– Another beautiful Sunday, I want to say Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers who read this. I miss my mom, but I have faith that I will see her again.
Today we will finish the 2 Chronicles 35-36, then we will move in to Ezra.
Transitions
There are major events which happen throughout our lives. We graduate, get married, and have children. In my part of the country, we begin our career and buy a house.
Sometimes things happen which you can’t plan for. Thirty-nine years ago, my vehicle malfunctioned, and I rolled it. That resulted in a spinal cord injury and lifelong disability. Twenty-eight years ago, my mother died. She was a major part of my life. Six years ago, I had a heart attack. My employer laid me off two weeks ago.
These are all normal moments of transition in people’s lives.
While reading chapter 35, I saw Josiah instructing the priests to “prepare themselves by families” (verse 35:3).
Because of what I am working through, that stood out to me. It’s brilliant advice even when taken out of context.
Plans and Purposes
In context, he is telling the priest to study all the instructions David and Solomon had provided. 2 Tim 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (KJV).
About eight years ago, God inspired me to return to college and finish the computer science degree I started in 1981. I had worked in many industries, but sales was always what I returned to when I needed a job. Although I never considered myself a salesman, I was highly proficient at it.
But I knew there were still fifteen years left in my career. I wanted to do something I enjoyed.
Therefore, I enrolled at Liberty University and while maintaining my full-time job; I completed my degree in just over two years.
One thing I have learned in life, everything we go through, God knew it before it happened. He had a purpose for us to experience it.
Things I did simply because it was the only job I could find at the time turned out to be a skill I would need two decades later.
He is efficient and does not waste our efforts. We may indulge in foolish pursuits, but God works everything out for the good of those who love Him and obey His commands (Rom 8:28).
It’s comforting to know that in hindsight everything had a meaning.
David and Solomon had written these instructions out. Josiah is having the priests recover the lost instructions.
In verse 35:19, we find the answer to a question we had yesterday. Josiah was twenty-six years old when this all happened.
We then skip ahead thirteen years, since we know he reigned for thirty-one years, and Necho goes against him on the plains of Megiddo (v35:22).
There an arrow pierces Josiah, and then he dies (v35:24). It is possible he lingered on in Jerusalem for some time, even years. The book of the kings of Israel and Judah records all the events of his life, as we read.
The way these books—1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, and 2 Chronicles—reference another object called the Books of the Kings of Israel and Judah, suggests the existence of a lost document.
In them, we could learn of the detestable acts of Jehoiakim (v36:8)
God Gives Up
The rest of chapter 36 is about a string of young, evil kings which leads to God giving Israel and Judah over to their sins.
Because of this, Nebuchadnezzar takes them captive and moves them to Babylon.
They had mocked God’s messengers, and scoffed at the words the prophets gave them (v36:16), so he let the Babylonians burn Jerusalem down (v36:19).
We think it’s alright to do whatever we want, as long as it isn’t harming anyone other than ourselves.
Jesus died for all sinners, wanting them all to repent. Therefore, those personal sins have hurt someone else. They also bleed over and influence evil in others.
We must heed the warning of chapter 36. If we, like the people in Jerusalem, continue to resist God, he will turn us over to our sin (see Rom 1:24). I know people who believe, He already has.
Tomorrow we read Ezra 1-3