Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20040725.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSING IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part LXIII: Trusting God's Unconditional Promises To Triumph Over Man's Sinful Failure
(2 Kings 24:8-16; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10; Jeremiah 22:20-30 with 2 Kings 25:27-30 and Matthew 1:12, 16, 18-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. God's Word declares that all of us believers have sinned, that to deny this fact is to err, 1 John 1:10.
    2. Pondering this fact can leave us dispirited, for we know we can yet sin and experience a loss of blessing.
    3. However, God has made some unconditional promises regarding very key matters like the unconditional security of our salvation (John 5:24) and the unconditional destiny of being raptured to heaven to share in the glory of Christ (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 with 5:6 with 5:9-10), and resting in these gives us hope.
    4. Nowhere is such a hope more readily supported than in the Bible's account of king Jehoiachin:
  2. Trusting God's Unconditional Promises To Triumph Over Man's Sinful Failure.
    1. When Jehoiachin (named "Coniah" in Jeremiah 22:24 and "Jeconiah" in Jeremiah 24:1) came to the throne, he had a short reign due to God's judgment in accord with God's Word as follows:
      1. Jehoiachin walked in the ways of his evil father, Judah's king Jehoiakim, 2 Kings 24:9.
      2. So, in accord with Scripture (Deut. 28:15, 49, 64), he was soon taken captive to Babylon, 24:10-16.
    2. So inexcusable was his sin in view of the examples he had in the lives of the kings who immediately preceded him, God put Jehoiachin under the curse of never again having a son to sit on David's throne:
      1. Jehoiachin had the advantage of following very contrasting examples of spirituality and their results:
        1. His grandfather, Josiah, knew blessing for repenting when Scripture was read to him: he had reacted to this reading by tearing his clothes and turning from idols, 2 Kings 22:1, 11; Jer. 22:15b-16.
        2. Yet, when God arranged for Josiah's son, Jehoiakim to have Scripture read to him that Jehoiakim like his father, Josiah might repent, instead of tearing his clothes, Jehoiakim tore up the Scriptures, Jer. 36:1-3, 21-23. So, instead of being mourned in death as had his father, Josiah (2 Chr. 35:25), God judged Jehoiachin to have his dead body treated as an animal's body, cf. Jeremiah 22:18-19.
      2. These two contrasting examples of God's blessing and of God's cursing were clearly displayed unto Jehoiachin in his own lifetime, making him without excuse for rebelling against God's Word:
        1. Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to reign at his father's death (2 Chr. 36:8-9a & 2 Kings 24:8), and his father, Jehoiakim had reigned for 11 years after Josiah's death, 2 Kings 23:36.
        2. Thus, Jehoiachin would have known his grandfather, Josiah for his first 7 years of life, so he would have witnessed how very contrasting had been the fates of his grandfather and father, making him without excuse for knowing the value of heeding VERSUS NOT heeding GOD'S WORD!
      3. For the inexcusable way he lived in sin though having witnessed what had happened to his grandfather and father, God cursed Jehoiachin never to have a descendent to sit on David's throne, Jer. 22:21-30.
    3. Now, from man's view, this curse creates a BIG problem: David's seed was to rule through Jehoiachin, so, God's curse counters His own 2 Samuel 7:4-16 promise that David's seed will reign forever!
    4. Nevertheless, God overcame this obstacle to His promise to David by arranging for Christ's virgin birth:
      1. Joseph who wed Jesus' mother, Mary came from David's seed through Jehoiachin's line, Mtt. 1:12, 16.
      2. However, as Jesus was not Joseph's physical son, but Mary's seed via the virgin birth (Mtt. 1:18-25), and as Mary came through David's son, Nathan according to Luke 3:31, 23 ["Joseph as the son-in-law of Eli was considered in the descent of Eli through his marriage with Mary," cf. John F. Walvoord, Jesus Christ Our Lord, p. 104] and Nathan was not the son who was in line for the throne (Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. to Luke 3:23), Jesus bypassed the curse on Jehoiachin by coming through Mary's seed, but gained the right to rule by way of his mother's marriage to Joseph, Ibid., Walvoord.
    5. God even displayed His intent to preserve His unconditional Davidic promise by arranging for the Babylonians to preserve the hapless Jehoiachin [and his seed] after he was in Babylon, 2 Kings 25:27-30.
Lesson: Regardless of Jehoiachin's wickedness, GOD HIMSELF overcame HIS OWN CURSE that came on Jehoiachin's LINE so that JESUS might FULFILL God's UNCONDITIONAL PROMISE to David, that DAVID would ALWAYS have a son of HIS seed to RULE on HIS THRONE!

Application: May we take heart in God's unconditional promises to us to overcome our own failings!