THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

L. Thriving Amid Persistent Oppression

(2 Chronicles 36:5-8 et al.)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

We believers in Christ need to know how to thrive spiritually amid the persistent oppression we face:

(1) We face persistent oppression from some officials and the mainstream media who push Marxist ideology at us: "At the Department of Homeland Security, diversity trainers . . . insisted that statements such as 'America is the land of opportunity,' 'Everybody can succeed in this society if they work hard enough' and 'I believe the most qualified person should get the job' are racist and harmful." (Christopher F. Rufo, "The Truth About Critical Race Theory," The Wall Street Journal, October 5, 2020, p. A17) Mr. Rufo objected to these claims, writing, "To any fair-minded observer, these are not 'racial sensitivity trainings,'" but "political indoctrination sessions." (Ibid.)

Mr. Rufo added that "(p)rogressive activists and their media enablers routinely manipulate words to conceal the truth," some examples being how "violent riots have become 'mostly peaceful protests' and 'defund the police' has become 'reimagine public safety,'" Ibid.

(2) We face persistent financial oppression: "America's national debt" is now "close to $27 trillion," and may go to "107% of GDP in 2023 . . . the highest level in our nation's history." (Veronique de Rugy, "Spending levels still delusional," Republican-American, September 30, 2020, p. 12A) Officials relentlessly overspend taxpayers' moneys.

(3) We face persistent oppression in the religious realm: (a) Pope Francis recently produced an encyclical that "rejected even the Catholic Church's own doctrine justifying war as a means of legitimate defense." (Nicole Winfield, "Pope: Capitalism failed in pandemic, needs reform," Ibid., October 5, 2020, p. 9A) Thus, if a terrorist state were to attack us in order to abuse and to slay our citizens, Pope Francis would oppose our going to war against that state to protect ourselves though his view contradicts long-held Roman Catholic doctrine!

(b) In the same encyclical, Pope "Francis rejected the concept of an absolute right to property to individuals, stressing instead 'social purpose' and 'common good' . . ." (Ibid.) The pope thus condones the Marxist forced seizure of private property, opposing the Exodus 20:15 command in the Ten Commandments that says, "Thou shalt not steal."

(4) We face persistent emotional oppression: Heather Mac Donald's piece, "Against Fear" (Manhattan Institute City Journal, October 5, 2020 as cited in "Quotable," Ibid., Republican-American, October 7, 2020, p. 10A), asserted, "' . . . (T)he American public . . . has needed to hear from a political leader for months" that "we must go on with our lives. There will be more coronavirus cases . . . more deaths. But we cannot shut down our human interactions to prevent one kind of death. We have never done so before, and the consequences of having done so this year will cripple human life, for generations to come if we do not overcome fear now.'"

Need: So, we ask, "How does God direct that we thrive amid the persistent oppression we face in today's world?!"

I. When Jehoiakim came to the throne, he greatly oppressed Judah in various ways for eleven years:

A. 2 Chronicles 36:5 reports that Jehoiakim ruled for eleven years, doing what was evil in God's sight.

B. The prophet Jeremiah wrote of the financial, physical, emotional and spiritual oppression of Jehoiakim's sins:

1. Jeremiah 22:13-17 critiqued Jehoiakim's sins of forced labor and the killing of innocent people in Judah.

2. Jeremiah 36:1-3, 21-26 tells how Jehoiakim in rebellion against God crudely burned a scroll of Scripture.

II. God thus severely punish Jehoiakim for these sins, 2 Chronicles 36:6-7; Jeremiah 22:18-19:

A. In line with the Davidic Covenant at 2 Samuel 7:14, God punished Jehoiakim as a Davidic king by letting Babylon's king take him prisoner to Babylon along with some sacred objects from the temple, 2 Chron. 36:6-7.

B. Jehoiakim apparently later returned to his throne (Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 648), but Jeremiah 22:18-19 predicted he would die without being mourned or even buried, his body being dragged out of the city and left to decay as if he were a dead donkey. This destiny fit Jehoiakim's sin: for disrespectfully, rebelliously cutting up and burning the scroll of Scripture, God would let Jehoiakim's body be dishonorably treated in death!

III. Yet, God had provided Judah's people former king Solomon's proverbs in Proverbs 4:23-27 (Ibid., p. 901) on guarding the inner man (Ibid., p. 914) from the oppression they faced under Jehoiakim. By applying that information in reliance on God, they would have been able to deal with the oppression.

Lesson: Though Jehoiakim long oppressed Judah in various ways, God eventually, fittingly punished him, and He had provided information in His Word for His people to use in guarding their inner man amid such oppression.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life, John 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11. (2) In facing persistent oppression, may we (a) realize that God will deal with all wrongdoers, and (b) may we heed Proverbs 4:23-27 (as explained below) to guard our inner man.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

(1) First, we Scripturally correct the errant views mentioned in our introduction in support of the right views:

(a) On the "racial sensitivity trainings" given at the Department of Homeland Security, (i) 2 Thessalonians 3:10 orders us to work if we would eat, to assume personal responsibility to earn a living. (ii) 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 directs us to work with our own hands to earn what we need that we not lack any material good, implying that God expects us to succeed in meeting our livelihood needs. (iii) So, opposite the teaching of the Department of Homeland Security "racial sensitivity training" instructors, each household can and should meet its own livelihood needs!

(b) On progressives and the mainstream media concealing the truth by manipulating words, (i) Ephesians 5:25 calls us to put away lying and to speak the truth. (ii) Also, 2 Timothy 3:13 claims apostates will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived, so we must guard ourselves from error by use of Scripture, 2 Timothy 3:14-17.

(c) On the financial oppression we face, (i) 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 directs us to work with our hands to have a good testimony and to meet our own material needs. God wants us to work to function as independent of even the government as we can that our material needs might be met. (ii) 1 Timothy 5:8 reveals God expects each head of household to meet the livelihood needs of his dependents. (iii) If the government forbids us from working at a specific job, we must heed God over man (Acts 5:29), what includes the government, and earn a living anyway, but (iv) heed Gideon's Judges 6:11-12 example that God approved to earn our living as wisely and discreetly as possible.

(d) On the religious oppression we face from Pope Francis' statements in his encyclical, (i) regarding his rejection of just war for a nation's self-defense, Romans 13:1-4 directs that God has set up rulers of nations who do not bear the sword in vain to punish evildoers, what also includes punishing evil attackers from other nations in time of war! As long as there are aggressive evildoers, there will be a Biblical need for just war, and it will be so until the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ returns, and sets up His kingdom and provides world peace! (Revelation 19:11-20:6; Isaiah 2:3-4) (ii) Regarding the pope's rejection of absolute personal property ownership, Exodus 20:17 directs us not to covet what others possess, and Exodus 20:15 calls us not to steal from other people. Instead, Ephesians 5:28 directs us to earn with our own labor what we need for a living and even to earn enough to give to others in need.

(2) Second, Proverbs 4:23 calls us to guard our inner man from emotional and spiritual harm, for out of it is the source of life, and Proverbs 4:24-27 [with Galatians 5:16, 22-23] describes how to do so (Ibid., p. 914) as follows:

(a) First, we must put away crookedness ('iqshut, B. D. B., A Heb. and Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 786) of mouth and perversity in our lips, Proverbs 4:24. Corrupt, foul, devious speech backfires, hurting our relationships with others, and it is itself sin, what alienates us from God's protective, nurturing spiritual fellowship.

(b) Second, we must let our eyes look "to the front" (nokah, Ibid., p. 647) and fix our gaze "directly in front of" (neged, Ibid., p. 617-618) us, Proverbs 4:25. One looks right in front of him when he plans to go in that direction, so this proverb directs that to protect our inner man, we must focus on what we have already planned to do without letting ourselves be lured off from that stable, well-considered route by sudden, harmful allurements.

(c) Third, we must "make level" (palas, Ibid., p. 814) paths for our feet, Proverbs 4:26a. We must plan that the course we take in life is a path we have the ability to traverse, seeking to remove hardships of that path before we traverse it, that we not end up facing challenges en route that can we cannot handle and thus damage our inner man!

(d) Fourth, we must "make" all our ways "firm, prepared" (kun, Ibid., p. 465-467 [Hiphil (causative); Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 1159], Proverbs 4:26b. We must take paths in life that are secure and stable, routes we should make as firm as possible to avoid experiencing needless failure.

(e) Fifth, we must not turn aside to the right or the left from the path we had planned to take, Proverbs 4:27a. Letting ourselves be lured to change course for a different, less-known, less-planned and thus riskier path often inevitably leads to the harming of one's inner man.

(f) Sixth, we must remove our feet from evil and calamity (ra, Ibid., p. 1160; Ibid., B. D. B., p. 948-949), to make sure that each step we take on the path we have chosen is righteous and wholesome, Proverbs 4:27b. Unrighteous steps even on a good path lead to God's withdrawal of blessing, and that is destructive to the inner man!

[(g) Seventh, we know from Galatians 5:16, 22-23 that the ability to heed these directives comes by relying on the indwelling Holy Spirit's power for the right attitude and power we need even to apply these directives!]

May we trust in Christ Who died as our Atoning Sacrifice for sin that we might receive God's gift of eternal life. May we handle persistent oppression by trusting God eventually to deal with the oppressors, and rely on Scripture and the Holy Spirit's power to keep our thinking aright and protect our inner man.