Calvary Church • 11338 Ozga Road • Romulus MI 48174 • 734.941.0236 • calvary@calvaryromulus.org
. . .You have magnified Your word above all Your name.
Psalm 138:2 NKJV
God Chastises His People
9. The Exile
In our study of the kings, we saw that God promised David an eternal kingdom that would be fulfilled through Jesus Christ. Anyone who wants to be a subject of that kingdom may be. Jesus said the kingdom of God is within you. He rules today not in a physical kingdom, but in the hearts and lives of His children. We enter His kingdom through repentance and faith.
We continue with the kings with the reign of Solomon and beyond. We want to see that there are always consequences for sin, whether punishment or chastisement. We want also to see that there is always a remedy for it – repentance and faith.
The name we’re giving to this period is “The Exile”
Throughout their history, God’s people disobeyed the law and neglected their special relationship with God. Even the kings forgot about God. The very people through whom God planned to bring blessing to the world were thinking, “We know better, God – we’ll do things our way”. So God took them out of their Promised Land. He sent them away to the surrounding nations. While they were in exile, the people were in anguish, because it seemed that God’s promises to Abraham were being undone. Many descendants were wiped out, and those who were left were banished from the Promised Land.
GOD BLESSES HIS PEOPLE
If we are children of God we have been blessed beyond measure, no matter what our circumstances. We should regularly remind ourselves of the blessings of God. Israel had been blessed as well. God was keeping His promises.
Some of us may be old enough to remember elevators in department stores or other buildings that had human operators. The operator would call out “going up”.
Well, this is what we could call “going up”. There was great prosperity and blessing under the first part of Solomon’s reign.
GOD’S PEOPLE FAIL TO HONOR, OBEY AND FOLLOW
This is what we could call “going down”. Solomon began to choose a path of unfaithfulness and after his death the kingdom split under the reign of Solomon’s son Rehoboam. Things were never the same.
GOD CHASTISES HIS PEOPLE
Sin always has consequences Galatians 6:7-8
The books of 1 & 2 Kings tell the stories of the two kingdoms. God had warned the people what would happen if they rebelled against Him. They would be driven out of the Promised Land and enslaved in a foreign land.
Deuteronomy 28:47-51
And that is exactly what happened. The Northern Kingdom was conquered and carried off by the Assyrians. Judah was conquered by the Babylonian Empire. Jerusalem was destroyed, the Temple was demolished and thousands of prisoners were taken to Babylon as exiles. Daniel is one example of those who were taken.
By the end of 2 Kings, Israel is gone and Judah is in shambles. Idolatry and immorality have beeh punished with civil war and conquest. They have gone from the “glory days” under Solomon to exile in Babylon.
Psalms 137:1-6
The darkness of Israel’s sinful kings emphasizes the beauty and light of the kingship of Christ. Most of Israel’s kings were selfish evil leaders who led the people away from the true and living God. Ezekiel the prophet called them harsh and brutal shepherds who cared nothing for the sheep. Jesus, however, is the Good Shepherd who care for His flock. He leads with self-sacrificing love – a love that took Him to the cross. When we see Israel’s kings at their worst, it forces us to look forward to Jesus who will be the ultimate and perfect fulfillment of God’s promise to David.
Israel’s leaders led into sin. The Northern Kingdom (Israel) was led only by kings that did evil. The Southern Kingdom (Judah) has a mix of evil & good kings. Ahaz and Manasseh were significantly evil. Three kings of the Southern Kingdom led the people to repent: Joash, Hezekiah, Josiah.
2 Kings 18:3-7 Hezekiah
2 Kings 21:1-9 Manasseh
2 Kings 22:2; 2 Kings 22:8, 10-11; 2 Kings 23:21-25 Josiah
GOD STILL OFFERS HOPE
Through repentance
Through His promises
For them – God promised to bring them back in 70 years and we see that in the books of Ezra & Nehemiah
For us – Christ is coming back to set up His kingdom
APPLICATION
God blesses us abundantly as His people (non-Christians as well), but we must recognize our sin and need of God
Even punishment (chastisement) for sin is an act of God’s grace to keep us from greater sin and to develop the character of Christ in us
We should never despise the correction of God. Rather, we should welcome it and be trained by it. Hebrews 12:5-6
Even in the midst of chastisement there is hope through repentance and the promise of God to never reject His own
We must always fight sin – never become complacent 1 Peter 5:8-9
We are no match for the devil, but Christ in us is
We must always beware of becoming proud
Never begin to think we have arrived or we are above sin 1 Corinthians 10:11-13
When we do sin – Confess and repent 1 John 1:9; Revelation 2:4-5
CONCLUSION
God blesses His people abundantly
Chastisement is for our good
Always fight sin
Always beware of pride
Always confess and repent of sin
God never abandons His people
Next: The Prophets
Next: The Prophets
