th th th th Good morning, would you turn
to 2 Kings chapter 25. This is so tangled, I can't get it
untangled. Yeah, if you can do it, yeah,
I can. Second Kings 25. Now this is
gonna be the last message out of Kings. We've been in the Old
Testament for several years now, and I think, Lord willing, next
week we're gonna start a study of 1 Corinthians. Thanks, Rich. I'd like to read the last few
verses of this chapter beginning beginning in verse 27. And it came to pass in the seven
and 30th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah. He was 18 years old when he surrendered. to Nebuchadnezzar, and he's been
in prison for 37 years. And that's the setting of this
passage of scripture. He's been in prison for 37 years. In the 12th month and the 7th
and 20th day of the month, that evil Meredok, he's the king of
Babylon. He's the son of Nebuchadnezzar.
In the year that he began to reign, did lift up the head of
Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out of prison. It doesn't mean he
cut his head off. It means that he brought him
out of prison and he treated him favorably. He looked upon
him with favor. Now look what else it says. Verse
28. And he spake kindly to him and
set his throne above. the throne of the kings that
were with him in Babylon, and changed his prison garments,
and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his
life, and his allowance was a continual allowance given to him of the
king a daily rate. for every day, all the days of
his life. Let's pray. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would meet with us and that you would speak in power
to our hearts from your word and enable us to worship thy
dear son. Cause your gospel to be preached.
Lord, we Fear hearing the words and the opinions of a sinful
man, but we want to hear your word. Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
We pray that we might be found in our son. Now bless us for
his sake. In his name we pray, amen. Chapter 25. is a very dark chapter. It's about the end of Judah and
Israel, and they're going to be brought in under Nebuchadnezzar
into Babylon for the next 70 years, and it's a very sad It's
a very dark chapter. Let's read it. But what I think
is glorious at the end of this chapter, we're given a clear,
a type as the gospel, as you'll find anywhere in the Word of
God, in this passage that I just read. But let's begin reading
in chapter 24, verse 17. And the king of Babylon made
Mataniah, his father's brother king in his stead, and changed
his name to Zedekiah. This is the last king of Judah.
And Zedekiah was 21 years old when he began to reign, and he
reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutil,
the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem
and Judah until he had cast them out from his presence. This is
the Lord. Everything that was taking place
was because of him. And this verse is letting us
know that. He's the one who's casting Judah out of his presence. He's the one that is doing all
this. Until he'd cast out from his presence that Zedekiah rebelled
against the king of Babylon. And it came to pass in the ninth
year of his reign, in the 10th month, in the 10th day of the
month, that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came, he and all
his hosts against Jerusalem, and pitched against it, and they
built forts against it round about, and the city was besieged.
Now that is when they cut off the water supply, they cut off
the food, and you're left to starve to death. And the city
was besieged into the 11th year of the King of Zedekiah. And
on the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine prevailed in
the city and there was no bread for the people of the land. And
the city was broken up and all the men of war fled by night,
by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the King's
garden. Now the Caldees were against the city roundabout and
the King went the way toward the plain. And the army of the
Chaldees pursued after the king, that's the Babylonians, and overtook
him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army were scattered
from him. So they took the king and brought him up to the king
of Babylon, to Riblah, and they gave judgment upon him. Now here's
what happened to the king of Judah, Zedekiah. And they slew
the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of
Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried
him to Babylon. Now you think of the cruelty
there. They kill his sons, and they make sure that's the last
thing he sees, and then they put his eyes out, and they bind
him and take him into Babylon. And in the fifth year, on the
seventh day of the month, which is the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon, came Nebuchadnezzar, captain of the guard, a servant
of the king of Babylon, into Jerusalem, and he burnt the house
of the Lord, the temple. and the king's house and all
the houses of Jerusalem, every man's house burnt he with fire.
And all the army of the Chaldees that were with the captain of
the guard break down the walls of Jerusalem round about. Now
the rest of the people that were left in the city and the fugitives
that fell away to the king of Babylon with the remnant of the
multitude did Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, carry
away. But the captain of the guard
left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen,
we considered that last week, And the pillars of brass that
were in the house of the Lord, and the bases, and the brazen
sea that was in the house of the Lord, did the Caldees break
in pieces, and carried the brass of them to Babylon. And the pots,
and the shovels, and the snuffers, and the spoons, and all the vessels
of brass wherewith they ministered took they away. They carried
all these things into Babylon. And the firepans, and the bowls,
and such things as were of gold, In gold and silver and silver,
the captain of the guard took away the two pillars, one C,
and the bases, which Solomon made for the house of the Lord.
The brass of all these vessels were without weight. The height
of the one pillar was 18 cubits. The chapter upon it was brass,
and the height of the chapter, three cubits. The wreath and
work and the pomegranates upon the chapter around about it,
all brass likened to these, have the second pillar with wreath
and work. Everything of value was taken away. And the captain
of the guard took Sarai, the chief priest, and Zephaniah,
the second priest, and the three keepers of the doors, and out
of the city he took an officer, and there were set over them
men of war. and five men of them that were in the king's presence,
which were found in the city and the principal scribe of the
host, which mustered the people of the land and three score men
of the people of the land that were found in the city. And Nebuchadnezzar,
captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king
of Babylon, to Rabla. And the king of Babylon smote
them and slew them at Rabla in the hand of Hamas. So Judah was
carried away out of their land. And as for the people that remained
in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had left, even
over them he made get alive the son of Ahiachim, the son of Shaphan,
ruler." And when all the captains of the armies and all the men
heard that the king of Babylon had made Getaliah governor, they
came to Getaliah, to Mishpah, even to Ishmael, the sons of
Nephaniah and Johannahan, the son of Kareth, and Saraiah, the
son of Tanumath, and Netophathite, and Jazaniah, the son of Micaiah,
they and their men. And Getaliah swear to them and
to their men and said unto them, fear not to be the servants of
the Chaldees." Now he was a Jew. He gave them assurance, don't
be afraid to serve the Koldees, dwell in the land and serve the
king of Babylon and it shall be well with you. But it came
to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah,
the son of Elisha, of the seed royal, came with 10 men and smote
this Galilee who had made this promise and he died. And the
Jews and the Koldees that were with him at Mesbah and all the
people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies
arose and came to Egypt fleeing. for they were afraid of the Caldees.
Now here's the last story, and I think this is so amazing. I
mean, that's a dark chapter, isn't it? All the horrible things
that are taking place. And it came to pass in the 7th
and 30th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah. Now, you'll remember that when
he was 18 years old, he was an evil man. He did evil in the
sight of the Lord. And when he was 18 years old,
he surrendered. Now, 37 years later, he's been
in prison 37 years. We don't know how he was treated
in prison, but he'd been in prison 37 years. Look what takes place. And it came to pass in the 730th
year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month,
on the 7th and 20th day of the month, that evil Meredith, he
was the son of Nebuchadnezzar, 37 years later, after this carrying
into Babylon, King of Babylon, in the year that he began to
reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiakim, King of Judah, out
of prison. He looked at him, and he had
favor toward him. He was an evil man. That's what
the scripture testifies of him. He did evil in the sight of the
Lord, but for some reason, out of the blue, as it were, The
king looks at him with favor and brings him out of prison. And what else did he do? Verse
28, he spake kindly to him. Words of grace, words of kindness,
words of favor. And he set his throne above the
throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. He put him
in a very high and exalted position. He'd been in prison. We don't
read where he asked for anything to be done for him. There he
was in prison. The king of Babylon looks at him with favor, brings
him out of the prison, speaks kindly to him. and puts him in
a very exalted position, a high position. Verse 29, and he changed
his prison garments. He gave him a new set of clothes.
All he had was these filthy prison garments. Now he's given the
garments of a king. And he did eat bread continually
before him all the days of his life. He was placed in a position
of always in the King's presence, always with the King's blessing,
being able to eat bread all the days of his life. Verse 30, and
his allowance was a continual allowance. There was no interruption. It was continual. Streams of
mercy never ceasing. It was a continual allowance
that had no stoppage. Continual. Given him of the king
a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life. Now that
is the gospel as clearly as I know how to Speak it. What a way for this
book to end. Now, let's consider the gospel
from this ending note of the book of Second Kings. Number
one, Jehoiachin was an evil man. That is why he was in prison
in the first place. Look in chapter, let me find
it. verse 8 of chapter 24. And Jehoiachin
was 18 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem
three months. His mother's name was Natashtab,
the daughter of Elathim of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil
in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father had done.
He was a wicked man. And the scripture points that
out. And the reason he is in prison is because of his sin.
Now, what this gives us some idea of is Total depravity and
total inability. He's in prison. He's in prison
because of his sin, and he can't get out. If he could get out,
he wouldn't be in prison, would he? Now, total depravity, what's
that mean? Well, it's what Jehoiachin was
and what you and I are. It means sinful, completely sinful. I can't even express it the way
it ought to be expressed. My heart is bad. My will is chained
to sin. That which I ought to hate, I
love, and that which I ought to love, I hate. My mind is defiled. That's what total depravity is.
What comes out of total depravity? Total inability, my inability
to do anything to save myself. I'm in prison. Such was the case
of Jehoiachin. And it was all his fault he was
in prison. You know, he surrendered. He knew this was going to happen.
It was all his fault. You can't blame your sin and
your inability and your depravity on Adam. You can't blame it on
your circumstances. It's all your fault. Yes, you
received it through Adam. But my sin is all my fault. Just
like Jehoiachin's sin was all his fault. And there he is in
prison. And then Out of the blue, as it were, the king lifts up
his head. He speaks with favor and he speaks
with grace toward this man, Jehoiachin. Out of the blue. Now what is
that but the sovereign grace of God? I love his sovereign
grace, don't you? He's a picture of the sovereign
grace of God. And then the king spake kindly
to him. And I look at that and I have
no doubt that this is what this is referring to. It's talking
about the preaching of the gospel. You think of the kind words God
speaks to his people in the preaching of the gospel. Come unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy
laden, laboring under a burden of sin, and I will give you rest. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. Him that cometh to me I will
in no wise, for no reason whatsoever cast out. Christ Jesus came into
the world, to save sinners. I want you to think of the kind
words of the gospel spoken to Jehoiachin. And what happened
next? He put him and set him above
the thrones of the kings that were with him in Babylon in verse
28. He was given this high position. Now, what is that but the high
position every believer has in Christ Jesus? What a high position. I'm seated together in the heavenlies
with Christ. That's how high I am. I'm already in heaven. That's how high I am. If Christ
is in heaven and I'm in him, that means I'm in heaven. And
the scripture says we're seated together in the heavenlies in
Christ Jesus. What a high place. And then it says he changed his
garments. He had these prison garments
and they're taken away and he's given them garments of a king.
Turn with me for a moment to Revelation chapter 19. Verse
seven. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife
has made herself ready. And to her was granted, freely
given that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white,
For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." Now, if you don't
have a King James Version, you might read where it says, the
fine linen, clean and white, is the righteous deeds of the
saints, or the righteous works of the saints. Do you have any
works that could be described as fine linen, clean and white?
Would you want any of your works to stand before God and be judged
on the basis of your works, the works that you've been enabled
to do by grace? Now, somebody says, well, the
reason that's works is because in the original, it's in the
plural, and it is in the plural, the righteousnesses of the saints.
What is the righteousnesses of the saints? Well, there's the
fact that Christ never did anything wrong, and he always did that
which is right. That's the righteousness of the
saints. And I love the way it doesn't
say the righteousness of Christ imputed to the saints. It says
this is the righteousness of the saints. Now, this is the
garment every believer is clothed with, the very righteousness
of Jesus Christ. That is my garment before God,
not my old garment, but my new garment, the righteousness of
the saints. Back to our text. He changed his prison garments
and he did eat bread continually before him all the days of his
life. Now this is talking about the
believer being continually provided for in every respect all the
days of their life. The Lord will provide. And he
provides everything that is needed for every one of his people all
the days of their life. There's no interruption. There's
no time when they're cut off in any way. They're always continually
provided for. Verse 30, and his allowance was
a continual allowance, giving him of the king a daily rate
for every day all the days of his life. That is the promise
to every believer, the continual grace of God. Now, all of this
while he was still in the land of captivity. Don't miss that. He hadn't been brought back to
Judah yet. He was still in Babylon while he had been given all this. Remember this, we have this treasure.
this treasure of the gospel, this treasure of his grace in
earthen vessels right now. We have this continual allowance,
the continual love. We have this glorious garment,
but we're still in the flesh. We're still sinful men and women
saved by the grace of God. Now let me show you the Chronicles
account of the end of the Babylonian captivity. Turn to 2 Chronicles
chapter 36, verse 22. Now this was in the
middle of the captivity, 37 years. And this is the end of the captivity. Now in the first year of Cyrus,
king of Persia. Cyrus was Darius. He's the one who threw Daniel
in the lion's den. That's who this is. Now turn
with me for a moment to Isaiah 44. Hold your finger there. Isaiah 44. Verse 28. This is God speaking, that saith
of Cyrus, and this was written 200 years before any of this
took place. That saith of Cyrus, he is my
shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem,
thou shalt be built, and to the temple, thy foundation shall
be laid. Thus saith the Lord to his anointed,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I've holden, to subdue nations before
him, he was the most powerful man in the world, And I will
loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates,
and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee, and make
the crooked places straight. I'll break in pieces the gates
of brass, and cut and sunder the bars of iron. And I'll give
thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places,
that thou mayest knowest that I, the Lord, which call thee
by thy name, and the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake,
and Israel, mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name.
I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me." Now
he's speaking of Cyrus. He is the one that God has determined
is going to deliver Judah back out of bondage. Now look back
in 2 Chronicles. Like I said, that was written
200 years before this took place. I can't help but wonder if somebody
came up to Cyrus and said, you know the Lord said this about
you in the Scriptures. As a matter of fact I believe
that probably took place. But let's go on reading. Verse 22,
Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word
of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished,
the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia. Don't
you love thinking about that? The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. Your heart is in the hand of the Lord. My heart
is in the hand of the Lord. I love that. That's why I don't
despair of myself or anybody else as long as salvation is
by His sovereign grace. He stirred up the heart of Cyrus, that he
made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also
in writing. saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king
of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of
heaven given me. He knew who God was. You see,
he learned who he was through Daniel. You remember Daniel being
thrown in the lion's den and him saying, Is thy God whom thou
servest continually able to deliver thee? And Daniel comes out and
he finds out who God is. And he says, the Lord God of
heaven hath given me, he hath charged me to build him a house
in Jerusalem. which is in Judah. Who is there
among you of all the people? The Lord his God be with him
and let him go up. And that's when the people were
delivered from the captivity and got to go back to Jerusalem.
You can read about that in Ezra and Nehemiah and rebuild the
temple. But what a glorious picture of
the gospel at the end of this dark chapter, we have the light
of the gospel.