I'm excited for what God has in store for us this Bible study,
and I hope that you have a copy of God's Word with you.
There's something about physical Bibles that that is much more
helpful than any other medium, Not against any other medium.
I use them, but I hope you have a physical copy of the Bible
with you. Let's turn out together the
Second Kings chapter 25. Second Kings chapter 25.
What we have before us is a historical record of the final
deportation of the people of Judah and the ultimate
destruction of their Kingdom. To say that this is an important
section of Scripture would be a massive understatement, because
in actuality, this is a watershed moment for the history
of God's people and the overarching narrative of
redemption. And before we read any verse,
I'd like for us to briefly think back to some of the greatest
highlights of our study in the Old Testament so far.
The miraculous exodus from Egypt.
The incredible patience of God in the wilderness journey.
The conquest of the Promised Land in the book of Joshua, the
variety of challenges in the days of the Judges, the amazing
covenant that Almighty God makes with David and his descendants.
And who can forget the establishment and the
construction of the temple, which would be the earthly
dwelling place of the glory of God in a more permanent way than
the Tabernacle? What great investment God made
for this people. What tremendous long-suffering
and steadfast love throughout their failures.
What amazing hope is attached to this nation.
And throughout our study of the Hebrew Scriptures, we have
consistently recognized the Lord's pardon and protection and
preservation, preservation of his people, namely, and
especially towards Judah and Jerusalem.
It's almost left us now to be expected, expecting that God's
going to continue to do that. But what we're about to discover
is that this time is different. This time is different.
The northern Kingdom of Israel has already been exiled by this
Syrian empire, and now we're about to discover that Judah is
going to share in their faith, but it's going to be more
devastating. Devastating because of their
connection to the Davidic dynasty.
And so I want us to look at Second Kings 25, verse 8 down to
verse 10. And we'll continue at that pace
for the rest of the evening. In the 5th month, on the 7th day
of the month, that was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, Nebu Zeridan, the captain of the bodyguard, a
servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
And he burned the House of the Lord and the King's house, and
all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned
down, and all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the
captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.
Father, you are the teacher, and we are your desperate, hungry
students. We are your disciples, and we
ask that you would illumine our minds.
We ask, Lord, that you would fortify our faith and that Lord,
you would cause us to fall deeper in love with You as you
showcase the sophistication, the majesty, the brilliance, the
wisdom, the glory of Your word. So, Lord, we pray that there
would be nothing that would interfere with the transmission
of truth and that we would only hear your voice.
This is our longing. That is why we have gathered and
we trust that You, O God, see us here as we've come to receive
from You. In Jesus name we pray.
Amen. If we consider the date that is
given back in verse 3 of this chapter, then we we realize here
that it's been about a month since Zedekiah attempted to
escape the Babylonians who were surrounding Jerusalem only to be
captured, blinded and then taken to Babylon to be killed.
And what's highlighted here is that the death of the king was
clearly not enough for Nebuchadnezzar.
He was determined now to bring total destruction to the holy
city and to take away anybody that is remaining in the city.
And what's so significant is that the destruction was so
severe that every edifice, every meaningful structure has been
burned down to ash. This was a massive blow.
This was unthinkable, inconceivable.
And yet it's true. It finally happened.
Everything that was known, that was held together by God's grace
has now been brought down to rubble.
And there's so many things we can comment about that.
But what caught my eye is what we find in verse 10.
We see here that the Babylonians are identified as the Chaldeans.
Now, why would that be important?
It may not seem like anything worth underlying, but Chaldeans
here don't just appear in this verse, but a total of seven
times in the single chapter. And it seems as though this
repeated identification of the Babylonians as the Chaldeans is
a strong reminder of how far the people of God have fallen from
their original calling. What do I mean by that?
Well, do you recall what God said to Abram, Abraham before he
was ready to make a covenant with him in Genesis 15?
Here's an important verse, Genesis 15, verse 7.
It says here the Lord spoke to him.
I am the Lord who brought you out from ur of the Chaldeans to
give you this land to possess. And so the Lord is reminding
Abraham in this text that I revealed myself to you.
I called you from a specific location.
And for us reading this, we are reminded where Israel's story
began. It began in this place, God
calling the Father of this nation from the UR of the
Chaldeans to this new promised land.
And here's what's so striking. Centuries go by, and now we find
the same God who is calling the Chaldeans to come to this
promised land and to remove Abraham's descendants and to
bring them back to where it all began.
It's as though in an indirect way, it's as though the Spirit
of God is giving us hints to recognize how massive this exile
is, how significant. And I began to meditate when
looking at this, thinking, what was it that brought Abraham out
of Ur of the Chaldeans to begin with?
Why would he leave his home, his idols, his family to follow God
into the unknown? And the Bible actually gives us
an answer. It's actually found in the New
Testament. So turn with me to Acts 7
because this is worth seeing with our own eyes.
And looking at Stephen's speech, his sermon really, he gives us
an insight as he recalls the history of the people of Israel.
Look here in Acts 7 verse 2, and Stephen said, Brothers and
fathers, hear me, the God of glory appeared to our father
Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia before he lived in
Haran, and said to him, Go out from your land and from your
kindred and go into the land that I will show you.
Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in
Haran, and after his father died, God removed them from
there into this land in which you are now living.
Stephen was so specific. He was clearly led by the
Spirit. Out of all the ways that he
could have referenced God, he chose the God of glory.
The God of glory appeared to Abraham and Mesopotamia and the
land of the Chaldeans. So what happened, though not
explicitly explained to us, is that at some point in Abraham's
older age, God manifested his glory to him.
Was it 1 encounter? Was it repeated encounters?
We're not told, but it served as a catalyst for this man to pick
up everything and to head into the horizon of the unknown, to
follow the true God and to worship him alone.
And here's what I want to argue that Abraham's descendants,
after so many failures, so many offenses, have clearly proven
that they have lost sight of the glory of God.
And This is why they are where they are now.
This is why they are collapsing. This is why they are paying a
very high price for their disobedience.
As Romans one tells us, they exchanged the glory of the
immortal God for idols, for created things.
Here's the lesson for you and I. If you and I want to avoid
regressing spiritually, you must be determined to be fixated on
the glory of God always. His Holiness, His love, His
goodness, His justice, His purity, His faithfulness.
Keep that ever before you. Keep discovering it, keep
tasting it. Keep asking the Lord to make it
real to you, because the moment your vision of His glory
diminishes, the more temptation will become alluring and will
convince you that there is something greater then savouring
His glory. Abraham came out of the land of
the Chaldeans because he got a glimpse of God's glory, and now
his descendants are going back to that land because they have
lost sight of that very same glory.
This is remarkable. But then we come back here to
our main texts, and we read in verse 11 Babylon not only
destroyed the temple, the homes, and the city walls, we read how
they dealt with the people who survived the previous
deportations. He reads here in verse 11.
And the rest of the people who are left in the city and the
deserters who are deserted to the king of Babylon, together
with the rest of the multitude. Nebu Zerodan, the captain of the
guard, carried into exile, but the captain of the guard left
some of the poorest of the land to be vine dressers and plowmen.
So the king of Babylon says enough is enough.
We're going to take every single person out and bring him to our
land. Now, what's interesting is that
he chooses to leave behind a certain demographic, the poorest
of the land, those who had nothing to offer, those who had
no noble standing in society. And we're left to wonder, why
would he do this? And I don't think there's some
deep, mysterious truth to it. I think it's political.
It's economic. Babylon, who was already in
control of Jerusalem, might have wanted this place to remain as a
agricultural asset. And so he chooses the
unfortunate to remain in the land and to tend the land and to
maintain it so that there would be produce and things that they
can benefit from. So that's what it's been reduced
to. Now.
Most of the people are taken out, a small population stays
back. They're just managing the
property really, to the benefit of the Babylonians.
And yet there's one person I'm thinking about wondering what
happened to him, a person that we have referenced many times,
at least his writings. Jeremiah, remember him?
If we read here that everybody was taken, you might be
wondering, did Jeremiah follow in the same direction of Daniel
in the first deportation, Ezekiel in the second
deportation? Is it Jeremiah's turn now?
Is he now going to Babylon to join the other prophets with a
new chapter in his ministry? Well, the Scriptures again give
us an answer, and the answer actually might surprise you.
But the only way you'll discover it is if you go to Jeremiah 40.
Look what happens here in Jeremiah 40, beginning in verse
one. Jeremiah 40 verse one, the word
that came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebu Zaradan the
captain of the guard, had let him go from Rama when he took
him bound in chains along with all the captives of Jerusalem
and Judah who are being exiled to Babylon.
Pause. So what happens here?
Well, Jeremiah was mixed in the crowd.
He was included among the captives and after some distance
the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.
And this is something significant because God is
obviously superintending this. He's obviously working
providentially, but the captain of the guard now singles out
Jeremiah and he says something quite remarkable.
Look at verse 2. The captain of the guard took
Jeremiah and said to him, The Lord your God pronounce this
disaster against this place. The Lord has brought it about
and has done as he said, because you sinned against the Lord and
did not obey his voice. This thing has come upon you.
Now we can keep reading on because he's about to give
Jeremiah an offer, but it's worth pausing here and examining
some of these comments. Notice that this leader, a Pagan
leader, looks at Jeremiah and he admits that he acknowledges
God's hand behind Judah's defeat.
How did he arrive to this conclusion?
I think the most logical answer is that both he and the other
leaders in Babylon were very well acquainted with Jeremiah's
prophecies, and you can make that case from chapter 39, which
we won't turn to because Nebuchadnezzar himself heard
about Jeremiah. He in fact gave instruction that
he would be left alone. So Nebuchadnezzar himself knew
about this prophet, and surely he and the others understood
what he proclaimed against his own city.
Here's why this is so striking, because the people of God here
are humbled by this. They should be.
At least these Babylonians demonstrated more faith in the
word of the Lord than those who claim to be in covenant with
God. Hey, Jeremiah, you know what you
said? You know what God said
ultimately about this place? It happened.
God kept his word.
This this is humbling. Why?
Because the crowd in Jerusalem were mocking Jeremiah.
They were lining up to the prophets who were saying,
there's no way Babylon is going to take over this place.
And yet in contrast, you have these unbelievers who say, yeah,
God's word said it, and he did it.
What a strange sight to see the word of God making a deeper
impression on those outside of covenant with God than those who
claim to be in relationship with him.
This is startling. But moreover, what's even more
shocking is how this unbeliever who worship false God, false
gods, and maybe he recognized that every land has their own
deity or deities, sure, but he looks at Jeremiah and he speaks
him as a representative of this people, and he calls them
sinners. Looking into verse 3, the Lord
has brought it about and has done as he said, because you
sinned against the Lord and did not obey His voice, this thing
has come upon you. If the destruction of the holy
city weren't humbling enough, how much more humiliating is it
for a Pagan to call out the disobedience of those who claim
to follow the true God? You sinned.
We recognize that this is the consequence of your
disobedience. Who's speaking?
You're a prophet? No, an unbelieving ruler of a
different nation. And this is yet another example
of how the Scriptures in various places cause believers to live
in such a way that the world cannot accuse us of
contradiction or hypocrisy. If the world is going to
confront us about anything, let it be because of our
consecration to Christ, not our clear inconsistencies.
Let it be because we take holiness seriously, not because
we say one thing and live another.
I wonder what the faces of these captives look like when this man
said in their presence, You're here because you sinned.
This is coming from the mouth of a person who does not worship
the true God, who does not fear him, who does not submit to his
decrees, and he says, you send, oh, May God protect us from ever
receiving a comment from an unbeliever that says, wait,
wait, aren't you a Christian? Oh wait, wait, didn't you?
Didn't you just invite me to church like a couple of months
ago? Is this what you guys do at your
church? The embarrassing contrast
between the Babylonians and the people of God only grows more
striking as we continue to read. Are you still there in Jeremiah
40? Look at verse 4.
He continued to speaks to the prophet.
Now behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands.
If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I
will look after you well. But if it seems wrong to you to
come with me to Babylon, do not come.
See, the whole land is before you.
Go wherever you think it good and right to go.
If you remain, then return to Gadalia, the son of Ahikam, son
of Shafan, whom the king of Babylon appointed governor of
the cities of Judah and dwelt with him among the people.
Or go wherever you think it right to go.
So the captain of the guard gave him an allowance of food and a
present, and let him go. What's the captain of the guard
essentially saying? We recognize that you're a
prophet. We recognize that you speak on
behalf of Yahweh. So we want to make you an offer.
If you'd like to come with us to Babylon, you'll be taken care
of, you'll be honored, you'll be provided for.
But if we're out of whatever reason you want to stay back
here with your people, you're free to do that as well.
It's your choice. You know what shook me when I
read this? How the Babylonians treated
Jeremiah better than his own kinsmen.
How are we to make sense of this?
From a divine standpoint, it's clearly an act of God's mercy
granted to one of his servants who suffered throughout his
ministry. But from a human standpoint,
this shows how the Babylonians held more respect for this
prophet than the people of God. Read Jeremiah if you haven't
read that book, and you'll find one despicable act of
mistreatment after another towards this precious servant of
the Lord. Coming from who?
His own, Even from those from his own hometown.
And yet once the Babylonians meet him, they show such honor
and respect. Hey, you come with us.
We'll take care of you. You want to stay back here?
Here's an allowance and here's a gift.
Far be it from us that the world could out give, out serve, out
respect, out love out honour. Those who've been forgiven by
God and sealed with His Holy Spirit may never be that one
Christian from this place or any other place of faith would
wrestle with his experience, because he receives kindness and
respect and pardon and grace from those who are not connected
to the truth than those who are. The Babylonians here are
respecting this man of God. What a refreshing thing it must
have been for this prophet who had received so many bruises and
scars from his own. So he's given a choice.
You want to stay or do you want to go?
What choice is he going to make? Look at verse 6.
Then Jeremiah went to Gaddalia, the son of Aikam at Mizpah, and
lived with him among the people who were left in the land.
What? You chose to stay?
I mean, what did that look like? As they're having this
conversation and behind Jeremiah as he's facing Babylon, smoke is
rising up to the atmosphere. Flames and embers are still
burning. Everything has been reduced to
nothing. And the other option is a new
life, a promise, inheritance, wonderful favor, comfort, maybe
even luxury. And Jeremiah determines I'm
going to stay. I'm going to stay.
What choice would you make? I wonder whether you think
Jeremiah did the right thing or not.
I can't help but compare him to Zedekiah in this moment.
Remember 2 weeks ago we looked at King Zedekiah?
When Jerusalem was surrounded and finally the Babylonians made
a breach, what did he do? He packed his bags, he got the
army to surround him, and he evades the scene, leaving behind
his people, the very same people he was called to shepherd, to
watch over and to protect. A clear example of a coward, a
failure of a leader. And yet, when Jeremiah was given
an opportunity to move on ahead, imagine how tempting that is.
You guys didn't listen to me. After years of preaching, this
is what you get. I'm moving on.
Instead, he chooses to remain with the remnant.
He chooses to stay back. Why?
Because he's a true shepherd. He's a true leader.
Here's what I want to remind us about.
A mature and genuine servant of Christ does not walk away from
their ministry when it becomes difficult or unattractive.
He or she will remain at their post until they receive marching
orders from heaven. Too many people give up easily.
I've seen it. And if you know that you have
the tendency to just abort the call, Move on from the mission.
Hop from church to church to church to church.
Let me encourage you with this truth.
God honors and rewards loyalty. He does.
And as I was thinking about this text and this truth, my mind
went to what Jesus said about his own disciples before he was
arrested after instituting the Lord's Supper.
Let me read to you this one verse in Luke 2228.
Jesus says You are those who have stayed with me in my
trials. You are those in Luke 2228 who
have stayed with me in my trials.
When I read that, I said, Lord, I want you to be able to say the
same about me. I don't want to be faithful to
Your word, faithful to the calling you have given me,
faithful to the gifts that you have deposited in my life when
things are easy or when they are celebrated.
I want to stay close to you when it's hard, when it doesn't make
sense, when it doesn't really benefit me.
I want to stay close to you. Even in trials.
Jeremiah made that decision. He didn't take the easy Rd. out.
He said, you know, thank you, but I'm going to stay back and
we're going to hear maybe another reason why he did that.
But let's come back to our main text and see what happens next.
Look here at verse 13 and the pillars of bronze that were in
the House of the Lord, and the stands in the bronze sea that
were in the House of the Lord. The Chaldeans broke in pieces
and carried the bronze to Babylon.
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 fire pans also, and the bowls.
What was of gold, the captain of the guard took away as gold, and
what was of silver as silver. As for the two pillars, the 1C
and the stands that Solomon had made for the House of the Lord,
the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weight.
The height of the one pillar was 18 cubits, and on it was a
capital of bronze. The height of the capital was 3
cubits. A latticework and pomegranates
all of bronze were all around the capital, and the second
pillar had the same with the lattice work.
So now the writer goes into greater detail about the
desecration of the temple. It's almost like he wants the
reader to feel not just speaking in general, but looking at
significant things in the House of God being stripped down,
being confiscated. But what's in focus here more
than anything else, are the pillars.
The two pillars that Solomon built and planted at the
entrance of the House of worship.
Here's a question for you. Does anybody remember the name
of those two pillars? If you do, you can lift your
hand. Who remembers the names of the
two pillars that Solomon built? Anybody know?
Boaz is one of them. What's the other one?
Say that again, close. I'm not going to give you the
answer right away. I want you to turn to see with
your own eyes in First Kings Chapter 7.
Obviously, these pillars are important for them to be
mentioned even at the final part here of Second Kings.
Look at verse 21 of First Kings 7.
He set up the pillars at the Festival of the Temple.
He set up the pillar on the South and called its name Jakin.
And he set up the pillar on the north and called its name Boaz.
So those are the two names. Now I understand that these are
important pieces to the structure, but why name them?
Why were they named? Well, the first one, Jakin,
means he will establish, Boaz means in him is strength.
That's widely accepted as the interpretation.
He will establish in him his strength.
And clearly the Lord wanted to convey that this truth was as
reliable and stable as the pillar themselves.
And so anytime someone entered into the courtyards of the
temple, they would stand in the shadow of those wonderful
realities God has established the people of Judah and the
temple and God alone can sustain the people of God and this
sacred place of worship. And the irony, right?
You come to 2nd Kings of what? Do you realize that the
Babylonians come and pull it apart, They throw it in a cart
and they transport it to a new land?
Did God betray his people? No, the people betrayed their
God. Big difference.
And the next question is this has God forsaken his people by
allowing this? And the answer is yes or no.
Clearly He has. He has removed himself, His
protective mercy, His guiding grace.
He didn't allow for any miraculous intervention to take
place to shoo away the enemies of Israel and Judah.
But is this permanent? Is this a permanent defeat?
And we should know our Bibles well enough to say absolutely
not. You know, as much as Jeremiah
proclaimed judgement and exile, interwoven in those warnings
were promises of return and restoration.
And God's desire to communicate that hopeful future was so
important to him that he no longer had Jeremiah just say it.
As important as his word was, he actually had Jeremiah
demonstrated in one of the most unique passages in the book of
Jeremiah. He actually has Jeremiah act out
a sermon to actually display with an act, an act of faith,
ultimately to show just how dependable this word is of
return. It's going to happen.
This is disciplinary. This is not total annihilation.
And so here's the scene, Jeremiah in the 10th year of the
the king at the time, Zedekiah, there's a siege.
They're surrounded and he's imprisoned.
Like they're so sick and tired of this guy that they just put
him behind bars. And while he is in prison, God
speaks to him. A very strange word.
It's in Jeremiah 32. Look at this with me in verse 6.
So remember the setting, remember where Jeremiah is, and
it says here in Jeremiah 32, verse 6, Jeremiah said the word
of the Lord came to me. Behold, Hannamel, the son of
Shalom, your uncle will come to you and say by my field that is
at Anathong, for the right of the redemption by purchase is
yours. Then Hannah Mel, my cousin, came
to me in the court of the guard in accordance with the word of
the Lord, and said to me by my field that is in Anathoth in the
land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is
yours. Buy it for yourself.
Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
Why is this a strange offer? Any idea?
He's in prison, that's one thing.
But think of the, the wider reality.
Well, you can sell it if it's in your family.
If there is the necessity of transferring it within your
tribe, that is permitted. But think about the wider
context. What's going on in Jerusalem and
around Jerusalem? A siege.
They're at war. They're surrounded by an enemy.
This is not the time to to do real estate.
More than that, Anna thought, geographically speaking, was a
few miles outside of Jerusalem, so it's likely that Babylon had
already taken it over. So you're offering me a piece of
land that has been already conquered?
It's not very helpful. So you can imagine how troubling
this was for Jeremiah. In fact, he even says it here at
the at the end of verse 8. Then I knew that it was the word
of the Lord. It's like this word was so
unbelievable. I don't know if it was me or God
until my cousin showed up to my jail cell.
Can now I know this is God and his cousin obviously probably
wanted to make some kind of money in the dire situation that
the city was in. So he chooses to honor God's
word as much as possible and give that right of redemption to
a family member. So he offers it to the prophet,
and the Lord says buy it. That's foolish.
Humanly speaking, it makes zero sense.
The thing that makes most sense is to keep as much money to
yourself as possible, not to give it for something that you
can't even enjoy, that might not ever be yours.
Especially for Jeremiah. He knows that the people are
going to go to exile for decades.
There is no sense in this whole thing.
But he's trusting God. So Scroll down to verse 12 and
notice what happens. And I gave the deed of purchase
to Baruch the son of Nariah, son of Massia, in the presence of
Hanamel, my cousin, in the presence of the witnesses who
signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the
Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.
I charge Baruch in their presence, saying, Thus says the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take these deeds, both
the sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in
an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time.
For thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, houses and
fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.
Do you see what he's saying here, Jeremiah?
I want there to be witnesses of this truth.
You're buying a piece of property because you believe
what I have told you to say to everyone, that although they are
going to be removed from this land, they will one day return.
That's how much God wanted to drill into the hearts of these
people, even in their discipline, that He still has a
hope for them, a future for them.
It's not going to remain this way.
There are too many covenants made, promises made over and
over again for God to to break them.
God is trying to say here in another sense, I have not
forgotten, and I want to put a down payment on my promise now.
Even in a text like this, there are wonderful practical,
personal lessons. Here's the first thing that we
can take from this in order for our message to the skeptic, to
the compromising, to the unbeliever to be more
persuasive, we must be willing to practice what we preach.
Up to this point, Jeremiah has been saying God is going to
bring you back. God is going to take you away,
but he will in his grace bring you back.
And that's, it's as though the Lord says, I, I want you now,
Jeremiah, to actually live out that message.
You've been preaching it. Now I want you to prove it.
I want you to show your audience that you believe what you're
saying from the pulpit. So buy the land.
Buy it. And he did.
If you were not allowed to say a word for a few weeks, maybe
months, your family, your friends, people who know you,
watching you, will they be able to conclude this person serves
God? Would they be able to even say
this person lives for eternity? The proclaimed word is vital.
God uses it to win souls. God uses it to transmit His
truth. But what is necessary is that
whatever is proclaimed is backed up with practice, is performed.
And so Jeremiah, prove it. Let people see where your money
goes. Let people see that you actually
trust in the word that I give to you to give to them.
And there were witnesses there. This was a public act.
But the second thing here to be reminded of is that the
Christian life is very much about making events invest
investments that don't make sense to the world around us.
You got to remember the context this looks.
Foolish. Why are you purchasing land?
You're never going to know it. In fact, whenever an exile like
this would take place, the revival of a nation was
miraculous if it ever happened. Unlikely.
And yet Jeremiah is showing something here by way of
principle, though it may not look like this is the best way
to utilize your time, your energy, and your resources.
God said it. So I'm going to show that it's
worth it. And that's what you and I do as
believers, day in and day out. The people that know you may
look at you and say, what are you doing?
You only have one life, Use it well, live it up.
Why are you spending your Friday nights like that?
Why are you spending your money like that?
Why do you even waste your mornings like that?
There's much more that you can do with that hour or 20 minutes
or 30 minutes that you spend in your room talking to God and
knowing His Word. And this is a miniature
illustration found. Whatever we are called to invest
in, it's in alignment with God's Word is never in vain.
God always vindicates us. Those who watch us may mock us,
they may never understand, but Jeremiah shows here that it's
always worth it. And this also may give us
insight to why he decided to stay back instead of going into
Babylon. I believe Jeremiah's heart was
so much for the people that he chose to remain as a physical
demonstration and message of hope.
I'm, I'm going to choose to plant my feet here, even though
there's nothing left for me really, so that the Exiles and
even the remnant here would be constantly reminded that there
is a future. I'm not going to, I'm not going
to go on and indirectly communicate that this place is
over with. I'm going to stay here.
Now, what I love about this too, is that Jeremiah had the choice
to say Daniel didn't, right? Did Ezekiel have a choice?
No, they didn't. You know, how God works in each
of His servants is so amazing. And God didn't love Daniel or
Ezekiel less than Jeremiah because He gave Jeremiah the
ability to remain and the others no choice.
Be careful of comparing God's dealings in your life, what He
gives to others and what He doesn't give to you, what He
gives to you and what He doesn't give to others as a sign of the
measure of His love or affection.
God is incredibly wise and He knows what is beneficial for you
in terms of openings and Closings.
As much as you might want that gift that you see somebody else
operating in, God may know you way better than you know
yourself. He does know you way better than
you know yourself, and He knows how that gift can actually crush
you instead of bless you. He just knows.
And I was thinking about that, you know, what would it have
been like for Daniel, Ezekiel, and Jeremiah to be all in one
place? But the Lord knows how to
distribute His resources. He knows how to position His
servants well, and He doesn't owe us an explanation.
Let's read the last verses of our study here.
Second Kings 25. Let's look at verse 18.
And the captain of the guard took Soraya, the chief priest,
and Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the
threshold. And from the city he took an
officer who had been in command of the men of war, and five men
of the King's council who were found in the city, and the
secretary of the commander of the army who mustered the people
of the land, and 60 men of the people of the land who were
found in the city. So here are the notable leaders
that remain. They're collected.
And notice what happens in verse 20.
And Nebu Zeradan, the captain of the guard, took them and brought
them to the king of Babylon at Ribla.
And the king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death
at Ribla in the land of Hamas. And here's the most sobering
part of this section of Scripture.
So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.
You would think that this is where Second Kings would end,
but you are well aware that there are still a few verses
that remain. We will touch on these verses in
next week's final study of this book, But for now, I want us to
just step back and to really take in some of these truths
that were explained to ask God to make them real in our lives.
Can we do that? Lord, we thank you for this
study. And we ask, oh God, that these
truths would come alive in each of us in a way that actually
changes things. Lord, for every person here who
desires to serve you wholeheartedly in these very
turbulent moments in our culture, even for the church,
may we always remember you're watching.
I and Lord, what you said of the disciples, we wish you would say
to us, You are those who have stayed with me in my trials.
And Lord, give each of us the wisdom to know when to remain
and stay and when to pick up and go.
But Lord, would you please inspire loyalty in each of us
tonight? Give up so quickly to not be
frustrated to the point of quitting.
Oh, Lord, we even see here a great contrast between the
Babylonians and their treatment of Jeremiah and the truth and
the people of God who should have known better.
Thank you for the reminder that it's possible even for those who
are walking with Christ to have a dimmed light.
Lord, we pray that you would add more fuel to the flame in our
hearts and that what we do and how we act and respond would
burn brighter and would back up what we say.
Thank you for these practical realities.
Thank you for the wisdom of this text.
Thank you, O God, for the glory of your word.
Captivate us again lest we reverse and go back to a place
that you brought us out of. Keep your glory before our face
every day and every night in Jesus name, Amen.
Amen. If you want to stay seated and
pray and speak to the Lord, confess, rejoice, you can do
that. If you want to stand and you
want to sing, you're free to do that as well.
But let's just take our time in worshipping Him.