The Story Ch 17: The Kingdom's Fall

Cold Open

Hey Dublin Powell youth what is up it is time again for our time of study together and this week we are discussing the fall of the kingdom of Judah as the last of God’s people are conquered and carried off into exile as judgement for their sins. Today is Sunday, July 26th, let’s get into it.

Intro Videos

Intro

So last week we heard how the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, but God answered the prayers of the faithful king Hezekiah of Judah, who asked for His protection. The angel of the Lord ravaged the Assyrian army and sent them fleeing.

Now the good king has died, and the new king, Manasseh, sinned in every way that his father Hezekiah had been faithful. Idolatry, murder, witchcraft and child sacrifice were just a few of Manasseh’s sins.

Anger of the Lord

Now, God in the Old Testament, in my opinion, gets a bad rap. Sometimes we talk about the Old Testament period as a time when God would smite anyone immediately for any sin. Immediate wrath and vengeance, as if God could not keep His wrath from striking out on those who sinned.

What I hope you’ve noticed in our study so far, though, is that God is often extremely patient with His people, with abundant grace when they repent and with many warnings from the prophets when they start to get off course. Manasseh, however, in all of his evil has greatly grieved God who says

2 Kings 21:15 NIV

they have done evil in my eyes and have aroused my anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until this day.”

and so about this time the Assyrians return to Judah and they take Manasseh away as their prisoner.

Finally, when the consequences of his evil are right before his face, Manasseh repents and the Lord allows him to return home to Jerusalem.

New Kings

But when Manasseh dies the crown goes to his son, Amon, who is 22 years old when he becomes king, and the unfortunate thing about Amon is he likely was raised for most of his life by the evil, idolatrous, murderous king Manasseh, and he did not have the same experiences that Manasseh did to remind him that the Lord is God.

All of this to say that Amon was so evil and the people of Jerusalem were so over being ruled by an evil king that he got assassinated in like 2 years.

The new king, Amon’s 8 year old son Josiah, was the last good king that Judah would have. He worked to renew the people of God and even ruled over the restoration of the temple when the Book of the Law of Moses was discovered. He urged his people to follow its rules carefully.

Unfortunately, Josiah died in battle against the Egyptians, and the rule fell to his son Jehoiakim, who did evil in the eyes of the lord.

New Kids on the Block

This time, it was not the Assyrians that brought God’s judgement against His people, it was the resurgent Babylonian empire which had recently conquered the Assyrians and established themselves as the dominant fighting force in the region.

Nebuchadnezzar invaded several times, bringing Judah into submission to him. During the reign of Johiachin, the son of Johoiakim, Nebuchadnezzer’s army invades Judah, steals the treasures from the temple, and installs Zedekiah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, as a puppet king who will do Babylon’s bidding.

It’s also in this invasion that we see a new tactic from the Babylonians. The Babylonians maintained control over their conquered lands by distributing the people to other parts of their empire, this leads to a sense of isolation and makes it more difficult to resist Babylonian rule. Nebuchadnezzar sent the officers and soldiers of Judah, as well as the skilled workers and artisans to different locations throughout the Babylonian empire, trying to Isolate them from their Israelite identity.

Two Prophets

God raises up two prophets in this time period, Ezekiel who prophesied to the Israelites in exile and Jeremiah who prophesied in Jerusalem. From Ezekiel, the Israelites in exile heard what God had planned:

Ezekiel 6:3–10 NIV

and say: ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Sovereign Lord. This is what the Sovereign Lord says to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys: I am about to bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places. Your altars will be demolished and your incense altars will be smashed; and I will slay your people in front of your idols. I will lay the dead bodies of the Israelites in front of their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Wherever you live, the towns will be laid waste and the high places demolished, so that your altars will be laid waste and devastated, your idols smashed and ruined, your incense altars broken down, and what you have made wiped out. Your people will fall slain among you, and you will know that I am the Lord. “ ‘But I will spare some, for some of you will escape the sword when you are scattered among the lands and nations. Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. And they will know that I am the Lord; I did not threaten in vain to bring this calamity on them.

Jeremiah, meanwhile, did not at first accept God’s call, saying to him

Jeremiah 1:6–10 NIV

“Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Now, obviously this passage is solid gold for youth ministry, so let’s read it one more time. Repeat.

Jeremiah felt like he was too young to be used in God’s plan, and I bet sometimes you feel that way too. Middle school and high school have this way of making us feel like our life is in some kind of bubble, that it hasn’t really started yet and you’re stuck in this loop of math and science and social studies and english and maybe a sport until you FINALLY graduate (shouts out to Andrew).

But the thing is, the mission of Christ is yours from the moment of your baptism, THAT is when life begins, not at high school or even college graduation, or at your first job, or moving out of your parents house. When we are buried with Jesus in His death and raised to new life in Him, we have our command to follow, to go and spread the word about Him and make disciples of all nations, and no matter if we feel too young or not, God gives us the words and authority to carry out that mission.

And Jeremiah had quite a mission from God, he had to deliver a message of the coming destruction to the Israelites who remained in Jerusalem

Jeremiah 4:7–8 NIV

A lion has come out of his lair; a destroyer of nations has set out. He has left his place to lay waste your land. Your towns will lie in ruins without inhabitant. So put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned away from us.

Destruction

And Jeremiah watches as all of these things comes to pass. Zedekiah rebels against Nebuchadnezzar, who marches on Jerusalem, chases down and destroys the army of Judah when they try to flee the city, and burns it all down. The royal palace of Solomon, the temple of the name of the Lord, every important building in Jerusalem is destroyed and all bug a few laborers for the vineyards and fields are carried off to captivity in Babylon. As it says in Jeremiah 52:27:

“So Judah went into captivity, away from her land”.

Jeremiah watched as the judgement of the Lord fell on the chosen city of the Lord, and he is often known as “the weeping prophet” for his great laments at the destruction of Jerusalem.

Hope in Exile

Praise God, that with Israel in exile, hope was not lost. Even as Jeremiah mourns in Jerusalem, Ezekiel has a message of hope for the Israelites in exile. For even after the people of the Lord were rebellious for generations, so much so that the very house of hte name of the Lord was destroyed in judgement, God sends this message to His people:

Ezekiel 36:24–28 NIV

“ ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. Then you will live in the land I gave your ancestors; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

Even at the lowest point, Israel is told that they will go home, cleansed from their impurity and sin and given new hearts! Ezekiel is given the message of two restorations of Israel all at once: God will restore the people of Israel to Jerusalem, and from Jerusalem He will restore them fully, perfectly, permanently through Jesus Christ. Next week we will continue to study how the people of Israel cling to that hope in exile. Let me pray for us before we go:

Prayer

Lord we praise you for your story of redemption, we are so grateful that even when your people refused you over and over again, you continually gave Israel hope, grace, and restoration. Restore us Lord, your church, in any area we are lacking, take away our hearts of stone and give us hearts of flesh that seek you always. Thank you Lord for our redemption through Jesus Christ, its in His name we pray, amen.

Thanks for joining me in study y’all, have a great week! Grace and peace.