Why All This History in Chronicles? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21,

"He [Nebuchadnezzar] carried into exile to Babylon the remnant [of Judah], who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah."

This last chapter of 2 Chronicles documents the ignoble end of the rule of Judah's kings just prior to the Lord's judgment of the nation. The northern ten tribes had been destroyed by Assyria over a century earlier (722 BC) and now Judah's demise (586 BC) comes at the hands of Babylon - at the Lord's determination.

The chapter brings us the inevitable result of a people who had turned their back on God to pursue their own imaginings. The lies of false idol worship, the rejection of the one true God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob led to their downfall.

From our perspective, it is easy to see the self-destructive direction Israel had taken, together with the inescapable judgment the Lord brought on her as we read through Israel's history in the books of Judges, Samuel, Kings and Chronicles. It is a history of sin, rebellion, and the wanton embrace of the dark spiritual forces that remain in the world with us yet today.

On the other hand, it is a history of God working with sinful man, expressing his expectations of his covenant people Israel, and his shaping of events in that milieu for his own redemptive purposes-- to bring about the circumstances he desired for the arrival of his Son, Jesus Christ, to reconcile a rebellious world to himself. Every piece of this history is a building block that fits into the precision of God's magnificent plan to reach out to the world he loves so much. This history is the account of God acting on what we read in John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Through God's various judgments of Israel and his involvement with other nations, he manipulated the set of events that would result in the perfect timing and circumstances to bring his Son into the world as a sin offering for us all. An offering that brings us a right standing with God if we but embrace him in faith, "Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..." John 1:12.

And... God is not done with Israel yet!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.