Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 23:31-37; 2 Kings 24; 2 Kings 25:1-30
Second Kings 23:31—25:30, which covers the reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah and the governing of Gedaliah, tells us of the tragedy of the rottenness of the children of Israel. The kingdoms of Israel and Judah became totally corrupted, forcing God to terminate them. First, God sent the Assyrians to take over the northern kingdom of Israel. On the one hand, many of the people were taken as captives to Assyria. On the other hand, the Assyrians brought in heathens, who settled in the vacant land. This produced a mixture and a confusion. The southern kingdom of Judah should have been warned by what had happened to Israel, but the people continued in their evil way more than ever. This forced God to take action through the Babylonians. The temple was burned; the walls of Jerusalem, the holy city, were torn down; the holy land was devastated; and the holy people were taken captive.
In 23:31-34 we have an account of the reign of Jehoahaz.
Jehoahaz began to reign in Jerusalem at the age of twenty-three and reigned for three months (v. 31).
Jehoahaz did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did (v. 32).
Pharaoh Neco imprisoned Jehoahaz so that he might not reign in Jerusalem. He also imposed on the land of Judah a fine of one hundred talents of silver and a talent of gold (v. 33).
Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in the place of Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Pharaoh Neco then brought Jehoahaz to Egypt, and Jehoahaz died there (v. 34).
The reign of Jehoiakim is recorded in 23:35—24:6.
Jehoiakim began to reign in Jerusalem at the age of twenty-five and reigned for eleven years (23:36).
Jehoiakim paid to Pharaoh Neco silver and gold which he exacted from the people (v. 35).
Jehoiakim did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his fathers did (v. 37).
Jehoiakim served Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon for three years and then rebelled against him (24:1).
Jehovah sent the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites against Judah to destroy it, according to Jehovah's word spoken through the prophets, and to remove the people out of His sight because of the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done (vv. 2-4).
Jehoiakim slept with his fathers, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place (vv. 5-6).
Second Kings 24:7-16 speaks of the reign of Jehoiachin.
Jehoiachin began to reign in Jerusalem at the age of eighteen and reigned for three months (v. 8).
Jehoiachin did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father had done (v. 9).
The king of Egypt did not come out of his land again, for the king of Babylon had taken all that belonged to the king of Egypt up to the river Euphrates (v. 7).
In the eighth year of Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to take over Jerusalem, and Jehoiachin king of Judah, his mother, his servants, his captains, and his eunuchs surrendered to him. The king of Babylon took all the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king's house and cut in pieces all the golden vessels which Solomon had made in Jehovah's temple. Nebuchadnezzar carried away into exile all the people of Jerusalem, all the captains, Jehoiachin the king with his mother, wives, eunuchs, and all the leading men of the land. In addition, he carried away all the seven thousand men of valor, the one thousand craftsmen and smiths, and all the mighty men fit for war (vv. 10-16).
Here we should note that in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year of his enthronement, released Jehoiachin from prison. He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and set his throne above the throne of all the kings who were with him in Babylon. Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes and ate his food in the presence of the king of Babylon continually all the days of his life, with a particular portion of allowance for each day (25:27-30).
Second Kings 24:17—25:21 tells us of the reign of Zedekiah.
Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's uncle, was made king by the king of Babylon to replace Jehoiachin, changing his name from Mattaniah to Zedekiah (24:17).
Zedekiah began to reign in Jerusalem at the age of twenty-one and reigned for eleven years (v. 18).
Zedekiah did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Jehoiakim had done, and he rebelled against the king of Babylon (vv. 19-20).
In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and built a siege wall against it all around until the city was breached in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. The army of the Chaldeans pursued after the king, captured him, brought him up to the king of Babylon, and pronounced judgment upon him. They slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes, put out Zedekiah's eyes, bound him with bronze fetters, and brought him to Babylon (25:1-7).
In the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan, captain of the bodyguard and servant of Nebuchadnezzar, came to Jerusalem to burn the house of Jehovah, the king's house, every great house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. All the army of the Chaldeans broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan carried away into exile the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters who deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the multitude, but left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and field workers. The Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars and the bronze sea in the temple of God and carried the bronze to Babylon with the pots, the shovels, the snuffers, the spoons, all the bronze vessels, and censers and bowls of fine gold and fine silver. The captain of the bodyguard took the chief priest, the second priest, the three doorkeepers, one eunuch, five men from the king's inner circle, the scribe of the captain of the army, and sixty men of the people of the land and brought them to the king of Babylon, and the king of Babylon struck them down and killed them. Thus was Judah carried away into exile out of their land (vv. 8-21).
Verses 22 through 26 are a record of the governing of Gedaliah.
Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had left in the land of Judah (v. 22). When all the captains of the forces heard about this, they came to Gedaliah, and Gedaliah swore to them and said to them, "Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans; dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you" (vv. 23-24).
In the seventh month Ishmael, one of the royal seed, came with ten men and struck down Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him. All the people and the captains of the forces escaped to Egypt, being afraid of the Chaldeans (vv. 25-26).
Eventually, after being ruled by the Babylonians, Persians, and Greeks, Israel became part of the Roman Empire. Shortly after the Roman Empire took over the holy land, the Lord Jesus was born. The lineage of Christ's genealogy became very thin, but we thank and praise the Lord that in His sovereignty the lineage of the genealogy of Christ was never broken. The royal Davidic family was destroyed, but God kept David's lineage so that He could come to be a man through incarnation. This brought God to humanity and into humanity. This changed the age in the whole universe, including the heavens.
God came to be a man and lived on earth, entering into death and passing through death into resurrection. In resurrection the incarnated God, as the last Adam in the flesh, became the life-giving Spirit. The God-man's becoming the life-giving Spirit is even greater than the incarnation. The incarnation brought God into one person, but the last Adam becoming the life-giving Spirit brought God into millions of the human race. We all were regenerated through Christ's resurrection (1 Pet. 1:3). God became a man, and this man became the life-giving Spirit to germinate millions of God's chosen, redeemed people, to live in them, to make an abode with them, and even to build a home in them with Himself as the element. This building is a constitution that makes Him one with all the redeemed to be a great universal new man. The Head of this new man is Christ, and the Body is composed of the millions of God's redeemed and regenerated people.
Paul's Epistles tell us that, as believers in Christ, we have to live in Christ, who as the life-giving Spirit is the reality of resurrection. Resurrection means the termination of all that is old and natural and a new beginning through germination. In the sight of God, everything of the old creation has been terminated, and the new creation has been germinated. We are the new creation, which is altogether in resurrection.
However, the majority of those in the Lord's recovery do not live in resurrection actually and practically. The saints may have good character and good behavior, but this good behavior is mainly according to the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. On the one hand, we know about the life of resurrection, but, on the other hand, unconsciously and unintentionally we live a life according to the principle of good and evil, not according to the principle of life.
From the very beginning, God's intention was that man would live not by his own life but by God's life. For this reason, after God created man, He indicated to him that he should partake of the tree of life and thereby take God as life and live by this life. This means that the man created by God needed to be regenerated. Regeneration does not mean that man became so fallen that he needed another life. Even before man fell and before sin entered into the human race, God intended to regenerate man.
As those who have been regenerated, we should not live by our natural, human life but by God's life in resurrection. We now have two lives in us: the created life and the regenerated life, the natural life and the resurrection life. Our natural life — our self, our old man, our flesh — has been terminated by Christ on the cross. We have not only been terminated but also regenerated. We were terminated by Christ's death and we were germinated by Christ's resurrection, the reality of which is the Spirit mingled with our spirit. Now every day, in all things great and small, including the way we comb our hair and speak to others, we should not do anything by ourselves but do everything by the One who is joined to us and mingled with us. This is to apply the death of Christ in our daily life.
If we practice this life, then in our experience we will be crucified and conformed to the death of Christ. Then we will be able to say with Paul that we have been crucified with Christ and that we no longer live but Christ lives in us (Gal. 2:20). When Paul was in prison, he could declare that for him to live was Christ (Phil. 1:21). He was one with Christ and he lived Christ and magnified Christ by the bountiful supply of the Spirit (vv. 19-20).
When Christ lived on earth, His life was pure and holy. Yet He never did anything by Himself nor spoke anything of Himself or from Himself. Whatever He did and spoke was by the Father (John 5:19, 30; 7:16; 8:28; 12:49-50). For thirty-three and a half years He lived a crucified life, always living by the Father. Now we are Christ's continuation, and we should live a crucified life every day. This is why we are told to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). We need to inquire of Him in everything.
To live in resurrection means that we reject our natural life, that we deny it and put it on the cross and thus be conformed to the death of Christ. Then we are in resurrection, living by the pneumatic Christ, the life-giving Christ, the consummated Triune God.
We need to remember that, as believers in Christ, we are particular persons — we are God-men. We are Christians, Christ-men. We should not live by ourselves. We should live by Him who is joined to us. This is to be conformed to Christ's death and to live in resurrection.
