Latest / Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms / #165. How God's Mercy Changes the Way We Parent | 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36

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#165. How God's Mercy Changes the Way We Parent | 2 Kings 24-25, 2 Chronicles 36 · Dwelling Place: The Bible for Moms

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  Steph: This is the Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.
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  Steph: I'm Stephanie Hickox,
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  in today's reading of Second Kings twenty-four and twenty-five and Second Chronicles thirty-six, we'll continue to uncover this idea of the Lord dwelling with His people And though it will be hundreds of years, we can't help but set our
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  sight On the God that will come to dwell with us, I apologize if my voice sounds a little bit different and if some of the most recent episodes aren't as smooth a daily podcast can be a little bit
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  tricky when you're recovering from sickness all right, I have good news for you.
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  Today, we are finally finishing the books of Second Kings and Second Chronicles.
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  So we'll turn back in our Bibles Continuing to go through our chronological Bible reading plan, which helps us to read the stories in order, in their context, but I'll admit there's a little bit of shuffling we might be
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  thankful to be done with.
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  In fact, I thought it would be kind of fun if we could go through and just say the names of the books that we finished together And it might feel kinda corny but I wanna celebrate all that you've
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  done So let's do it in callback style.
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  I'll say the book of the Bible, and then you're gonna proudly say the name after me Hey, the first book of the Bible we finished was Job Then Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second
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  Samuel, First Kings.
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  After today, Second Kings, First Chronicles.
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  After today, Second Chronicles, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Hosea, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum And Zephaniah And before you know it, we'll wrap up those last books of the Old Testament and I can't even wait to start
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  the New Testament and to focus on Jesus.
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  This Bible reading plan almost feels like a pregnancy, doesn't it?
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  how it takes nine to 10 months before you actually have the arrival of the newborn king Let's open 2 Kings 24 In verse one, we find an important detail.
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  In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years.
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  Then he turned and rebelled against him and the Lord sent against him bands of the Chaldeans, and bands of the Syrians, and bands of the Moabites, and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it,
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  according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets.
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  Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed.
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  For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon.
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  You would think that these smaller nations around Judah, that they would rise up and align together to try to protect themselves.
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  Instead, and probably through God's sovereignty, they turn against Judah and help the Babylonians defeat them At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged.
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  Do you remember how there were really three waves of captivity?
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  This is the first wave where he takes Jehoiachin and his mother into Babylon But Nebuchadnezzar carries all of the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and he cuts in pieces all
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  the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord even if you're not familiar with Nebuchadnezzar from the Book of Daniel, you can clearly tell here that he does not fear God at the conclusion of chapter 24, Zedekiah
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  is now on the throne, becoming king at 21 years old And the final verse, "For because of the anger of the Lord, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.
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  In 25, we have it confirmed what we already knew, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon Nebuchadnezzar and his army continue to come against the city zedekiah His family and his men tried to escape, but the Babylonians
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  cut them off, capture them, and slaughter his sons right in front of him before gouging out his eyes and carrying him into exile But the author of Kings gives us more detail regarding the destruction of the temple.
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  In twenty-five thirteen through seventeen, And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried
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  the bronze to Babylon.
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  And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the dishes for incense, and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service, The firepans also and the bowls.
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  What was of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver as silver.
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  As for the two pillars, the one sea, and the stands that Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.
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  the height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and on it was a capital of bronze.
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  The height of the capital was three cubits.
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  A lattice work and pomegranates all of bronze were all around the capital, and the second pillar had the same with the lattice work All of the directions and the thoughtful care and effort that the Lord had instructed them
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  to create the temple.
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  It's all destroyed now Let's just sit for a moment and try to think about how devastating this destruction would have been To anyone who still had a sliver of hope in the Lord And we know the coming redemptive
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  work of Jesus.
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  But if we didn't it would seem to us as well that all hope was lost.
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  I can't tell you how many times in my life I've wished I had a rewind button where I could go back and have a do-over.
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  And I'm wondering how many of the citizens of Jerusalem were wishing that they could go back and change their prideful, wicked decisions the Lord may have allowed His city to be destroyed, but His plans for His people will
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  not be thwarted.
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  He is still a good shepherd and even when it seems he is bringing about great evil, he knows that this discipline is exactly what the nation needs to humble and purify their hearts 2 Kings ends with a merciful
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  story of an undeserving man Receiving favor from a king And that's certainly something you and I can relate to.
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  In twenty-five twenty-seven, and in the seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously
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  freed Jehoiachin, king of Judah, from prison.
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  And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
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  So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table.
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  And for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs as long as he lived Okay.
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  I hesitate to even bring this up, but the one receiving this mercy is the one who, threw the Word of God into the fire I'm astounded by the mercy that God allows him to receive and I'm equally astounded
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  at the things the Lord has forgiven me for in my life and it's this understanding has truly transformed the way that I discipline, the way that I love and discipline my kids.
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  When I can keep it fresh in my mind how far I have strayed from the Lord The sinful things I've done and the righteous things I've failed to do I can have so much more grace and patience with
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  my kids as they're figuring it out for themselves I hope that Josiah's son responded righteously to this mercy that he was shown And I hope that he became a man much more like his father And I'm thankful for
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  every day that the Lord gives me an opportunity to respond to his radical transformative grace in my life How about you?
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  Let's turn to 2 Chronicles 36 and find out what the chronicler decided to reveal to us.
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  remember, this book was written after the exile in an effort to encourage the people to rebuild the temple and to continue to be faithful to the Lord in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah.
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  So his perspective will be powerful but first, let's see what he says about Zedekiah in eleven through sixteen.
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  Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
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  He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
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  He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.
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  He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God.
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  He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord, the God of Israel.
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  All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations, and they polluted the house of the Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem.
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  The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.
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  But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people until there was no remedy Therefore, he brought up against them the king of
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  the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or aged.
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  He gave them all into his hand, and all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his princes, all these
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  he brought to Babylon, and they burned the house of God, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious vessels.
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  He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the
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  mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths.
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  All the days that it lay desolate, it kept Sabbath to fulfill seventy years.
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  I want to remind you what an incredible mathematician and God of order we serve.
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  It has been four hundred and ninety years that Israel and Judah have had kings, and during that entire time, they have not honored God's command to give the land Sabbath rest We have a lot of scientific evidence now
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  about the health benefits, about the benefits of crop rotation And giving rest to the land.
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  But this was yet another area the people did not obey And so he takes them out of the land for 70 years So his purposes for the Promised Land can be honored And at the end of Chronicles, we
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  read about another king who doesn't know the Lord but is also used to accomplish his purposes.
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  Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a
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  proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, And he has charged me to build him
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  a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
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  Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him.
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  Let him go up.'"
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  it's miraculous and astounding and speaks to the never-ceasing sovereignty and power of the Lord that He uses Cyrus, to be the one who builds a new temple for him in Jerusalem.
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  It won't be a permanent institution either but it will be used to unify Israel when they come back to their land And something that I found incredible from my research is that Chronicles is the last book in the
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  Hebrew Bible So in the Hebrew Bible, the last line says May the Lord his God be with him; let him go up And in the first book of the New Testament, Matthew introduces us To Jesus, who is God
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  with us, Emmanuel We saw it in the garden We saw it in the garden.
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  We've seen it in the wilderness, in the tabernacle, in the temple And we know what's coming Over and over, the Lord has made his dwelling place with us there is a reason I gave this podcast that title.
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  it isn't just a sweet little name that also relates to our home life.
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  It is the reality that I desperately want for each of us That wherever you are, whatever you do, you would embrace the presence of the Lord And walk with him?
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  And that that reality would be so beautiful to your kids That their hearts would fully desire to follow in your footsteps next to you and the Lord Heavenly Father, we are astounded by your mercy and your grace upon
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  us We pray that when we get impatient with our families, that you would lovingly remind us that you took the payment for our sin And that you are the Lord our righteousness, and we cannot take credit for the
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  sanctifying work you're doing in us And we praise you, God, that you are a God that seeks to walk with us.
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  we thank you that we can call to you and that you will answer us.
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  We thank you that when we seek you with all our hearts, we will find you when we read about your power and your majesty and your sovereignty, It's nearly unfathomable that you would also want to draw so near
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  to us And we ask That we would live in light of this revelation, and that our kids would be equally drawn to your presence Thank you, Jesus, that you are Emmanuel And that we can find our dwelling place
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  with you.
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  It's in your name we pray, amen