WEBVTT 00:00:06.092 --> 00:00:06.613 Thank you, micah. 00:00:06.613 --> 00:00:19.420 You know we've been continuing our journey through Route 66, the books of the Bible, and we are now landed in the books of Chronicles, 1 and 2 Chronicles. 00:00:19.420 --> 00:00:24.600 So we'll spend today and next week on Chronicles. 00:00:24.600 --> 00:00:29.320 So we'll spend today and next week on Chronicles. 00:00:29.320 --> 00:00:43.529 I'd like to spend half our time today laying some groundwork on the books of Chronicles and then spend the second half of our time beginning to delve into the themes, the major themes, of Chronicles. 00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:46.228 Chronicles is such an underappreciated book. 00:00:46.228 --> 00:00:48.524 I think many of us would acknowledge that. 00:00:48.524 --> 00:01:02.866 You know, we've looked at, you know, samuel, especially the period of time from 2 Samuel through 1 and 2 Kings, and it's exactly the same period of time that the books of Chronicles cover. 00:01:02.866 --> 00:01:08.162 So some of us may think you know, why do I have to read Chronicles? 00:01:08.162 --> 00:01:15.861 And Chronicles comes after Samuel and Kings, and so by that time you probably are tired and so I want to move on. 00:01:15.861 --> 00:01:39.792 But I want to underscore the fact that Chronicles offers us a very special perspective in the Old Testament that points us forward to Christ and that you'll understand through part of today, as part of the reasons why Chronicles was written. 00:01:39.792 --> 00:01:45.665 By the way, I want to say that throughout this message. 00:01:46.066 --> 00:02:01.614 I may be using the title God interchangeably with the personal name of God, yahweh, and I will be going back and forth using that, obviously referring to God, the Father himself. 00:02:01.614 --> 00:02:10.420 So let's go to God in prayer, the Father himself. 00:02:10.420 --> 00:02:11.002 So let's go to God in prayer. 00:02:11.002 --> 00:02:11.802 Incline our hearts to you, father. 00:02:11.802 --> 00:02:18.219 Father, open our eyes that we may behold the wondrous things that you have set forth in your law. 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:32.627 Unite our individual hearts so that we fear your name and satisfy us this evening that we may enjoy your steadfast love. 00:02:32.627 --> 00:02:36.193 Father, glorify your name through this study of your word. 00:02:36.193 --> 00:02:36.495 Tonight. 00:02:36.495 --> 00:02:38.800 We pray this in your son's name Amen, amen. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:43.568 Turn to 1 Chronicles. 00:02:44.811 --> 00:02:52.687 While you're turning, let me just ask you well, let me ask how many of you are from San Francisco or have visited San Francisco? 00:02:52.687 --> 00:02:55.985 What's the name of the newspaper there? 00:02:55.985 --> 00:03:00.366 Chronicle, san Francisco Chronicle, right? 00:03:00.366 --> 00:03:02.085 How many of you visited Houston? 00:03:02.085 --> 00:03:03.409 Or from Houston, texas? 00:03:03.409 --> 00:03:06.622 I know Josh and Carol, but they're not here tonight. 00:03:06.622 --> 00:03:07.525 They're from Houston. 00:03:07.525 --> 00:03:09.610 What's the name of the newspaper there? 00:03:09.610 --> 00:03:13.525 Houston Chronicle, right? 00:03:13.525 --> 00:03:16.391 You know where I'm going with this. 00:03:16.391 --> 00:03:19.944 And people from Augusta, georgia. 00:03:19.944 --> 00:03:23.832 They know their newspaper it's the Augusta Chronicle. 00:03:23.832 --> 00:03:27.376 They know their newspaper it's the Augusta Chronicle. 00:03:34.781 --> 00:03:36.062 So when you think of the word chronicle. 00:03:36.062 --> 00:03:40.228 It's probably, you probably think of that, it's a very common name for a newspaper, right? 00:03:40.228 --> 00:03:46.695 It's a way that the reporter journals the affairs of a community, of a city or a town, right? 00:03:46.695 --> 00:03:57.074 Well, the Book of Chronicles were written not just to report the historical facts. 00:03:57.074 --> 00:04:06.752 In fact, the Book of Chronicles is a divine commentary on the history of Israel. 00:04:06.752 --> 00:04:08.635 A divine commentary. 00:04:08.635 --> 00:04:11.487 I'll get into this a little bit more. 00:04:12.360 --> 00:04:23.233 First and Second Chronicles was originally one book, as was First and Second Samuel, as David had mentioned, and First and Second Kings, that Bob had mentioned earlier. 00:04:23.233 --> 00:04:32.326 First and Second Chronicles was one book in the Hebrew Bible, well, the Hebrew language. 00:04:32.326 --> 00:04:37.680 However, when it's written, the language is written without any vowels. 00:04:37.680 --> 00:04:42.593 It's a consonantal language. 00:04:42.593 --> 00:04:55.182 But when the Greeks came to translate it into what's known as the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint well, the Greek language inserts vowels. 00:04:55.182 --> 00:04:59.706 So you have twice the volume of the written language. 00:04:59.706 --> 00:05:03.911 So you need two scrolls to hold all of Chronicles. 00:05:03.911 --> 00:05:08.637 So since then we've had two books of Chronicles. 00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:13.663 So who wrote Chronicles? 00:05:13.663 --> 00:05:37.182 The text in Chronicles doesn't say who wrote it, but Jewish tradition strongly favors that it was Ezra, prophet Ezra, who wrote it, and the writing of this is probably around 400 BC. 00:05:37.182 --> 00:06:02.175 There's a lot of supporting evidence to point to this, one of which is that when we get into the genealogy, the first chapters of Chronicles, we'll see that the listing of the descendants, the kingly line of Judah of David, goes eight generations from Jehoiakim. 00:06:02.175 --> 00:06:07.432 Jehoiakim was the one who was taken into captivity. 00:06:07.432 --> 00:06:19.824 Eight generations after him were recorded, still okay, and so it records that line even after they return from their exile. 00:06:19.824 --> 00:06:21.045 We'll get into more of that. 00:06:21.045 --> 00:06:28.262 If you take and estimate every generation being about 25 years, that's about 200 years. 00:06:28.262 --> 00:06:33.653 Well, when did the Israelites return? 00:06:33.653 --> 00:06:40.586 When did the remnant, the first remnants, come back to the land of Jerusalem, their homeland? 00:06:40.586 --> 00:06:49.725 Well, they first left when Cyrus made that decree and we'll get into this more in 538 BC, all right. 00:06:49.725 --> 00:06:55.552 And then another wave followed, ezra in 458 BC. 00:06:55.552 --> 00:07:08.800 And then Nehemiah brought the third and final wave of returned exiles in 445 BC, of returned exiles in 445 BC. 00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:31.601 So when you look at all this, when you look at the number of generations and the number of years it may be around, it's certainly probably in the ministry of Ezra and probably around 400 AD, the late fifth century before Christ. 00:07:31.601 --> 00:07:33.286 That's roughly when we think the Chronicles were written. 00:07:35.312 --> 00:07:37.697 So, as I said, chronicles is a divine commentary. 00:07:37.697 --> 00:07:42.947 It's a spiritual commentary on the history of the southern kingdom of Judah. 00:07:42.947 --> 00:08:13.800 In contrast, samuel and the kings are a more factual, a chronological and a political record of the history of both the northern and southern kingdoms kingdoms. 00:08:13.800 --> 00:08:16.024 You will also observe that Chronicles seems to put a good light on the kings of Judah. 00:08:16.024 --> 00:08:32.827 They're focusing on the kings of Judah, but they put a particularly good light, they almost clean up the reputation of some of these kings. 00:08:32.827 --> 00:08:35.759 For example, david running away from Saul is not mentioned in Chronicles. 00:08:35.759 --> 00:08:43.058 David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba not mentioned in the Chronicles. 00:08:43.058 --> 00:08:49.005 Nor is his accompanying murder of Bathsheba's husband not mentioned. 00:08:49.005 --> 00:09:02.873 So it leaves out the accounts of the kings of the northern tribes, the northern kingdom, because they didn't really contribute to the positive purpose of the book of Chronicles. 00:09:02.873 --> 00:09:17.506 One other thing I forgot to mention is that if we feel that the book of Chronicles is redundant, we have to think about where it's located. 00:09:17.826 --> 00:09:33.176 In the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible actually places the book of Chronicles as the very last book of the Hebrew Bible. 00:09:33.176 --> 00:09:50.116 The Hebrew Bible is broken up and even Jesus Christ mentions this when he was walking with the two men walking to Emmaus at the end of Luke, that the law, the prophets and the writings, that was the Hebrew scripture. 00:09:50.116 --> 00:09:56.032 Well, chronicles was the last book of the last section of the Hebrew Bible. 00:09:56.032 --> 00:09:59.509 It was the last book in the writings. 00:09:59.509 --> 00:10:04.831 In contrast, samuel and the kings are part of the prophets' section. 00:10:04.831 --> 00:10:07.587 They were quite separate, they were different. 00:10:12.201 --> 00:10:25.195 Well, let me ask you then, why did Chronicles appear to be written in this way, so differently from Samuel and Kings? 00:10:25.195 --> 00:10:33.450 The writer of Chronicles, probably Ezra, was very well versed in Samuel and the Kings, right. 00:10:33.450 --> 00:10:38.363 Why did he choose to write the Chronicles in this way? 00:10:38.363 --> 00:10:49.710 Well, one thing I want to mention is that, since we've learned in Pastor Doug's ABF class, context, context, context is so important. 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:58.360 Well, if we look at when Samuel and the kings were written, samuel was written probably during the times of the divided monarchy. 00:10:58.360 --> 00:11:13.572 Remember Saul, david, solomon were kings of the united monarchy, but because of their failures as kings, the monarchy was divided From Solomon's son, rehoboam. 00:11:13.572 --> 00:11:26.623 There became a breaking of the kingdom into two the northern kingdom, where the 10 tribes went up to, and the southern kingdom of Judah, judah and Benjamin. 00:11:26.623 --> 00:11:29.610 Actually, the two tribes, okay, were together in the southern kingdom. 00:11:29.610 --> 00:12:08.479 Well, samuel was written during that earlier time, during the divided monarchy, early during the early exile time, during the time that they were taken into Babylon and probably written during that time Now, they were probably thinking and repenting over what led them to be taken away into Babylon, over what led them to be taken away into Babylon. 00:12:08.479 --> 00:12:17.113 So all the ugliness was left in the kings, so that they can see why they were taken into captivity. 00:12:17.113 --> 00:12:20.889 God punished them for their failures, for their sins. 00:12:20.889 --> 00:12:26.096 Now the Chronicles Chronicles was written after they came back from exile. 00:12:26.096 --> 00:12:26.438 They were in exile for their sins. 00:12:26.438 --> 00:12:27.631 Now the Chronicles Chronicles was written after they came back from exile. 00:12:27.631 --> 00:12:29.293 They were in exile for 70 years. 00:12:29.293 --> 00:12:37.144 They've come back and it's probably during Ezra's ministry that Chronicles was written. 00:12:37.745 --> 00:12:48.116 Chronicles was written to a group of people who had to find a new identity for themselves. 00:12:48.116 --> 00:12:52.889 They had come back to a homeland. 00:12:52.889 --> 00:12:54.192 That's very, very different. 00:12:54.192 --> 00:13:04.220 They were no longer probably over the fact that they had sinned so much that caused them to go into captivity. 00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:07.741 Here they're now coming back to reestablish themselves as a nation. 00:13:07.741 --> 00:13:28.413 So let me there are several things that they actually have found themselves seeking as a nation a new, a returned nation. 00:13:28.413 --> 00:13:34.697 First of all, they're thankful that they came back to their homeland. 00:13:34.697 --> 00:13:38.275 That's at least one of the few blessings that they came back to. 00:13:38.345 --> 00:13:47.894 But they found that the land, jerusalem, had no security, so they had to rebuild the wall. 00:13:47.894 --> 00:13:49.691 Nehemiah came to rebuild the wall. 00:13:49.691 --> 00:13:53.644 They had no temple. 00:13:53.644 --> 00:13:55.412 The temple was destroyed. 00:13:55.412 --> 00:14:08.365 But Zerubbabel attempted to rebuild the temple a pretty meager-looking temple by comparison to Solomon's temple. 00:14:08.365 --> 00:14:16.476 But they tried to rebuild the temple and they did, with some difficulty though, built the temple. 00:14:16.476 --> 00:14:26.460 And they did with some difficulty, though they also found themselves needing a lot of encouragement. 00:14:26.460 --> 00:14:31.278 They had no temple, they had the city walls all destroyed. 00:14:31.278 --> 00:14:40.219 They didn't have their former kingdom's wealth and, worst of all, god's divine presence was no longer with them. 00:14:40.219 --> 00:14:48.789 God's presence, if we look back in Ezekiel, the book of Ezekiel, in chapters 8 to about 11, god departed from Jerusalem. 00:14:48.789 --> 00:14:51.096 He left them, he left the people. 00:14:51.096 --> 00:14:57.299 He left them, he left the people. 00:14:57.299 --> 00:15:06.664 That was a sorry cry for the people of Israel. 00:15:06.664 --> 00:15:10.563 So this is the setting in which Chronicles was written. 00:15:10.563 --> 00:15:17.018 They were looking for encouragement, they were looking for a place to where to place their hope. 00:15:17.018 --> 00:15:22.475 They also were wondering there's no Davidic king ruling right now. 00:15:22.475 --> 00:15:25.975 They had only a governor from Persia sitting there. 00:15:25.975 --> 00:15:27.970 Where's the Davidic king? 00:15:27.970 --> 00:15:30.273 What happened to the Davidic covenant. 00:15:32.245 --> 00:15:37.996 Well, let me go over some of this now and move into more of 1 Chronicles. 00:15:37.996 --> 00:15:48.693 We'll cover 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles today and next week, so I'm going to lump 1 and 2 Chronicles and call that the books of Chronicles, okay? 00:15:48.693 --> 00:15:51.504 So Chronicles covers a history beginning with Adam. 00:15:51.504 --> 00:15:54.506 Now turn with me to 1 Chronicles, chapter 1. 00:15:54.506 --> 00:16:03.732 1 Chronicles 1. 00:16:03.732 --> 00:16:17.942 You see that it says Adam, seth Enosh, kenan, mahaleo, jared Enoch, methuselah, lamech, noah, noah's sons, shem Ham and Japheth. 00:16:17.942 --> 00:16:19.842 We recognize these names. 00:16:19.842 --> 00:16:31.570 It begins with Adam right and it ends in 1 Chronicles ends with the reign of David. 00:16:31.590 --> 00:16:37.496 The chapters 1 to 9 here in 1 Chronicles reports the genealogy of the tribes of Israel. 00:16:37.496 --> 00:16:51.365 Chapter 10, I'm going to go quickly over this Chapter 10 is the only chapter that talks about Saul and it reports on Saul's death. 00:16:51.365 --> 00:16:56.177 Chapters 11 to 29, which is the end of 1 Chronicles, is all about David's reign. 00:16:56.177 --> 00:17:06.140 Now, if you look at chapters 1 to 9, beginning with Adam, chapters 1 to 9, it covers over 3,300 years of history. 00:17:06.140 --> 00:17:16.357 And then, if you look at David's reign, chapters 11 to 29, david's reign Now, this is David's reign in Jerusalem. 00:17:16.357 --> 00:17:30.691 He started off in Hebron, remember, for seven years, but in Jerusalem he reigned for 33 years, 3,300 years, chapters 1 to 9, only 33 years from chapters 11 to 29. 00:17:30.691 --> 00:17:34.255 You see the focus right. 00:17:34.255 --> 00:17:37.338 Now let's look at 2 Chronicles. 00:17:37.338 --> 00:17:43.157 Okay, 2 Chronicles reports on the reign of Solomon, the first descendant following David as king. 00:17:43.157 --> 00:17:46.266 That covers chapters 1 to 9. 00:17:46.266 --> 00:17:47.267 In 2 Chronicles. 00:17:47.267 --> 00:17:49.470 Solomon's reign was for 40 years. 00:17:49.470 --> 00:17:57.520 Then it continues on with the rest of the kings of Judah, from chapters 10 through 36. 00:17:57.520 --> 00:18:02.416 That covers 345 years, okay. 00:18:02.416 --> 00:18:17.377 And it ends with the decree of the Persian king, cyrus, who makes a decree to permit the Jews to return back to their homeland and rebuild their temple. 00:18:17.377 --> 00:18:24.375 Right, this is the scope in which we're going to cover today and next week. 00:18:24.964 --> 00:18:31.509 When we look at the genealogical records of chapters 1 to 9 in 1 Chronicles, they highlight two groups of people. 00:18:31.509 --> 00:18:36.392 Go back, you see, in chapter 3? 00:18:36.392 --> 00:18:36.392 . 00:18:36.392 --> 00:18:38.147 Well, let's go. 00:18:38.147 --> 00:18:44.157 Chapter 1, you see the beginning genealogies of Adam to Abraham. 00:18:44.157 --> 00:18:49.991 It talks about the Edomites, from Esau, I should say. 00:18:49.991 --> 00:18:54.025 Chapter 2 talks about now begins with Israel's sons. 00:18:54.025 --> 00:18:59.651 What's interesting, you see here, is that it begins after it talks about Israel's sons. 00:18:59.651 --> 00:19:05.986 You know, he lists the 12 sons of Jacob, israel, but he talks about Judah first. 00:19:05.986 --> 00:19:08.628 Right, judah comes first. 00:19:08.628 --> 00:19:10.671 The rest of that chapter. 00:19:10.671 --> 00:19:12.593 Judah is all about Judah. 00:19:15.635 --> 00:19:20.801 Chapter 3 is about David's descendants. 00:19:20.801 --> 00:19:22.728 Remember, david is in the line of Judah. 00:19:22.728 --> 00:19:23.891 He was a son of Jesse. 00:19:23.891 --> 00:19:27.726 All of chapter 3 is about David's descendants. 00:19:27.726 --> 00:19:33.798 The last section of chapter 3 is about David's line after they returned from exile. 00:19:33.798 --> 00:19:40.368 3 is about David's line after they returned from exile. 00:19:40.368 --> 00:19:42.292 So you see there is more of David's line that continued on. 00:19:42.292 --> 00:19:42.693 It was not broken. 00:19:42.693 --> 00:19:49.273 There were times when that line could have been broken, but David's line continued on, even through the exile. 00:19:49.273 --> 00:20:01.316 Now, if you note eighth generation, that descendant called Anani, that very last person there of the eighth generation, we think that you know that's the eighth generation. 00:20:01.316 --> 00:20:06.869 So if Chronicles is so focused on the Davidic line, why did it just stop there? 00:20:06.869 --> 00:20:15.073 If Chronicles were written even earlier, even later, why didn't it mention any more of David's line? 00:20:15.073 --> 00:20:18.454 So that's a hint when Chronicles was actually written. 00:20:18.454 --> 00:20:24.958 But anyway, chapter 4 goes on with more of Judah's descendants. 00:20:25.144 --> 00:20:34.233 Judah, judah, judah, right, and then chapter 5 and on talks about the other tribes of Israel. 00:20:34.233 --> 00:20:38.799 We have Reuben and the Levites, simeon. 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:39.681 Let's see Gad. 00:20:39.681 --> 00:20:47.117 You know the rest of the 12 tribes, but let me get to so the Levites. 00:20:47.117 --> 00:20:49.567 The Levites is a very big chapter, chapter 6. 00:20:49.567 --> 00:20:53.333 The Levites is another big, big chapter. 00:20:53.333 --> 00:21:10.612 So if you flip through the rest, through chapter 9, the two main groups of people that are talked about in the genealogy section are the Davidic line of kings and the priests and Levites, the ones who functioned in the temple. 00:21:10.612 --> 00:21:15.476 So David's line, specifically the kings. 00:21:15.476 --> 00:21:28.073 Then you have the priests and the Levites, descendants of Aaron and the other Levitical families, and they functioned in the temple. 00:21:28.073 --> 00:21:55.265 So these two genealogical groups actually foreshadow the development of the major themes that we're going to see in Chronicles the Davidic dynasty, his line of kings as one major theme, and temple worship, temple worship, and you'll see this develop through the rest of 1 and 2 Chronicles. 00:21:55.546 --> 00:22:05.416 So before I get into talking more about the key themes of Chronicles, let's turn to 1, chronicles 17. 00:22:05.416 --> 00:22:09.155 I think this is the most pivotal chapter in Chronicles. 00:22:09.155 --> 00:22:15.377 Turn to 1 Chronicles, chapter 17. 00:22:15.377 --> 00:22:37.739 17, verses 1, I'll read there when David had settled into his palace, he said to the prophet Nathan look, I am living in a cedar house while the Ark of the Lord's Covenant is under tent curtains. 00:22:37.739 --> 00:22:42.676 You see, david is now pretty much enjoying his new palace. 00:22:42.676 --> 00:22:48.718 He has a brand new palace, a glorious palace that he had built for himself, for his family. 00:22:48.718 --> 00:22:56.392 And he's feeling, you know, pretty cush, right, but he's feeling a little guilty. 00:22:56.392 --> 00:23:04.318 He says, while the ark of the Lord's covenant is still under tent curtains. 00:23:05.884 --> 00:23:11.557 So Nathan told David in verse 2, do all that is on your mind, for God is with you. 00:23:11.557 --> 00:23:13.712 Nathan is thinking what David is thinking. 00:23:13.712 --> 00:23:16.733 David wants to build the Lord a temple. 00:23:16.733 --> 00:23:23.613 Nathan says to him go ahead, do what you think is on your mind, god is with you. 00:23:23.613 --> 00:23:24.675 And then verse 3. 00:23:24.675 --> 00:23:27.575 But that night the word of God came to Nathan. 00:23:27.575 --> 00:23:36.576 Go to David, my servant, and say this is what the Lord says you are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. 00:23:37.986 --> 00:23:39.148 Go further down, verse 7. 00:23:39.148 --> 00:23:42.698 So now this is what you are to say to my servant, david. 00:23:42.698 --> 00:23:51.190 This is what the Lord of armies says I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel. 00:23:51.190 --> 00:23:55.625 I have been with you wherever you have gone over my people Israel. 00:23:55.625 --> 00:23:58.692 I have been with you wherever you have gone and I have destroyed all your enemies before you. 00:23:58.692 --> 00:23:59.654 You see, he's pretty cush. 00:23:59.654 --> 00:24:00.837 Now he has peace on every side. 00:24:01.924 --> 00:24:06.895 Then it says I will make a name for you like that of the greatest on the earth. 00:24:06.895 --> 00:24:11.028 I will designate a place for my people, israel, and plant them. 00:24:11.028 --> 00:24:22.411 Ooh, I will designate a place for my people, israel, and plant them, so that they may live there and not be disturbed again. 00:24:22.411 --> 00:24:28.250 Hmm, something about our current day situation too, I don't know. 00:24:28.250 --> 00:24:30.394 Anyway, it's an interesting side point. 00:24:30.394 --> 00:24:38.631 Evildoers will not continue to oppress them as they have done Ever since the day I ordered judges to be over my people, israel. 00:24:38.631 --> 00:24:41.614 I will also subdue all your enemies. 00:24:41.614 --> 00:24:52.688 Furthermore, I declare to you that the Lord himself will build a house for you when your time comes to be with your ancestors. 00:24:52.688 --> 00:25:01.171 I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 00:25:01.171 --> 00:25:08.576 He is the one who will build a house for me and I will establish his throne forever. 00:25:11.445 --> 00:25:14.829 You know this account is also in 2 Samuel, chapter 7. 00:25:14.829 --> 00:25:17.472 This is known as the Davidic covenant. 00:25:17.472 --> 00:25:22.538 This is the covenant God made unilaterally to David. 00:25:22.538 --> 00:25:40.338 His servant, david asked to build God a house, a temple, but Yahweh God said and responded and said that he would build David a house. 00:25:40.338 --> 00:25:45.605 It's a play on words there A house, temple, a house, a dynasty. 00:25:45.605 --> 00:25:50.080 So Chronicles is about these two houses. 00:25:50.080 --> 00:26:06.730 It's about how God raised up the Davidic dynasty as a promise of hope, and it is also about how David's royal house constructed and maintained the temple Temple of Yahweh. 00:26:06.730 --> 00:26:11.830 So in other words, the Davidic covenant gave rise to two institutions. 00:26:11.830 --> 00:26:19.730 We see the Davidic kingly line, the monarchy, and we also see the temple. 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:24.846 These are the two institutions that came right out of the Davidic covenant. 00:26:24.846 --> 00:26:36.018 So the key themes of Chronicles are, first, god's commitment to the house of David and secondly, god's temple and his presence in his people's worship. 00:26:36.018 --> 00:26:44.289 So I'm going to spend the rest of our time this evening focusing on the first theme, god's commitment to the Davidic dynasty. 00:26:44.289 --> 00:26:56.082 Then I'll focus our time next week on how the chronicler highlights God's temple, yahweh's dwelling place among his people and the people's response in worship. 00:26:56.082 --> 00:26:57.865 So all that's for next week. 00:26:57.865 --> 00:27:01.137 So the first theme God's commitment to the house of David. 00:27:02.241 --> 00:27:03.707 Let's make a few observations first. 00:27:03.707 --> 00:27:08.105 So bear with me, because I'm going to have you turn to different parts of Chronicles, okay. 00:27:08.105 --> 00:27:12.628 So first let's go back to Chronicles 1, chronicles 1. 00:27:12.628 --> 00:27:19.954 I think we already read a little bit about that, so I made the point just so that we save some time. 00:27:20.174 --> 00:27:24.337 From the beginning of 1 Chronicles, the chronicler really focused on David. 00:27:24.337 --> 00:27:34.906 David as he traced the genealogy from Adam to Abraham, then from Abraham through the 12 tribes. 00:27:34.906 --> 00:27:52.999 And I mentioned to you that in 1 Chronicles 2, if you turn there, that the chronicler starts off by talking about Judah, the tribe of Judah, rather than Reuben. 00:27:52.999 --> 00:27:54.000 Reuben is the firstborn. 00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:59.730 Reuben has the birthright, he has the rights of being the firstborn right. 00:27:59.730 --> 00:28:08.134 In the Jewish culture, the oldest gets the birthright and much of the inheritance and blessings from the father. 00:28:08.134 --> 00:28:11.868 Why did this not happen to Reuben? 00:28:11.868 --> 00:28:12.911 Well, there's a couple things. 00:28:12.911 --> 00:28:21.596 I mentioned that the chronicler wanted to focus on the people who were the center of his theological history, right? 00:28:21.596 --> 00:28:22.726 Well, that's one reason. 00:28:22.726 --> 00:28:23.907 But there's a stronger reason. 00:28:23.907 --> 00:28:36.558 Back in Genesis 49, I think it was, yes, genesis 49, when Jacob or Israel was soon to die, he offered his blessings onto his 12 sons. 00:28:36.558 --> 00:28:53.673 He didn't offer really good positive blessings on Reuben, the eldest, or Simeon or Levi, the first three, but Judah, for Judah, the fourth son he poured out immense blessings on. 00:28:53.673 --> 00:29:07.429 So you can see that prophetic blessing from Genesis 49 is actually being fulfilled here in the Davidic covenant. 00:29:07.429 --> 00:29:11.644 Now it's an interesting observation. 00:29:12.154 --> 00:29:14.000 Another observation turn to chapter 3. 00:29:14.000 --> 00:29:15.224 I think I mentioned this too. 00:29:15.224 --> 00:29:19.465 In chapter 3, we have David's children and the royal descendants. 00:29:19.465 --> 00:29:43.778 This takes up the central part of Judah's family list, because Judah's list began in chapter 2, but all of 3 is specifically David's children, david's children, and then after chapter 3, it goes on more, going back to the general descendants of Judah, the tribe of Judah. 00:29:43.778 --> 00:29:51.840 So you have the general genealogy of Judah in chapter 2, the general genealogy of Judah in chapter 4. 00:29:51.840 --> 00:29:57.115 Chapter 3 is all about it's sandwiched to highlight David's line. 00:29:57.115 --> 00:30:10.165 To highlight David's line I think you remember that, this squeezing structure that Pastor Doug talked about, this maybe a chiastic structure that center part of it seems to be more important. 00:30:10.165 --> 00:30:11.921 That's the Davidic line there. 00:30:11.921 --> 00:30:23.154 Anyway, the fourth observation I wanted to point out I mentioned this before that this chronicler, probably Ezra, almost entirely passes over the Saul's reign right. 00:30:23.517 --> 00:30:24.461 Turn with me to chapter 10. 00:30:24.461 --> 00:30:26.621 1 Chronicles, chapter 10. 00:30:26.621 --> 00:30:42.405 All this chronicler had to say really about Saul's reign was that it's actually in verse 13 and 14. 00:30:42.405 --> 00:30:44.189 Verse 13, chapter 10, verse 13. 00:30:44.189 --> 00:30:50.847 Saul died for his unfaithfulness to the Lord, because he did not keep the Lord's word. 00:30:50.847 --> 00:30:56.422 He even consulted a medium for guidance, but he did not inquire of the Lord. 00:30:56.422 --> 00:31:02.471 So the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David, son of Jesse. 00:31:02.471 --> 00:31:04.778 This is the same account. 00:31:04.778 --> 00:31:10.738 The factual parts of it earlier in chapter 10 are also seen in 1 Samuel 31, the last chapter in 1 Samuel. 00:31:10.738 --> 00:31:17.690 But what's not said is why Saul's kingdom was taken away. 00:31:17.690 --> 00:31:21.944 This is an example of the divine commentary I told you about. 00:31:21.944 --> 00:31:27.287 There's a special commentary on the actual historical facts. 00:31:27.287 --> 00:31:37.561 So this chronicler wanted to provide the context why Saul's reign was taken away from him and that dynasty was only Saul. 00:31:37.561 --> 00:31:40.978 There was no furtherance of that kingly line was there. 00:31:41.839 --> 00:31:53.123 So looking at all these observations taken together, we can see that the chronicler is setting up the book in these first nine chapters, these first nine chapters of genealogy. 00:31:53.123 --> 00:32:02.166 He's setting up the chronicles to be about David and the kings that followed him, david's line of kings. 00:32:02.166 --> 00:32:05.219 So this is what we're going to focus on today now. 00:32:05.219 --> 00:32:10.556 Okay, so back to our major theme God's commitment to the house of David. 00:32:10.556 --> 00:32:17.887 We can see this in three ways First of all, by God placing David on the throne. 00:32:17.887 --> 00:32:21.034 By God placing David on the throne. 00:32:21.034 --> 00:32:26.078 Secondly, by God promising to David an everlasting dynasty. 00:32:26.078 --> 00:32:37.428 And the third thing, by preserving God, preserving David's dynasty, placing David on the throne, promising an everlasting dynasty. 00:32:37.428 --> 00:32:40.561 And thirdly, preserving that dynasty. 00:32:40.561 --> 00:32:43.377 So the first one, placing David on the throne. 00:32:45.060 --> 00:32:47.086 How does the chronicler bring this out more? 00:32:47.086 --> 00:32:54.422 Well, let's now turn just right over to the next chapter, 1, chronicles 11. 00:32:54.422 --> 00:32:58.688 We see, hereid lived a life that honored god. 00:32:58.688 --> 00:33:08.409 His rise to the throne was not anything that he did, nothing that he did specifically, but it was because god ordained it to happen. 00:33:08.409 --> 00:33:13.223 Look at first, chronicles 11, verse 2. 00:33:13.223 --> 00:33:25.319 Actually this, the second, the second half of verse 2 the lord, your god, also said to you you will shepherd my people, israel and you will be ruler over my people, israel. 00:33:25.500 --> 00:33:26.221 Now, who said this? 00:33:26.221 --> 00:33:28.067 Let's look at verse 1. 00:33:28.067 --> 00:33:29.676 This is actually very interesting. 00:33:29.676 --> 00:33:44.576 All Israel, all Israel, came together to David at Hebron and said so all Israel, all the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron. 00:33:44.576 --> 00:33:46.618 Here we are your own flesh and blood. 00:33:46.618 --> 00:33:52.266 Even previously, when Saul was king, you were leading Israel out to battle and bringing us back. 00:33:52.266 --> 00:34:05.538 The Lord, your God, also said to you All of Israel knew what God had said to David. 00:34:05.538 --> 00:34:06.119 Isn't that interesting? 00:34:06.119 --> 00:34:07.501 They knew what God told David. 00:34:07.501 --> 00:34:19.507 They're acknowledging and affirming David because they received that divine understanding that David is their new ruler, their new leader. 00:34:19.507 --> 00:34:28.826 It said all Israel came together to David at Hebron and said here we are your own flesh and blood. 00:34:28.826 --> 00:34:42.496 So not only do we see God has ordained David to be king, it was affirmed because all Israel accepted and acknowledged that too, right. 00:34:43.737 --> 00:34:45.521 The third thing, let's look at chapter 12. 00:34:45.521 --> 00:34:49.288 Look at chapter 12, verse 23. 00:34:49.288 --> 00:35:25.045 It says the numbers of the armed troops who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul's kingdom over to him Hebron to turn Saul's kingdom over to him, according to the Lord's word, were as follows and he lists the tribes, every tribe, and he lists the number of military men of those tribes they came to David to turn the kingdom of Saul over to him. 00:35:25.045 --> 00:35:26.693 Another affirmation David is to be king. 00:35:26.693 --> 00:35:34.693 Let's look at another piece of evidence. 00:35:34.693 --> 00:35:35.255 Turn to chapter 14. 00:35:35.255 --> 00:35:39.501 David obeyed God's commands and the Lord gave him victory and God caused the nations to fear him. 00:35:39.501 --> 00:35:49.222 Verse 16 says so David did as God commanded him and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer. 00:35:49.222 --> 00:36:06.458 Then David's fame spread throughout the lands and the Lord caused all the nations to be terrified of him, caused all the nations to be terrified of him. 00:36:06.458 --> 00:36:07.501 That's another affirmation. 00:36:07.501 --> 00:36:09.525 And one more David patiently trusted in the Lord and was rewarded for this. 00:36:09.525 --> 00:36:12.336 Look earlier in the same chapter, chapter 14, verse 2. 00:36:12.336 --> 00:36:26.128 Then David knew the Lord had established him as king over Israel and that his kingdom had been exalted for the sake of his people, israel. 00:36:26.128 --> 00:36:31.155 David knew he was to be king Now. 00:36:31.155 --> 00:36:33.663 He was convinced. 00:36:33.663 --> 00:36:34.766 He knew this. 00:36:34.766 --> 00:36:36.820 How did David know this? 00:36:36.820 --> 00:36:43.918 It's because the way David lived his life, he lived his life close to God. 00:36:43.918 --> 00:36:46.606 No wonder he's called the man after God's own heart. 00:36:46.606 --> 00:36:48.898 He was reassured. 00:36:48.898 --> 00:36:54.329 He knew that God established him as king and gave him a kingdom. 00:36:54.329 --> 00:37:09.295 So God's commitment to the house of David is shown not only by his sovereign placement of David on the throne, but it's also by promising David that he will have an everlasting dynasty. 00:37:10.737 --> 00:37:22.210 If you look at first chronicles, 19 chapters in first chron, basically from chapters 11 on to 29, they concern David's reign. 00:37:22.210 --> 00:37:30.307 12 of those chapters are centered on preparations for the temple and we're going to get into that. 00:37:30.307 --> 00:37:34.338 So the temple is very important in Chronicles. 00:37:34.338 --> 00:37:45.128 The Davidic covenant is a much more dominant, overarching, perpetual covenant that God had made with David. 00:37:45.128 --> 00:37:49.211 Let's go back to 1 Chronicles 17. 00:37:49.211 --> 00:37:57.867 1 Chronicles 17,. 00:37:57.867 --> 00:38:04.788 The chapter about the Davidic covenant, verse 10, the second half of verse 10,. 00:38:04.788 --> 00:38:13.599 I'll start reading Furthermore I declare to you that the Lord himself will build a house for you when your time comes to be with your ancestors. 00:38:13.619 --> 00:38:21.690 I will raise up after you your descendant, who is one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. 00:38:21.690 --> 00:38:27.148 He is the one who will build a house for me and I will establish his throne forever. 00:38:27.148 --> 00:38:32.666 I will be his father and he will be my son. 00:38:32.666 --> 00:38:38.980 I will not remove my faithful love from him, as I removed it from the one who was before you. 00:38:38.980 --> 00:38:47.168 If you look at these three or four sentences, you find eight promises listed. 00:38:47.168 --> 00:38:54.523 You know the Lord will build a house for you, for David, and then it says I will raise up after you your descendant. 00:38:54.523 --> 00:38:57.804 Then he says I will establish his kingdom. 00:38:57.804 --> 00:39:01.744 And then he says he's the one who built a house for me. 00:39:01.744 --> 00:39:05.063 And it goes on to say I will establish his throne forever. 00:39:05.063 --> 00:39:07.420 He says I will be his father. 00:39:07.420 --> 00:39:09.862 He promises that he will be my son. 00:39:09.862 --> 00:39:14.365 And then he says I will not remove my faithful love from him. 00:39:14.365 --> 00:39:17.623 These promises are very significant. 00:39:17.623 --> 00:39:20.521 They're very, very significant. 00:39:21.836 --> 00:39:22.521 There are three reasons. 00:39:22.521 --> 00:39:28.581 The first king Saul lost his dynasty because he disobeyed the Lord. 00:39:28.581 --> 00:39:34.965 Saul's dynasty was only one king himself. 00:39:34.965 --> 00:39:42.949 The second reason the northern kingdom had 10 dynasties over a brief 200 years. 00:39:42.949 --> 00:39:46.222 10 dynasties over 200 years. 00:39:46.222 --> 00:39:48.047 10 dynasties. 00:39:48.047 --> 00:39:58.139 But the Lord declared that he would never remove his steadfast love from the Davidic dynasty, the one dynasty, david's dynasty. 00:39:58.139 --> 00:40:05.864 David and the line of Davidic kings, judah, had only one dynasty that lasted over 400 years. 00:40:05.864 --> 00:40:07.507 That's a long time. 00:40:07.507 --> 00:40:14.867 That's only a temporary vision of what that dynasty is. 00:40:14.867 --> 00:40:22.567 Jesus Christ, the messianic king, is the fulfillment of an everlasting Davidic King. 00:40:22.567 --> 00:40:30.306 So that's the significance of these promises. 00:40:30.306 --> 00:40:31.708 I'm going to move a little faster. 00:40:34.036 --> 00:40:39.887 Lastly, so we've seen God's commitment to the house of David is shown by putting David on the throne. 00:40:39.887 --> 00:40:48.246 We've seen the promise to David for an everlasting dynasty and finally preserving David's dynasty. 00:40:48.246 --> 00:40:53.186 David's lived to see the initial fulfillment of God's promise to him. 00:40:53.186 --> 00:40:56.025 David crowned Solomon to be his successor. 00:40:56.025 --> 00:40:59.826 In 1 Chronicles 28, verse 5, david assembled all the leaders of Israel to commission Solomon to build his successor. 00:40:59.826 --> 00:41:04.418 In 1 Chronicles 28, verse 5, david assembled all the leaders of Israel to commission Solomon to build the temple. 00:41:04.418 --> 00:41:16.916 He said and out of all my sons for the Lord has given me many sons he has chosen my son, solomon, to sit on the throne of the Lord's kingdom over Israel. 00:41:16.916 --> 00:41:20.907 So this verse brings out the central truth that, although every king might sit on the throne of the Lord's kingdom over Israel. 00:41:20.907 --> 00:41:26.985 So this verse brings out the central truth that, although every king might sit on the throne over Israel, the kingdom still belonged to God. 00:41:26.985 --> 00:41:30.914 It's the Lord's kingdom over Israel. 00:41:30.914 --> 00:41:45.543 And the Lord said to David in 1 Chronicles 28, 7, 1 Chronicles 28.7, I will establish his kingdom forever if he perseveres in keeping my commands and my ordinances, as he is doing today. 00:41:45.543 --> 00:41:54.442 However, neither Solomon nor any other Davidic king was completely faithful, yet each king was succeeded by his son. 00:41:54.442 --> 00:42:07.447 The Davidic covenant will stand forever, but the experience of the Davidic rule depended on the king's obedience obedience to the law of Moses. 00:42:07.447 --> 00:42:17.702 So this obedience will bring about covenant blessings and disobedience, as you know, brings about covenant curses and eventually, exile. 00:42:17.702 --> 00:42:21.206 So we'll talk more about this next week. 00:42:21.206 --> 00:42:29.681 But the assessment was based on the king's ability to maintain proper worship in the temple. 00:42:29.681 --> 00:42:43.259 So the Chronicles reports on how God maintained his promise to David, even though he had to punish kings who were disloyal to the true king of Israel. 00:42:43.259 --> 00:42:50.989 And as punishment, god sent enemies to attack or a disease to kill. 00:42:50.989 --> 00:42:54.438 A couple of Judah's kings were assassinated. 00:42:54.438 --> 00:43:04.103 Regardless of how Judah's kings died, god always made sure that the next son was in line and was put on the throne. 00:43:04.103 --> 00:43:12.141 Let's look at an example of King Jehoram, a very evil, evil king. 00:43:12.141 --> 00:43:15.902 This is in 2 Chronicles 21. 00:43:15.902 --> 00:43:17.815 He was a very, very wicked king. 00:43:17.815 --> 00:43:24.117 God punished him with several rebellions against him. 00:43:24.117 --> 00:43:28.025 There was also a personal rebuke by the prophet Elijah. 00:43:28.025 --> 00:43:39.224 And thirdly, there was a disease God placed on him, a disease of his bowels that was so severe that the scripture says they came out. 00:43:39.224 --> 00:43:46.976 Despite Joram's sin, god did not turn his love away from David's house. 00:43:46.976 --> 00:43:51.264 The Chronicler wrote in 2 Chronicles 21,. 00:43:51.264 --> 00:44:05.344 He writes but for the sake of the covenant the Lord had made with David, he was unwilling to destroy the house of David, since the Lord had promised to give a lamp to David and to his sons forever. 00:44:05.344 --> 00:44:17.065 So the readers of Chronicles needed to know that God made his covenant with David an everlasting promise that he would never fail to keep his word. 00:44:17.065 --> 00:44:28.197 There was no Davidic ruler on the throne in Jerusalem when the chronicler wrote these words, though, so the people would have naturally wondered what about the status of the Davidic covenant then? 00:44:28.197 --> 00:44:31.143 God's answer is very clear in Chronicles. 00:44:31.143 --> 00:44:44.324 The genealogies in 1 Chronicles 3 show that God protected David's descendants and brought them back from exile ready to rule again when God decreed it to be the right time. 00:44:44.324 --> 00:44:49.503 God always has been faithful to the Davidic dynasty. 00:44:49.503 --> 00:44:53.215 Yahweh does not forget his promises. 00:44:53.215 --> 00:45:01.829 So it's no surprise that Chronicles is the last book, and therefore conclusion, of the Hebrew Bible. 00:45:01.829 --> 00:45:03.297 That's where it sits. 00:45:03.297 --> 00:45:09.391 Our Bible kind of got it wrong the English Bible. 00:45:09.391 --> 00:45:16.141 It has great theological implications for the Jews as they anticipate the Messiah For us. 00:45:16.141 --> 00:45:33.259 When we turn to the next page, we see god's fulfillment of a davidic king, jesus christ, who had come the first time to bring salvation to all nations and who will come a second time as a conquering king. 00:45:33.259 --> 00:45:43.351 He will execute judgment on unbelievers and grant a final reward to believers, who then will live in the new heavens and new earth. 00:45:43.351 --> 00:45:49.804 This triune God will reign and be worshipped in a never-ending kingdom. 00:45:49.804 --> 00:46:01.103 So, in summary, the two major themes that Chronicles tell us are, first of all, god's commitment to the house of David. 00:46:01.103 --> 00:46:04.822 Secondly, god's temple and his presence in the worship of his people. 00:46:04.822 --> 00:46:18.429 Both of these themes are derived from the Davidic covenant that God would build David a house, establishing his throne forever, and David's descendants would build Yahweh a temple and maintain it. 00:46:18.429 --> 00:46:31.744 God committed to the house of David by first placing David on the throne, second, promising David an everlasting dynasty and thirdly, preserving David's dynasty. 00:46:31.744 --> 00:46:46.507 God's covenant faithfulness to David and his royal line is ultimately fulfilled in David's greatest son, the Messianic King, our Lord Jesus Christ, who sits on the throne forever. 00:46:46.507 --> 00:47:03.559 So the purpose of Chronicles was to call the community of returned exiles to learn from the best of the past and to see God always as one who is holy, who is sovereign, who is gracious and always faithful, being true to his word. 00:47:03.559 --> 00:47:26.567 As they anticipated the messianic king To you and me, chronicle reminds us of God's everlasting faithfulness to his children all throughout history, pointing us to Christ, and in response we must seek the Lord humbly as we worship him daily in private and as we gather together corporately. 00:47:26.567 --> 00:47:42.809 So the Chronicle was very effective in journaling the events of David and his royal descendants and pointed the whole community of returned Jewish exiles and us to hope in the messianic king Jesus Christ. 00:47:42.809 --> 00:47:47.599 So next Sunday we'll look at the temple worship in Chronicles. 00:47:47.599 --> 00:47:51.463 This is the second major theme in the books of Chronicles. 00:47:51.463 --> 00:47:52.706 So let's pray. 00:47:52.706 --> 00:47:57.125 Father, we thank you that you are a covenant-keeping God. 00:47:57.125 --> 00:48:02.626 You keep your promises, even though we fail to keep our promises. 00:48:02.626 --> 00:48:06.405 Father, your compassion to us is endless. 00:48:06.405 --> 00:48:08.380 Your faithfulness is great. 00:48:08.380 --> 00:48:14.460 Thank you for showing us clearly that Jesus Messiah is the ultimate son of David, who sits on the throne forever. 00:48:14.460 --> 00:48:19.326 Thank you for the hope that we have in sharing an inheritance with him. 00:48:19.326 --> 00:48:22.539 Thank you, father Amen. 00:48:22.539 --> 00:48:24.710 Thank you for the hope that we have in sharing an inheritance with him. 00:48:24.710 --> 00:48:25.153 Thank you, father amen.