# When Everything is Destroyed. (2 Chronicles 36 1-23)

An episode of [The Bible Journey Daily Podcast](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1570210433), 1 Oct 2026, 34 min.

Audio: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1728449/episodes/19822111-when-everything-is-destroyed-2-chronicles-36-1-23.mp3

Send us Fan Mail This Podcast is part of season 23 of a project to complete an in-depth study of the entire Bible, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Episode Notes: Welcome to the final episode in our season spent in 1 and 2 Chronicles. Have you ever watched a life, a ministry, or even an entire community collapse, not because God failed, but because people refused to listen? It’s one of the most painful realities in Scripture, and one of the most sobering realities in life. In this last chapter of 2 Chronicles, we come face‑to‑face with that reality. The story we’re about to explore is not about one king’s failure, or one generation’s rebellion. It is the story of a nation that refused to listen to God’s Word, resisted His prophets, rejected His warnings, and finally reached the point where judgment could no longer be postponed. It is the story of Judah’s collapse. It is also the story of Jerusalem’s destruction, in which we see the temple burned to the ground. A story of exile, loss, and silence. And yet, even here, God is not absent; even here, God is preparing redemption. So, join me in 2 Chronicles chapter 36, where we will walk through the final days of Judah’s kingdom, the fall of Jerusalem, and the surprising glimmer of hope that appears right at the end of the book. This is the story of what happens when all is destroyed, and what God does next after Judah’s Final Decline. Save the World Podcast In-depth lectures and interviews on issues affecting the continued survival of human... Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify Support the show This podcast is entirely the work of Jeremy R. McCandless... Follow and support me as an independent podcast creator on Patreon. Jeremy McCandless | Creating Podcasts and Bible Study Resources | Patreon To receive my weekly newsletter and keep up to date with all five of my podcasts, subscribe at: Jeremy McCandless | Substack Check out my other Podcasts. My History of the Christian Church: https://thehistoryofthechristianchurch.buzzsprout.com The L.I.F.E. Podcast: Philosophy and current trends in the Arts and Entertainment. https://the-living-in-faith-everyday-podcast.buzzsprout.com The Renewed Mind Podcast. My Psychology and Mental Health Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568891 The Classic Literature Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2568906 To visit my Author page on Amazon and view my entire back catalogue of books on both Amazon and Kindle, and now also on Audible, Visit: Amazon.com: Jeremy R Mccandless: books, biography, latest update

## Chapters

- 12:43 \[Ad\] Save the World Podcast
- 13:30 (Cont.) When Everything is Destroyed. (2 Chronicles 36 1-23)

## Transcript

[0:15] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to what will be our final episode in our journey through One and Two Chronicles.
[0:22] SPEAKER_00: I wonder if you ever watched a life, a ministry even, or an entire community collapse?
[0:27] SPEAKER_00: Not because God failed, but because people refused to listen.
[0:31] SPEAKER_00: It is one of the most painful realities we see illustrated in the Bible, and one of the most sobering realities that we might experience in our lives.
[0:40] SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you see believers who walk with the Lord for years, even decades, only to drift, to compromise, to harden their hearts until everything around them falls apart.
[0:52] SPEAKER_00: And when you read the historical books of the Old Testament, you discover that just didn't happen to individuals, it happened frequently, and it happened to nations.
[1:02] SPEAKER_00: In the last chapter of Two Chronicles, we come face to face with that cold, hard reality.
[1:09] SPEAKER_00: The story we're about to explore is not about one king's failure or one generation's rebellion, it is a story of a nation that refused to listen to God's word again and again, resisted his prophets, rejected his warnings, and finally reached the point where judgment could no longer be postponed.
[1:28] SPEAKER_00: It is a story of the nation of Judah's final collapse.
[1:32] SPEAKER_00: And it is also the story of Jerusalem's destruction.
[1:35] SPEAKER_00: In it we will see the temple burned to the ground.
[1:38] SPEAKER_00: It is a story of exile, loss, and then the silence that seems to follow.
[1:44] SPEAKER_00: It is the moment when everything God has built, through David, through Solomon, through good kings like Hezekiah and Joshua, it is all torn down stone by stone.
[1:55] SPEAKER_00: And yet, even here, in all of this, God is not absent.
[2:00] SPEAKER_00: Even here, God is not defeated.
[2:02] SPEAKER_00: Even in this, God is preparing his redemption.
[2:06] SPEAKER_00: So join with me in 2 Chronicles chapter 6 when we walk through the final days of Judah's kingdom and witness the fall of Jerusalem and the surprising glimmer of hope that appears right at the end in the last couple of verses of this book.
[2:23] SPEAKER_00: This is a story of what happens when all appears to be destroyed and what God does next after a nation's or our own final decline.
[2:34] SPEAKER_00: Welcome to today's episode of the Bible Journey Daily Podcast.
[3:03] SPEAKER_00: Turn with me to 2 Chronicles 36 if you like to read along, which is where we see the writer, the chronicler, give us a rapid, almost a breathless account of Judah's final decline under these final kings.
[3:16] SPEAKER_00: The pace in this chapter is quick.
[3:18] SPEAKER_00: The kings come and go a little, the throne changes hands several times, and with each shift of power, the nation sinks deeper into judgment.
[3:26] SPEAKER_00: The chapter opens with Josiah's death, still echoing in the background what we covered yesterday.
[3:33] SPEAKER_00: The last good king is now gone, and that last bright light has been extinguished, and now the people have a choice before them.
[3:41] SPEAKER_00: They must choose a successor.
[3:42] SPEAKER_00: And the opening verse tells us that then the people of the land looked to Jehoihaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem.
[3:52] SPEAKER_00: Now Josiah had at least four sons, and three of them here will sit on the throne.
[3:57] SPEAKER_00: And Jehoiaz was the people's first choice.
[4:00] SPEAKER_00: It tells us he was twenty-three years old in verse 2 when he becomes king, and it also tells us he reigned for three months.
[4:08] SPEAKER_00: Three months, that's all.
[4:10] SPEAKER_00: Now no explanation is given for the short reign, other than the fact that we know he's forcibly removed.
[4:17] SPEAKER_00: Verse 3 tells us that the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem and imposed on the land a tribute of 100 talents of silver plus a talent of gold.
[4:28] SPEAKER_00: So this king of Egypt, this Pharaoh, Pharaoh Necho, whose army you remember had just killed Josiah, now asserts control over Judah, and he dethrones the new young king Jehoaz and imposes a crushing tribute on the people.
[4:44] SPEAKER_00: We are told 100 talents of silver, that's about three and three quarter tons, and one talent of gold, that's about 75 pounds, about 35 kilos.
[4:56] SPEAKER_00: So Judah is effectively now a vassal state.
[4:59] SPEAKER_00: The people's own chosen king is gone, and Egypt is in charge.
[5:04] SPEAKER_00: Verse 4 then continues, the king of Egypt made Elkiem, his brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.
[5:14] SPEAKER_00: Now renaming a king is a powerful political act, isn't it?
[5:18] SPEAKER_00: It signals dominance, control, humiliation, even.
[5:22] SPEAKER_00: The people had hoped for a Davidic king who would lead them into the glories promised in scriptures like Psalm 2, and instead they receive a puppet king installed by Egypt.
[5:33] SPEAKER_00: The chronicler wants us to see and feel the contrast.
[5:37] SPEAKER_00: The people had just chosen Jehoihaz, and after three months, Egypt deposes him and chooses Jehoiakim in his place.
[5:45] SPEAKER_00: So God has given Judah over to foreign powers as a form of discipline.
[5:51] SPEAKER_00: And what follows under Jehoiakim is eleven years of evil.
[5:56] SPEAKER_00: Verse 5.
[5:57] SPEAKER_00: Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God.
[6:06] SPEAKER_00: So Jehoiakim is long compared to the others, eleven years, but it is a spiritually disastrous reign.
[6:14] SPEAKER_00: It continues, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against him and bound him in bronze fetters and carried him off to Babylon.
[6:22] SPEAKER_00: And this is the point where the great shift occurs.
[6:25] SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Egypt's influence had begun to fade, and Babylon now arises, and Manebuchadnezzar comes and drives Egypt out of Palestine, and we know that occurs in around 605 BC.
[6:37] SPEAKER_00: And by the way, this is the same year that Daniel and his friends were taken into captivity around these events.
[6:43] SPEAKER_00: So Jehoiakim initially submitted to Babylon, but after three years he kind of rebelled, and God then allowed Negbekadnezzar to discipline him.
[6:54] SPEAKER_00: Now the chronicler, the writer, tells us Jehoiakim was bound in these bronze shackles and taken towards Babylon.
[7:01] SPEAKER_00: Though we will find out elsewhere that apparently he died when he returned to Jerusalem, just as Jeremiah had prophesied in the 22nd chapter of that book.
[7:12] SPEAKER_00: Anyway, verse 7 continues: Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in the temple at Babylon.
[7:23] SPEAKER_00: So this is meant to ring as a devastating humiliation.
[7:27] SPEAKER_00: The sacred vessels from the temple, the holy objects used for worshipping the one true God, are taken to Babylon and placed in that awful pagan temple.
[7:37] SPEAKER_00: This is not just political defeat, it's a spiritual humiliation of the people and what they had once held dear.
[7:45] SPEAKER_00: Verse 8 summarizes Jehoiakim's wickedness and his transition to his son, Jehoiakim, who now reigns in his place.
[7:54] SPEAKER_00: So, as I said, the pace is fast, and Jehoiakim's reign is even shorter.
[7:59] SPEAKER_00: Jehoiakim was eighteen years old when he became king, so he's significantly younger than his two brothers who've been there first, and he reigns in Jerusalem for three months and ten days.
[8:10] SPEAKER_00: And he did evil in the sight of the Lord.
[8:13] SPEAKER_00: So in three months and ten days, another king who barely had time to sit on the throne before judgment fell.
[8:20] SPEAKER_00: Jehoi Kim surrenders Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, and he was taken off into Babylon, and we're told he spent 37 years in prison.
[8:29] SPEAKER_00: Only after Nebuchadnezzar's death was he released and given a relative place of honor.
[8:34] SPEAKER_00: That's in 2 Kings 25.
[8:36] SPEAKER_00: We're told about that.
[8:39] SPEAKER_00: Back in Chronicles, verse 10 says, At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar summoned him and took him to Babylon with costly articles of the house of the Lord, and made Zedekiah his brother over Judah and Jerusalem.
[8:53] SPEAKER_00: So this is the second deportation of a king and his people, and this one is in 597 BC, and more articles are taken from the temple this time.
[9:03] SPEAKER_00: So more humiliation, more loss, and another puppet king, Zedekiah, the fourth brother, this time is installed.
[9:11] SPEAKER_00: So Judah is now hanging by a thread.
[9:14] SPEAKER_00: Their monarchy is effectively collapsing.
[9:17] SPEAKER_00: The temple is being stripped and emptied, and the people are being taken into exile.
[9:22] SPEAKER_00: The judgment Josiah postponed by his willingness to serve the God is now unfolding before us step by step.
[9:31] SPEAKER_00: And then we're introduced to Judah's final king.
[9:34] SPEAKER_00: Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
[9:41] SPEAKER_00: So Zedekiah, another son of Josiah, was placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar after Jehoiakin's deporting.
[9:49] SPEAKER_00: He was Josiah's uncle, and he would be the last king Judah had ever had, the last king Judah ever has in Old Testament history.
[10:00] SPEAKER_00: But his reign, like those before him, we will see is spiritually disastrous.
[10:05] SPEAKER_00: Because verse twelve tells us he did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord.
[10:14] SPEAKER_00: So this is tragic, isn't it?
[10:16] SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah, that faithful prophet, the man who carried God's word to king after king again and again was ignored by Zedekiah, and he refused to humble himself.
[10:26] SPEAKER_00: He refused to listen to him and he refused to repent.
[10:30] SPEAKER_00: Now his entire reign is documented in more detail in Jeremiah's prophetic account in chapters 21 through to and 32.
[10:40] SPEAKER_00: And in it we see a story of stubbornness, pride, and even spiritual blindness.
[10:45] SPEAKER_00: But back here in Chronicles, the narrative of this writer continues on these events.
[10:51] SPEAKER_00: It says he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear an oath by God, but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord the God of Israel.
[11:01] SPEAKER_00: So Zedekiah's rebellion here was twofold.
[11:04] SPEAKER_00: First of all, he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, breaking an oath that he had made with him that he had sworn in God's name, Yahweh's name.
[11:14] SPEAKER_00: And secondly he re by doing so, that means he rebelled against the Lord himself, and we're told he actually stiffened his heart, stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against God.
[11:24] SPEAKER_00: So Judah has really now bottomed out spiritually.
[11:27] SPEAKER_00: And the writer is deliberately echoing the language of Pharaoh and the story of his hardening of the heart in Exodus.
[11:35] SPEAKER_00: I'm sure it reminds you of that.
[11:36] SPEAKER_00: Just as Pharaoh hardened his heart against God, so now the Davidic king hardens his heart.
[11:43] SPEAKER_00: The contrast is there to see, and it's painful.
[11:45] SPEAKER_00: The king who should have led the people to God now is the one who leads them away from God.
[11:51] SPEAKER_00: And the people follow their king willingly into sin.
[11:56] SPEAKER_00: Verse 14.
[11:57] SPEAKER_00: Moreover, it says, all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more according to the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
[12:09] SPEAKER_00: So the leaders follow their faulty king.
[12:12] SPEAKER_00: The priests follow the leaders, the people follow the priests, and the entire nation is plunged deeper and deeper into wickedness.
[12:19] SPEAKER_00: The temple, just recently restored relatively by Josiah, was now defiled again.
[12:25] SPEAKER_00: The worship Josiah revived has now been corrupted again, and the covenant Josiah renewed is broken.
[12:33] SPEAKER_00: Judah has reached the point of no return.
[12:36] SPEAKER_00: And these next verses are amongst the most heartbreaking that you will read in the entire Old Testament.
[13:23] SPEAKER_00: Because they tell us, and the Lord, God of their fathers, sent warnings to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending them, because he had compassion on his people and their dwelling place.
[13:34] SPEAKER_00: So you see, God did not rush to judgment because he took no delight in the destruction that was going on.
[13:40] SPEAKER_00: He's not abandoning his people without warning.
[13:43] SPEAKER_00: He sends prophet after prophet, he pleads with them, he warns with them, he calls them back again and again.
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Why?
[13:49] SPEAKER_00: Because he has compassion on his people.
[13:52] SPEAKER_00: But we're told how they responded.
[13:54] SPEAKER_00: But they mocked the messengers of God, it says in verse 16, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against his people, until there was no remedy.
[14:07] SPEAKER_00: So this is the turning point.
[14:09] SPEAKER_00: The greatest evil in Scripture is not merely wrongdoing, it is wrongdoing in defiance of the clear knowledge of what is right.
[14:18] SPEAKER_00: Judah's sin is not a sin of ignorance.
[14:20] SPEAKER_00: That's the important point here.
[14:22] SPEAKER_00: Their sin is in full knowledge, in the light of that knowledge.
[14:26] SPEAKER_00: They sinned against God's mercy.
[14:30] SPEAKER_00: They witnessed it, but they sinned against it, and they sinned against the repeated warnings about doing that.
[14:35] SPEAKER_00: And finally, when there's no remedy, the judgment Josiah had managed to postpone almost for a generation now arrives.
[14:44] SPEAKER_00: So the chronicler has summarized the fall of Judah in these three waves.
[14:49] SPEAKER_00: The first is in 605 BC, in which we see the first deportation.
[14:54] SPEAKER_00: Nebuchadnezzar enters Jerusalem, Jehoiakim becomes a vassal, and Daniel and his friends, we hear elsewhere in the prophetic description of events, are taken into Babylon.
[15:06] SPEAKER_00: Then in 597 BC there is the second deportation.
[15:10] SPEAKER_00: Jehoiakim is taken captive, Ezekiel is taken captive, and more temple treasures are removed.
[15:18] SPEAKER_00: And then in 586 BC we witness the final destruction.
[15:24] SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem is destroyed, the temple is burned, the walls around the city are broken down, and the people are exiled.
[15:31] SPEAKER_00: This chapter is a record, a cold, sobering record of Judah's decline.
[15:37] SPEAKER_00: One king after another doing evil in the sight of the Lord until judgment becomes inevitable.
[15:44] SPEAKER_00: And then the destruction of Jerusalem occurs.
[15:47] SPEAKER_00: Therefore he brought against him the king of the Chaldeans.
[15:51] SPEAKER_00: So Negbekidnezzar's army comes, but not merely as a political force, but as an instrument of God's judgment.
[15:59] SPEAKER_00: And they kill young and old alike, they show no compassion, they take few prisoners, and they end Judah's independence finally.
[16:07] SPEAKER_00: And verse 16 adds, And all the articles of the house of God, all the articles, he took to Babylon.
[16:14] SPEAKER_00: So everything sacred is taken.
[16:17] SPEAKER_00: Everything precious is removed, and the temple is stripped bare.
[16:20] SPEAKER_00: Verse 19 Then they burned the house of God, broke down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all of its palaces with fire, and destroyed all of its precious possessions.
[16:30] SPEAKER_00: This is the moment Judah feared most.
[16:32] SPEAKER_00: The temple, Solomon's temple, the place where God placed his name and his presence, the center of worship, the symbol of God's presence, is burned to the ground.
[16:42] SPEAKER_00: And the walls around the temple and the city are broken down, the palaces are destroyed, and the city is effectively reduced to rubble.
[16:50] SPEAKER_00: But the real tragedy, of course, is not just the destruction of the building, it is the departure of God's presence.
[16:56] SPEAKER_00: Ezekiel saw that in a vision.
[16:59] SPEAKER_00: He saw the Shekinah glory rising from the temple, moving to the Mount of Olives, and then departing.
[17:07] SPEAKER_00: It's prophesied, and God has now left his people, and the land is empty.
[17:12] SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
[17:13] SPEAKER_00: Those who escaped from the sword he carried off to Babylon.
[17:17] SPEAKER_00: So the survivors, the few survivors, become servants in Babylon, and that will continue until the rise of Persia in 539.
[17:26] SPEAKER_00: Verse 21 then says, To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths, to fulfil seventy years.
[17:36] SPEAKER_00: So for 490 years, Judah, we've been reminded, has refused to keep the sabbatical year.
[17:43] SPEAKER_00: Every seventh year the land was supposed to rest, but they had ignored it.
[17:48] SPEAKER_00: But now the land would rest for seventy years.
[17:52] SPEAKER_00: So the exile was not just a judgment for the idolatry, it was also a judgment for neglecting God's command regarding the land.
[18:00] SPEAKER_00: The seventy years likely spans from the first deportation we've described in 605 BC to the actual rebuilding of the temple that we will later hear described in 536 BC.
[18:13] SPEAKER_00: And it's interesting that two reasons are given for the captivity, and its length being that long.
[18:18] SPEAKER_00: One, of course, is the continuing idolatry that they lived in, but also the failure to give the land its Sabbath rests.
[18:26] SPEAKER_00: So Judah's story is now complete, the kingdom is gone, the temple's gone, the people are gone, but the land rests in the way it should have, and God waits.
[18:37] SPEAKER_00: And then we come to the final section of this chapter and the final words of the chronicle letters of the two books of Chronicles.
[18:45] SPEAKER_00: After all the devastation, after all the rebellion, after all the judgment, after all the burning and the breaking and the being dragged off into exile, the chronicler ends not with despair, but with a glimmer of hope.
[19:11] SPEAKER_00: So this is astonishing, really.
[19:13] SPEAKER_00: Cyrus, this king of Persia, who has just conquered Babylon.
[19:17] SPEAKER_00: He has been king since 59 BC, the historian tells us, but now in his first year ruling this newly conquered Babylonian Empire, the one that dragged Judah into captivity, God stirs this king's heart.
[19:33] SPEAKER_00: The same God, who we know stirred David, is described in the same way as stirring Joshua, now stirs effectively a pagan king.
[19:44] SPEAKER_00: Why?
[19:45] SPEAKER_00: It tells us so that the words spoken by Jeremiah might be fulfilled.
[19:49] SPEAKER_00: Now Jeremiah had prophesied seventy years of captivity.
[19:53] SPEAKER_00: Jeremiah had also profered restoration, and Jeremiah had declared that God would bring his people home, and now God begins to move.
[20:01] SPEAKER_00: Verse 22 continues, it stirred his heart so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.
[20:08] SPEAKER_00: So this is not just a proclamation.
[20:11] SPEAKER_00: It's not something that can be interpreted as a rumour or a suggestion.
[20:15] SPEAKER_00: It's issued as a royal decree, written and sealed and proclaimed across the empire.
[20:20] SPEAKER_00: And this is what it says, verse 23.
[20:23] SPEAKER_00: Thus says Sarus King of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me, and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
[20:35] SPEAKER_00: Who among you of all his people may the Lord his God be with him and let him go up?
[20:41] SPEAKER_00: Wow, what a turn of events.
[20:43] SPEAKER_00: The temple that was burned to the ground, we're told now will rise again.
[20:47] SPEAKER_00: The people who were exiled will be allowed to return.
[20:51] SPEAKER_00: The covenant that seemed broken is renewed.
[20:54] SPEAKER_00: It's still standing.
[20:56] SPEAKER_00: The promises that seemed lost will indeed be fulfilled.
[20:59] SPEAKER_00: And the chronicler ends his book with that call to return, a call from a pagan king for God's people to return and rebuild.
[21:08] SPEAKER_00: It is a real call of hope.
[21:09] SPEAKER_00: You see, if the chronicler had ended his accounts with just the destruction of the temple and the departure of God's glory, seeing us witness the exile of the people, the book would have effectively closed in despair.
[21:22] SPEAKER_00: But he doesn't do that.
[21:23] SPEAKER_00: He chooses not to do that.
[21:25] SPEAKER_00: He ends with an illustration of God's grace.
[21:28] SPEAKER_00: He ends with a declaration of God's faithfulness, and he ends with a pagan king obeying the command of Israel's God.
[21:35] SPEAKER_00: So he ends with a new beginning.
[21:38] SPEAKER_00: The final two verses reflect the entire switch of mood of this book, being that God disciplines, but he does not abandon.
[21:48] SPEAKER_00: God will judge, but he does not forsake.
[21:51] SPEAKER_00: God destroys, but of course God can also rebuild, and God, when he removes, is also willing to restore.
[21:59] SPEAKER_00: And the chronicler wants the returning exiles to whom he's writing this book to remember this.
[22:06] SPEAKER_00: The fact that God has not annulled his promises, the fact that he's not forgotten his promises or abandoned his people.
[22:14] SPEAKER_00: Even though the temple was burned to the ground, it will rise again.
[22:17] SPEAKER_00: Even though the monarchy collapsed, a greater king is coming, and even though the people failed, God remains faithful.
[22:25] SPEAKER_00: Now it's interesting to note that these closing words of Chronicles are identical to the opening words of Ezra.
[22:33] SPEAKER_00: Why?
[22:33] SPEAKER_00: Because the story continues.
[22:36] SPEAKER_00: Chronicles ends with a call to rebuild.
[22:39] SPEAKER_00: And Ezra begins with the people responding to that call.
[22:43] SPEAKER_00: Now, whether the same authors wrote the book or not is debated, but their intention is clearly the same.
[22:50] SPEAKER_00: The books of Chronicles end with hope, not despair, with grace, not judgment, and with restoration, not everything lying in ruin.
[22:59] SPEAKER_00: Now, in the Hebrew order of the Old Testament, Chronicles is in fact the final book, not Malachi as we see it today.
[23:06] SPEAKER_00: So instead of ending with the curse, so instead of the Old Testament, from a Hebrew perspective, ending with the curse we see in Malachi 4-6, the Jewish Bible ends with, May the Lord God be with him and let him go up.
[23:20] SPEAKER_00: So it's a call for people, faithful people to rise, a call to return and a call to rebuild.
[23:26] SPEAKER_00: So what we have seen in these final four kings of Judah are kings who led the nation into continual decline.
[23:34] SPEAKER_00: Jehoiaz reigned three months before being in prison.
[23:37] SPEAKER_00: Jehoiakim reigned eleven years before becoming a vassal, and watched captives being taken away, including Daniel and his friends, by the way, and Jehoiakim reigned three months, witnessing the raid of the temple, and was deported alongside Ezekiel, and Zedekiah reigned eleven years and saw the temple actually destroyed, and he was deported and died.
[23:59] SPEAKER_00: Divine discipline escalated from imprisonment to vassalage to captivity and then to death.
[24:06] SPEAKER_00: That is what we've just witnessed.
[24:07] SPEAKER_00: The Davidic monarchy effectively collapsing.
[24:10] SPEAKER_00: Foreign powers were ruling Judah, first Egypt, then Babylon, the temple was destroyed, and the land laid desolate, and the people were exiled.
[24:20] SPEAKER_00: But after seventy years, they returned.
[24:24] SPEAKER_00: Because the destruction of the temple was not the end of the story.
[24:27] SPEAKER_00: It is in fact the setup for the next chapter in God's plan.
[24:31] SPEAKER_00: God had promised David a son who would reign, and that reign would never end.
[24:36] SPEAKER_00: And history shows that every Davidic king who obeyed was blessed in proportion to his obedience.
[24:43] SPEAKER_00: That's the purpose of the chronicles.
[24:45] SPEAKER_00: But none obeyed perfectly.
[24:47] SPEAKER_00: None fulfilled that promise of a perfect king.
[24:51] SPEAKER_00: None carried out God's will completely.
[24:54] SPEAKER_00: Because for that to happen, that greater king must come.
[24:58] SPEAKER_00: A king who is a perfect king, a faithful king, a sinless king, a king who will reign forever.
[25:05] SPEAKER_00: Chronicles ends with the expectation of that king.
[25:10] SPEAKER_00: One final book, chronologically written in the same era, through the prophetic canon, captures the heart of this book.
[25:18] SPEAKER_00: Amos chapter 9, 11 says, The people of the covenant might and did fall in Old Testament times, but the Lord has reserved that day when he said, I will restore David's fallen tent, I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and rebuild it as it used to be.
[25:35] SPEAKER_00: That, my friend, is the message of Chronicles.
[25:39] SPEAKER_00: God restores what is broken, God rebuilds what is appears ruined, God renews what is lost, and God keeps his promises.
[25:50] SPEAKER_00: And God can bring hope out of what appears complete and utter destruction.
[25:55] SPEAKER_00: When all is destroyed, God still keeps his promises.
[26:00] SPEAKER_00: So in that we have concluded our study of Two Chronicles.
[26:04] SPEAKER_00: And I hope you're encouraged to see it ends not with destruction, not with despair.
[26:11] SPEAKER_00: It may end with exile, but it does not end with God abandoning his people.
[26:15] SPEAKER_00: It may end with judgment, but not hopelessness.
[26:19] SPEAKER_00: It may end with us witnessing a burnt temple, but it finally closes out with a decree to rebuild it.
[26:26] SPEAKER_00: It ends with a fallen kingdom, yes, but the promise of a greater king to come.
[26:31] SPEAKER_00: In the end, when everything is destroyed, God's promises are still left standing.
[26:38] SPEAKER_00: And when all is destroyed or feels destroyed in your life your life, friends, be encouraged because God's promises will and can still be fulfilled, and we can trust in Him.
[26:50] SPEAKER_00: What a great lesson, what a great God.
[26:53] SPEAKER_00: I hope our time in Two Chronicles encourages you to turn to Him always.
[27:00] SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being with me over these last few months.
[27:42] SPEAKER_00: Again, I want to thank you for walking with me through this remarkable journey in One and Two Chronicles.
[27:49] SPEAKER_00: We've stood beside kings and prophets, we've watched revival followed by repeated rebellions, we've witnessed the rise of worship and then the collapse again of not just the worship system but the nation.
[28:00] SPEAKER_00: We saw the temple built, restored, then defiled, rebuilt again, then finally defiled and reduced to ashes.
[28:07] SPEAKER_00: And yet, through every chapter, one truth I hope has shone brighter than the rest.
[28:13] SPEAKER_00: Even when all appears destroyed, God can and will keep his promises.
[28:18] SPEAKER_00: This is the message, I believe, of these books of Chronicles, and it is of course the message of the gospel.
[28:25] SPEAKER_00: But now we're going to close this season, and the tone of Scripture will shift dramatically.
[28:31] SPEAKER_00: Because I'm going to do what I always do and now move across so we spend some time in the New Testament.
[28:37] SPEAKER_00: And when doing that, our next journey takes us somewhere very different.
[28:41] SPEAKER_00: We're going to go from the ruins of Jerusalem to the joy of Paul writing to Philippi.
[28:48] SPEAKER_00: From a nation under judgment to a church that he wants to encourage.
[28:52] SPEAKER_00: It's a church overflowing with encouragement from Paul.
[28:56] SPEAKER_00: From kings who stumble, we're now going to an apostle who has learned the secret of contentment.
[29:02] SPEAKER_00: So from the ashes of disobedience to the bright flame of Christ-centered hope.
[29:07] SPEAKER_00: The book of Philippians, I think, is one of the most uplifting, joy-filled, heart-strengthening letters in the entire New Testament.
[29:14] SPEAKER_00: And I think after the heaviness of Two Chronicles, it'll feel good.
[29:18] SPEAKER_00: It will feel like stepping out of a long winter into the bright sunlight of God's grace.
[29:23] SPEAKER_00: In Philippians, we'll discover the joy that isn't tied to our circumstances, because in effect Paul writes from a prison, yet he speaks of joy in this letter more than any other letter.
[29:35] SPEAKER_00: He describes a Christ who humbles himself for us.
[29:39] SPEAKER_00: The great resounding hymn of Philippians chapter 2 shows us that very true king that Josiah and the good kings long for.
[29:48] SPEAKER_00: And in Philippians, we will meet that king through the gospel.
[29:53] SPEAKER_00: A gospel that shapes human relationships.
[29:55] SPEAKER_00: And Philippians will teach us unity, humility, sacrificial love, and the joy of living that way.
[30:02] SPEAKER_00: Also, it will reveal to us a peace that guards our hearts and minds and can say to us, be anxious about nothing.
[30:09] SPEAKER_00: That's not just a slogan, it's not just a bumper sticker, it's a promise.
[30:14] SPEAKER_00: It's a contentment that cannot be shaken, and it is promised to us by the Lord God through the writings of the Apostle Paul.
[30:22] SPEAKER_00: Paul has learned to be content in seasons of plenty and in times of wants.
[30:28] SPEAKER_00: And he wants to show us how.
[30:29] SPEAKER_00: It offers us confidence that God will finish in us what he starts, and that he who begins a good work in you will carry it on to its completion.
[30:38] SPEAKER_00: So after watching Judas fall, Philippians will show us how believers we can stand up after seeing even kings fail.
[30:47] SPEAKER_00: Philippians will show us how Christ reigns.
[30:50] SPEAKER_00: After hearing the prophets' warning and the destruction we saw, Philippians will show us how the gospel can rise us, raise us up, and comfort us.
[31:00] SPEAKER_00: It is a letter full of warmth, affection, and encouragement, and practical wisdom for everyday Christian living.
[31:06] SPEAKER_00: I really believe it can strengthen your walk, steady your heart in times of trouble, and enable you to always lift your eyes to Christ no matter what circumstances you're facing.
[31:16] SPEAKER_00: So I do hope you'll join with me for the next season as we begin our study, our season in Paul's Letter to the Philippians.
[31:24] SPEAKER_00: This is a book that teaches us how to rejoice and how to stand firm and how to love one another well, and how to think clearly when times are tough, and how to pray faithfully through good and bad times, and how to live with Christ at the center of everything.
[31:39] SPEAKER_00: So, thank you again for being part of my journey through the Old Testament Book of Chronicles, and now with gratitude, hope, and joy, let's step together into Philippians.
[31:50] SPEAKER_00: I look forward to walking that road with you.
[31:53] SPEAKER_00: And one final comment.
[31:55] SPEAKER_00: As ever, to give me a little bit of preparation time, I'll be posting some between the seasons episode.
[32:01] SPEAKER_00: I'm probably going to give you a quick overview of the other four podcasts that I do, explaining how they operate, the purpose, the meaning behind them, and how through them I attempt to make the gospel and the message of Christ seem reasonable in those areas that those podcasts cover.
[32:22] SPEAKER_00: Reaching out beyond the majority Christian community who listen to this podcast and reach people where they are and in the interests they have.
[32:31] SPEAKER_00: So I hope you find that interesting over the next few days before we kick off on a brand new season together.
[32:37] SPEAKER_00: Thanks again for joining me.
[32:40] SPEAKER_00: Subscribe wherever you're getting this podcast from if you're not already doing so.
[32:44] SPEAKER_00: And if you'd like to support and enable me in this ministry, then Patreon's the place where you can follow.
[32:51] SPEAKER_00: And even if God calls you, support me financially, prayerfully to enable me to do this.
[32:58] SPEAKER_00: And you know, I really couldn't do it without you.
[33:02] SPEAKER_00: Bye-bye for now.

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.