The Kingdom’s Fall: Fall of Judah

Illustration:

There I was, driving my car onto the shoulder of the road; gravel and debris rattling my undercarriage, being flung up from my tires. The lights approaching from behind me are like irritating beacons of justice illuminating my guilt. I’d been caught speeding. The passersby, those who witness the scene, are reminded that justice is real, and I have that looming feeling that justice will be served.

The reason I was pulled over is because I was guilty. I was speeding. The officer did not trap me, trick me, or treat me differently than others. I knew the law, I knew the risks of breaking the law, I took those risks, and I will pay. Yet, while I know this intellectually, some small part of me wants to blame the officer. Now, I don’t yell and scream. No, I simply blame him covertly in the act of trying to be excused.

Steven Smith, Exalting Jesus in Jeremiah, Lamentations (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2019), 3.

I don’t want to get ahead of myself, so I want to come back to that.

Intro and Recap:

4 weeks ago, when last I preached (or Shipma for JRCF), before Rock of Ages, and before the fall of the Northern Kingdom and all the prophets who were sent to curb the hearts of the people, the two Kingdoms split. Last week, Israel fell to the Assyrians, this is 722 BC, and today, as we’ll get to, though it’s no surprise to us or to Judah, Babylon sieges Jerusalem. I say it’s no surprise to them, but it also sort of is. You see, there’s a 130-year gap between the falls of the two kingdoms. Without a geopolitical lecture, it’s now 586 BC.

In the years between 722 and 586, there was some good in the southern kingdom of Judah. There was some sense of hope that God would forgive His people. And, because the people would repent, they would turn back to him, and they would say, “I was guilty. I was speeding,” oops, that’s called projection; what I meant to say is, “We have done really wrong, God. We have worshiped idols. We have done wrong things.” And they would turn back to him, and then God would protect them. But eventually, it comes to the point where that just doesn’t happen anymore.

This may be a bit of a review, but last week, perhaps you looked at Isaiah 1:11–15, it was written to the Kingdom of Judah, and the Prophet declares:

“What are all your sacrifices to me?” asks the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who requires this from you—this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing useless offerings. Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons and Sabbaths, and the calling of solemn assemblies—I cannot stand iniquity with a festival. 14 I hate your New Moons and prescribed festivals. They have become a burden to me; I am tired of putting up with them. 15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

The week prior, one of the messengers was the Prophet Amos, who prophesied to the Northern Kingdom, Israel, hear from chapter 5:21–23:

I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies. 22 Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. 23 Take away from me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24 But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.

Transition:

It’s like Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol, but instead of the Ghosts being of past, present, and future, it’s the same ghost all night. The ghost just gets tired. In the Bible, it’s the same message—from different messengers—but the same God. It’s exhausting. This week, we hear from Jeremiah, whose message isn’t different. In Chapter 6:20:

“What use to me is frankincense from Sheba or sweet cane from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable; your sacrifices do not please me.”

Exposition:

And that’s it. So, the people stop with the offerings. To be honest, that’s all they really stopped doing, not that they were repenting anyway, but now, instead of offering empty sacrifices, they would just sin without the offering part. And it just gets worse and worse and worse and worse.

So, for 136 extra years, the kingdom of Judah was able to repel invasions; apparent from the indictment from God concerning their frankincense from Sheba, they had become entrenched in pacts, treaties, and agreements unifying them with foreigners, becoming stronger as power is passed down, but God’s ways are not.

So, you know when you’re in the part of a movie after the protagonist attempts to take action to resolve the conflict, as the rising action builds. And you know things are bad, but the stakes keep rising until finally, in the climax—they even have a term for it, everyone has to ‘face the music.’ It’s the consequences of their actions—but there’s music. It’s usually dreary, and that’s what lamentations is, literally, the whole book; check it out, make your own, it’s ordained!

Transition:

But that’s where we find ourselves. I’m summarizing the later chapters of Jeremiah; he’s seized, beaten, and jailed in chapter 20 by the chief priest Pashhur. He’s released, then arrested again in chapter 26 and released as some of the elders speak up for him, some heeding his words, some not, but then a false prophet comes in telling everyone what they want to hear! In the end, in a manner eerily similar to the Genesis 18 conversation between Abraham and God about the 50, then 45, then 30, 20, and finally 10 righteous men that God would not destroy the city of Sodom for their sake, the King forces God’s hand, though he sought Jeremiah, they really only wanted his good news, so when it wasn’t good, they threw him into a cistern. And that’s when the music starts playing.

Point 1:

The protagonist is no longer speaking. In fact, his speaking role is finished—for this chapter, and the narrator begins to monologue—you know it’s bad when that happens… If we turn to 2 Chronicles 36:15-16, that’s where we are chronologically; you can see the strong words of the narrator:

15 But the LORD, the God of their ancestors sent word against them by the hand of his messengers, sending them time and time again, for he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they kept ridiculing God’s messengers, despising his words, and scoffing at his prophets, until the LORD’s wrath was so stirred up against his people that there was no remedy.

No remedy. Really? Not exactly what you want to hear from your mechanic, your doctor, much less the God of the universe!

But just because there’s no remedy doesn’t mean there’s no plan.

Transition:

The whole point of this series is to discover how the passages and stories of the Bible fit into the narrative story of God and his people, how we’re tied in, and how it’s relevant to us today. How even Jesus is glorified, who even before his birth is the hero of the story.

You see, it begins with God establishing a covenant with the Israelites, choosing them as His people, and promising to bless them and make them a great nation. This covenant is based on their obedience and exclusive worship of Him (Exodus 19:5-6). The movements we’ve visited over the last several weeks demonstrate how the people repeatedly broke their covenant by turning to idolatry and disobedience.

One way it applies to us today is, considering what an answered prayer looks like. Would it be good for us if we got everything we ever wanted? Is that how you grew up? Sometimes the answer is no. It’s a good thing. Would it nurture your faith?

Interpretation:

Throughout the narrative, God sends prophets to warn the people about their unfaithfulness and the consequences it will bring. The prophets act as messengers, calling the people to repentance and urging them to turn back to God. We even see this same message in Jesus’ earthly ministry. In the response of the rich man in the parable of The Rich Man and Lazarus, recorded in Luke 16:19–31, starting in verse:

27 “‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’

30 “‘No, Father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

That’s when there’s no remedy. For His people, however, he has a plan.

But they have to be broken. Now, words have meaning. I mean in the sense of their stubbornness, like a defiant horse. Not cruelty; it’s not without love. The Israelites are not aptly suited to take ‘no.’ This is why they make their own gods when they think God isn’t listening. Really, they would rather have a genie. What father in here is altogether uninfected by their child’s suffering, but sometimes we know we need to let them suffer a little bit to learn. That’s the adult learning model, right? We facilitate a process. If we take the discovery away, learning doesn’t take place. As a teaching method, God has to let his people fail. And he’s going to send his prophets to make sure the lesson is learned!

Narrative: So, this morning we begin in Jeremiah 2:

“28 But where are your gods you made for yourself? Let them rise up and save you in your time of disaster if they can, for your gods are as numerous as your cities, Judah...”

This isn’t God mocking Israel. It’s a rhetorical question, that’s for sure, but there’s a difference between judgment and rebuke. He’s calling them out, addressing their state of heart. It’s a teachable moment. God’s discipline of His children is always a means of grace.

Continuing in verse: …31 Evil generation, pay attention to the word of the Lord! Have I been a wilderness to Israel or a land of dense darkness? Why do my people claim, “We will go where we want; we will no longer come to you”? 32 Can a young woman forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet my people have forgotten me for countless days.

He’s saying that jewelry is every bit a part of a young woman’s being, a sash is what identifies a bride as such, that Israel’s existence—the very experience of the comfort they enjoy has been given to them by God; what they now conflate as boring, ordinary, and compare to their first exile.

Transition:

So, God brings judgment upon them. He does it because they deserve it. He does it because he’s righteous, and his law requires justice. He does it because of his covenant, and to preserve anything at this point, WE need purification, a revolution, revival. But He knew we’d never do it out of our own desire, not when His people enjoyed the privilege they enjoyed.

Point 2:

So, when we, or when the house of Jacob, here distinguishing the covenant people from those who split forming the Northern kingdom, or even I, as I beg for mercy with the officer on the side of the road, it’s a subtle way of saying, “If you weren’t so good at your job, I would not be in this position. Frankly, this whole thing is partly your fault.” Yet, in reality, he is not the one giving me justice. The state in which I live is bringing justice on me. He is not the law; he is the agent of the law. Jeremiah is in the unenviable position of telling Israel that judgment is coming from a power higher than both of us. He did not create the situation. He simply announced it. The officer stopping me was not the genesis of the violation; it was the enforcement of it; a repercussion.

But we are never without hope because God is never without a plan.

Narrative:

Jeremiah is given a choice and decides to stay behind and shepherd the people of Israel. God gave his exiled people Ezekiel.

Look with me in chapter 3, starting with verse 13:

Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed me. This is the Lord’s declaration. 14 “‘Return, you faithless children—this is the Lord’s declaration —for I am your master, and I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. 15 I will give you shepherds who are loyal to me, and they will shepherd you with knowledge and skill. 16 When you multiply and increase in the land, in those days—this is the Lord’s declaration—no one will say again, “The ark of the Lord’s covenant.” It will never come to mind, and no one will remember or miss it. Another one will not be made.

Exposition:

The destruction of the Temple was such a devastating blow to these people. The very presence of the Lord, their identity as His favored people no more. This prophecy made no sense to them.

But how can we, looking back, miss the time of sacrifices, the holy of holies, intermediaries to whom we entrust our sacrifice and, therefore, our atonement? Jesus died and rebuilt the Temple. The building wasn’t rebuilt! This is why we proclaim the resurrection on the third day, Sunday. We don’t miss anything about what we were set free from.

Paul says in Romans 7:25, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind, I myself am serving the law of God, but with my flesh, the law of sin.”

He doesn’t outright say it, but it’s consistent with his message that the law is condemnation. Therefore, in Romans 8:1, the division is arbitrary, don’t worry—it’s the very next sentence where he says, “But there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Transition:

So, how is this relevant to us today? Are there ways we seek idols and formulate our faith in ways that create these cycles that cut God out of the formula or acknowledge His sacrifice in a manner that thwarts His calling upon our lives?

Do we say, well, “For it is by grace [we’ve] been saved, through faith—and not from [ourselves], it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) and go on about our day no different than before?

How is that different than the example Jesus uses wit the Pharisees in Matthew 15 about forsaking care for your parents by saying, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is my tithe, committed to the temple?” That’s convenient. Our faith—its practice—it’s not convenient. That was the problem with Judah. Their prosperity made it impossible to see the forest through the trees. The privilege through the privilege, so to speak. “A young woman forgetting her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash,” the Prophet says. “They worship me in vain,” Jesus says in verse 9, concerning those people who put tradition over love and care. “Teaching human commands as doctrines.”

“Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not,” Paul says in Romans 6!

Application:

We say that…

Look, I’m not saying God is tired of our repentance. Emmanuel, God with us, He redeemed us, He restored us, He calls us not as friends, but as brothers, heirs with Him. Christians are all in, “We’ve been crucified with Christ and no longer live.” Say it with me: “The life [we] live in the body, [we] live by faith in the Son of God, who loved [us] and gave himself for [us].

He is the Ultimate Solution: The Upper Story told through these passages reveals the failure of human efforts to attain righteousness and salvation through the covenant. Their repeated cycle of disobedience, judgment, and restoration highlights the debt, its true magnitude, and the fact that no one who has incurred the debt can, themselves, pay it. Sacrifices are lines of credit. There’s still a debt. It underscores humanity’s need for a savior. Jesus is presented as the ultimate solution to the problem of sin and the hero who accomplishes what no one else could. Through His life, death, and resurrection, He offers forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and eternal life to all who believe in Him.

Just because there’s no remedy doesn’t mean there’s no hope.

We are never without hope because God is never without a plan.

The point of this lower story is aimed at helping believers understand and appreciate God’s faithfulness throughout the story of Israel, drawing lessons from their failures and pointing to Jesus Christ as the ultimate hero who brings redemption and restoration.

God’s plan culminates with the Messiah. Not the last time He came, but the next. He came to his own people, and they rejected him. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter for his people, even though they rejected him. All of the pain that Christ experienced, all of the isolation he felt from his Father, all of this was allowed by the hand of God in the process of His plan. This was God’s plan to bring peace to the world—peace through suffering. Because it’s hard to see our privilege through our privilege.

This was God’s plan for Judah: security through exile, peace through suffering. This is God’s plan for us. God allowed all of this suffering, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13). This is the way of God.

God’s discipline of His children is always a means of grace. Praise God that there is life in suffering! This is the hope of judgment.

The warning this morning, a warning that’s just as relevant today as it was from Jeremiah, or the conviction from Jesus during His ministry on earth, is that sometimes the answer is “no.” Sometimes we’re receiving our blessing and don’t know it, unable to see the privilege through the privilege. And sometimes we have to be brought low because there are some things we’d never do out of our own desire.

Transition:

The illustration I began with, the cop pulling me over, it helps us comprehend the prophet’s function in Scripture. Jeremiah was a young man. He found himself in the unfortunate position of being asked to pronounce the sentence of justice. Additionally, because he was a representative of the law, some individuals had ill feelings for him. Similar to the feelings I had for my ticketing officer.

Not unlike the resentment we all feel toward the messenger of bad news, Jeremiah faced the wrath of many who wanted to kill the messenger. But it’s not about the messenger. The messenger only holds a mirror. The mirror isn’t bad because it shows what it shows, in the same way, it’s not my uniform’s fault my butt looks big.

Challenge:

Where in your life do you need repentance and obedience? Today is an opportunity to respond to God’s faithfulness by examining your life and identifying areas of unfaithfulness, sin, and idolatry. Repentance involves acknowledging your failures, turning away from sin, and seeking forgiveness and restoration through Jesus Christ. Seek to live a life of obedience to God’s Word, aligning your thoughts, words, and actions with His will.

Where in your life do you need to recognize and express gratitude for God’s faithfulness. Cultivate a heart of worship, and acknowledge His goodness, mercy, and steadfast love.

Conclusion:

By seeing how He’s used the narrative story of His people in the past for His plan and by examining your story, your life, and walk with God, you can experience the transformative power of God’s redemptive faithfulness. No matter where you are in your faith journey, as we grow in our understanding and appreciation of His faithfulness, you find renewed joy, purpose, and hope in your relationship with Him.

So, perhaps your Temple, your very sense of the Lord’s presence, has been just crushed. Just because there’s no remedy doesn’t mean there’s no hope. The Lord is good to those whose hope is in Him. Jeremiah made excuses to God about his lack of qualifications, but God was with him. Today, we’ve been sent His Holy Spirit. We are never without hope because God is never without a plan. If you truly seek him and wait patiently, God sees you, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I sanctified you,” he told the Prophet (Jeremiah 1:5). His love for you cannot be measured. It has no beginning, and it never ends. He is with you, even here—and that this, too, is a blessing.