From Babylon to Jerusalem - (Daniel) ch.1:1-1:8 — Zac Poonen

Daniel’s Relevance to the End Times

Of Daniel in the Old Testament, and there is a particular reason why, of all the Old Testament books, we have chosen the book of Daniel to begin with. And that is because, I don't know whether you know this, that in the entire Bible of sixty-six books, there is only one book about which it is written, its inner meaning will not be understood until the last days.

And that's the book of Daniel. Daniel chapter twelve, verse nine. After Daniel had completed writing this book, we read here that he was told in verse nine, go your way Daniel, for these words that you have just written in this book are concealed and sealed up until the end time.

And it is a fact that even through the many centuries of church history, people have not really understood the book of Daniel until these last days, particularly in the last century. Another verse in Daniel chapter eight, verses seventeen and nineteen.

In the last part of verse seventeen he was told, son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end. There is no Old Testament book about which that statement is written, other than the book of Daniel.

Verse nineteen, the last part, it pertains to the appointed time of the end. And that's why we look at the book of Daniel, because all these verses teach us that this is a book that has particular relevance to the time of the end.

We know that the book of Revelation has particular relevance to the time of the end, but when we studied the book of Revelation, we saw that it was written at the end of the book of Revelation that the book was not sealed.

But the book of Daniel was sealed. In other words, you could understand the book of Revelation in the first century, but you couldn't understand the book of Daniel in the first century. It's amazing. As we approach the days which immediately precede the coming of Christ, we find that this book has particular relevance.

Daniel and Jesus’ Teaching About the End

One more verse, Matthew twenty-four. Matthew twenty-four is the place where the disciples asked Jesus concerning the sign of his coming. Verse three, end of the end of the age. And Jesus answered and gave them a long discourse there.

It's interesting to see there that the only Old Testament prophet and book that he quotes and mentions there in verse fifteen is Daniel, the prophet. He quotes Daniel and something that Daniel has written as referring to the sign of the end.

And so all these verses teach us that as we live in these days, it's important for us to have an understanding of this book, not just in its prophetic aspect, but also the spiritual message that Daniel has for each one of us individually as people who have this tremendous privilege of living in the days immediately preceding the coming of Jesus Christ to earth.

The Twofold Structure and Sovereignty of Daniel

Now the book of Daniel is, we can say, basically divided into two halves. It's got twelve chapters and the first six chapters are history and the last six chapters are prophecy. It's a very simple division.

The book of Daniel, the first six chapters are history, which has a tremendous lesson for us, and the last six chapters are prophecy, which also has a tremendous message for us. And the theme of the book of Daniel is basically twofold.

It's got a twofold theme, and remember that all this has got relevance to the end time, to the times in which we live. And the first thing that we see in the book of Daniel, which runs right through the book, is this theme of the absolute sovereignty of God over everything.

We shall see that as we go through the book, the absolute sovereignty of God in relation to everything on this earth and in the heavens. And this, therefore, is a particular truth that we must be gripped by in the last days.

That's why this is one of the main themes of the book of Daniel. And you notice that theme comes out in the very first two verses of the book. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it.

And notice the next phrase. It does not say, Nebuchadnezzar overcame Jehoiakim and conquered him and took away the vessels of the house of God. That would be how a secular historian would have written it.

But the Holy Spirit writes it like this. The Lord gave Jehoiakim into his hands. There you see the sovereignty of God. That it was Almighty God who decided that this backsliding king of Judah has to go into Babylon.

And as a punishment for his people, God gave all the vessels of the house of God also into Nebuchadnezzar's hand. Nebuchadnezzar didn't realize that. But it was God who gave it. So we find the theme of the sovereignty of God, that God was in control.

Nebuchadnezzar at that time was the king of the mightiest nation in the world. Today there are two superpowers. In those days there was only one superpower and that was Babylon. And Nebuchadnezzar was the head of the one superpower in the world.

But there was a power above that superpower and that was the Lord God Almighty who decided what Nebuchadnezzar is going to get and what he's not going to get. And this is one of the great themes of the book of Daniel.

And a theme that we need to be tremendously gripped by in these days in which we live. Otherwise we shall not be able to endure until the end as the Lord wants us to. The second theme of the book of Daniel is the theme of overcomers.

Daniel’s Call to Uncompromising Overcomers

That we seen verse 8 of the first chapter. It says here, Daniel who was the main overcomer in this book, made up his mind that he would not defile himself. He determined in his heart that he would not compromise.

That's the mark of an overcomer. That he would not defile his conscience. That he would not disobey God in the smallest thing. That he would not compromise or bow down in any little thing even to the mightiest king of the mightiest superpower on earth at that time.

That's the mark of an overcomer. A man who stands up for God in the face of all opposition even if he's got nobody standing with him. This is the message of God for the time of the end. Basically twofold.

And he who has ears to hear can hear it. First, the total sovereignty of God. And the second, God's looking and seeking for those who will uncompromisingly stand for him in these last days as overcomers standing true to him.

Spiritual Vision for the Last Days

And then I want to say one more thing before we actually go into the study of this book. And that is the key word. There is a key word. A word that occurs 32 times in the book of Daniel. 32 times. And that is the word vision.

Vision or visions. Spiritual vision. And that's the great need of the times in which we live. Not human cleverness but spiritual vision. That's given only by the Holy Spirit. We can never get it any other way.

To have a vision given by the Holy Spirit concerning eternal realities. Concerning the things that we cannot see with our human eyes, that we cannot hear with our human ears, that we cannot understand with our mind unaided by the Holy Spirit.

The great need of the last days. Spiritual vision. An understanding of the sovereignty of God. It is thus that we shall fulfill God's purpose in these last days as uncompromising overcomers. That's the message of the book of Daniel for those who have ears to hear.

Daniel’s Historical Background and the Instruction of the Old Testament

Now we look at verses 1 and 2. In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim, King of Judah, into his hand along with some of the vessels of the house of God.

And he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his God. And he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God. Now I want to take quite a bit of time now in giving you some background of the history of Israel that led to this particular situation where God had to judge them by sending them into captivity into Babylon.

Because the whole book of Daniel is written in Babylon. Daniel was in Babylon, which was the world power of those days. And so it's very important for us to get a understanding of the history of Israel that led to this point so that we can learn some spiritual lessons from it.

Now many people neglect the Old Testament. But never forget that three quarters of your Bible is the Old Testament. And God did not make a mistake in putting three quarters of the Bible as the Old Testament.

The history of Israel has got tremendous lessons for us who are Christians in the church today. Because it's usually the same mistakes that we make today. And so we can learn from their mistakes. And that's one thing which many people are very slow at doing.

Learning from the mistakes of other people. If we learn from the mistakes of other people, we don't have to make the same mistakes ourselves. That's why it's very profitable to study the Old Testament.

Now even though the Old Testament begins with the history of creation and the creation of man, by the time you come to chapter 12, you read about Abraham, Genesis 12. And from that point onwards, right through to the end of the Old Testament, the Old Testament is no longer the history of the world, even though it may be in the first 11 chapters.

From chapter 12 onwards, it's the history basically of one nation. So we can say that the Old Testament is basically a history, a record of one nation, and the messages that God sent to that one nation, Israel.

And through that, we have something to learn. We are told in Romans 15 that everything written in the Old Testament was for our instruction. Now I want to give you a brief summary now, in a few minutes, of that Old Testament, so that you get a bird's eye view.

It's like going up into an airplane and looking at the Old City of Bangalore, say together, and looking at the Old Testament together. The Old Testament is basically the history of Israel in two parts.

From Egypt to Canaan and From Babylon to Jerusalem

One, their journey from Egypt into Canaan. That's basically the first half of the Old Testament. And the second is the history of their journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. And that's the second part of the Old Testament.

The prophecies mostly deal with that, many of them anyway. Now the first part, Israel's journey from Egypt to Canaan, relates to our personal life, deliverance from the power of sin, into a life of victory.

But the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem, described in the second half of the Old Testament, describes the coming out of a system, of a religious system, called Babylon, into the true Church of God, called Jerusalem.

This is a picture. There are many who understand what it means to move out of Egypt into Canaan, but who have not understood what it means to move out of Babylon into Jerusalem. Now the history of Israel basically, right up to this point mentioned in Daniel 1, is like this.

God chose Abraham, through him God chose one of his many sons, called Isaac, and of Isaac's two sons he chose one, Jacob. That's why God calls himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God changed Jacob's name to Israel, and Israel had twelve sons, and those became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel.

And they went into Egypt in the time of Joseph, and that's the end of the book of Genesis. And then we read that in Exodus, God raised up Moses to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt, and bring them into the land of Canaan.

And the Old Testament books, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, deal with the wanderings of Israel in the wilderness for forty years. And then in the book of Joshua, we read how God, through Joshua, brought the Israelites into the land of Canaan, which is today called Israel, or it was called Palestine in the earlier times, then called the land of Canaan, Palestine, Israel, the same land on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea, and established them there in the days of Joshua.

But then after Joshua died, we read God, there were judges appointed in Israel, and Israel backslid, and then finally they wanted a king, and the first king was Saul, appointed by Samuel. He backslid, and then God appointed David.

David's son was Solomon. David was faithful throughout his lifetime, but David's son Solomon was a backslider, and therefore God said he was going to punish the nation of Israel by dividing the kingdom in Solomon's son's time.

Solomon had a son called Rehoboam, and during his time, God's judgment came upon Israel for all the backsliding of Solomon, and the nation of Israel was split into two. There was a division. We can say Israel became two denominations.

Ten tribes formed the northern kingdom, they called themselves Israel, and two tribes formed the southern kingdom, they called themselves Judah. So after that, there were two kingdoms, Israel and Judah, ten tribes and two tribes, and that happened around 900 years or so before Christ, but very soon the northern kingdom fell into idolatry, and in the year 721 BC, the northern kingdom was judged by God by sending them into captivity into the hands of the superpower of those days, which was Assyria, and you read of that in 2nd Kings chapter 17.

Israel’s Failure to Learn from the Northern Kingdom

We don't have time to look at it now, but I just want to tell you something because it has an application now, and I'll come to that right now. The northern kingdom fell into idolatry sooner than the southern kingdom, and therefore God judged the northern kingdom by allowing the superpower of those days, Assyria, whose capital you remember was Nineveh, where Jonah was sent to preach.

Assyria, whose capital was Nineveh, came against the northern ten tribes and took them captive, and then that was 721 BC. This thing that you read in Daniel chapter 1 verse 1 of Nebuchadnezzar coming against Jerusalem took place 115 years after the northern kingdom went into captivity, and what did God speak to the southern kingdom during those 115 years?

Do you want to hear? This is what the prophets told the southern kingdom. Look at what happened to your sister Israel in the north. See how God judged them for their backsliding and learn a lesson. You know who the prophets were who came and preached?

Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Micah. These were the prophets who came and preached. Particularly in this time, there was Jeremiah just before the nation of Israel went into captivity, 40 years before Nebuchadnezzar came against Judah.

God raised up a young man in Israel. His name was Jeremiah, and God kept that one young man for 40 years as a prophet to that nation, but they would not listen. They did not listen to Zephaniah, and they did not listen to Jeremiah, but their basic message was, don't think that you can sin and get away with it.

Jeremiah's message was a very hard message. He kept on preaching. For 75 years before him, after the northern kingdom had gone captive, God had sent his prophets, but Israel had not listened. Finally, God sent one man, Jeremiah, for 40 years, and they did not listen.

Finally, after 115 years, the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom, also went into captivity. By this time, Assyria had lost its place as the superpower, because Babylon had risen and defeated Assyria, and Babylon had become the superpower during that 115 year period, and now Babylon was the great nation of the earth, and they came against the southern kingdom of Judah, and it says here, the Lord gave Judah into Babylon's hands.

Babylon as a Warning to the Church

Now, what can we learn from this for the church? Today, God's word comes to us and says, see what God did to Israel. He will do the same to you, but most Christians don't believe that. Just like the southern kingdom did not believe that God would do to them the same thing that he did to the northern kingdom.

In the same way, today, God sends his messengers and says, see what God did to Israel, he'll do the same to you if you don't repent, but there are very few Christians who take that seriously. They say, oh no, we are privileged, but that's exactly what the southern kingdom of Judah said, we are privileged, but they fell, and like the Lord gave them into the king of Babylon, it's not without significance that in the New Testament, the harlot church is called Babylon.

Why is the book of Revelation called Babylon, the same name as the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar? Because it is the same reason why the church today ends up as Babylon, the same reason why Israel went into Babylon, most of today's Christendom is in Babylon, spiritually speaking.

Jehoiakim’s Rebellion and the Captivity

Now, I want you to turn to the Old Testament and 2 Chronicles, where we are told about this captivity, which we just read in Daniel chapter 1, and as we understand this background, we'll be able to appreciate the book of Daniel a little more.

2 Chronicles and the last chapter, chapter 36 and verse 5. Jehoiakim was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, in spite of the fact that during all those 11 years, Jeremiah was prophesying.

He couldn't care less for Jeremiah the prophet. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against him. That's what we read in Daniel. Here's the history of it. Bound him with bronze chains, took him to Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar also brought some of the articles of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in his temple at Babylon. And we read there, further down, the reasons why God's people went into Babylon.

The First Three Reasons for Israel’s Captivity

And I want to give you now seven reasons why God's people went into Babylon. Why the Israelites? They came into the land in the year 1451 BC. In 606 BC, they had gone into captivity. Why? It's very important for us to know, because that is what has taken the church into Babylon even today.

2 Chronicles 36 and verse 14 to 16. It's a very important passage. 14 to 21, sorry. 2 Chronicles 36, 14 to 21. It's a very important passage in this connection. Furthermore, here is the number one reason.

All the officials of the priests and the people were very unfaithful following all the abominations of the heathen. Notice, first the leaders and then the people. This is the number one reason. They became like the heathen people around them.

They professed to follow the true God, but their life was just like the heathen people around them. That was the number one reason. And when it speaks about the heathen people around them, I just want to mention to you that one of the prominent sins of the heathen people of those days, like today, was sexual sin.

As you read in Leviticus chapter 18, it's an amazing chapter. Sometime when you have time, read through Leviticus 18 and see some of the abominable relationships mentioned there. Homosexuality, sodomy, lying with animals, all these things are mentioned there.

And it says finally in verse 24 of Leviticus 18, don't you Israelites defile yourselves by these things because all the heathen people have become defiled by these sexual sins. And it's quite an abominable list there in Leviticus 18 if you read through it, it's really abominable.

And it says in 2nd Chronicles 36 -14 that the leaders and the people had polluted themselves. Now this is true even today, that the leaders of Christendom and the people have become like the heathen, not only in relation to sexual sin, but in many areas.

There is fundamentally no difference between the person who calls himself a Christian and the person who is a heathen. That is one reason for the Babylonian captivity. And secondly, back to 2nd Chronicles 36 -14, in the middle of the verse it says, they defiled the house of the Lord which he had sanctified in Jerusalem.

Idolatry and Defiling God’s House

And the way they defiled the house of God was by idolatry. And I want to show you another passage that tells us about the idolatry of the Israelites at that particular time. Ezekiel chapter 8 and verses 7 -16.

The Lord told Ezekiel to dig through a wall and he said to him in verse 9 of Ezekiel 8, go and see the wicked abominations they are doing there. And when he entered and looked, verse 10, he saw every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things which the idols of the house of Israel had carved on the wall around, just like the temples that we see in Bangalore.

We don't realize what a tremendous abomination it is to God, idolatry, to give people the impression that Almighty God is like some of those animals. It's a tremendous insult to God. That's why Paul was stirred, it says in Acts 17, when he saw the idols in Athens.

How would you feel if somebody put a picture of a monkey on a wall and put your name underneath that, saying that's a picture of you. Or an elephant or something like that. Well, you wouldn't feel particularly honored by something like that.

Well, that's exactly how it is. It's worse when God is symbolized by all these things. We need to see that. And our spirit needs to be stirred by the idolatry around us. They were not stirred. And you see later on, in the very next chapter, we don't have time to go into that, Ezekiel 9, God said put a mark on the forehead of those who are concerned about these things, Ezekiel 9, verse 4.

Mark out the people who are concerned, whose spirits are stirred when they see all these abominations. And notice something further about the abominations there, Ezekiel 8, when you have time you can read through right from verse 7 to verse 16.

The women were involved in the idolatry, verse 14, and it says here, verse 16, their backs were to the temple of the Lord, there were 25 priests. Verse 16, he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, Ezekiel 8, 16, and in the middle of that verse it says there were about 25 men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east.

Do you know that there are so-called Christians today who feel that the east, well this is not a new thing, it was there in the idolatry of Israel, and the reason for it is they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun.

Turning east to pray to God had its origin in idolatrous worship of the sun which arose in the east. That's happening in many so-called Christian churches today. And there are Christian church buildings, so-called Christian church buildings which are built facing towards the east.

A continuation of this idolatry of turning to the east and praying otherwise God won't hear you. You're worshiping the sun. This is what's going on. Right, then we read further another reason for the captivity in Israel, of Israel in Babylon is given us in 2nd Kings 24 verses 1 to 4.

Bloodshed, Witchcraft, and Rejection of God’s Messengers

2nd Kings 24 and verses 1 to 4 it says here that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. And the reason is given in verse 3 and 4. Surely at the command of the Lord it came upon Judah to remove them from his sight because of the sins of Manasseh who was one of the kings of Judah.

According to all that he had done and the innocent blood which he shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and the Lord would not forgive. Now I want you to turn to 2nd Chronicles chapter 33, 2nd Chronicles chapter 33 and verse 6 to see something of what this man Manasseh did.

2nd Chronicles chapter 33 and verse 6 it says he made his sons, this is referring to Manasseh in verse 1. Manasseh was the king. Verse 6 he made his sons pass through the fire as an offering to some idol and he practiced witchcraft, used divination, practiced sorcery, dealt with mediums and spirits, he did much evil in the sight of the Lord provoking him to anger.

That was the number three reason. Shedding innocent blood and turning to evil spirits and to witchcraft. Now turn to 2nd Chronicles 36 and verse 16. Now so far we've said well perhaps we're not so bad compared to some of these things we've heard.

Now as we come down we see in verse 16 number four reason. Let's read verse 15 to get the background. The Lord, the God of their fathers sent word to them again and again by his messengers because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.

That means for 115 years after Israel went into captivity in Assyria, God sent his messengers to the southern kingdom of Judah again and again and it's an amazing word used here. Again and again the Lord, the God of their fathers sent his messengers but they would not listen.

Verse 16 number four reason. They mocked the messengers of God. When God sends you a messenger and you mock him, you touch God's anointed, speak against him at home, criticize his message. You're on the way to Babylon.

God may delay it. He may delay it for a number of years but finally his judgment falls. It's a serious thing to mock and despise the anointed messengers of God. Number five. In verse 16 they despised God's words.

They despised the word of God. They did not take seriously God's word. That's how it is with Christians today. For example, the Lord has said that if a man lusts after a woman with his eyes, he deserves to go to hell.

Matthew 5. There are very few Christians who take that seriously. Do you know what the Lord told Jeremiah? Now Jeremiah was the prophet during the last 40 years. Remember that. Always keep it in mind.

During the last 40 years before Israel went into captivity, there was one prophet Jeremiah and whenever you read the book of Jeremiah, remember that was a prophecy that was God's message to save a nation from going into captivity but they did not listen.

I want to show you one verse in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 5 verse 1. The Lord told Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 5 verse 1. Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and look and take note and seek in her open squares if you can find one man, one man in all the city of Jerusalem among all these religious people.

See if you can find one man who does justice, who seeks truth, faithfulness and I will pardon the whole city. You know the Lord told Abraham that if he found 10 people in Sodom, he would pardon the city but the Lord told Jeremiah if I find one man in Jerusalem, I'll pardon the city because Jeremiah was not included.

He was God's messenger but he said can you find show me one man in that city who's upright. God knew what a state of affairs. They were religious. They were going regularly to what they call their church.

They gave their tithes. They read their bibles but they were not upright in their inner life. They were not God-fearing. They were compromisers down to the last one of them. They were a bunch of compromisers.

There was not one person. Do you think God was looking for a great multitude in Jerusalem? No. He was looking for one man. Daniel wasn't born then. He couldn't find one person there. What a sad state of affairs.

That's because they despised God's word. Finally God sent them to Babylon. That was number five reason. Number six. We read in 2nd Chronicles 36 again. We saw that they mocked God's messengers. They despised God's word.

And it says here they scoffed or ill-treated, misused, it says in the King James Version, his prophets. They ill-treated his prophets. And I want to give you an example from Jeremiah 37 again to show you how they treated Jeremiah because he was such a uncompromising prophet.

Jeremiah 37 and verse 15. Jeremiah 37 verse 15. And the officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him. And they put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe which they had made into the prison for Jeremiah had come into the dungeon that is the vaulted stele and Jeremiah stayed there many days.

And I want to tell you the prisons of those days were just a deep pit. A deep unused well was converted into a prison in those days. They didn't have any other type of prison. And they dumped Jeremiah into this deep unused well.

False Prophets and Religious Profit

What was his crime? He was an uncompromising prophet who spoke the truth. They mistreated his prophets. God allowed it. God was watching. And finally judgment came. And you know that in those days there were other prophets in Israel, false prophets who made money in the name of religion.

I want to show you an example of some of them in the book of Micah. Micah is one of the last 12 books of the Old Testament. Micah chapter 3. Here is what the Lord says concerning the false prophets. Now the reason I'm going into the history of Israel at that time is to help us to understand the situation that led them into Babylon because it's exactly the same today.

Today God's messengers are mocked and backbitten against. Today God's word is despised. Today God's prophets are ill-treated. Perhaps not by putting them into a dungeon. Perhaps in more civilized ways but still ill-treated.

And today also there are the false prophets who make money in the name of religion. Micah chapter 3 verse 5. Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray. These are the false prophets.

When they get something to eat they say peace. If you don't give them something to eat they declare a holy war against you. Have you met preachers like that? Who are only after your meals they come and visit you for something to eat, for food.

This is not just in those days. 2 ,000 years of church history has seen plenty of such people. And further down in verse 11. Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe. Her priests will give instruction if you pay them a salary.

Her prophets will give you a prophecy if you give them money. Yet they lean on the Lord saying the Lord is in our midst. We can never be lost. We are eternally secure. For we are the children of God. Therefore on account of you.

Who? These preachers who preach for money. Zion will be plowed up as a field and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins and the mountain of the temple will become a high places of a forest. That's what happened when Babylon came.

So you see that the false prophets flourished. The people who did not preach the hard truth, who did not preach against sin, who did not preach holiness, who did not preach total obedience, who preached the things that would tickle the ears of people, please them, please the rich people because they wanted their money.

Those who serve God for a salary, who say they are serving God and collect a salary, fall in the category described in Micah chapter 3. And there are plenty of such people today in churches, in Christian organizations all over.

They will not serve unless you pay them. Go into all the Christian organizations in this country today and ask the people who are working there. How many of you will continue to work here if you don't get a salary?

100 of them will drop out. They get a salary and they're interested in that and they're increment. They're not serving God. They are in the category described in Micah chapter 3. And so Christendom, even those who call themselves believers in many of these cases, are in Babylon.

The false prophets flourish, the true prophets are ill-treated. Number seven, and here is a very important reason. We've seen six reasons. First, they became like the heathen. Second, they polluted God's house.

The Sabbath and Israel’s Covetousness

Third, they shed innocent blood. Fourth, they mocked God's messengers. Fifth, they despised God's word. Sixth, they ill-treated God's prophets. And number seven, 2nd Chronicles 36 verse 21, they did not keep the Sabbath.

They did not keep the Sabbath. And this is not the seventh day Sabbath that we are referring to. Many people are familiar with only the seventh day Sabbath. But in the Old Testament, there was also a seventh year Sabbath.

God had given a law through Moses that you must cultivate your land only for six years. And the seventh year, you must not cultivate it, but you must give the land a rest for seven years, for one year.

And then you can cultivate it again the eighth year. There must always be a six-year period of cultivation. And one year, you can leave the land at rest. And the people will think, then what shall we eat in that seventh year if we don't cultivate?