MPC, 3rd February 2002.The Bible in Four Easy Lessons.
Part 4: 1 Samuel - Nehemiah "An Ending... and a new
beginning"
Phil Campbell MPC, 3rd February 2002.
DISASTER STORIES make great movies. And for a while a few years back, every second movie seemed to be the story of a disaster. Like THE TITANIC. Unsinkable ship hits iceberg. Or a generation before that, The Poseidon Adventure. A huge cruise liner flipped over by a tidal wave. Or if you were thinking of flying instead of going by ship, did you see AIRPORT? Same sort of story, but with a plane. Or the one with the fire in the skyscraper. And there are plenty more exactly the same. Disaster stories.
You know, it's a funny thing. Even Christians who have been reading their bibles for years, somehow don't seem to realise that's exactly like the Old Testament. Because in the end, it's a DISASTER STORY.
I mean, you might know the story of Adam and Eve; everyone knows the story of Noah and his ark. You probably know all about King David. But how many people realise that when you stand back and look at the big picture, the old testament's really a DISASTER STORY?
It's like as if you talk to someone who's just watched TITANIC on video, and you say, what was it about? And they say, "Oh, it was all about these people having a great holiday on a beautiful cruise liner. You should have seen the carpet in the main lounge. It was terrific." And they somehow haven't noticed what the story's all about. A DISASTER. The SHIP SINKS!
The fact is, the Old Testament is the story of a national disaster. The story of a great plan. And a great start. That all seems to fall to bits.
We've traced the story all the way through from the start. Good creation; it's God's world. But man rebels. Humanity says we'll decide right and wrong for ourselves. But God starts all over again with Abram; and his descendants are going to be a mighty nation, with a land of their own. And we followed it to the point where it's all happened. Joshua's led them into the land. And yet over and over again in the book of judges, the Israelites are refusing to be different. Which is what the people of God are always MEANT TO BE. And they said, WE WANT A KING like everyone else. Which God gave them in King Saul. And now gives them again. IN HIS MERCY. In King David. Which is where today we're going to pick up the story.
This is the stage in Israel's history that people always look back to. If you want another movie to compare it with, this is AS GOOD AS IT GETS. Where Jack Nicholson turns around to Helen Hunt and says, do you ever think, MAYBE THIS IS AS GOOD AS IT GETS?
In 1 Samuel 17 you first meet a little bloke called David. Who God uses with his little slingshot to kill Goliath and drive off the Philistines. One of the famous Top Five Sunday School stories. And it's David who's anointed to be the next king of Israel. David's a godly man; which is exactly how it SHOULD BE for a King of Israel. And God's going to use David to rule over his people. And bless them, just like he always promised.
I want you to turn over; right over to 2 Samuel chapter 7. By the time you get to 2 Samuel 7, David's King of Israel. There's a beautiful cedar lined palace in the middle of Jerusalem. And God sends a message with the prophet Nathan. And in 2 Samuel 7 there's his message - if you have a close look at it sometime, you'll see it's just like the message God gave Abraham right back in Genesis 12. Just like the promises to Abraham, but with a new coat of paint.
Read from the middle of verse 9. And at this point, it's almost exactly word for word with what he said to Abraham. "I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men of the earth. And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed." And then he goes on to say how he's going to give David a dynasty. An everlasting line of kings. An everlasting Kingdom. Verse 16... "Your house – your dynasty - and your kingdom shall endure for ever before me; your throne shall be established for ever."
This is the golden age of Israel. Right through David's reign, then Solomon; David's son, and you can read about him in the first half of the first book of Kings.
Flip over a few pages til you hit 1 Kings. It's called the Book of Kings because that's exactly what it's about. Kings. Generation after generation of the kings who ruled over Israel. And it covers hundreds of years. And here in the first ten chapters of the first book of Kings, it's the golden age.
World leaders like John Howard are coming and bowing down to King Solomon and saying, THIS IS FANTASTIC. Solomon's built a temple to the Lord, and everything's encrusted with gold and jewels and it's one of the great wonders of the world. It's the high point in the history of Israel.
But it's like the mountain climber says when he gets to the top of Mount Everest. From here, it's all downhill. And it is. Like I said, we're watching a DISASTER STORY. And so far, we've just been admiring the furnishings on the Titanic. So if you've found 1 Kings chapter 10, I want you to turn over to chapter 11 and you'll see the start of the downhill slide.
It's a funny thing really, if you read all the newspapers and the Women's magazines. Because one thing is very clear. And that's the fact that Royal marriages matter! Look back over the last ten years. Charles and Di. Andrew and Sarah. Edward and Sophie. Charles and Camilla. William and whoever the latest blond is. A member of the Royal Family sneezes, it's a COVER STORY on WHO WEEKLY. Or Women's Day. Because royals and their marriages matter.
And you can see the same thing in 1 Kings 11. It's the beginning of the end. And it's all to do with royal marriages. And it's a sleazy little story. Start from verse 1.
"King Solomon, however, loved MANY FOREIGN WOMEN besides Pharoah's daughter." Moabites, it says, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. Solomon's doing what every other King in every other nation did. He's got himself a Harem. And he's picked out wives from everywhere. And verse 2 puts it plainly. They were from nations about which the Lord had told the Israelites, "You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely TURN YOUR HEARTS AFTER THEIR GODS. Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love."
In other words, Solomon's doing EXACTLY what God said not to do. God said, do that, and they'll turn your hearts to other gods. And what do you reckon happens? Verse 4 spells it out. "As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been. He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable God of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord; he did not follow the Lord completely as David his father had done."
There it is. Israel made it to the top. And here's the start of the downhill slide. Disobeying rule number 1. No other gods before Me. And as you read through the rest of 1 Kings, the avalanche picks up speed. And it's building up to a disaster. First thing that happens, there's a split. There were twelve tribes in the nation of Israel, and one of the tribes, the tribe of Judah, splits off from the rest. Because, and this is fair dinkum, because Solomon's taxes are too high. Judah's going to go it alone. A bit like if Tasmania decided to secede because they don't like the GST. Judah forms a breakaway government. With Kings of their own.
So from now on, you'll find you're not just reading about Israel. You're reading about JUDAH AND ISRAEL. Separate states. Seperate kings. Seperate everything.
And if you flip through the rest of 1 Kings and follow the little headings you'll see you get a rundown of what's going on in both parts. You'll get a listing of the kings of Judah. And you'll get a listing of the kings of Israel as well. Chapter 15, just look at the headings. You get Abijah, King of Judah. And then just over the page, Asa, King of Judah. Two kings of Judah. But then in verse 25, you get the story of Nadab, King of Israel. And you can keep going, and they alternate. Kings of Israel. And Kings of Judah. But doesn't matter what side of the fence you're on, it's the same story. It's not as if one lot are faithful to God and the other lot aren't. Both sides of the border, it's still a downhill slide.
Till you get to King Ahab in verse 33 of 1 Kings 16. And it says in verse 33, he did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, than all the kings before him.
Let me tell you, it's doesn't get much better. And remember, right from the start, God's given them a warning. Deuteronomy 30. If you turn aside to other gods, you'll be thrown out. Moses said, one day if people are looking at the RUINS and they say WHAT HAPPENED, you can tell them it's because these people CHASED AFTER OTHER GODS. And were unfaithful to the God who saved them.
God's watching. Watching their unfaithfulness getting worse and worse and worse. And his patience is wearing thin.
Well, the second book of Kings is more of the same. In fact, in 2 Kings it gets worse. And if you turn over to 2 Kings chapter 17, you can see it's all coming to an end. The DISASTER God warned about finally strikes. It comes in two parts. First of all Israel. Then a few years later Judah as well. Have a look at it. HOSHEA is the LAST KING OF ISRAEL. Reigns over Israel for 9 years; and the Assyrians march down from the North, and there's a three year siege - and in the end, the Assyrians win. And the Israelites who don't die of starvation or die in battle, they're deported to Assyria.
And if you look at verse 7, you can see why. "All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharoah King of Egypt. They worshipped other gods and followed the practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before them." And there's a list of all the things they've done. Listing off their unfaithfulness time after time. Bowing down and worshipping idols - and in verse 17 it says "They even sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. And practiced divination and sorcery and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger."
That's why. Right from the start, God said, do it my way, or you're out. And the time has come. And so the Lord was angry with Israel, it says in verse 18, and removed them from his presence.
So now only Judah is left. Tasmania with no GST. But even in Judah, it's exactly the same. And in the end, the same thing happens. Turn over to the end of 2 Kings, 2 Kings 25 and watch what happens. This time it's the Babylonians. It's the year 589BC, and Babylon is knocking at the door. They march on Jerusalem, there's a seige, and the city falls. And everything is totally destroyed - the temple's in ruins, the palace is in ruins. Everything. And gain, all the leaders, all the people of influence, if they're not dead in the battle they're taken in chains back to Babylon. Captives. To be assimilated as good Babylonians. So ISRAEL AND JUDAH are no more. Read it from verse 8 in 2 Kings 25.
On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard, an official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. 9 He set fire to the temple of the LORD, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down. 10 The whole Babylonian army, under the commander of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem. 11 Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had gone over to the king of Babylon.
They've blown it. Like I said at the start, it's a NATIONAL DISASTER. In the end, the story of the Old Testament is a story of DISASTER. They started off slaves. And now they've ended up the same way. Because of their unfaithfulness.
Well, that's not quite the end of the story. You've got the books of 1st and 2nd Chronicles that are just a re-run of the whole history of Israel; and you can flip through them as fast as you like. And then the books of Ezra. And Nehemiah. Which tell the story of the EXILES coming home.
After 70 years in exile in Babylon, the Israelites are allowed to come home. You can get the feel for the Exile sometime if you read books like Daniel and Lamentations. But after 70 years, time for a whole generation to come and go, there's a decree from King Cyrus. LET THEM GO HOME.
Now at this point, I want to remind you of something we saw a couple of weeks back. Words from Deuteronomy 30. God said, if you worship other gods, then you won't stay in the promised land. But listen to this. God says to them, if you TURN BACK TO ME WITH ALL YOUR HEART, things will be different. And I'll BLESS YOU AGAIN. But listen to the big IF. I'll read Deuteronomy 30 verses 1 to 6 that spells it all out in advance.
When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come upon you and you TAKE THEM TO HEART wherever the LORD your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children RETURN TO THE LORD your God and obey him WITH ALL YOUR HEART AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL according to everything I command you today, then the LORD your God will RESTORE YOUR FORTUNES and have compassion on you and GATHER YOU AGAIN from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the LORD your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your fathers, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. The LORD your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, SO THAT YOU MAY LOVE HIM with all your heart and with all your soul, and live.
So the big question at the end of the exile is, ARE THEY READY TO TURN BACK TO GOD WITH ALL THEIR HEARTS? Are they ready for HEART AND SOUL change of attitude? Or not? Are they ready to be a people who are really HUNGRY AND THIRSTY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS? So that God will somehow CHANGE THEIR HEARTS so they'll absolutely DELIGHT to serve him?
That's the question in the book of NEHEMIAH.
And the short answer is, NOTHING'S CHANGED. They rebuild the temple. And they rebuild their walls. But nothing's nearly as good as it used to be. And to top it all off, the stupid Israelites start making exactly the same mistakes as before. Intermarrying with idol worshippers, neglecting the temple. It's just like NOTHINGS CHANGED.
Turn over to Nehemiah 13. And we're nearly there. Nehemiah has been leading the people of Israel while they've rebuilt the city walls. When it's all finished, there's a celebration. Then Nehemiah leaves them for a while. Spends a few years back in Babylon. Have a look what he finds when he comes back. And as you hear this, think back to where SOLOMON got it wrong. He comes back, and finds men of Judah married to women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab.
And Nehemiah can't believe what he's seeing. Look what he says in verse 26.
Was it not because of marriages like these that Solomon king of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but even he was led into sin by foreign women. 27 Must we hear now that you too are doing all this terrible wickedness and are being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?
Even after everything they've been through, the problem is, they just don't want to be different from everyone else. They want to be the same. And they HAVEN'T turned back to God with all their hearts at all.
And that's why the Old Testament's a DISASTER STORY. Because that's basically where the STORY ENDS. You've got the prophets, who fit in all along the way, and their message is always the same. If you don't turn back to God, there'll be DISASTER. Disaster comes. And God's a God of New Starts. But even then, their hearts are HARD.
Time after time, the descendants of Abraham mess things up.
Which raises the question… is there EVER GOING TO COME A TIME when Israel turns back to God like they SHOULD – heart and soul? Because that's what REAL REPENTANCE is going to look like.
It's not 'til 400 or so years later that Jesus arrives. And his very first public words are aimed at Israel. And if Israel's not listening, at everyone else. Mark chapter 1 verse 15. "The time has come," he said. "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!"
He's going to be the KING IN THE LINE OF DAVID. Who rules FOREVER. He's going to be the one who gathers together a people who are HUNGRY FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS. Wherever they come from. He's going to be the one who brings BLESSING TO ALL THE NATIONS… as he dies to take the penalty for sin; and rises to rule for eternity. And the thing that's going to be fundamentally different… he's the one who CHANGES THE HEARTS OF HIS PEOPLE… by the work of the Holy Spirit.
The Old Testament's a DISASTER STORY. But we've got the SEQUEL. As God keeps his promise to bring blessing to the world through the line of Abraham. The blessing of being part of the family of God. Born again. Forgiven. And changed. The blessing of not having to live under the curse of sin any more. God said to Adam and Eve, if you eat it, you'll DIE. And now Jesus says to us, COME TO ME AND YOU'LL LIVE.
That's the blessing. And that's what the Bible's all about. And we need to keep in mind, JESUS is the FOCUS OF THE WHOLE STORY. Without Jesus, all you've got is the story of a disaster. A failure. But with Jesus, all the threads come together. In a story of God's blessing.
Let me finish this morning with a couple of verses from a letter the apostle Paul wrote to Timothy. Paul puts it all in perspective. It's in 2 Timothy chapter 3, verse 14 and 15. Very famous verses, and the perfect ending for what we've been doing these last four Sundays. He says, you've known the Old Testament story since you were a kid. So here's what to hang on to. Here's what he says.
But as for you, CONTINUE IN WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED AND HAVE BECOME CONVINCED OF, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have know the holy scriptures, WHICH ARE ABLE TO MAKE YOU WISE FOR SALVATION THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS.
See, that's what the Old Testament does. It leads you somewhere. Leaves your eyes and ears open for the salvation that comes through faith in Christ Jesus. When you see the story of sin, when you see the story of failure, when you see the story of disaster - maybe you can see yourself there? Why am I selfish? Why am I so hard for other people to live with? Why is self-control such hard work? And you're left hungry and thirsty for something better than that. The great news is, Jesus says, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." And you've come to the right place.