2 Chronicles: A Passion for the Word of the Lord

SERMON TITLE: 2 Chronicles: A Passion for the Word of the Lord

TEXT: 2 Chronicles 34:1-21 (ESV)

SPEAKER: Josh Hanson

DATE: 11-12-23

TURN MIC ON / WELCOME

As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. Now — if you’re joining us online or at our North Main Campus — I need to let you in on a little secret that’s not so secret to our County Road 9 Campus — I’m not actually “with” you all this morning. I’m actually out of the country right now — halfway around the world meeting with recent Bible school graduates and training some local pastors. We’re a church that’s all for going and making disciples of all nations and so that’s where I — and some of your fellow Gateway members — are today.

Now — you may be wondering — “Why not have someone else preach while you’re gone?” That’s a great question. The reason why I’m preaching via video is because there’s one last sermon in our Finding Jesus series that we need to get to and the alternative to me preaching via video is me preaching when I’m still quite jet lagged. And no one needs to hear a sermon from jet lagged Josh.

Regardless of all that — there is one thing I want all of you to know — whether this is your first time with us or have been part of Gateway for many years — I want you to know that God loves you and that I love you too.

SERIES INTRO

And we’re finishing up our Finding Jesus series for this year. In this series I introduce you to a book of the Bible that you may or may not be familiar with. I give you an overview of the book — followed by a closer look at a particular section of it. And then — and this is what I hope is most helpful — each week I show you how to find Jesus. I show you how to find the one story the whole Bible is telling — the story of Jesus — because the whole Bible is ultimately pointing us to him.

And in this iteration of our Finding Jesus series — we’ve been looking at the books in the Old Testament referred to as the history section. You see, what these books have in common is that they cover historical events in the life of God’s people. Some of the books cover hundreds of years while others cover a brief period of time — but — together — they tell the history of God’s people in the Old Testament. And — today — we’ll be looking at the book of Second Chronicles. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Second Chronicles chapter thirty-four.

In previous weeks we’ve looked at Joshua, Judges Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings, and First Chronicles. And — if you can believe it — we’re going to take a break for our Christmas series — which will begin in two weeks — before we finish up the final three books in the Old Testament — Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

So — Lord willing — by early next year we will have completed our journey through the entire Old Testament. And — on our website — gatewayepc.org — you can search for our Finding Jesus series where you can find one sermon on every book in the Old Testament. A resource we’ve made available so you can discover what each of the books in the Old Testament are about and how to find Jesus in each of them. And I hope that you’ll grow to know and love these books and spend time in them — finding Jesus — and the joy that’s found only in him.

BACKGROUND OF SECOND CHRONICLES

Now — let’s take some time to get our bearings in the book of Second Chronicles — and I hope you’ll see that this is a book you’ll want to go read for yourself.

So let’s start with some basic questions about the book — such as — who wrote it — who’s the author? As I mentioned last week — like many of these historical books — we don’t know who wrote Second Chronicles — or First Chronicles — for that matter. And — similar to the books of Samuel and the books of Kings — the two books of Chronicles are really one book — but were originally written on two scrolls — leading to us having a First and Second Chronicles in our Bible. Additionally — and this is something I’ve mentioned earlier in this series — originally some of these historical books in the Old Testament were placed in a different order. For example, Ruth was originally placed between the books of Proverbs and Song of Solomon. Well — the two books of Chronicles were originally placed at the end of the Old Testament — making them like a final recap of the history of God’s people. But — in our Bibles today — the books come right after the books of kings — which makes it feel like you’re re-reading many of the same stories that you just read in First and Second Kings.

Scholars suggest that the author wrote the Chronicles a few hundred years after the people of God returned home after having lived in exile in Babylon. Why would that be important? Well it means that our author has a different perspective — theologically — about the historical events that take place in this time period. For example — while the author is writing — the temple would’ve been rebuilt — but it’s nothing like what God’s people were imagining it would be while they lived in exile. The author can look back and see how the kings have pretty much all been failures — as not one of them — not even the good ones — have lived up to the promised King of God’s covenant with David. So — with all of this perspective — the author of First and Second Chronicles looks back over the history of God’s people and records the events through a timely theological lens.

OVERVIEW OF SECOND CHRONICLES

So that’s the bird’s eye view of what’s going on — now — let’s turn to the book itself. If you remember from last week — First Chronicles focuses on David’s reign as king — and does so with a rather positive view of David. Second Chronicles — our book — picks up after David’s reign as king and focuses exclusively on the kings who rule from Jerusalem. So the kings who rule the nation of Israel aren’t the focus in our book — they get their time in the books of First and Second Kings — but not here in Second Chronicles. And there’s a reason for this focus — the author is focusing on David’s line — the covenant promise was made to David after all — so the author is focusing on the kings that are descendants of David.

And — what is somewhat unexpected — is that there’s new material in Second Chronicles that we don’t read about in First and Second Kings. Now — unlike David — the Chronicler records stories from the lives of the obedient kings of Judah and stories from the lives of the kings who were disobedient. We read of the successes and blessings of the obedient kings and of the failures and struggles of the disobedient kings. Think of this as somewhat of a history lesson for the people of God — remember what the good kings did and the blessings they received and remember what the bad kings did and the consequences for their disobedience.

Now — the book ends — with the destruction of Jerusalem. It’s ending reminds me — and maybe will remind you — of what we read in the book of Judges. Listen to these sobering words near the end of the book.

2 Chronicles 36:15–16 (NLT)

15 The Lord, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent his prophets to warn them, for he had compassion on his people and his Temple. 16 But the people mocked these messengers of God and despised their words. They scoffed at the prophets until the Lord’s anger could no longer be restrained and nothing could be done.

Hundreds of years later and the people are still turning from God. They thought they needed a king — “these judges just won’t do” — yet it wasn’t a leadership structure problem — it was a heart problem. Which helps to explain passages like this in the New Testament which run counter to everything we want to believe about ourselves.

Romans 3:10–18 (NLT)

10 As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous— not even one. 11 No one is truly wise; no one is seeking God. 12 All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one.” 13 “Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their tongues are filled with lies.” “Snake venom drips from their lips.” 14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “They rush to commit murder. 16 Destruction and misery always follow them. 17 They don’t know where to find peace.” 18 “They have no fear of God at all.”

And the consequences for their sin and rebellion — are the consequences they saw their relatives in Israel experiences years earlier.

2 Chronicles 36:17–21 (NLT)

17 So the Lord brought the king of Babylon against them. The Babylonians killed Judah’s young men, even chasing after them into the Temple. They had no pity on the people, killing both young men and young women, the old and the infirm. God handed all of them over to Nebuchadnezzar. 18 The king took home to Babylon all the articles, large and small, used in the Temple of God, and the treasures from both the Lord’s Temple and from the palace of the king and his officials. 19 Then his army burned the Temple of God, tore down the walls of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces, and completely destroyed everything of value. 20 The few who survived were taken as exiles to Babylon, and they became servants to the king and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 So the message of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah was fulfilled. The land finally enjoyed its Sabbath rest, lying desolate until the seventy years were fulfilled, just as the prophet had said.

And once the seventy years were fulfilled — the light of hope breaks through the darkness.

2 Chronicles 36:22–23 (NLT)

22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: 23 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are his people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”

Now — what’s not easy to catch in our English Bibles — is how the book ends. Cyrus is speaking and his last sentence isn’t really a complete sentence. Instead of ending with a period — it’s a sentence that’s with a dot, dot, dot. Remember — our author — knows what will happen under Ezra and Nehemiah’s leadership as they return to Jerusalem and help rebuild the temple. But — for our author — as for the Jewish people as a whole — what they accomplish versus what they envisioned is nowhere near the same. So — our author seems to end the book with a “dot, dot, dot” because he — and many of the Jews — were holding on to hope that was yet to be fulfilled — a word from the Lord they still believed were guaranteed — just not fulfilled yet. Thus — this final book in the Hebrew Old Testament — leaves us looking back as we hold on to hope that this is not yet the final word in God’s story. The ending promised is not yet the ending experienced — there’s still more to come for the people of God.

MAIN PASSAGE

And — with that as our overview of the book — let’s now turn to our passage for today. Hopefully you’ve found Second Chronicles chapter thirty-four — we’ll begin in verse one.

2 Chronicles 34:1–21 (ESV)

1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. 2 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father; and he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 3 For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images. 4 And they chopped down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars that stood above them. And he broke in pieces the Asherim and the carved and the metal images, and he made dust of them and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. 5 He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. 6 And in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, and as far as Naphtali, in their ruins all around, 7 he broke down the altars and beat the Asherim and the images into powder and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem. 8 Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz, the recorder, to repair the house of the Lord his God. 9 They came to Hilkiah the high priest and gave him the money that had been brought into the house of God, which the Levites, the keepers of the threshold, had collected from Manasseh and Ephraim and from all the remnant of Israel and from all Judah and Benjamin and from the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 And they gave it to the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord. And the workmen who were working in the house of the Lord gave it for repairing and restoring the house. 11 They gave it to the carpenters and the builders to buy quarried stone, and timber for binders and beams for the buildings that the kings of Judah had let go to ruin. 12 And the men did the work faithfully. Over them were set Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. The Levites, all who were skillful with instruments of music, 13 were over the burden-bearers and directed all who did work in every kind of service, and some of the Levites were scribes and officials and gatekeepers. 14 While they were bringing out the money that had been brought into the house of the Lord, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses. 15 Then Hilkiah answered and said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan. 16 Shaphan brought the book to the king, and further reported to the king, “All that was committed to your servants they are doing. 17 They have emptied out the money that was found in the house of the Lord and have given it into the hand of the overseers and the workmen.” 18 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read from it before the king. 19 And when the king heard the words of the Law, he tore his clothes. 20 And the king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Abdon the son of Micah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant, saying, 21 “Go, inquire of the Lord for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord, to do according to all that is written in this book.”

PASSION FOR THE WORD OF THE LORD

Can you imagine being king as an eight year old? And — to be clear — I don’t think this is the most remarkable thing about young Josiah. And — I call him young — not just because of his youthful start as king but because I’m older than he was when he died. Yet I’m amazed by all that he accomplished in his rather short life for the Lord. At sixteen years old his faith journey began. One would guess that he knew of the religion of his people prior to this age but something obviously happened to him at sixteen years old. Then at twenty years old — the age when a male Israelite became an adult — he immediately enacted reform in the nation of Judah.

The idolatry had to go — and not just go quietly — but this was a public display of cleaning up the nation from the false gods that had gripped the people’s hearts. There’s a passionate violence directed at these false religions and their idols. He purged the land of idolatry. He had the altars of false gods chopped up and cut down in his presence. Metal idols were broken into pieces — smashed to dust — and he had the dust scattered over the graves of those who served these false gods — a sign of judgment upon the dead. He burned the bones of the priests who led people to worship and serve these false gods. This — yes — was a display of passionate violence — but it was violence directed at false religion, false gods, and the religious leaders who led the people of God in apostasy. A passionate violence birthed out of a passionate love for the one true God.

Then — much later — in his eighteenth year of reign as king — so he’s twenty-six years old now — he begins repair work on the temple. Josiah’s dad was only king for two years before his servants assassinated him. His grandfather — Manasseh — was a wicked king who reigned for fifty-five years. Under his leadership the temple wasn’t taken care of — I mean — who cares about the temple when you’ve got all of these other false gods and religions to keep up with. Now back to Josiah — it’s while the temple is under repair — that workers find the book of Law. Let me say that again. Workers find the book the Law. Find — like — it was lost.

First things first — we’re not sure if the “book of the Law” refers to the five books of Moses or just the book of Deuteronomy — but that’s not nearly what’s most important here. Think of what we’ve just read. God’s Word had been lost. But the crazies part of this story — for me at least — is where God’s Word was found — where did they find it? In the temple — like duh? Of course God’s Word would be in God’s house — which goes to show just how far the people of God had turned from him — they didn’t even know where to find his Word.

One last thing to ponder — if the Word of the Lord was lost in the temple — who do you think were the last folks to have known where God’s Word was? The religious leaders — the priests. The very individuals called by God to be his mouthpiece — to speak his Word to his people — to instruct them in his ways — to call them back to him in repentance — were the individuals who — under their care — the Word was lost. They had one job — protect the Word of God — and they failed. They failed both God and his people.

And this discovery shocked Josiah. He had the Word of the Lord read to him and — in response — he tore his clothes as a sign of grief. And he realized that God’s wrath — God’s righteous anger towards his people was all due to them having not kept the Word of the Lord because they had lost God’s Word.

Before we get to finding Jesus — I think there’s a sobering reminder here for us today. Here in our country — it’s easy to get caught up in the never-ending culture war. Now there’s definitely a clash of cultures going on in our nation — but what this moment from Second Chronicles teaches us — is that our greatest foe — when it comes to the Word of the Lord — is not those who oppose us — the greatest threat to God’s Word in our lives as Christians are not the unbelievers in our nation. The greatest threat to God’s Word in our lives is our own neglect of it and our apathy towards it. As one person has stated, “If the Word of God is lost in our age, it will not be because the world snatched it from our hands — it will be because we lost it in the house of the Lord.” (Anthony Selvaggio, TableTalk Magazine)

This book is not a lucky charm, it’s not some sort of relic that keeps the bad vibes away — this is the very Word of God — and yet we can so easily treat it as if this some ordinary book with less passion for it than so many other things in our lives. Where — it may not be lost physically — but we’ve lost the Word of the Lord passionately. Where we come to church hoping to hear a little less Word of the Lord — “can’t we get in and out of here a little more quickly?” Instead of coming with the passionate expectation of this Word of the Lord given to a young pastor.

2 Timothy 4:1–4 (NLT)

1 I solemnly urge you in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, who will someday judge the living and the dead when he comes to set up his Kingdom: 2 Preach the word of God. Be prepared, whether the time is favorable or not. Patiently correct, rebuke, and encourage your people with good teaching. 3 For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will reject the truth and chase after myths.

That’s Paul’s way of saying, “They will have lost the Word of the Lord.” And when you lose this Word of the Lord — you are in eternal danger of losing Jesus — who is the Word of the Lord.

FINDING JESUS

A The apostle John’s gospel begins with these words — and notice John’s choice of words in describing Jesus.

John 1:1–5 (ESV)

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:14–18 (ESV)

14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Jesus is the Word of God — he is the Word of the Lord. Thus — to lose God’s Word — Scripture — is to be journeying in a dangerous wilderness — a land of spiritual famine — without Christ as your guide. And Jesus will not be mocked by our worship as a church if we are a people who have lost his Word.

When he was a boy — just a few years older than when Josiah became king — on a family trip to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover — Jesus got separated from his mom and dad on the way back home. So Mary and Joseph returned to Jersualem to look for Jesus.

Luke 2:46–49 (NLT)

46 Three days later they finally discovered him in the Temple, sitting among the religious teachers, listening to them and asking questions. 47 All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 His parents didn’t know what to think. “Son,” his mother said to him, “why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been frantic, searching for you everywhere.” 49 “But why did you need to search?” he asked. “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Do you know what you just witnessed? The Word of the Lord was in the Temple of God and — once again — no one understood what was going on. Hundreds of years earlier the book of the Law had been lost in the Temple and — here — the Word of God is present in the Temple and meanwhile — his parents think he’s lost. He’s not lost. The Word doesn’t get lost. We get lost. And God graciously — just like he did in Josiah’s day — leads us back to him. That’s why Jesus — the Word of God — became flesh — and lived among us. To lead us back to God. To bring us back to this book so we’d be men and women of the Word. Men and women who live by this Word. Who live because of the Word. Who live for the glory of the Word of God. Who — if called — are willing to die for the Word — for we know that the Word of God — Jesus Christ — first died for us.

To follow Jesus is not a light calling — it is a high calling — the highest of all callings — for it is a call to follow the One who left Heaven to come to earth to rescue his people out of darkness and into the light — to bring us back to God. Let’s pray.

PRAYER

Heavenly Father, thank you for being a speaking God who’s given us your Word so that we can know who you are and who we are — and know of your love for us and what it means to be loved by you. You are not silent — you are always speaking — even the heavens declare your glory — may we — as we’re told in Scripture — be quick to listen — quick to listen to you.

Spirit of God, you guided the human authors of Scripture to write down your divine words — what a gift you’ve given to us — a gift — if we’re honest — we so easily undervalue — that we have the Word of God. Help us to not undervalue your Word. Help us to not lose your Word. Help us to not be apathetic to your Word. Help us to be men and women of the Word — for your Word is living and active and it penetrates deep into the soul of those who submit to it. Your Word teaches us, rebukes us, encourages us, and builds us up so we are strong and able to stand against the schemes of our enemy and yours. Strengthen us by your Word.

And — Jesus — the Word of God — the One who so listened to your Father that you only did what you heard from him — even when the words were, “Don’t resist. The cross is the only way to save them.” What a commitment to the Word of the Lord you displayed to us and for us. May we — in response — be people who live under the authority of the Word as we follow you. In your name we pray. Amen.