Chronicles - Christ

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God is not done yet!
That’s my working summary of the Book of Chronicles.

The book of 1-2 Chronicles is composed of three large sections:

1 Chronicles 1–9

Genealogies of the tribes of Israel

1 Chronicles 10–2 Chronicles 9

Reigns of David and Solomon

2 Chronicles 10–36

Kingdom of Judah

Originally written as one book, 1 & 2 Chronicles forms the bookend of Hebrew Bible.
Three large sections:
- Genealogies of the tribes of Israel
Genealogies of the tribes of Israel
- Reigns of David and Solomon
- Kingdom of Judah
According to a bloke named Jerome (340-420), these books are “the chronicle of the whole of sacred history.” Hence, the title Chronicles.
But notice the other part of the title. “…of the whole of sacred history.” In other words, this book is about everything that God has done, is doing and will do in the future.
Chronicles had a very important message for it’s original readers.
Mark J. Boda, Cornerstone Biblical Commentarya: 1-2 Chronicles, vol. 5 (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2010), 3.
They were the exiles returning from Babylon, rebuilding the Temple, reestablishing the priesthood, looking for the Davidic King. They were still under the control of the Persian Empire.
Although they are back in the land, back in Jerusalem they are not back to the glory days of David & Solomon.
Their Temple is pitiful. Their worship is weak. They have no King. Their power on the world stage is diminished if not entirely dead.
The Chronicler comes along at this point, with his long lists of names, with his retelling of the story of Israel and Judah right up to the exile, and he has a loud and clear message for the people: God is not done yet!
It’s precisely that message we need to hear today in the Church. We are exiles. Our worship is weak. Our glory days are long behind us. We are waiting for our King.
Life as Christians, as churches, in this hostile world is hard. It’s hard to keep going - with God, with the faith, with church.
We desperately need the Chronicler’s message to ring out to us load and clear, that God is not yet done. His Sovereign purposes for the world are ongoing, unfinished, there is so much more to come.
And it all centres around Jesus Christ.
Genealogies of the tribes of Israel
God isn’t done with humanity, he isn’t done with sinners, he isn’t done with his King.

God isn’t Done With Humanity

Reigns of David and Solomon
Genealogies are boring. Or are they?!
To the Ancient Israelite, the returning exile in Jerusalem, these nine chapters of names are both fascinating and reassuring. They are important and they are encouraging.
Why? Because they serve to remind the people of who they are. They’re having a massive identity crisis! Their place in the world is changing!
So they need reminding: They are the descendants of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. They are the chosen people of Israel. The 12 tribes who came up out of Egypt. Chapters 1-9 detail the family line of each of those 12 tribes.
Their national identity is founded on the exodus, God’s dramatic rescue of an enslaved nation. They are a people in covenant with Yahweh their redeemer.
All that is still true even though they and their ancestors have forsaken the Lord, even though they were banished from the land for 70 years, even though they have been humbled by the Lord.
They are still the people of God. He isn’t finished with them yet.
And neither is he finished with the whole of humanity.
It would be easy to read Chronicles and think that it’s all about the Jews. It’s all about the line of King David. It’s all about the Temple and Jerusalem.
But that is blown out of the water by the very first name - Adam.
From that we’re reminded, the Israelites were reminded, that God has a sovereign plan for all the nations.
Chronicles is...

a vision for a community to live faithfully among the nations because they represent God’s hope for the world.

God isn’t done with the world. It might look like it. It might feel like it. We might think that the world doesn’t deserve to have hope. We’d be right, but then neither do we.
God’s hope for the nations is Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, the Son he sent to seek and save a lost humanity.
And God displays this hope to the world, how? Through the church! A community called to live faithfully among the nations because we represent God’s hope for the world.
So when you read , and you’re getting bored with all the names and the lists and the begetting, remember this: there are innumerable lists of names in the Book of Life, in the annals of heaven.
Yours is there if you are in Christ. And the some of those names belong to your unsaved friends and family, the ones you’re praying for, the one’s you’re hoping to share the gospel with, the one’s you’re inviting to church.
God isn’t done yet.
And the names of many in this community, this city, are in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The one’s we welcome to Playtime/Dadtime, Easter Funday, Christianity Explored etc. The one’s who receive invitations to Christmas service through their doors each year.
God isn’t done yet.
And the names of many in the UK
God is still working out his sovereign purposes in Christ to save every one of them in Christ. He isn’t done with humanity yet! Because...

God Isn’t Done With Sinners

Kingdom of Judah
That message is loud and clear in Chronicles.
Let’s jump right to the end of the book, ...
2 Chronicles 36:11–14 NIV
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
2 Chronicles 36:15–20 NIV
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. He carried to Babylon all the articles from the temple of God, both large and small, and the treasures of the Lord’s temple and the treasures of the king and his officials. They set fire to God’s temple and broke down the wall of Jerusalem; they burned all the palaces and destroyed everything of value there. He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
This is the straw that broke the camel’s back, the sin that provoked the Lord to take action.
2 Chron 36:15-
2 Chronicles 36:15–17 NIV
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. He brought up against them the king of the Babylonians, who killed their young men with the sword in the sanctuary, and did not spare young men or young women, the elderly or the infirm. God gave them all into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar.
2 Chron 36:15-
2 Chronicles 36:20 NIV
He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
6:20
2 Chron 36@
This was a devastating time for the nation. This nation that had once enjoyed prominence and power in the time of David & Solomon, now once again enslaved in a foreign land.
It seems like God is done with them. That he’s had enough of their unfaithfulness, their stiff-necked refusal to turn to Him, even when he has given them everything, even when he warns them by the prophets, even when he continues to promise them good things. Surely he’s finished with them now!
But then the most unlikely thing happens:
2 Chronicles 36:22–23 NIV
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: “ ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.’ ”
The book ends there because this is where the people are right now. They are back in the land rebuilding the Temple, rebuilding their lives, rebuilding their identity in the Lord, rebuilding their worship to the Lord.
How encouraging to be reminded of this! However much we mess up, failing in sin, rejecting the Lord, there is still forgiveness for the sinner who repents and turns to Christ for forgiveness.
1 John 1:8–9 NIV
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:8–2:2 NIV
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us. My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 john 1:8-
Sinner, there is hope! It’s found in Christ, who turned away God’s anger at your sin towards himself, paying for it in full.
If you confess your sin, trusting in Christ’s finished work, then he will forgive and purify you.
Jesus is God’s hope for the nations. He is the Christ, the King God has established over the whole world. And Chronicles reminds us that...

God Isn’t Done With His King

(with 27) is a significant chapter in the Bible.
The line of David is the promised means of God’s salvation of his people.
The line of David is the promised means of God’s salvation of his people.
(with ) is a significant chapter in the Bible.
1 Chronicles 17 NIV
After David was settled in his palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am, living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent.” Nathan replied to David, “Whatever you have in mind, do it, for God is with you.” But that night the word of God came to Nathan, saying: “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in. I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought Israel up out of Egypt to this day. I have moved from one tent site to another, from one dwelling place to another. Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their leaders whom I commanded to shepherd my people, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” ’ “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name like the names of the greatest men on earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. “ ‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’ ” Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men. “What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, Lord. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises. “There is no one like you, Lord, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt? You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. “And now, Lord, let the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house be established forever. Do as you promised, so that it will be established and that your name will be great forever. Then people will say, ‘The Lord Almighty, the God over Israel, is Israel’s God!’ And the house of your servant David will be established before you. “You, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. So your servant has found courage to pray to you. You, Lord, are God! You have promised these good things to your servant. Now you have been pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord, have blessed it, and it will be blessed forever.”
David had it in his heart to build a Temple to the glory of God. But God had other plans...
1 Chronicles 17:10–14 NIV
and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also subdue all your enemies. “ ‘I declare to you that the Lord will build a house for you: When your days are over and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. I will never take my love away from him, as I took it away from your predecessor. I will set him over my house and my kingdom forever; his throne will be established forever.’ ”
1 Chron 17:10-
Through this we learn that the line of David is the promised means of God’s salvation of his people.
From David’s family will come a king who will build a house for God’s name, who will rule on the throne forever. “I will be his father, he will be my son.”
This is Israel’s hope. This king. This eternal ruler, who will usher in a new age of security and prosperity, who will establish the praises of God in the temple of God forever.
That’s the King that the people are still waiting for as they come home from Babylon and rebuild Jerusalem. It’s the King they waited for through many more centuries under the rule of foreign empires.
It’s the King who was born in Royal David’s City, the little Town of Bethlehem. Whose (adoptive) father could trace his ancestry back to King David. But whose true Father is in heaven.
Jesus is the son of David who will rule on the throne forever.
He is still building a house for God’s name!
1 Peter 2:4–5 NIV
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1:4-5
Paul called the Church God’s household (), the pillar and foundation of the truth.
As the church grows, so does the Kingdom of Christ.
But we do not yet see all things in subjection to him.
But we don’t yet see all things in subjection to him. Not every knee is bowed, neither does every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. He is King over his church, he is not yet king over the cosmos.
But we don’t yet see all things in subjection to him. Not every knee is bowed, neither does every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. He is King over his church, he is not yet king over the cosmos.
There is more to come. When he returns, Jesus will rule over the entire creation (not just Jerusalem) for ever.
God isn’t done with his King!
So if there is to be any hope for us, for our church, our city, nation and world it must be recognised that Jesus Christ is that hope.
He is the source of that hope. He is the means of that hope by his finished work. He is the bringer of that hope at his second coming.
And it’s that hope we must proclaim, and continue to proclaim, even when we are pushed to the margins, even when we are downtrodden and derided by a world that has no interest in him.
We must keep on inviting everyone to follow King Jesus, to be part of his kingdom.
God isn’t done with humanity. He isn’t done with sinners. He isn’t done with his king.
If he isn’t done, then neither are we. Our work continues.
But, we know how hard it is! Which is why we need to pay more attention to Chronicles, which in future weeks will teach us that we need to Persevere, we need good Leadership, we need to make prayer and worship a priority.
For now, we see that the whole of sacred history centres on God’s sovereign purposes in Christ. And he isn’t done yet!
Read some of the Genealogy from ! Scan this whole section and notice what details are included. What do you notice? Why is it important? And what benefits might we have in reading these chapters?
Why do we need to hear the message of Chronicles today, particularly that God isn’t finished yet? Why is this especially relevant to the Western church?
Pray together for your unbelieving friends and family, that God would save them in Christ.
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