WWUTT 699 Josiah and the End of Judah?

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Over the course of 1st and 2nd Chronicles, we've watched Judah go from a place of abundance, one of the richest places on earth, to being destroyed by their enemies.

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But this is all pointing toward the coming of Christ when we understand the text.

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You're listening to When We Understand The Text, committed to the sound teaching of the Word of God.

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Find videos and more at our website www .utt .com Now here's our host,

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Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you Becky. So yesterday we were in 2nd Timothy 3 .12 where I read all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

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And I said you don't even have to preach the gospel to someone for them to hate you. They won't like you just because of the

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Christian values that you have. Because you're pursuing godliness and want to be like Jesus.

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So there was a hashtag that was trending on Twitter and it was my bucket list in 5 words.

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And so I tweeted 5 words, show Christ to my children.

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That's what I desire. I want to fulfill that in my ministry that my children would know

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Christ through the way that I have lived and what I have taught to them from the scriptures. Well just tweeting that, there were other people that were participating in that hashtag and saw what

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I had tweeted and I got some pretty spiteful comments. One guy said that I was in a cult.

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Another one said that this was child abuse for me to want to show Christ to my children.

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Another guy tweeted me a picture of Jesus zapping spaceships with laser beams from his eyes.

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I don't even know what that was about. But it just goes to show you that's all

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I had to say. I wasn't even directing that at anyone. And there were people who hated me and ridiculed me simply because I would want to teach

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Jesus to my children. And yet though the world is going to respond in these ways, we cannot respond in like kind.

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We must not revile when we are reviled. Just as Peter said in 1

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Peter 2 that when Jesus was reviled, he didn't revile back, but he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

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And that's what we should do as well. As Paul had instructed Timothy, correct opponents with gentleness, for it is

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God who may grant them repentance, leading to a knowledge of the truth. All right, today we come to our study in 2

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Chronicles, and we're actually going to finish up our study of this book with three more chapters left to go.

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And then next week we jump into the book of Ezra in our Old Testament study, which isn't as long, probably won't take us but the month of June to get through the book of Ezra.

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But here as we're finishing up May, we're also finishing up 2 Chronicles with the last three chapters of the book.

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And here we come to read about the last righteous king that was in Judah before God finally turned them over to their enemies for their constant rebellion against the

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Lord. And even though Josiah's reforms that he will institute in Judah will be more thorough than any other righteous king before him, yet he will not succeed at turning the hearts of the people back to the

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Lord, and they will continue to rebel. So 2 Chronicles chapter 34, here is what we read,

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Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 31 years in Jerusalem.

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He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in the ways of David, his father, and did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.

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For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, would have been 16 years old now at this time, he began to seek the

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God of David, his father. And in the 12th year, which now puts him at 20 years old, he began to purge

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Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim and the carved and metal images.

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And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence. And he cut down the incense altars that stood above them.

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And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.

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He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed

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Judah and Jerusalem. And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, he broke down the altars and beat the

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Asherim and the images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel.

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And then he returned to Jerusalem. Nobody else was more thorough in these reforms than Josiah was.

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And it goes even further than that. So we continue on into verse eight now in the 18th year of his reign.

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So this would now make Josiah 26 years old when he had cleansed the land and the house.

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He sent Shiphon the son of Azaliah, and Maaseah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joaz the recorder, to repair the house of the

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Lord his God. They came to Hilkiah the high priest, and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the

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Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim, and from all the remnant of Israel, and from all

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Judah and Benjamin, and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Remember the northern kingdom didn't exist anymore.

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Israel had already been exiled out because of the judgment of God. And so this was just the remnant of Manasseh and Ephraim that remained there.

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Verse 10, and they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the

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Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy queried stone and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin.

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And the men did the work faithfully. Skipping to verse 14, while they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the

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Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the law of the Lord given through Moses.

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Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, I have found the book of the law in the house of the

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Lord. And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. Shaphan brought the book to the king and further reported to the king all that was committed to your servants they are doing.

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They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.

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Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, Hilkiah the priest has given me a book. And Shaphan read from it before the king.

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And when the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes and the king commanded

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Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abedin the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah the king's servant saying, go inquire of the

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Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and Judah concerning the words of the book that has been found.

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For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the

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Lord to do according to all that is written in this book. Remember yesterday reading from 2nd

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Timothy chapter 3, Paul had instructed Timothy as for you continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

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All scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

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And I mentioned that what Paul was primarily referring to here were the old testament scriptures, which even those scriptures have the ability to convict a man's heart and turn him to the

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Lord. This goes against what we've been hearing buzzing around evangelicalism lately, primarily on the heels of Andy Stanley, who has said that a

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Christian must unhitch themselves from the old testament. But here we have the

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Old Testament being read aloud to Josiah, specifically the book of Deuteronomy, because that's what was referred to as the book of the law.

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So he heard Deuteronomy read aloud to him and he was convicted of his sin and realized that they had disobeyed

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God and they were under the wrath of God because of their disobedience and that of their fathers.

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Now, the law is not the gospel. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the good news that he has fulfilled the law and the prophets and died for our sins, rising again from the grave so that all who believe in him will not suffer the wrath of God because we've broken his law.

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But we will be justified by faith in Christ and we stand before God now declared innocent since Christ has paid the price for our sins.

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So the law does not lead to salvation, but it certainly conditions the heart to realize our sin when we hear the law read.

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If we are given the spirit of God in our hearts, conditioning our hearts to hear it and understand it, we will grieve over our sin because as we hear the law, we realize we haven't kept any of this and God's wrath is upon me.

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But again, as as I quoted from Second Timothy chapter two, it is God who leads us to repentance.

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And that's what's happening here with Josiah. God has led Josiah to repent before the

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Lord, but the hearts of the people will not be persuaded with him. So in verse 22,

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Hilkiah and those whom the king had sent went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shalom, the son of Tokath, son of Hasra, keeper of the wardrobe.

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Now, she lived in Jerusalem in the second quarter and spoke to her to that effect. They spoke to her what

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Josiah said to ask of her. Now, the fact that they went to a prophetess and not a man of God just shows how far

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Judah had fallen from the Lord. This is fulfilling what Isaiah had prophesied in Isaiah chapter three, that there would not be men fulfilling

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God's calling in Judah before God's wrath would finally be poured out upon them and he would turn them over to their enemies.

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So it's a prophetess that they went to instead of a prophet. Verse 23, and she said to them, thus says the

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Lord God of Israel, tell the man who sent you to me. Thus says the Lord, behold,

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I will bring disaster upon this place and upon its inhabitants. All the curses that are written in the book that was read before the king of Judah, because they have forsaken me and have made offerings to other gods that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands.

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Therefore, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched. But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the

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Lord, thus shall you say to him, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants.

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And you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me.

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I also have heard you declares the Lord, behold, I will gather you to your fathers and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace and your eyes shall not see all the disaster that I will bring upon this place and its inhabitants.

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And they brought back word to the king. So then verse 29, the king sent and gathered together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and the king went up to the house of the

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Lord with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the Levites, all the people, both great and small.

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And he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. And the king stood in his place and made a covenant before the

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Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and with all of his soul to perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.

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Then he made all who were present in Jerusalem and in Benjamin to join in it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did, according to the covenant of God, the

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God of their fathers and Josiah took away all the abominations from all the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the

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Lord, their God, all his days. They did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers.

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So this was showing that the the reform that he brought to Judah also extended into the territory of Israel.

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Josiah's reforms were thorough, but God's word was as well.

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And his removal of the people from this land was coming, which is what we get to in these final two chapters.

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Chapter 35. Josiah kept a Passover to the Lord in Jerusalem, and they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the 14th day of the first month.

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He appointed the priests to their offices and encouraged them in the service of the house of the Lord. And he said to the

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Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, put the holy ark in the house that Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, built.

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You need not carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the Lord, your God and his people

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Israel. Prepare yourselves according to your father's houses by your divisions as prescribed in the writing of David, king of Israel and the documents of Solomon, his son, and stand in the holy place according to the groupings of the father's houses of your brothers, the lay people and according to the division of the

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Levites by father's household and slaughter the Passover lamb and consecrate yourselves and prepare for your brothers to do according to the word of the

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Lord by Moses. Skipping to verse 16. So all the service of the

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Lord was prepared that day to keep the Passover and to offer burnt offerings on the altar of the

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Lord according to the command of King Josiah. And the people of Israel who were present kept the

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Passover at that time and the feast of unleavened bread seven days. No Passover like it had been kept in Israel since the days of Samuel, the prophet.

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None of the kings of Israel had kept such a Passover as was kept by Josiah and the priests and the

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Levites and all Judah and Israel who were present and the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the 18th year of the reign of Josiah.

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This Passover was kept. And again, that would have been when Josiah was about 26 years old.

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After all of this, when Josiah had prepared the temple, Niko, king of Egypt, went up to fight at Carchemish on the

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Euphrates and Josiah went out to meet him. But he sent envoys to him saying, what have we to do with each other?

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King of Judah. I am not coming against you this day, but against the house with which I am at war.

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And God has commanded me to hurry. Cease opposing God who is with me, lest he destroy you.

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Nevertheless, Josiah did not turn away from him, but disguised himself in order to fight with him.

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He did not listen to the words of Niko from the mouth of God, but came to fight in the plain of Megiddo.

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And the archers shot King Josiah and the king said to his servants, take me away for I am badly wounded.

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So his servants took him out of the chariot and carried him in his chariot and brought him to Jerusalem.

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And he died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourn for Josiah.

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Jeremiah also uttered a lament for Josiah and all the singing men and singing women have spoken of Josiah in their laments to this day.

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They made these a rule in Israel. Behold, they are written in the laments. Now the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds, according to what is written in the law of the

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Lord and his acts first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah.

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Chapter 36. The people of the land took Jehoaz the son of Josiah and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem.

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Jehoaz was 23 years old when he began to reign and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.

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Then the king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold.

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And the king of Egypt made Eliakim his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim.

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But Necho took Jehoaz his brother and carried him to Egypt. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.

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He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, his God against him came up Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

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Nebuchadnezzar also carried part of the vessels of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his place in Babylon.

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Now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and the abominations that he did and what was found against him.

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Behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah and Jehoiakim his son reigned in his place,

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Jehoiakim, not Jehoiakim. Jehoiakim was 18 years old when he became king and he reigned three months and 10 days in Jerusalem.

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He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. In the spring of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of the house of the

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Lord and made his brother Zedekiah king over Judah and Jerusalem. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.

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He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of the

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Lord. 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

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Lord that he had made holy in Jerusalem. 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

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Lord rose against his people until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought up against them the king of the

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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

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Lord and the treasuries of the king and of his princes. All these 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

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Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept

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Sabbath to fulfill seventy years. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the

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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 proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.

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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 a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah whoever is among you of all his people may the

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Lord his God be with him let him go up. And that is our prelude into the book of Ezra which we will get to next week.

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So Josiah remained faithful to God and because of his faithfulness the Lord spared him the wrath that was coming upon the land because of the people's generations of unfaithfulness.

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Josiah also became an ancestor to Christ it was from his line that eventually

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Jesus Christ would be born and that's ultimately the king that is that second chronicles or the chronicler here is looking toward remember the the covenant of David was one of those themes that prevailed through first and second chronicles and so that that's ultimately what the people of Israel are looking for and as this book continued to be read for the few hundred years since it had been written they were anticipating the coming of this king and the fulfillment of that prophecy would be in Jesus Christ who would be born in Bethlehem the king who would sit on the throne of David and establish his kingdom forever and deliver his people from their sins and that is the same

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God that we worship Jew and Gentile reconciled together in Jesus Christ and all who believe on his name will have a kingdom that is imperishable that no enemy can come against and destroy where there will be no evil nor will there even be any temptation to sin for all the former things will have passed away

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Christ is making all things new turn from your sin believe on his name and you will be saved thank you for listening to when we understand the text with pastor

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Gabe Hughes if you'd like to support this ministry visit our website www .utt