2 Kings Chapter 23:20 - 25
A Sad Ending
If the book of 2 Kings were a
movie – it would be one of those movies that take you on an emotional roller
coaster ride.
A) Up & down from Hope to despair and back again.
B) You are watching the movie – certain character you
like – He ends up getting killed
1) Another Character – your hoping he is going to
marry the girl – loses his mind marries someone else
C) That is Kings –
one bad moment after another – then someone good comes on the seen
1) Things start to turn – but it doesn’t last
D) Week after week / Chapter
after Chapter – we have heard these words – He did evil in the sight of
the Lord
How many times – 33 times –
19 Kings in
14 times in
A)But in the mist of that we hear 6 times of a King
that did that which was good in the sight of the Lord
B) The nation would turn – reforms would happen
1) Even Revival
C) But then in 721 BC –
But there in
A) There is reform that takes place
B) Hezekiah dies and all hope is destroyed as Manasseh takes the throne.
1) You recall – Joseph gave that name to one of his
sons – God has made me to forget …..
C) Names means forgetting
– Manasseh on purpose forgets everything his father Hezekiah stood for
1) Everything that was important – had meaning
D) And the people followed his lead and willingly
forgot the Lord
Manasseh launches
A) God responded by saying because of the sins of
Manasseh –
B) But then we saw Sunday – God raised up Josiah
1) We talked about the
Revival that took place under Josiah on Sunday
C) He repaired the temple – He tore down the idols –
1) He burned them or crushed them to powder
D) We even read in v.20 of Ch 23 – Josiah took the
pagan priest and Burned them on the altars of the High places {Interesting because in 1King 13:2
And behold, a man of God went from
This was prophesied some 340 yrs before this event
that a King by the name of Josiah would do this
Interesting that 340 yrs
before: Josiah was on the mind of God –
A) God often works in that way: He always has a person
in mind – One raised up to lead
B) Sunday Evan Roberts –
1) I wonder – this next Generation – who the Lord has
singled out
C) Josiah reinstituted the
Passover –
1) In fact in
D) Not a family without a lamb- No worshipper without
a lamb – 41,500 offered up
1) A lamb for every man
E) Great picture of Jesus a lamb for every man!
And we read this word about Josiah
Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to
the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might,
according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
What an amazing endorsement from
the Lord
A) David man after God’s own heart
Abe – Friend of God
Josiah – One of a kind – none like this guy
B) Pay attention to statements
like that!
1) Consider what those guys did
C) But notice the next verse: v.26 -27
Nevertheless the LORD did not turn from
the fierceness of His great wrath, with which His anger was aroused against
Why still Judgment? – reap what
sow – They planted a crop of wickedness – reap a harvest of corruption –
Sin has consequences – But
not in Josiah’s day
The next verses give us the
account of his death
V.28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah,
and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the
kings of
Josiah was a zealous guy –
Tear down altars / burn pagan priest – Zeal was a strength – also a weakness
A) Here is what happened Pharaoh Necho aligns himself
with the King of
B)
C) No record that God led
him to do this at all.
1) he ends up being killed
D) Lesson for us: Watch out what battles you get into
1) I personally don’t need to look for conflicts – it
is all around me – a lot of drama
E) Careful – Lord help me – what do I need to be
involved in – Pick your battles
1) I am learning – there is a lot more things I have
said I wished I hadn’t said
Josiah in his Zeal ends up in
a battle he had no business being in – and it cost him his life.
A) The rest of Ch.23 tells us about his sons
RD V.34-37
Ch.24:1-16
The Israelites craved idols –
so God takes them to the land of the idols – get their fill –
A) Interesting they never graved idols again.
B) Story about farmer
– Dog kept eating his chickens
1) Tied a dead Chicken around the dogs neck for 2
weeks – never went after a Chicken again
C) Smoking – Made to smoke a Pack
But here is what is
interesting: The people are being carried away – God has 3 strategically placed
voices
A) One in
His name Jeremiah – weeping prophet
B) He would call the people to accept their Chastening
– refer to
1) Call the remnant to turn to the Lord
C) God would call Jeremiah to buy a piece of property
– worthless – unnecessary
1) Sign – My people shall return – Promise – there is
hope in the midst of despair
Another voice in
A) He would prophesy to those in Captivity – you are
going to return – God has not forsaken
B) You shall be restored
C) One prophet in
1) One prophet in
D) One voice in the Palace
Daniel – dreams
1) Prophesy of Coming Messiah – Hope for the nation – {hope
for the world
E) Daniel would prophesy of world empires crumbling
God always has voices that
are strategically placed
So does Satan – which are
you?
A) Complainer – griper / gossiper – sorry to say tool
of Satan
B) One speaks hope and calls people to follow – trust
God – see beyond the mire – see the hope
RD V.17-20
RD Ch.25: 1-7
So here we see in
586BC
A) This would begin a time period that the Bible
refers to as the times of the Gentiles
B) For 2,000 yrs
1) First
C) Although Cyrus of
Oppressed and Governed
by another nation
D) During this time of the Gentiles
1) During this time the Hebrew Scriptures would be
translated into Greek
E) During this time the religious sects of the Pharisees and Sadducees would be born
1) Largely to help preserve the scriptures – which
they ended up Polluting – man made additions
During this time the Romans
in AD 70 – send the nation on the run – Dispersion –
A) The name of the area was called by Titus Palestine
just to insult the Jews
Prophecy
Happened – May 14th 1948 –
Rebirth of
That period times of
Gentiles began here – 586BC
RD V.8-9
8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh
day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of
Solomon’s temple
destroyed –
A) Interesting in light of Solomon’s prayer when that
temple was built 1 Kings 8
B) When they pray facing this temple – you hear them {Forgive
C) When they are taken captive – pray facing this
temple – you return and restore
1) Solomon glimpse into
the future
D) Because in the book of Daniel at this very moment
–Daniel praying facing temple –
RD V. 10-12
Also interesting because one
of the indictments of the prophets – that the nobles abused the poor
A) Nobles carted off – the poor are left to take care
of the land
B) Little Divine justice there! RD V13-30