2 Chronicles 36:11-21(NKJV)
"When the land enjoyed her Sabbath”
July 23, 2023
I. A Failure
16 “…the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy.”
In chapter 7 God had given them a remedy! “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14) BUT There was NO Humbling – NO Praying – NO Seeking – NO Turning – THEREFORE… NO Remedy! The prophet Jeremiah teaches that this happened in the days of Jehoiakim the son Josiah to the 11th year of Zedekiah. [When politics ruled the country’s morality] King Josiah was the last good king in Judah! He had 3 sons who became king after his death (Eliakim, Mattaniah and Jehoahaz) who all did evil in the site of the Lord!
i. Jehoahaz-2nd
1. The youngest son usurped his older brother, but reigned only three months
2. removed by Pharaoh Neco and taken to Egypt where he died
ii. Jehoiakim-1st
1. Pharaoh Neco put him in charge as vassal
2. Changed his name from Eliakim but he did evil in the site of the Lord
3. King Nebuchadnezzar carried him to Babylon until he died
iii. Jehoiachin
a. Jehoiakim’s Son reigned three months
b. did evil and was carried away to Babylon
iv. Zedekiah-3rd
1. King Nebuchadnezzar changed his name from Mattaniah
2. Rebelled against the King of Chaldeans / King of Babylon
3. The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy. GOD will not be mocked… READ aloud Leviticus 26 a prophecy to Moses over 800 years before Zedekiah! V.2 keep My Sabbaths – V.43 the land will enjoy its sabbaths.
II A Fall
14 Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the LORD which He had consecrated in Jerusalem.
a. It was bad enough that the government was corrupt, but Jerusalem did not fall until all the leaders and the preachers, and the people sinned more and more just like their evil government! They even brought that mess into the House of God and defiled it!
b. Countries often have evil leaders, but God will save the land because of good people! Remember Sodom & Gomorrah! Abraham pleaded with God if there be 50… 45… 40… 30…20… even 10… righteous people in the whole city!
c. Therefore, God brought against them the King of the Chaldeans v.17(Babylon). Why the Chaldeans? We must not forget where Abram came from! Ur of the Chaldees (Abraham, was called out of that country, when God took him into covenant and communion with himself; and now his degenerate seed were carried into that country again, to signify that they had forfeited all that kindness that they had been given for Abraham's sake, and the benefit of that covenant into which he was called; all was now undone because of sin). God let a 1000 year old enemy come back and hold them captive until the land got her rest (His Word was accomplished). Because they did not honor the Word of God, the enemy had no compassion on the young or the old or the weak!
III A Fulfillment
21 As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
“What you did NOT do for me, I’m going to do for myself. You didn’t even keep my Sabbath, so now I’ll take 70 years for sabbaths!” God said to Moses in Leviticus 25 “When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; but in the seventh year there shall be a sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a sabbath to the Lord.”
The only of the 10 Commandments that starts with “Remember.”
Exodus 20:3-17
4th - Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
If Moses taught us that in 6 days the Creator God created the earth and on the 7th He rested, “How much more should we rest from out labors and spend that time with Him?”
GOD MADE HIS DAY SO HOLY THAT EVEN THE ENEMY COULD NOT POSSESS THE LAND WHILE IT LAY DESOLATE! ONLY GOD CAN MAKE THE ENEMY STAY OFF THE LAND WHILE IT IS RESTING! Do you remember when Jesus said in Matthew 11 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest? Jesus is talking about a sabbath that can only be found in Him! He said, “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” The bible says, “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were hungry, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day! But Jesus said to them, “Have ye not read what David did, when he was hungry, How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the tabernacle shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?” He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." In other words, the Sabbath was designed to serve and benefit man, not the other way around. God gifted man with a sabbath and He did not intend for the sabbath to be greater than man but that man would accept His gift with joy. This is why the land in our text today enjoyed her sabbath because she was finally within the rest and peace of God. Jesus goes on to say, “But I say unto you, that in this place is one greater than the temple… For the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath day.” He was telling them and us that there is no joy in the Temple with out Jesus! There is not rest on the sabbath without Jesus. The Temple will not save; the sabbath will not save! But if you place your trust in Jesus for your sabbath, your rest, the Holy Ghost will abide in you! Do you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?
