The Kingdom's Fall
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Introduction: Sally Edwards is a highly esteemed third grade teacher in the Jacksboro Elementary School in a small, rural Texas town. To help her students prepare for an important placement exam, she compiles her own exam to help them.
The exam is 20 questions and one of the questions is: List in order the four seasons. The results of that question are: 67% of the third graders listed the seasons as “dove season, deer season, quail season and turkey season.”
God bless the rural children of Texas!
We have been following The Story—the seamless love story of God.
Some people think an epistle is the wife of an apostle.
Some think one of the Ten Commandments is freedom of speech.
We are learning the Bible together and seeing how it applies to our everyday lives.
In The Story we come to chapter 17 or 2 Kings 21. God made promises to Abraham and Moses that he would show his love to all people and call them back to himself.
To David, God promised to bring the Messiah.
Even though God’s people fail to obey, and the kingdom split into two smaller, weaker nations, God will fulfill his unconditional promises.
The northern kingdom, Israel,
went into exile to Assyria in 722 B.C.
But, What happened to the southern kingdom of Judah? Turn to 2 Kings 21:1.
I. Judah has both good and bad kings.
A. Manasseh did more evil in the eyes of God than any other king.
1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzi-bah.
2 And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, after the abominations of the heathen, whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel.
3 For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed; and he reared up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel; and worshipped all the host of heaven, and served them.
4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord said, In Jerusalem will I put my name.
5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord.
6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord, to provoke him to anger.
for a summary of this era.
15 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 on His dwelling place.
16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy.
B. Of the last 6 kings in Judah, only Josiah, who began his reign as an eight year old, was good.
1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty and one years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah of Boscath.
2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of David his father, and turned not aside to the right hand or to the left.
C. God cannot continue to bless Judah because it would send a confusing message to Judah and to the surrounding nations.
D. God warns Judah of exile, yet through Ezekiel the prophet, God promises to fulfill his purpose that all nations will know God.
23 And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes.
We must remember: The express purpose of God in his relationship with Israel is always to demonstrate that he is the one true God restoring people back into relationship with him.
II. God raises up the Babylonians to judge the southern kingdom—sinful Judah.
A. The Babylonians conquered the Assyrians and destroyed Jerusalem and Judah in 586 B.C. taking prisoners into exile.
B. The fall of the northern kingdom and southern kingdom are hard stories but they teach us valuable lessons of faith.
C. In the midst of judgment God offers a promise of hope.
Which brings us to the prophet Jeremiah
III. God calls Jeremiah to be the “weeping prophet” over Judah and its fall.
A. A. God calls Jeremiah while he is still in the womb. (Jeremiah 1:4-5)
Application: Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10 that God calls us, too.
10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
We all have a role to play in God’s unfolding upper story of love and salvation.
B. Jeremiah made excuses to God that he was not qualified (Jeremiah 1:9-10) But God promises to help Jeremiah speak and God will be with Jeremiah.
9 Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, To root out and to pull down, To destroy and to throw down, To build and to plant.”
Application: God gives us his Holy Spirit to help us fulfill our role. Jesus promised to be “with us” to the end of the age. Matthew 29:18-20
C. Jeremiah weeps over Judah’s destruction and offers future hope.
1. Jeremiah’s “weeping” is recorded in the Book of Lamentations.
2. Jeremiah’s hope is written in Lamentations 3:21-23 “Great is thy faithfulness.”
21 This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope.
22 Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.
Application: Jeremiah moments come to all of us. For Bob Buford, a believer, it came at the mid-point of his life. He was consulted to view his life as a box and he could only have one of two things in it: money or Jesus. Bob chose Jesus and became a trusted consulted to many Christian leaders and pastors. Bob Buford helped Randy Frazee in his decision to leave Chicago and move to the church in San Antonio.
Will you accept God’s call upon your life?