Latest / Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago / 2 Kings 25 (Part 3) Bible Study (Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah/Jehoiachin Released from Prison) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

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2 Kings 25 (Part 3) Bible Study (Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah/Jehoiachin Released from Prison) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Father, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts that Lord,
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  we have a promise from You that death is not the final say.
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  We have eternity. We have you, your presence, your
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  glory to enjoy forever and ever. But until then, Lord, we pray
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  that our pilgrimage here on earth would be effective and
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  fruitful. Lord, we don't, we don't chase
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  after platforms or notoriety or recognition.
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  Lord, just make us content and faithfulness.
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  And may we each be absolutely convinced that we are walking in
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  the center of your will. And Lord, may we know true
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  contentment and longevity in that pursuit, in that
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  discipline, in that calling that has been clarified to each of
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  us. Lord, we pray that you would use
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  this final study in Second Kings to help us draw closer to you
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  and to know Your will for our lives.
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  We trust that you will use it. In Jesus name we pray.
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  Amen. Well, ladies and gentlemen,
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  brothers and sisters, tonight marks the final installment in
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  our study of the Book of Second Kings.
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  And I'm sure that you can agree that this book has presented us
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  a series of dramatic studies as we've been carefully observing
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  the decline of a nation who had a unique relationship with God
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  unlike any other nation and it's day.
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  And for the first time reader, it may seem that there's nothing
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  more to say after the last statement of the final verse in
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  our previous study. If you don't remember, look
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  quickly at verse 21 of Second Kings 25 and notice what the
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  writer records the last sentence there.
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  So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.
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  What more do you need to say after that?
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  The Babylonian conquest is complete.
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  Jerusalem lies and ruins. The majority of God's people are
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  now removed from the Promised Land and will endure the height
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  of heavenly discipline for many decades ahead.
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  What more can be said after this?
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  Well, clearly the Holy Spirit has more to say.
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  And as we are prepared to read this new section, I have a
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  feeling that the opening verses of it will not surprise us,
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  sadly. But the final part, the final
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  portion might because it offers incredible encouragement to us,
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  especially when we consider this being Israel's darkest hour.
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  But before we get to that hopeful closing, we have to
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  engage with the disappointing commentary that comes before it.
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  So let's read now. Second Kings 25, beginning of
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  verse 22 down to verse 24. And over the people who remained
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  in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
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  had left. He appointed Gedalia the son of
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  Akhiqam son of Shafan governor. Now when all the captains and
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  their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gadalia
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  governor, they came with their men to Gadalia and Mizpah,
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  namely, Ishmael the son of Athania and Johanna, and the son
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  of Karea, and Soraya the son of Tanumeth the Neathophathite, and
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  Jehaziya the son of the Makatite.
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  And Gadalia swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be
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  afraid because of the Chaldean officials.
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  Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be
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  well with you. We noted last week that after
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  the Babylonians came in and orchestrated their final
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  deportation, they had left behind some vine dressers and
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  plowmen to tend the land. But even that small remnant
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  required some kind of oversight and leadership.
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  Nebuchadnezzar was wise enough to recognize that.
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  So what does he do? He appoints a governor.
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  He raises up a man by the name of Gadalia to fulfill that role.
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  Now, we don't know much about Gadalia, but there's something
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  about his father and his grandfather that helps us know a
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  little bit of his background in history.
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  He is the son of Ari Kham. Now, Ari Kham was one of
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  Josiah's top officials. We remember Josiah, the great
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  reformer. He played a role in helping
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  bring reform. And more than that, when you
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  read Jeremiah carefully, Ahikam actually protected Jeremiah from
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  being killed by the king. So this man Ahikam was a
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  righteous person, and it seems like his son Gadalia was
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  following in his steps. And it could be that
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  Nebuchadnezzar, though a Pagan himself, recognized something
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  noble about Godalia. That's why he granted him and
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  appointed him as a leader in this respect.
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  And Godalia's instructions to the remnant that remained
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  reflects his submissiveness and his integrity.
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  What did he tell the people? He said, look, don't be afraid
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  of the Chaldeans. As long as we remain here and
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  don't cause trouble, it will be well with you.
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  He's echoing what Jeremiah had prophesied for years.
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  And so we see that this man was also an ally to the prophet in
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  many ways, including and what we see here with his exhortation.
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  But although the Babylonians were not the ones to fear in the
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  story, there is someone else, and he's not associated with the
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  Chaldeans. Let's read now here in verse 25
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  to verse 26. But in the seventh month,
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  Ishmael, the son of Athenia, son of Eli Shama of the royal
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  family, came with 10 men and struck down Gadalia and put him
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  to death, along with the Jews and the Chaldeans who are with
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  him at Mizpah. Then all the people, both small
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  and great, and the captains of the forces, arose and went to
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  Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
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  It's hard to imagine how this can be true.
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  Are you kidding me? Jerusalem has fallen, Babylon
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  has conquered, thousands have died, and thousands more have
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  been removed from their homes. And it hasn't been very long
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  until we learn of a murder case among the remnant who are kept
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  back. This is absolutely absurd.
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  This is mind numbing. This is yet another case, I
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  believe, that helps us make a little bit more sense of
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  Jeremiah's words when he famously said that the heart is
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  deceitfully wicked above all things, desperately sick.
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  And he ends it by saying, who can understand it?
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  Who can understand? Indeed, who can understand?
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  I can't understand this. You guys have been brought so
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  low and you still have it in you to kill each other.
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  This is demented. This is twisted.
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  This is the human heart. And we cannot fully comprehend
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  just how depraved and twisted this heart really is.
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  Why did this happen? Why was Gadalia assassinated?
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  Well, with a little investigation we can learn
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  exactly why the culprit of the assassination is who?
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  A man by the name of Ishmael. Ishmael.
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  Now Ishmael, according to verse 23, was among who looked back
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  again. Now, when all the captains and
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  their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gadalia
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  governor, he's one of the captains.
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  Who are these captains? Very likely some of the military
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  leaders or guerrilla leaders who were successful in evading the
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  Babylonian conquest and exile. So they they must have escaped.
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  They must have hidden themselves.
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  And when they saw that the air had cleared, the fury of Babylon
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  had subsided, and new leadership was established, they come out
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  of the woodworks and they make their way back to the people.
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  But there's more to his background.
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  Read slowly verse 25 once more. But in the seventh month,
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  Ishmael, the son of Nathaniel, son of Eli Sharma of the royal
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  family. If you underline your Bible,
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  underline that part, what does it mean that he's of the royal
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  family? What does that indicate?
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  He's a descendant of David. He's from the royal line.
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  This is now beginning to make sense.
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  Think about it. How would you feel if you were a
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  descendant of David and someone outside the royal line was
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  elected and appointed to be the leader of the people who
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  remained in Judah? It's easy to see how someone
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  like Ishmael might have felt like he deserved to be that
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  leader. He's one of the few that
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  remained from David's line. And so even though Gedalia was
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  not made an official king, he was a governor.
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  You can see how this man, Ishmael was convinced that he
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  deserved to be the leader, and it disturbed them to the core.
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  What do you have here? You have selfish ambition at
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  work. Read closely, read between the
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  lines, look more carefully, ask more questions.
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  If he's of the royal family, why do we need to know that?
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  Because that's the motive behind his murderous plot.
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  But there's more details. See, there's 2 verses that we
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  just read. That's just a summary.
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  We have a detailed account of all that took place here in
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  Jeremiah's writing. And though we can't touch on
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  every point, I want you to see with me how Ishmael's plan was
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  exposed beforehand. It was made known and it shows
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  us a little bit more of the behind the scenes of why this
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  happened. Let's go to Jeremiah 40 now this
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  is quite interesting. Jeremiah 40 and verse 13.
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  Now Johannan, or Johannan the son of Korea and all the leaders
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  of the forces in the open country, came to Gadalia at
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  Mizpah and said to him, Do you know that Balis, the king of the
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  Ammonites, has sent Ishmael the son of Nathaniel to take your
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  life? But Gadalia the son of Akhiq
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  Khan would not believe them. Interesting.
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  So now we are introduced to another man by the name of
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  Johanan. He's there in Second Kings 25,
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  and he is also one of the captains perhaps of a different
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  band of soldiers that are mercenaries.
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  And he somehow uncovers Ishmael's plan to assassinate
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  Gadalia. And so he approaches Gadalia
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  faithfully. He says, look, you have to
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  understand this man wants to kill you, and he was actually
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  hired by the Ammonites to do it. Now here's my question.
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  Why would the Ammonites be interested in the death of
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  Gadalia? I'm actually asking, does
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  anybody have an idea why would the Ammonites be interested?
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  What does this have to do with them?
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  I think the best answer is that we saw earlier how the
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  surrounding nations recognize earlier in our study of second
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  kings, how they recognize the the, the very dangerous and
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  concerning uprising and, and powerful entity Babylon was
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  becoming. And so they attempt on many
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  occasions to create a coalition to try to figure out how they
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  can push back and resist this new empire.
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  And I believe the Ammonites understood that Gedalia's
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  willingness to work with the Babylonians undermine their
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  efforts to try to keep them in place.
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  And so it's likely that Ishmael, in knowing this, actually
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  approached the Ammonites and said, look, I'll take care of
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  Gadalia. Yeah, he's a puppet.
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  Let's get rid of him because he's obviously going to be an
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  obstacle in our attempt to try to hold Babylon back.
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  And so he probably got a price for it.
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  And at the same time, this would serve his personal interest.
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  We have a profound spiritual lesson before us, brothers and
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  sisters. You have now a foreign entity,
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  an enemy of Israel and Judah, working through a descendant of
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  David. To kill someone who is innocent,
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  to kill someone who is actually obeying God and submitting to
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  Babylon. Jealousy and selfish ambition
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  opens the door for Satan to enter and 'cause civil war among
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  God's people. Every time you think that's an
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  exaggeration, I'm here to tell you that the New Testament says
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  it in a very plain and obvious way.
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  Go to James chapter 3. We have looked at these verses
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  throughout our study of kings more than once.
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  You know why? Because we've seen jealousy and
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  selfish ambition at play and more than one occasion.
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  And I just find it amazing that this is one of the final lessons
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  that God want God wants to give us in our conclusion of this
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  study. Look at James chapter 3 and
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  verse 14. He's speaking to many Christians
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  in different areas and notice what he says.
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  But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your
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  hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth.
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  This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but it's
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  earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish
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  ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile
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  practice. End Quote.
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  Including murder. Including murder.
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  Want to talk about vile practice?
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  Murder is on that list. But did you notice how the word
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  demonic is sandwiched between the two references to jealousy
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  and selfish ambition? It's mentioned there in verse 14
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  and in verse 16. And what's tucked between
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  demonic? So it's not an exaggeration to
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  say that where pride and self entitlement is harbored and
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  justified, not resisted, not fought against, not brought
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  before God in His presence, you make a way for demonic activity
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  to intensify and to destroy anything that is good, anything
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  that is holy, anything that is righteous like Gadalia
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  represents. Brothers and sisters, be careful
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  of these things in your heart and in my heart, because if you
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  let them have free range, it will ravage a marriage, it will
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  disintegrate any friendship. It can shut the doors of a
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  church until nothing remains. I mean, Israel has already been
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  brought so low. And I mean Israel.
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  I'm talking about Judah specifically.
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  And yet because of Ishmael's selfish ambition, he brought it
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  even lower. I mean, how much lower can you
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  get? Everything's in rubble.
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  Everything is still burning, and yet you still have it in you for
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  your own sake, for your own name, for your own ego, to
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  destroy it further. It's hideous.
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  It's it's terrifying and it's something that we should be
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  warned about. Here's what moved me.
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  One of the final lessons in our study of Second Kings is a
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  warning about jealousy and selfish ambition.
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  Kill it fast about it. Starve it out of your heart if
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  you have to. Come before God and take time
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  away from everything else until that thing is eradicated from
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  your soul because it won't stay in your heart.
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  It will make a way for Satan to come in and do things that you
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  never thought was possible. And there's more that can be
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  said about Gadalia and his refusal to believe the report.
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  We can spend a lot of time there.
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  Like leadership can't afford to be naive.
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  That's one lesson. He refused to believe that
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  Ishmael was capable of killing him.
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  If you're a leader in this place, you got to be more
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  discerning than that. You got to be more careful than
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  that. You got to be willing to
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  investigate even those that you you think are not capable of
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  doing certain things. And he refused to do that.
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  But we have to move on and look at what's mentioned here in the
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  rest of Second Kings. Come back with me.
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  Look again at verse 26 of Second Kings 25.
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  After Gadalia's murdered, we read then all the people, both
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  small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and
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  went to Egypt, but they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
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  Egypt. What's going on here?
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  Here's what's happening. So remember we read about that
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  man who reported to Gaddalia what Ishmael was up to Johanna.
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  Well, when you read later on in Jeremiah, he actually scares
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  Ishmael away. Ishmael attempts to take the
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  remnant captive and to bring him to the Ammonites.
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  And who comes to the rescue? This individual.
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  And so he keeps the remnant. He brings him back home, but
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  everybody now is afraid of the Babylonians.
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  Why? Because the man that
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  Nebuchadnezzar had appointed was just assassinated.
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  So you can imagine what they're thinking, can imagine the fear.
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  Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, if he hears this, he's going to take us all
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  the way now. And So what did they decide to
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  do? OK, let's just go to Egypt.
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  He won't come to Egypt. Let's flee there.
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  Let's stay there for a little while and then we'll come back
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  to our hometown. And what's so amazing?
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  I mean, if you want to look at this in detail, go to Jeremiah
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  41 to chapter 43. You don't have to turn there,
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  but read it on your own time. They actually approached
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  Jeremiah. They say, Jeremiah, can you ask
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  God if this is his will for us to go to Egypt?
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  And Jeremiah says, OK, give me some time to pray.
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  A few days go by. Jeremiah gets a word from the
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  Lord and tells the leaders and the remnant don't trust God,
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  stay put, He'll take care of you.
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  Babylon will do nothing. What do you think the people
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  did? You're a liar.
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  They actually called Jeremiah a liar.
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  And so this man now who seemed to be righteous, I mean, he
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  reported Ishmael's plot. He actually rescued the remnant.
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  Now he leads the effort of bringing the remnant into Egypt,
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  and he even forces Jeremiah to go, yes, Jeremiah had some
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  ministry time in Egypt. And so while they're in Egypt,
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  God gives Jeremiah a word. And here's the summary.
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  Hey, Jeremiah, tell everybody who went down to Egypt that
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  they're going to die in Egypt and that they will never return
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  to their homeland. That's their punishment for not
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  trusting in me. This is heavy.
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  This is disheartening. It you almost feel like when is
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  this going to end? Well, it's almost over.
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  And as deeply disturbing this is, thankfully it doesn't end
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  there. Look now at verse 27.
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  This is where we're ending because we have no choice.
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  It's ending here. Let's read the rest of it, shall
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  we? This is going to be a much
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  shorter Bible study because we have a quiz coming up.
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  And in the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiakim, king of
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  Judah, in the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, evil
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  Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign,
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  graciously freed Jehoiakim king of Judah from prison.
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  And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats
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  of the kings who are with him in Babylon.
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  So joy I can put off his prison garments.
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  And every day of his life he dined regularly at the King's
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  table. And for his allowance a regular
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  allowance was given him by the king according to his daily
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  needs as long as he lived. A little bit of a strange way of
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  wrapping things up, don't you think?
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  Before we try to make sense of this, let's deal with the facts
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  that are clear. The Holy Spirit fast forwards in
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  time and brings us into Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar is no longer on
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  the throne, His descendant, evil Merodach is.
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  And what this man chooses to do in the first year of his reign
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  should shock us. He removes one of the last kings
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  who went into exile, takes off his prison guards, elevates him
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  to a prominent position, allows him to regularly dine at the
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  royal table, and takes care of him plentifully for the rest of
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  his life until his dying day. No explanation is given, and
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  that's intentional without notice.
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  As you come to the end of this record, it's as though the Holy
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  Spirit wants to stun the reader by providing a final
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  demonstration of grace, by not just saying it, but by
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  demonstrating it by providentially working in a
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  different country altogether. The very instrument of judgement
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  now becomes the means of relief and grace to a king who
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  represented the people. You see, what's happening here
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  is that God is providing a message of hope for the people
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  of God that after all the things that they've done, after their
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  nauseating disobedience that we just saw in the preceding
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  verses, he wants to reveal that he is absolutely faithful to his
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  promise to David. I have not forgotten my covenant
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  with David. And he also wants to show in a
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  very practical way that he is intensely merciful and kind.
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  And as you and I look at this, we can realize that message even
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  more by the wider context. What's the very last word of
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  Second Kings in the ESV? It's the word lived.
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  If you have any other translation, especially a word
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  for word translation, it's the word life.
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  That's the last word that we have in Second Kings life.
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  Does anybody remember how Second Kings begins?
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  Go to chapter 1, verse one. I'll wait for you to get there.
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  After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
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  So the very first statement of this book contains the word
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  death, and the very last word is life.
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  What's the point? God can rewrite your story even
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  though your history, your background, is riddled with
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  death, darkness, perversion, cycles of evil and disobedience,
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  indifference to the things of God, callous to the warnings
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  around you. He can change the ending.
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  The punctuation mark of your life can be life, not death, if
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  you allow him to. So I'm putting these thoughts
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  together midweek, and here's the thought that comes to me.
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  Remember, there are three kings who go into exile.
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  Jehoiah, Kim, Jehoiah, Kin or kin.
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  Who's the last one? Zedekiah. 3 deportations, one
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  for each. Now you can make a case that the
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  first one, Joya Kim, didn't actually get all the way to
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  Babylon, though he was arrested and though he was chained, and
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  though he was brought, some argued that he died along the
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  way, but he was still planned to go to Babylon.
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  And here's the thing that I was thinking about.
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  Out of all the three, why was this undeserved kindness granted
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  to the middle one? Why not the first?
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  Why not Zedekiah? I'm meditating, I'm thinking,
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  I'm comparing. Then it hits me.
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  Jehoiah Kin did something that the first and the Last King did
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  not do. Can I show it to you?
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  Go to Second Kings 24 verse 12, and Jehoiah Kin, the king of
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  Judah, gave himself up to the king of Babylon himself and his
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  mother and his servants and his officials and his palace
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  officials. The king of Babylon took him
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  prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.
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  You see it, the first king, Joya Kim, did not give himself up.
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  Zedekiah tried to escape the Chaldeans and they paid a price
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  for it. The main difference, though each
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  of them are rebel in their own way, is that the middle king
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  surrendered. He surrendered which was in
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  alignment with God's will surrender to Babylon.
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  Stop resisting, stop thinking and believing the lies that
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  you're going to be rescued from this agent of judgement.
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  Let's put all this together. Do you want God to rewrite your
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  story? Are you sick and tired of sin?
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  Are you? Are you deflated yet?
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  Because the trajectory of your life is disaster?
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  It has been, and it looks like that's where you're going.
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  You have to give up. You have to give up.
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  You have to surrender. That's the only way God can
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  rewrite the story. You can't hold on to your pride.
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  You can't hold on to your stubbornness.
• 27:29
  You can't hold on to your lust. You can't hold on to that person
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  that God told you so many times to get rid of.
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  You can't hold on to the occupation that you know
• 27:38
  dishonors the name of Jesus Christ.
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  You can't hold on to anything God says.
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  Give up and expect God to rewrite your story.
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  It'll never happen. Only when you completely
• 27:50
  surrender do you have the possibility of God changing the
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  script of your life. So it's really up to you.
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  And that's one of the last messages.
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  In fact, you can say it's the very last message of Second
• 28:09
  Kings. Give up.
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  Give up not because you're just told to and there's no promise
• 28:19
  on the other side, because there is so much promise you got to
• 28:24
  imagine, but that's what the people reading this originally
• 28:27
  and for all time we're supposed to, we're supposed to put
• 28:29
  together. Why Jehoiakim?
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  Because he gave up. And look at how God was kind to
• 28:33
  him. He even used an enemy to be kind
• 28:35
  to him. What about Zedekiah?
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  Most likely died in Babylon, a blind man.
• 28:44
  What about Jehoiakim? He died a donkey's death, and it
• 28:48
  received a donkey's burial, according to Jeremiah.
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  So here's our reigning Second kings.
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  Do you have anything you need to give up?
• 28:59
  Have you been here since Second Kings 1 and you're still holding
• 29:02
  on to that sin and you haven't learned a thing about these
• 29:05
  kings? And what happens when you live
• 29:06
  in disobedience? Have you not been moved once by
• 29:09
  God's incredible mercy from one scenario to the next, one
• 29:16
  administration after the other? If your heart is not moved by
• 29:22
  what we see here in these final verses, God help you.
• 29:27
  This is unbelievable. And the same God who did this
• 29:30
  for this king is the same God who can do it for you, but you
• 29:33
  have to surrender. How do I know if I surrendered?
• 29:39
  You know, no, I don't know. OK, let me help you.
• 29:46
  Do some inventory, examine your own life.
• 29:49
  Actually ask these questions. If God were to ask me to get rid
• 29:52
  of this, would I be able to let go of it?
• 29:55
  Go every over every compartment of your existence, everything
• 30:02
  believer, even your ministry, even good things, and have an
• 30:08
  honest conversation with your own heart.
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  If God tells me to give this up, am I willing to give it up?
• 30:15
  If you can't Ding, Ding, Ding, my friend, you have identified
• 30:19
  an idol. But if you can say, Lord, all
• 30:24
  that I am and all that I have is yours.
• 30:28
  But if there's anything that I'm blinded to, there's anything
• 30:30
  that I'm not aware of, if you were to highlight to me and tell
• 30:33
  me I need to repent of it, I will repent of it.
• 30:35
  That's how you know you've given up to the Lordship of Jesus
• 30:39
  Christ and you are promised way more than whatever your little
• 30:44
  plan, your little blueprint promise you.
• 30:48
  Oh, I want to just say it one more time.
• 30:51
  Let tonight really be the turning point as you see this
• 30:56
  gracious example provided to you and me to surrender truly and
• 31:02
  completely. Well, we thank you for Second
• 31:04
  Kings. What an amazing book.
• 31:07
  As dark as it has been, it ends with life.
• 31:15
  And Lord, if there's one person in this place who's clinging to
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  death because they're deceived or they're afraid, or, or, or
• 31:25
  whatever the reason may be, we ask, Lord, that you would use
• 31:28
  these truths to shatter any of those shackles and that they
• 31:35
  would know true freedom. Thank you that you are a God
• 31:39
  filled with hope. Thank you that no matter what
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  kind of a mess that we've made of our lives, like Jehovah kin,
• 31:45
  you can change it all. You can do a miracle with our
• 31:49
  mess. And though we believe that you
• 31:52
  are the same God that we are studying and we have been
• 31:54
  studying week after week. Lord, may our hearts come alive
• 31:59
  and Thanksgiving for how you've spoken to us through 1st and 2nd
• 32:03
  Kings. May you receive all the glory, O
• 32:05
  Lord, and how we apply these truths and share them with
• 32:09
  others so they too may surrender to the kingship of Jesus Christ.
• 32:13
  You are All in all. And Lord, we in a fresh way tell
• 32:17
  you, we give up, we give up. Have everything, you're worthy
• 32:24
  of it. In Jesus name we pray, Amen and
• 32:28
  Amen. If you need to stay seated, you
• 32:31
  stay seated. If you want to stand, you can
• 32:33
  stand. But let's wholeheartedly worship
• 32:34
  the Lord. The study is not over yet, but
• 32:37
  let's just take this moment to engage with God directly before
• 32:41
  we do what we're planning to do next.
• 32:42
  So however you are comfortable, as long as you're not
• 32:45
  distracting, just engage with these truths and seek God and
• 32:48
  pour out your heart to him. He's here, He, he's hearing us
• 32:52
  praise him. Come on up.
• 32:53
  Thank you.