38
the mighty men of valor. 10,000 captives and all the Craftsman
41:42
and The Smiths, none remained except the poorest of the land,
41:47
and he carried away Yoho akin to Babylon, the King's mother, the
41:52
King's wives, his officials, and a chief man of the land.
41:55
He took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon, and the
41:58
king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the Men of Valor,
42:01
7000, and the Craftsman and the Metal Workers, 1000, all of them
42:06
strong and fit for war. And the king of Babylon made
42:10
Metanaya, Yehoyakin's uncle, king, in his place and changed
42:14
his name to Zedekiah. 2nd deportation.
42:20
We're going to look at the last one next week.
42:23
So many details, so many facts, so many important things to
42:27
touch on for the sake of not overwhelming us.
42:32
I want to look at verse 14 and I want to ask this question out of
42:36
the thousands that were taken into captivity.
42:40
And if you were there a couple nights ago at prayer meeting,
42:42
you can't answer this question for those who are not there.
42:48
Is there anyone who is a notable figure in the Bible that was
42:51
taken during the second wave of exile that we find here?
42:55
And if you know the answer, you're free to share it.
43:01
Oh, you hear the the chirping, real chirping.
43:09
Somebody said it good. Ezekiel go to Ezekiel chapter 1.
43:17
Look at Ezekiel one verse one, in the 30th year, in the fourth
43:27
month, on the 5th day of the month, as I was among the Exiles
43:31
by the Kebar canal, the heavens were open and I saw visions of
43:35
God on the 5th day of the month. It was the fifth year of the
43:40
exile of King Yehoyahin. The word of the Lord came to
43:44
Ezekiel the priest, the son of Boozy in the land of the
43:48
Chaldeans by the Hembar canal, and the hand of the Lord was
43:52
upon him there. Do you see that in the middle
43:55
there, the last part of verse two, It was the fifth year of
43:58
the exile of King Yehoyahin. So Daniel was taken in the first
44:05
wave. Ezekiel was brought out in the
44:07
second. And this is me earlier today
44:14
being reminded of the truth in the study, sitting back and
44:18
meditating. And I thought, this is, I think
44:20
this is a good place to end. I think there are at least two
44:26
wonderful truths to learn with Ezekiel as it connects to this
44:31
wider story. The first one is this.
44:36
Look at this detail in verse one in the 30th year, in the fourth
44:40
month, on the 5th day of the month.
44:42
What year is he referring to? What time stamp?
44:46
The common view, His own age. In other words, he's saying when
44:52
I was 30, when I was 30 years old, the 4th month, the 5th day
44:56
of the month, in the 30th year. Now why would Ezekiel want to
45:02
tell us that he was 30 when he was exiled?
45:05
Any idea? Very good.
45:11
Read on here and what do you discover?
45:12
Look at verse 3. The word of the Lord came to
45:14
Ezekiel. The what the priest Numbers 4
45:23
tells us that a priest would begin his ministry in the temple
45:27
at the age of 30. Ezekiel clearly didn't get the
45:32
chance to do that, did he? So this is a milestone in his
45:37
personal life, but it says something about really the
45:41
nation. In the 30th year, he is now
45:46
allowed to technically enter into the temple and serve as a
45:49
mediator between God's people and God himself.
45:53
The temple is destroyed. Well, it's about to be soon.
45:56
Not during this deportation. In the next one, the temple is
45:59
surrounded. It's stripped of its glory.
46:01
It's later going to be brought down to rubble.
46:04
And so now instead of Ezekiel being called into the
46:07
priesthood, he's being called into what office prophethood.
46:12
So this is this is a major change in many ways, but I
46:17
couldn't help but meditate on how this made Ezekiel
46:21
potentially feel and how it can teach us some wonderful things.
46:25
Here's the first thing that we can learn.
46:27
Be mindful that your life may not fit the mold or follow the
46:31
common trajectory that others expect of you or experience
46:34
themselves. Ezekiel, at the 30th year of his
46:40
life looked nothing like the average Levite did it?
46:45
He came from a lineage of others who studied their whole young
46:51
lives. And we're being prepared to
46:52
enter into this wonderful office of the priesthood.
46:55
Now he's next in line. And what happens?
46:59
He's taken, not just taken from his office, he's he's taken from
47:03
his home. And I wonder what it made him
47:09
feel like at first, as he was chained perhaps, and LED into
47:16
the wilderness and ultimately into a brand new Pagan land,
47:22
thinking I was supposed to be a priest.
47:27
I was supposed to serve my God. I was supposed to come close to
47:32
the things of God and serve the people of God.
47:34
And I don't know about you, but I know many who feel the same
47:41
way when they contemplate where they are at life, and more than
47:46
that, compare themselves to others and wonder.
47:50
I don't fit the common script for life.
47:54
I thought I would be somewhere else at this point in my life.
47:57
I thought I'd be doing something else by this time in my life.
48:02
I did not see any of this coming, even if that looks like
48:08
delay. I thought I would be somewhere
48:12
else. I thought I'd be doing something
48:15
else. Ezekiel was supposed to serve
48:18
God. It was actually inscribed in the
48:21
Scriptures how he was supposed to serve God, and it didn't
48:23
happen. But the most important thing
48:27
about Ezekiel is not if he served in the temple, is not if
48:33
he fulfilled his lifelong training to be a priest.
48:37
It's not if he even if he even raised his family in the Holy
48:39
Land and trained his children to love God.
48:42
The most important thing about Ezekiel is what we read in the
48:45
introductory verses of his book. The hand of the Lord was upon
48:49
him. That's the most important thing.
48:54
You see, Ezekiel is an anomaly. Ezekiel doesn't fit the mold,
49:00
but that doesn't mean that Ezekiel is outside of God's
49:02
will. I can't tell you the amount of
49:07
people who are frustrated because they look at themselves,
49:10
they look at the time stamp of their lives, they look at others
49:12
and they think, I didn't think this would happen to me.
49:17
I didn't think that this would be my portion and worsen that.
49:20
They think maybe God doesn't cherish me.
49:23
Have a plan like He does for others, for me.
49:25
You're dead wrong as long as you serve the Lord.
49:31
This man loved God, He was waiting to serve God.
49:33
God just had a different plan for him.
49:35
The most important thing is that God's hand was on him, not what
49:39
he was doing. Precisely who he's with, where
49:41
he lived. The 2nd and final thing I'd love
49:46
to learn about Ezekiel, There are many other things that we
49:48
can meditate on is how God is very able to turn tragedy into
49:54
ministry. Exile is no easy thing, as you
49:59
can imagine. But this exile was not the end
50:02
for Ezekiel. It was actually the beginning of
50:05
a very challenging yet thrilling chapter in his life.
50:12
God sends the people away in judgement, but you know you know
50:17
who He also sends with them? A prophet, and more than just
50:21
one. To me, those are droplets of
50:24
God's grace and the fiercest demonstration of His wrath
50:28
towards His people. I'm kicking you out of the
50:30
promised land, but all my heart wants to send with you voices
50:35
that will represent me. I'm going to send Daniel in the
50:39
first wave. The second wave, I'm going to
50:41
send Ezekiel. Don't you see God's mercy in
50:42
this? I see it.
50:45
But let's, let's just zoom in on Ezekiel.
50:49
God is going to put his hand on him, and God is going to speak
50:52
through him to a dejected people who are at the lowest point in
50:56
their nation's history. But you know what it required
50:59
for Ezekiel, for him to be an effective minister.
51:02
He had to suffer alongside them. In fact, if you read Ezekiel's
51:09
prophecies, they're some of the strangest.
51:12
You know why? Because so many of them demanded
51:16
physical display and physical acts, some of them hard to
51:22
imagine. Ezekiel, for X amount of days, I
51:24
want you to lay on one side. Once you're done doing that, lay
51:27
on the next side. Like, can't you just have me
51:29
preach it? Do I have to actually lay here?
51:32
Ezekiel, I want you to make this kind of food with this kind of
51:34
material and all these unthinkable things for a Jew.
51:38
Do you know why God did that for Ezekiel?
51:40
Because he wanted Ezekiel to feel the message before he
51:42
preached the message. And in many cases, when God
51:50
ordained suffering in our lives, it does many things, including
51:55
adding authority to your ministry.
51:59
The the greatest men of God suffered in one way or another,
52:04
or whenever they suffered, it took their ministry to a whole
52:08
new level. Ezekiel, I'm going to make you a
52:14
prophet. You thought you were going to be
52:16
a priest. I have something else in store
52:18
for you, but it's going to require you to go into exile,
52:22
and you need to suffer alongside these people.
52:25
Though it may seem unfair, though it may seem like it
52:28
ruined your dreams to be a priest in Jerusalem, trust me.
52:37
And if you serve God, let's end this Bible study here.
52:42
Trust that every ounce of difficulty that is permitted in
52:47
your life has a redemptive purpose.
52:53
All you need to do is remain close, close to your sovereign
52:57
Father, and eventually you'll see it.
53:02
Let me give you the last few verses of Second Kings 24 and
53:05
we'll close this study. Verse 18 of chapter 24.
53:09
Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king, and he reigned
53:12
11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamut al,
53:16
the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna.
53:18
And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to
53:21
all that Yahoo Akim had done. For because of the anger of the
53:25
Lord, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast
53:28
them out from his presence, and Zedekiah rebelled against the
53:33
king of Babylon. Father, we thank You for this
53:37
study. We thank You for every cross
53:41
reference. We thank You that even the
53:43
weakness of delivering the study, Your word prevails, Your
53:47
truth pierces. And we yet again behold the
53:55
brilliance of the Scriptures and the author behind these truths.
54:02
Lord, we ask that these things would not be easily forgotten.
54:07
Etch them on our hearts, tie them in our memory, and use them
54:17
as means to fan into flame our adoration for who you are.
54:23
Lord, who knew that time stamps can touch us so deeply and for
54:34
this we rejoice together as your church.
54:37
In Jesus name we pray, Amen and Amen.
54:42
Let's stand, let's give God thanks for the study.