CYCLES AND CRASHES: This era of Israeli history comes to a final descent.
- 2 Chronicles 36:1-14.
- Let’s talk for a moment about cycles vs crashes. Cycles are those ups and downs that are part of everyday life. They are what we expect. Things are a little better then they’re a little worse but overall we are in the same general vicinity. We hold onto this expectation in the economy, in social life, in many areas of life.
- Crashes, on the other hand, bring a hard, jolting end to an era. I honestly cannot say I’ve been through a crash in my life, at least when I think of society.
- One of the themes of this sermon (and, in a larger context, the Old Testament as a whole) is that so much of it is cycles. Israel gets a little further away from God; Israel gets a little closer to God. But here we are coming to a crash. It’s not only the end of 2 Chronicles, it’s the end of an era. As the later part of the chapter tells us, most of Israel is getting carried off into captivity and what is left behind is a hollow shell of what Israel and Judah was before.
- Now we will touch on an important point later in the sermon: I’m not saying here that there is absolutely no hope. There is. But it will not be a continuation of the current cycle.
- Unpack vv. 1-14.
- That all leads us to the phrase in your sermon outline: final descent.
- You may have noticed in reading this chapter a moment ago that the opening part of the chapter is a litany of evil kings. Things are going downhill.
- This time they are not going to pull out. No, a cliff is coming.
- Normally when you’re flying you’re excited to hear you are on “final descent.” It means you’re almost to your destination. Of course, that’s because your destination is somewhere you want to be. If, however, you were being flown to jail, you would not be glad to hear that you’re on “final descent.” That’s what’s happening here. The destination is not welcome.
- Some of you may be thinking, “Jim, is America in a cycle or heading for a crash?” My answer: I do not know. Certainly there have been many predictions down through recent decades of imminent collapse for various reasons. And yet we’ve remained in cycles. There are, however, certainly many warning signs in our culture and our economy that leave the possibility of a crash on the table. At the end of the day, all I know to do is try to live as well as we can and hope that we can be salt and light in a dark time.
AGAIN AND AGAIN: This comes after God showed staggering patience.
- 2 Chronicles 36:15.
- This “crash” outcome is not for a lack of effort and patience on God’s part.
- He sent messengers “again and again.” It’s a situation where God has shown a staggering amount of patience given their persistent sin.
- Often when God does bring judgment people complain why they didn’t get more chances. Two things are especially important. First, you didn’t deserve a second chance – you were guilty after the first time. Second, He has been patient – you just haven’t been paying attention.
JUDGMENT FALLING: There can come a point where “there [is] no remedy.”
- 2 Chronicles 36:16.
- Those final four words are worth some attention.
- The earlier part of v. 16 outlines the larger situation: God’s representatives were dismissed, God’s message was despised, and ultimately this reached a point where long patience gave way to anger.
- God is patient and desires mercy, but that doesn’t mean that there is not a point where judgment falls.
- The verse closes with the haunting words: “there was no remedy.” What does that mean? I think it means that God was working the problem, bringing discipline to try to bring His people back, sending messengers to try to prick their consciences, and generally doing what He could to move things back toward repentance. He tried all the “remedies” He had at His disposal.
- There came a point, though, when there was no remedy left. There were no viable options left. There was no remedy and it was time for a crash. Judgment had arrived.
AN UNEXPECTED ASPECT OF JUDGMENT: It can give breathing room for renewal.
- 2 Chronicles 36:17-21.
- Exodus 23:10-12; Jeremiah 29:10.
- Let’s start with the expect aspect of judgment: it was horrible. Unpack vv. 17-20.
- Verse 21 is unexpected and interesting.
- What does it mean that the land needed its Sabbath rest? Look with my in Exodus 23:10-12. (Now there is a whole sermon series to preach on the principles we learn about God’s priorities by reading the OT Law – not to say that we are bound by the OT Law but to say that we can learn some important things about God by looking how He instructed the Israelites. That’s for another time.)
- Every seventh year they were to leave the ground unused.
- This does a couple things. First, it is good agricultural practice to keep the topsoil healthy. Second, it echoed the importance of Sabbath rest for the people.
- They apparently disobeyed this command and worked the ground regularly. The disobedience had presumably gone on for 490 years. (That is, they failed 70 times. See the 70 year mention in v. 21.)
- Look with me at Jeremiah 29:10. The exile is going to be 70 years. God is going to poetically give them 70 years in exile to “rest” the land.
- The larger point here is that God is bringing a crash to reset what’s going with Israel spiritually. By the end of the 70 years in exile, there will be those crying out for God to redeem them.
- There is also the point here with the numbers adding up so perfectly that God is in charge of history. His timing is perfect.
RENEWED HOPE: Better days may come but you might not be here to see them.
- 2 Chronicles 36:22-23.
- Thankfully, after all this talk of a crash, the book does end of a note of hope. There will come a time when this amazing miracle that v. 23 describes will take place.
- We need to be cautious, though, not to skip forward too quickly. “See, everything turned out great!” Not exactly. Judgment fell, exile happened, the crash occurred. Thankfully there is hope in the distant future, which is better than ceaseless despair. But with 70 years in exile, many will not be around to see these better days. (And, after 70 years, those “better days” are going to be rough for the Israeli leaders who are trying to rebuild a decimated nation.)
- Sometimes the hope is distant. It’s better than nothing. But in our age when all problems are solved in 22 minutes in TV shows, it’s an important reminder to us that some consequences last a while.
