All right, thanks, Alex. Let's go ahead and pray as we come to God's Word together.
! Father, we are grateful for Your good and sovereign hand that guides Your church all around the world
! and guides us here at Trinity, this local church that You love. God, thank You for the search process,
for those who have served on the search committee. God, we do pray for us as a church as we move into
this new season of considering Pamela for this position, and God, we are eager to see how You
will continue to advance Your gospel through us as a local church. God, as we come now to Your Word,
Lord, would You come by Your Spirit, open our minds and our hearts to hear what it is You have for us
today in Your life-giving Word. Lord, we remember the writer to Hebrews who says that Your Word is
living and active, and it pushes down, it cuts down into the deep parts of who we are,
that it might bring life and renewal.
So, we pray that. We pray that would be true this morning for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. All right, so,
would you turn with me to the Old Testament books of 1 and 2 Chronicles. 1 and 2 Chronicles. We're
starting a new sermon series today that will continue throughout the spring and summer months,
and primarily we're going to be looking at 2 Chronicles chapters 10 through 36, the last part
of this two-part book. We're going to be tracing the stories of the rise and the fall of Judas Kings
after Solomon leading up to the exile. And the hope in this series is that we'll consider all the heart
dynamics that each of those stories expose in us and how they point us to the ultimate hope of Jesus
in the gospel. But today, today what we want to do is we want to set the stage. We want to get an
overview of this two-part book that we call 1 and 2 Chronicles. Now, I say two-part book
because 1 and 2 Chronicles are really one book, and they've just been divided up into two because
of their size. So, rather in our series just kind of diving into the particular narratives in the
second half of part two, we're going to try to give an overview of the whole book today to set up
where we'll be headed for the rest of the spring and the summer. Now, typically when we jump into a
sermon, we like to read the text and then pray and then explain what the text means. But if I were to
read all of 1 and 2 Chronicles, we'd be here for a while. And half of you would probably leave
before I got to the end of chapter four, and you'll see why in a second. So, obviously, I'm not going
to read the whole book. Instead, I want to start our overview at the end. So, turn with me all the
way to 2 Chronicles chapter 36. That's page 420 in the Pew Bible. I encourage you to turn to page 420,
2 Chronicles chapter 36. We'll start at the end because the end gives us the context for the message
of the whole book and what the author, the chronicler, as we call him, wanted to communicate
to his audience. So, 2 Chronicles chapter 36, starting at the end with verse 22. We'll read
the last paragraph of the book. Now, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the
Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia,
so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.
Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth,
and he's charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.
So, stories matter. Stories are powerful, aren't they? Jesus himself used stories to communicate
the most important spiritual truths that humanity has ever heard. But if stories are powerful,
histories are often even more so. Histories matter. And what 1 and 2 Chronicles is, as a book,
is a retelling of the history of God's people from creation all the way back with Adam,
and it goes all the way to the return of Israel from exile in the sixth century, what we just read.
Now, why would someone take the time to write such a thing? Why retell the history of God's people?
If you're familiar with the Old Testament, you know that if you start reading in Genesis
and continue pretty much straight through the book of 2 Kings, you get the story of God and God's people
from creation all the way to the exile. So, why would God put a second retelling of mostly the same
history into the Bible? Well, the answer is because God's people were in a new situation.
It was a new day. They had returned from exile. They had come back to the land,
and in that new situation, they needed to be reminded and realigned with their story,
with their history. They needed these old stories for a new day.
It's been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Now, that is true,
but you see, the chronicler had much more in mind than just that. He didn't just want the people of
his day to avoid the mistakes of the past. His vision was actually much more bold and more meaningful
than that. He understood that the people of God, having been brought back to the land of Judah after
exile. Well, that reality that they had come back was nothing less than evidence that God truly was
sovereign and that God had a mission for His people. He had not abandoned His people or His kingdom purpose.
Look again at the paragraph we just read. Cyrus, the Persian king, in 539 BC, issues an edict that the
people who were dispersed and exiled by the Babylonians earlier that century, now that Persia had come into
the rule, Cyrus makes an edict that they could all return to their homes and rebuild their temples and
worship their gods. And the chronicler doesn't just see that as some accident of history. Oh, yes,
the Babylonian empire has fallen to the Persians, and now the Persian king has sort of a new
imperial agenda. That's true, but ultimately the chronicler sees this as an outworking of the
sovereign grace and faithfulness of God. It's the Lord who stirs up Cyrus to do this so that the word
of Jeremiah the prophet might be fulfilled. This was God's plan. God is acting in human history to bring
about His promises, and the book ends with these rousing words, let them go up. So the chronicler
is writing to his generation, the generation that has returned miraculously from exile, and he wants
them to be reminded and realigned around the great mission that God has for them. And we see that mission
unfold as the chronicler retells the story of their history. He writes this carefully constructive
narrative that highlights the important themes and the vital realities that they have to keep in mind
as they live into God's mission in their day. And friends, the church today, our church today,
the church today can learn a lot from this retelling of history, because the church today shares a lot in
common with the post-exilic people of God in that day. Think about it. By God's sovereign grace in the
church, He has called His people out from among the nations and has given us a great mission. Just like
Israel in the sixth century was brought out of the death of exile into the new life of reestablishing
their home in Judah, so now in a much greater way, God is calling men and women out of every nation,
out of the spiritual exile from God, to live life, new life in God's kingdom, not just in Judah, not just
in Palestine, but in every corner of the globe. So let's look then at what 1 and 2 Chronicles highlights
for the mission of God's people in that day and how we might learn from them for our own day. Let's listen to
these old stories for a new day and be realigned around God's purposes for us. Now, as we open the pages of
1 and 2 Chronicles, the first lesson we see is this. 1 and 2 Chronicles says, remember that you are God's
people. Remember that you are God's people. This is the first…
…that these genealogies are here. There's a reason.
You know, by the way, did you know there's actually a place today where a list of names draws literally
millions of people every year so they can go see it? There's a couple of places like that in the world,
but there's one I have in mind. Do you know where? Ellis Island. Why is it so exciting to go to Ellis
Island and see the register of names on display there? Why do three million people, that's what
they approximate, three million people every year go there? Because in that place, in that list of names,
there's a picture, there's a reminder of the courage and the hope that inspired those people to make a
costly journey to start a new life. And now that's inspiring for anybody, right? But if you actually
have a relative that came through Ellis Island, well then it's even more meaningful. And what we have
here in the opening of 1 Chronicles isn't just a list of names, but it's a family tree of the people of God,
the people that God preserved and kept through generations and preserved even through exile and
brought them back.
And for Christians, well, this is your family story too. This is your family tree.
Paul says in Galatians that it's not just the physical descendants of Abraham who are Abraham's
family. No, it's everyone who has faith in Jesus the Messiah. You are spiritual descendants of Abraham.
Abraham, Abraham who through faith was made righteous in God's sight long before he was circumcised.
Those who are of faith are grafted into this story, into this family.
So the Old Testament story is your story, Christian, and these genealogies are your family tree. These are
your people. Now again, why do people get excited about their genealogy or seeing
the name of an ancestor on a register of names like at Ellis Island? Well, because it reminds you of who you
are. It gives you a sense of identity, of belonging, of rootedness. It gives you a story.
And for the Chroniclers audience back then and for us today, it's easy, isn't it? It's very easy to forget who we are.
So easy to forget who we are and what we're rooted in, this long, rich history. It's so easy to start
defining ourselves by the neighborhood that we live in, or the schools that we attend, or the
jobs that we have, or the clothes that we wear, or the people we think we can impress. Our identity gets
pulled into a million directions, and we get fragmented, and we lose ourselves, and we just
blur into the passing fads of the moment. So we have to come back again and again to the reality
that our most important identity is this. We are God's people.
And what does remembering that reality mean? What effect does that have or should that have on us?
Well, I think the Chronicler wanted that message to strike gratitude and wonder into the people of his day.
Why? Why gratitude and wonder? Well, because it was only through God's grace
that they were still a people at all. You know, in the ancient world, when an empire came and defeated
you and carried you off into exile, when you were kind of conquered and dispersed like that,
that was usually the end. Like, that was it. You know, you can read through the Old Testament. There
are a lot of old nations there. You read them and you think, what happened to these people? That happened
to those people. You were finished. You would just assimilate into the dominant culture. Maybe you would
survive in little pockets for a while, but eventually you would just fade into history.
But for this people, something radically different happened. God's grace had rescued them.
Do you remember the prophet Ezekiel? Do you remember the vision, that famous vision that God gave the
prophet Ezekiel of what the return from exile was going to be like?
Do you remember the voyagnosis? Do you remember the voyagnosis? Do you remember the voyagnosis?
voyagnosis? Do you remember voyagnosis? Do you remember voyagnosis? Do you remember voyagnosis? Do voyagnosis?
and those bones begin to rise up and reconnect, and flesh comes back upon them,
and breath fills their lungs, and the whole valley becomes a mighty people again.
The point is that the return from exile was like being brought from death to life.
God was faithful to His people and rescued them.
And brothers and sisters, if that's true for the Old Testament people of God in that day,
how much more true is it of us?
The Apostle Peter in his first letter writing to the church, the church made up of Jews and Gentiles now,
says, you, you're a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession,
that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light
and then Peter makes this point.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.
Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
That's what it means to remember that you are God's people,
to realign yourselves with the unbelievable reality that God's mercy and grace has rescued us from darkness
and brought us into light.
How?
How is that true?
How has that come about?
Well, the passage we read earlier from Ephesians tells us,
but now, Paul says,
in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off
have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
This is how God brought Jews and Gentiles into the one people of God
from the spiritual exile of sin and death.
He sent His Son to die, not just for the sins of Abraham's physical descendants,
but for everyone who turns from sin and takes hold of Christ through faith.
He reconciles us both to God in one body through the cross, Paul says.
So, brothers and sisters,
the world will want to tell you many things about yourself
and about who you are.
It will want to tell you that you are only as valuable as your productivity,
only as valuable as your good looks,
or your athletic prowess,
or your artistic ability,
or the size of your bank account,
or your academic pedigree.
But those things don't define who you are.
Once, you were not a people,
but now,
you are God's people,
beloved,
chosen,
precious in His sight.
The world might see a valley of dry bones.
You might feel a little creaky sometimes.
But God is raising up a mighty host.
We are part of a lineage,
a great lineage of saints,
saints that stretch back
through the history of the church,
through missionary endeavors,
through powerful revivals,
through reforms and renewals,
through the building of great cathedrals,
through the writing of theological masterminds,
masterpieces,
through the courage of the monasteries
when empires crumbled,
through the bravery of martyrs
who stood firm in the face of death,
through the apostles who took this message
throughout the known world,
and back even further,
through the Old Testament saints
who put their hope in God's kingdom
through exile and trials,
all the way back to David,
to Moses and Miriam,
to Abraham and Sarah,
to Adam and Eve.
A mighty host,
preserved by the power of God.
That's who you are.
Let it fill your heart with wonder,
with gratitude,
with praise for God
and His sovereign grace.
Remember that you are God's people.
But the chronicler has more to say
than just that.
After nine chapters of genealogies,
where does the story pick up?
Well, it picks up with King David.
When David's reign is established,
the chronicler focuses
an immense amount of attention.
Once David's in place,
where does his attention go?
The temple.
The temple is one of the major themes
throughout this two-part book.
David prepares for the temple
in the second half of 1 Chronicles.
Solomon builds and dedicates the temple
in the first half of 2 Chronicles.
And the kings who follow Solomon
in the rest of 2 Chronicles,
nearly all of them in one way or another
are described as prioritizing
or neglecting the temple.
Obviously, the chronicler
wants the audience of his day
to make the temple their priority.
When Cyrus' decree,
we see that at the end of the book,
when Cyrus' decree allowed
the Jewish exiles to return home
in 539 B.C.,
they went with the mission
to rebuild the temple
that had been destroyed.
And you can read the books
of Ezra and Nehemiah
and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah
to see how all that took place.
But now, when the chronicler was writing,
now the temple had been rebuilt.
And the chronicler was adamant
that the people not neglect it,
but make it their central priority
and purpose as a people.
You see, what he was telling
his generation was this.
Not just remember that you're
the people of God,
but also he was telling them,
prioritize the worship of God.
Make the worship of God
your uppermost aim.
Put the worship of God
above all other priorities.
Prioritize the worship of God.
Seek Him above all else.
After all, what was the temple?
In the Old Testament,
under the Mosaic Covenant,
the temple was the place
where God promised
to be present with His people.
It was the focal point
of God's presence on earth.
It was the throne room
of the Old Covenant kingdom
where God the Creator and King
dwelled among His people in holiness.
That's what the temple was.
But we know,
we know from the book of Ezra
that when the temple was rebuilt
after the exile,
there were some people
who were still alive
who remembered the old temple.
And the new temple,
the rebuilt one,
wasn't as glorious,
wasn't as impressive
as the old one.
In fact,
when they laid the foundation
of the new temple,
Ezra chapter 3 says this,
it says,
many of the priests and Levites
and heads of the Father's houses,
old men who had seen
the first house,
wept with a loud voice
when they saw the foundation
of this new house being laid.
Though many shouted aloud for joy,
so that the people
could not distinguish
the sound of the joyful shout
from the sound
of the people's weeping.
Their joy was intermingled
with their weeping.
Joy because they had just laid
the foundation of a new temple,
weeping because it wasn't
like the old one
that they remembered.
But you know,
it wasn't just that comparison
to the old
that sort of drew people away
from maybe prioritizing the temple
and prioritizing the worship of God.
There were all the other cares
and concerns
of being a fledgling people
attempting to restart
and maintain their new life
back in Judea.
There were cultural pressures
to conform to the world around them.
There were political pressures
as they continued to live
under the Persian Empire.
Of course,
there were financial pressures.
And in the midst
of those very real pressures,
very real concerns,
the chronicler wants
to remind the people
that the most important thing
is that they prioritize
the worship of God.
God must remain
at the center of their lives
or else everything else
will fall apart.
You see, friends,
the reality is
that something's going to take
the place of God
in our lives.
As human beings,
we're going to worship something.
We're going to put something
uppermost in our life.
We're going to chase after something
as our hope,
as our happiness,
as our life.
You know,
another way of putting it
is that
there really is
no such thing
as an atheist.
Of course,
plenty of people
don't believe
or don't worship
the God of the Bible,
but everyone has a God.
God,
we take some good thing
and make it
an ultimate thing.
For example,
it's a good thing
to work hard
and enjoy your job,
but if your career
is what defines you,
if that's what gives you
your ultimate sense
of identity and worth,
then it's become
your functional God.
You're putting your hope
and your career
to save you,
to be your meaning
and purpose
and rest and hope.
But you know,
it can be anything.
We can do this
with anything.
It's a good thing
to appreciate,
even love,
your country,
for example.
But if your national identity
is what defines you,
if your ultimate sense
of purpose and belonging
is as a citizen
of this or that country,
then patriotism
has become your God.
Friend,
are you self-aware enough,
are you honest enough
to admit
what your God
really is?
There's really no such thing
as an atheist.
Now, you might say,
I don't worship anything.
Nothing controls
or defines me.
I don't need money
or career or country
to define me.
I choose my own path.
I define me.
Well, a lot of people
say that today.
But don't you see,
if that's what you
really believe,
then you've made independence.
You've made freedom
your God.
And that's one of the most
common gods of our age.
Here's the irony.
By making freedom
and autonomy our God,
we're going along
with the crowd
more than anyone else.
Making autonomy our God
is the easiest way
to slip into herd mentality.
But what happens?
What happens when you make
some created thing
your God?
What happens when you
worship something other
than the one you were
created to worship?
You know,
it's not for nothing.
It's not for nothing
that Chronicles starts
by going all the way
back to Adam.
Adam takes us
all the way back
to the creation narratives
of Genesis.
Why did God create humanity?
Well, He created us
to bear His image
and to find our deepest delight,
our deepest satisfaction
in Him.
And that, perhaps,
is the greatest gift
God could have given us
as humans.
He gave us the capacity
to worship Him.
Don't you see
how wonderful that is?
I mean,
imagine how silly
it would be
to enter one of the
great art museums
of the world
and spend your time
gazing and admiring
the typography
on the bathroom sign.
It might be slick,
but what a foolish thing
to do.
Imagine how silly
it would be
to stand 10 or 20 feet
from the Grand Canyon
and admire and stare
at a little ditch
beside the road.
Friends,
you were created
with the capacity
to worship
the greatest
and most satisfying
thing in existence.
You were made
to be satisfied
by more than
the greatest human work
of art,
more than the most
stunning natural wonder.
God made you
to delight in Himself,
a God of infinite beauty,
infinite wonder,
and power
and freedom.
You know,
you can listen
to any great composer.
You can listen
to any great symphony
long enough.
Listen to it long enough.
And you know what?
Eventually,
it will get old.
I know that might
seem like blasphemy
to some of our musicians
in the room,
but even Bach,
even Beethoven,
even Mozart,
Lord.
Oh,
they can hold
our attention
for days,
for weeks,
for years even,
but eventually,
they too
will get old.
old.
But God is infinite.
He never gets old.
God is an ocean
of wonder
with no bottom.
And He made you,
little old you and me,
with the capacity
to worship Him.
Do you see
what a privilege that is?
to know Him,
to love Him,
to find our deepest
delight in Him.
Worship anything else.
Put anything else
in the center of your life,
and the center
won't hold.
Make career ultimate,
and it will disappoint you.
Put your friends
in the center of your life,
and they will let you down.
Live your life
for patriotism,
and it will leave you
jaded and cynical.
Those things can't save you
or satisfy you.
Only God can.
But even worse,
if you worship anything
other than God,
you're actually
putting yourself
at odds
with the very God
who made you.
You see,
by setting up
a rival God
in the world
that God made,
by worshiping
a created thing,
you and I
are staging
a cosmic rebellion,
defying His goodness,
dishonoring His name,
incurring guilt
against a holy God.
And that's true
of all of us, friends.
We've all worshiped
created things
rather than God.
And if God were
to call us to account,
if He brought us
before His tribunal,
we'd all be charged
with cosmic treason,
and the penalty
would be death.
God doesn't give us
what our rebellion
deserves.
In the person of His Son,
Jesus Christ,
He actually came
and stood in the place
of the rebels,
taking the penalty
that they deserve
for their sins,
that we deserve
for our sins,
and in exchange,
offers us
full acceptance,
full pardon,
full amnesty,
not on the basis
of what we've done,
not on the basis
of our good record
or our proper worship.
We don't have that.
But He offers us
that amnesty
on the basis
of what Jesus has done
because Jesus
was the perfect worshiper.
He lived every moment
for the glory
of His heavenly Father.
He was completely
righteous in every way.
And when we place
our faith in Him,
when we stand with Him,
His record
of perfect righteousness
and perfect worship
becomes ours
so that even though
we are rebels,
even though we do
deserve death for treason,
God forgives us
and He treats us
not as rebels
but as friends
and even more
than friends
because of Jesus
He adopts us
as sons and daughters
and He gives us
renewed hearts
by His Spirit
that are able
to begin
worshiping Him
as He deserves.
The Spirit comes in
and begins
to lift our gaze
to Him
what we were
originally created
to do.
Do you want to be free
from the little gods
in your life
and dive into
the infinite wonder
of the God
who made you?
Jesus Christ
is the door
to step through.
Take hold of Him
and your heart
will open up
to new vistas
that the old one
could never provide
and that invitation
is open
to you now
to take hold
of Him by faith
and to begin
worshiping the infinite God.
Now,
in the Old Testament,
the physical temple
in Jerusalem
was the focal point
of the worship of God
but the story
of the Bible,
as you follow it out,
you see that the physical temple
was never meant
to be permanent.
The temple was where
God dwelled
under the old covenant
but when Jesus Christ came,
He fulfilled everything
the temple was about.
He was God dwelling
in our midst.
He was the ultimate
sacrifice for sin.
And the New Testament
goes on to say
that the church,
the people united
to Jesus through faith
and filled with His Spirit,
the church
is now the place
where God dwells.
Not a building
but a people.
Little did you know
when you got up
this morning
after hitting snooze
eight times
because it's your day off
that you were going
to come meet with God
in His temple.
When the church gathers
and the gospel
is proclaimed,
there I am in the midst,
Jesus says.
God is in our midst
by His Spirit.
Listen again
to how Paul puts it
at the end of Ephesians 2.
So then you're no longer
strangers and aliens
but you're fellow citizens
with the saints
and members of the household
of God
built on the foundation
of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus Himself
being the cornerstone
in whom the whole structure
being joined together
grows
into a holy temple
in the Lord.
In Him,
you also
are being built together
into a dwelling place
for God
by the Spirit.
So now,
under the new covenant,
what does it mean
corporately
to prioritize
the worship of God?
It doesn't mean
traveling to a physical building
somewhere in Jerusalem.
That was just a shadow.
The reality is Christ
and the assembly of people
gathered in His name
proclaiming His word.
The local church
is the temple
of the living God
and the church
isn't confined
to one location
or to one country.
The church
is a worldwide movement
in every country,
in every place,
in every language.
The whole world
is now the location
of God's temple
as the church
continues to grow
and gather
in local assemblies
worshiping Jesus as Lord.
As we're going to see
in the coming weeks,
one of the main themes
of Chronicles
is seeking God.
When the people
seek God,
when they worship Him,
they experience
deeper flourishing,
deeper renewal.
When they turn away
from worshiping
false idols
and false gods,
that's when they
begin to be renewed.
When they turn away
from God
and worship those things,
they fall apart.
But when they forsake
those lesser gods
and seek the Lord
and return to Him,
it's like fresh water
springing up
through the dry ground.
bringing life
and healing
and sanctification.
So a central exhortation
of Chronicles
to the people corporately
is to turn to God
and seek Him.
Now one classic verse
that expresses that theme,
maybe you're familiar with it,
is 2 Chronicles 7.14,
which says,
if my people
who are called
by my name
humble themselves
and pray
and seek my face
and turn from
their wicked ways,
then I will hear
from heaven
and will forgive
their sin
and heal their land.
Solomon spoke those words
at the dedication
of the temple.
And as we've said,
under the old covenant,
the people of God
and the worship of God
was localized
in one place,
what Solomon calls
in that verse,
the land.
But friends,
get this.
Now that Jesus has come,
now that we live
under the new covenant,
now that the presence
of God is no longer
localized
to one building
or one place
or one land,
we have to interpret
that verse
with a bigger vision.
You know,
too often people
can recite that verse
as if it's the recipe
for national
or political renewal.
But the land
in that verse
is not the United States
or the United Kingdom
or any contemporary
political reality.
God's people
are now salt and light
in the whole world.
it's the renewal
of the church
that this verse points to.
And yes,
wherever the church
is renewed
through the worship of God
and the proclamation
of the gospel,
we will be salt and light.
We will impact our culture.
But changing the nation
or changing the culture
isn't the goal
of that verse,
you see.
It's the revival
of the church.
It's the global advance
of the gospel
to the ends of the earth.
It's the spread
of God's glory
and worship
to every language
and every people.
And what a gift.
What a gift
that here
at Trinity
we get to be a picture
of this global movement
that is the church.
God has made us a people
from so many countries
and cultures
and backgrounds.
What a gift
to be a sign
of God's global church
right here.
But what should
our priority be?
Do we celebrate
our diversity
for diversity's sake?
Not at all.
We prioritize
the worship of God
in the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
We are the living stones
of the new covenant temple.
God's spirit dwells
in our midst
and our uppermost priority
is to worship God
and give Him glory.
To declare that the God
who has made Himself known
in Jesus Christ
is the one true God
who deserves
our complete allegiance
and our deepest trust
and our most joyful praise.
That's our priority.
That's our purpose.
God's grace.
So we've seen then
two great themes.
Two great themes
in 1 and 2 Chronicles.
First,
remember that you are
the people of God
and second,
prioritize the worship
of God.
Now there's one more
great theme in this book
and I'll have to be brief
because of time.
There's a book table
downstairs we have to go
rummage through
and there's an art gallery
upstairs we have to get to
so I'm going to be brief.
After God's people
and God's worship
we come to God's King.
The third theme of Chronicles
is this.
Put your hope
in God's promised King.
We've already seen
how after the genealogies
of chapters 1 through 9
the Chronicler kind of jumps
right into the story
of David and the monarchy
and he will trace
throughout this two-part book
the line of kings
descended from David.
Unlike the book
of 1 and 2 Kings
if you're familiar with that
Chronicles does not
go into great detail
about what we call
the northern kingdom
that splits off
after Solomon's reign.
Rather the focus
of Chronicles
sort of stays
laser-like
on the southern kingdom
on the line of David.
Why?
Because of the promise
that God made.
In 1 Chronicles 17
God makes a binding promise.
He makes a covenant
with David.
In verses 11 through 14
of that chapter
God says this.
He says,
when your days are fulfilled
to walk with your fathers
I will raise up
your offspring after you
one of your own sons
and I will establish
his kingdom
he shall build a house
for me
and I will establish
his throne forever.
I'll be to him
a father
and he shall be
to me a son.
I will not take
my steadfast love
from him
as I took it from
him who was before you
but I will confirm
him in my house
and in my kingdom
forever
and his throne
shall be established
forever.
David's throne
will be established
forever.
And that promise
will continue
through the rest
of the book
through the ups and downs
of 2 Chronicles
we're going to see
king after king
some are good
some are not
some seek God
and some don't
but through it all
God remains faithful.
He doesn't let the light
go out on his promise
even in the darkest days
we see that promise
reaffirmed again
and again
like in chapter 20
verse 7
of 2 Chronicles
when a king
named Jehoram
and his son Ahaziah
reject God
and worship idols
it's terrible.
Even in that darkest day
the chronicler says
yet the Lord
was not willing
to destroy
the house of David
because of the covenant
that he had made
with David
since he had promised
to give a lamp
to him
and to his sons
forever.
You see
even though the people
are faithless
even though the kings
are faithless
God remains faithful
God keeps his promise
and you see
in the chronicler's day
in the days
and years
after the exile ended
the people
were still waiting
they had returned
to the land
they had rebuilt
the temple
but there wasn't
a king
did God give up
on his promise?
Had he abandoned
his word to David?
Had the failure
of the previous kings
and the previous people
been just too great?
But the message
of Chronicles
is this
put your hope
in God's promised king
God will remain
faithful to his word
and we know
that God was faithful
when the time
was fulfilled
God sent his son
the king came
Jesus was
the true
and greater
son of David
he was the one
of whom God
the father
could really say
I will be to him
a father
and he will be
to me a son
because Jesus
was the son
from all eternity
you see friends
we put our hope
not in human leaders
but in God's
promised king
and just as
the chronicler
looked forward
to the coming
of this king
so we look forward
to this king's
coming again
when he will judge
and he will save
and he will make
all things new
so chronicles
is a retelling
of history
for a new day
it reminds us
to remember
that we're God's people
to prioritize
God's worship
and to hope
in God's king
but it ends
with a bit
of a cliffhanger
let them go up
are the last words
of the book
why
because the chronicler
knew
that the history
wasn't over
God
had more
of the story
to tell
and he knew
that his generation
was going to be
part of it
this retelling
of history
was meant
to give them
a trajectory
but there were
chapters yet
to be written
brothers and sisters
so too with us
God's history
continues to be written
God's mission
continues to advance
God's kingdom
continues to bring
healing and life
so Chronicles
stands here
and says
let's join
the story
let's put
our chapter
into the pages
of this great
history
that will resound
for eternity
you have a part
to play
it may seem
small
you may think
it's so insignificant
but friend
in the light
of eternity
who can say
what is small
and what is great
the kingdom
of God
Jesus said
is like a mustard
seed
it starts small
but when it's
fully grown
it becomes
a great tree
and the birds
can rest
in its shade
brothers and sisters
write your chapter
in this great history
plant your seed
into the soil
of God's kingdom
and let's see
what God might do
in our generation
that will resound
for eternity
let's pray
Father we ask
that you would
align us
with your
great kingdom
purposes
help us to
remember
these things
help us to
live for you
in the coming week
Amen