I & II Chronicles Intro

[00:00:00] Now, this evening we come to the first and the second book of Chronicles, and not intending to get very far this evening, just want to say a few words about these two books and deal with the authorship and the date of them and also the key to them. I don't think we'll try to get beyond that this evening. I'm deliberately taking this group of books more slowly because of its importance as a background to everything else that comes later on when we come to all the other Psalms and then we have all the prophets. [00:00:55] They have as their background these books. [00:00:59] But there is a sense in which, particularly these two books of Chronicles are of the most strategic value in the Old Testament. I think we shall see that a little of that this evening. We shall see a good deal more, the Lord willing, when we get down to actually studying them chapter by chapter. [00:01:23] You remember last week we said that Kings, as it were, had run down the curtain on a whole phase in the economy of God. [00:01:39] There is a sense in which the Book of Kings ends a whole phase of God dealing. [00:01:49] It's a strange thing because history went on and it's very hard for us, naturally, to understand why the Holy Spirit didn't go on in the method which he had employed for quite a long time. [00:02:08] We've got Joshua and Judges and Ruth and the first and second books of Samuel, the first and second book of Kings. [00:02:16] We've also got Genesis and we've got Exodus and we've got numbers. And it's a little hard for us to quite understand why the Holy Spirit traces through this history of God's dealings with his people using a certain method we call a historical method, and then suddenly, with the second book of Kings, draw it to an abrupt conclusion. And it is an abrupt conclusion. [00:02:47] It ends, you remember, with Nebuchadnezzar lifting up the head of Jehoiachin, the King, in the 37th year of his captivity. [00:02:59] A rather strange ending. We would rather expect to find another book leading on from that and opening it up. [00:03:10] But the instead we find we have in our Bible the two books of Chronicles and then Ezra and Nehemiah. [00:03:24] And perhaps we wonder exactly what is the difference between those three books that are in our historical division of the Old Testament and the others that have preceded it. But there is a very distinct difference. [00:03:45] The first thing we want, at least this evening, to note about all that has gone before, particularly the last two books of Kings that we've been dealing with is this simple thing. [00:04:00] We have learnt one very worthwhile lesson. I trust it is God's throne is forever, and it is beyond the touch of Satan or man. [00:04:23] And even when the practical and earthly expression his throne is decadent, departs from the principle of God's righteousness and truth, even when it needs to be purged and purified. [00:04:50] God is not thwarted. [00:04:53] He is not thwarted. That is the essential message of kings. [00:04:59] God is not thwarted by evil men like Manasseh. [00:05:03] He is not thwarted by evil men like Ammon and Ahab and other Ahab and such men. [00:05:13] God just goes quietly on, step by step, unfolding his eternal purpose, letting nothing thwart him, letting nothing take him by surprise, letting nothing even get in his way. There is no sense in which the purpose of God is held up, miracle as it may seem to us, no sense in which the Messiah's coming was to be delayed, in spite of the fact that we have a decadent nation, in spite of the fact that the whole thing's gone into captivity. [00:05:49] Everything's on time, all is working according to schedule. [00:05:56] Nothing anywhere is in any way causing God anxiety. [00:06:03] His throne is forever. And that is the thing we want to learn as we move now into the books of Chronicles. [00:06:13] Now again, we've got to note something about these two books of Chronicles. [00:06:18] A lot of what we've got to say this evening is somewhat technical, but it is the background for these two books. [00:06:25] The two books of Chronicles, as in Samuel and as in Kings, were originally one book in the Hebrew. There was no division whatsoever. The division is false. If we can just remember that, it will help us again in getting an overall picture of this book. [00:06:44] The division goes back to the Septuagint, the Greek version of the Old Testament. [00:06:51] They decided to make a division at the end of David's reign and the beginning of Solomon's reign. So they cut the book of Chronicles into two volumes. Now, if you can only just look upon it as two volumes, one rather than two distinct books, it will help you, I think, greatly. [00:07:07] Another thing that it may help you to remember is that it is almost conclusive now from the evidence that we have that the Book of Chronicles and Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one work to this very day, Ezra and Nehemiah are one book in the Jewish scriptures. [00:07:30] Even to this day, they are not divided into Ezra and Nehemiah. They are just one, one book. [00:07:37] And that I think we need to understand because I believe there's a little secret or something at any rate, from which we can really learn as to why the Holy Spirit divided the two. [00:07:53] The most interesting all the modern scholars worthwhile sound Scholars feel that Chronicles, the two volumes of Chronicles and Ezra Nehemiah were the work of one compiler. [00:08:13] Bruce particularly, and Ellison particularly feel that the evidence is almost conclusive, which when I mention those two men, because when they say it's almost conclusive, it generally is conclusive. [00:08:29] That is very interesting to us because it means that these four volumes are of a piece. [00:08:40] They're all of a piece. [00:08:42] They were all compiled with one purpose. That's my point. There is one purpose in these four volumes. [00:08:49] And if we can, in these next few weeks, get down to what really is the purpose for which they were written, why were they written, what was the real meaning behind them being written? And why was a new method adopted in their composition? [00:09:10] We shall have discovered, I think, the central secret of the Old Testament. [00:09:17] The Hebrew name for these books was just a simple word, literally words of the day of days, but more colloquially journals. [00:09:31] We get our name Chronicles from the Latin version of Jeremy. [00:09:38] That is how the word Chronicles was come to us. The Septuagint title for these books was Things Left over or Supplements. [00:09:48] It was obvious then in the mind of most that the Chronicles were written in the light of Samuel and King. Now, that's an important point. For any of you come up against liberals or modernists, they will try to tell you that you can rely upon Samuel and Kings, but you can't rely upon Chronicles because it contradicts them. [00:10:17] It's an amazing fact that whoever was the compiler of Chronicles felt absolutely free to recast and reorientate sometimes the language of Samuel and King. Now that's an important point because it gets to the root of the purpose of these books. [00:10:37] He borrowed a lot from Samuel and Kings and yet at times he felt free to just change things. [00:10:44] And that caused some modern and liberal scholars some heart burning. [00:10:54] They feel, therefore, that Chronicles is a very unreliable document and Scott to be treated very, very cautiously indeed. [00:11:04] Today the tides turned and it has come fairly widespread knowledge that Chronicles was written with Samuel and Kings spread out, as it were, before the chronicler or before the compiler. [00:11:22] He deliberately omitted much of what was in Samuel and Kings and he added a lot that was not in Samuel and Kings and he changed certain things that were in Samuel and Kings. That's very interesting. In other words, he just quietly changed around certain things. Some of the Kings, for instance, he changes the order of things and these we shall see as we come to it. He had a purpose. [00:11:52] Chronicles has not been written from the historical standpoint. It is written from a much, much more important point of view. We could call it the spiritual point of view, but that might cast one kind of shadow upon Samuel King. [00:12:17] But I think you understand what I mean. [00:12:21] With Kings, we come to a halt in the unfolding revelation of God's purpose. [00:12:29] It's as if, and this is very important, try to listen to this. [00:12:34] It's as if God has suddenly said, as he were compiling, preparing and constituting the Old Testament, it was as if suddenly, with the close of Kings, he suddenly caught a halt and said, now, no more. [00:12:49] No, go on, call a halt. [00:12:54] The time has come now to go right back to Adam, go right back to the beginning and retrace our footsteps from the start. [00:13:11] And then, as it were, to tell the story that we've been telling, particularly in the last four volumes, again from a different standpoint, bringing in much new material. [00:13:30] And then we'll go on. [00:13:33] If you believe that Ezra and Nehemiah were part of the same work, will go on where Kings stopped and will end Old Testament history. [00:13:46] Now, why does the Lord call halt to this unfolding revelation of his purpose? [00:13:55] From Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Samuel, from Samuel to Solomon, it's been an unfolding revelation in ever greater and fuller detail of the purpose of God. [00:14:19] Now suddenly the whole thing is stopped, almost as it were put into reverse. [00:14:27] It's just as if God saying to us, now if I go on from here, in the way that we have been moving, you'll miss the point. [00:14:40] You'll miss the whole point. [00:14:43] There have been so many things that we've had to draw into the story. There have been so many details that we have brought into it, important details, important aspects. [00:14:55] We've had to bring them in. [00:14:57] But if we leave it like that, or if we go on, we shall miss the whole point of world history as well as divine history. [00:15:14] And so it's as if God, by the Holy Spirit, dictates history again. [00:15:25] Only this time, it's on a deeper level. [00:15:30] This time, the governing thing is selection. [00:15:35] I was going to use the word. I know it will frighten some. It will cause a lot of questions. Election. [00:15:43] This is the governing theme in Chronicles. [00:15:47] All the time, people are falling out, never to be, never to be mentioned again. They're falling out. [00:15:54] Here comes a line. God takes it up, comes down to Noah. [00:15:59] The whole lot go out, except for three sons of Noah. [00:16:05] And then suddenly the chronicler goes on tracing the three lines. And then all of a sudden, two lines go right out. One line goes on. [00:16:15] Then that line comes down to Abraham. Then with Abraham, two or three lines begin. Ishmael begins. [00:16:24] Abraham's concubine son by her. Begin. Little lines are traced, subsidiary lines are traced. Then suddenly they all go out. [00:16:33] Isaac is chosen. [00:16:35] Isaac is traced. Esau, Jacob. These two lines are traced. [00:16:41] Then Esau is traced right down to the kings of Edom, all their different branches. And then they go out. [00:16:47] Jacob is traced right the way through to his 12 sons. [00:16:51] Then out of his 12 sons, Judah is selected. The rest, as it were, fade into the background. [00:16:57] Judah, we get all the many fathers of the houses, the different families. Judah. Then Caleb is chosen. So it goes on all the way through, down till it comes to David. And then farther on in Ezra and Nehemiah, it's taken right down to Zerubbabel, right down to Nehemiah. [00:17:21] It's all these long lists of names which many people think are just have been haphazardly strung together and put in the Bible for some obscure reason. [00:17:32] Now, there's a big purpose behind those names. There's a big purpose behind those genealogies. [00:17:39] You see, behind Chronicles is the principle of election. [00:17:45] It's all summed up in one little word that frightens us so greatly. It needn't, but it frightens us, which is quoted many times, comparatively speaking, for the type of word that it is. Esau, have I hated Jacob, have I loved. [00:18:04] Underlying Chronicles is this principle of election. [00:18:12] We are so thankful if we know the Lord, that we have Samuel and Kings to balance, to counterbalance. Quan quote. [00:18:22] Otherwise we would get a very one sided, harsh picture of God. [00:18:27] But we have the other side, which shows us that those lines don't just go out, but they go out of the direct purpose of God. [00:18:39] They go out of the inheritance. [00:18:42] Though they may not lose their relationship. [00:18:46] Chronicles deals only with those that go through to the glory, right through to the end. Now this is a most wonderful study. [00:18:56] If you could only get hold of this, it would thrill you because you hear us again and again talk about the house of God until at times you must wonder whether that's our only line. The church of God, the body of Christ, the temple of God, and so on. Why do we stress it? Why do we emphasize? [00:19:13] Why do we, as it were, continually bring you back to it? Because you see this, this part of the Old Testament, this ending of divine history is to enforce home this tremendous fact that everything is gathered together in the house of God. [00:19:40] And Chronicles traces it from Adam and in the end traces it right through to Nehemiah when the actual walls were finally rebuilt and the land resembled. In other words, it traces quite honestly from the first Adam to the last Adam. It is perfectly true to say that Chronicles begins with the first Adam and ends with the last. [00:20:04] It traces right through from the beginning, end, and at the end, in Nehemiah, we've got the stage, as it were, set for the Messiah to come. [00:20:12] There are only a few centuries for the Messiah to come. All now is prepared and ready for his arrival. [00:20:21] So this part of the Old Testament is of tremendous importance. [00:20:28] You see, there is a sense of. In which, in Chronicles, God is seeking to bring us to the deepest secret of his dealings with humanity. [00:20:47] If I do believe, if we as the people of God could understand what is the deepest secret of God's love and perseverance and continual movement amongst men and women, I think we would have come to an understanding of our salvation in a deeper, fuller way than we could have ever conceived of. [00:21:26] You see, to be absolutely honest, there are very, very few Christians who really know why they're saved. [00:21:33] Very few. I talk about myself. [00:21:37] When we really get right down to it, we stutter and we stammer and we're not really sure as to why we win. [00:21:46] I was going to say, without being irreverent in this business, what exactly has happened to us? Why did God lay His hand upon us? Why has he gone to such trouble to extricate us? Why, when we look back on our histories. Do you know, some of our histories go back into ancestors. [00:22:05] They go right back back into lines of people centuries before we were born, played by, if we knew it. You can find it in Chronicles. [00:22:21] An amazing thing. It is true. [00:22:25] Whilst there's nothing passed on, there's a sense in which prayer is answered. [00:22:33] Now, why? Why are we saved? Why are you here tonight? [00:22:37] Why have you been brought to know the Lord? What is God's vocation? Why should he be so persevering with us when we're so wayward, so sinful, so hopeless at times? Why did the Lord go on with me? Why is he always there, as it were, to pick us up and take us on? [00:22:58] Now, there are very few Christians who can answer that. [00:23:01] They startle and they stammer and they try to answer it and they hit at this and hit at that. You know what I mean? They sort of is a hit and miss business. [00:23:08] They tell you all kinds of things as to why they think they're saved. [00:23:14] The answer is in Chronicles. [00:23:19] When you get down to an understanding of Chronicles, you found the reason, the deepest secret of God's purpose. [00:23:26] Now I want to ask you a question. Why should God go back to Adam now when he's come to this point in divine history? [00:23:35] How does he go back to Adam? What point is that? I expect many of you have been like me when I was only 13 or 14. I always skipped these passages with all these names. These nine chapters couldn't quite see the point. And I mean, that was one of the problems that many of us, when we first began to sort of question things, had, well, if this Bible is inspired, what do you have chapter, chapter after chapter of names for? [00:24:06] Surely the Lord would have thought of some better things to fill those chapters with than names, because most of us don't get a thing out of them. Why couldn't the Lord have told us a bit more about some of the problems we would like to have known as to exactly what happened before the fall, or exactly, exactly what happened at the fall, or what's going to happen in eternity to come? Why didn't he cut out these chapters with all these long lists of names and give us a bit more that we could all understand, get our teeth into to speak? [00:24:36] But no, the Holy Spirit has given nine chapters in the first book of Chronicles to lists of names. [00:24:45] Now, is that design or is it coincident? [00:24:49] Is it just simply that it was possible, part of certain records and came to be included in Scripture in a rather haphazard way, but not very important? [00:24:56] Or is it by design of the Holy Spirit now? It is by design of the Holy Spirit. Those lists of names are as important as other parts of the scripture, are they not? [00:25:08] It means we cannot disregard them any more than we can disregard the third chapter of John. [00:25:17] There's something there. [00:25:19] So we have to ask ourselves these questions as we come to the book, this book of Chronicles. Why does the Lord go back to Adam? Why does the Lord go to such travel to trace everything from Adam? Why does he go through father after Father, father after Father, father after Father, right down to people in the days of Ezra. [00:25:42] All this tracing, all this analysis, as it were, this complicated searching. If anyone ever thought of the searching and the work that Ezra Scribe and others must have put into this to really, absolutely be clear about these pedigrees, as they called them. [00:26:02] They absolutely certain it required a lot of work and a lot of investigation and research to be able to get these things absolutely clear and accurate. [00:26:14] Well, now here we've got, in Chronicles, we've got the whole drama of human life related to one thing. [00:26:28] It doesn't matter whether it's the nations, it doesn't matter whether it's the nation. [00:26:34] It doesn't matter whether it's many, many individuals. [00:26:38] It doesn't matter whether it's a person like Moses. [00:26:42] Everything is related to one thing. [00:26:48] The whole, and I use the word carefully, the whole drama of life is related to this one thing. [00:26:58] So God goes right back to Adam, and there's a sense in which he relates from the very beginning everything to this one thing. [00:27:09] Then he, moreover, takes, as it were, the whole nation, and he begins to relate everything in that nation to one thing. [00:27:21] So that we begin to find that certain lines go out. They just don't go through. [00:27:27] Only certain lines go through. [00:27:30] And then those lines are, as it were, systematically pruned and weeded out for all the time. There's a line going through those lines, as it were, going through. [00:27:40] It's all related to one thing. [00:27:46] Then notice the things that are ignored, the things that are rejected. [00:27:54] There's a sense in which everything that cannot be related to this one thing is ignored. [00:28:02] Now, this is tremendous when you think of it. [00:28:05] The sovereignty of God acting in such a way that everything that is not related or cannot be related to this one thing is being cut out, being ignored, do you know that that means some of the greatest things in world history are being ignored? [00:28:26] Chronicles never tells us about Egypt or about Assyria or Babylon very much. [00:28:36] It even ignores Israel. [00:28:39] It ignores all the big things. [00:28:42] Just as if God is saying, this is the greatest thing in world history and everything else is just insignificant beside this. [00:28:58] This is the key to the creation of man and woman. [00:29:04] It goes back to Adam. [00:29:06] This is the key to reproduction. [00:29:11] This is the key to election. [00:29:16] This is the key to redemption. [00:29:20] This is the key to worship. [00:29:24] This is the key to service. [00:29:28] This is the key to glory. [00:29:33] And everything else goes on is all judged by this one thing and relationship to this one thing that is tremendously important. [00:29:44] Deuteronomy and the Gospel of John are the equivalents of Christ. [00:29:56] You remember in the Pentateuch, we had Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, and then Judah. Deuteronomy, do you remember, was entirely different from the other four books. [00:30:05] It was an interpretation. Do you remember? Deuteronomy went right back to the beginning and as it were, traced everything again reiterating one point. Thou shalt love the Lord thy Father. [00:30:22] The Gospel of John is an interpretation. The other three Gospels record history, but the Gospel of John is an interpretation. It interprets history. [00:30:33] It gets to the root of things. That's why the Gospel of John, whilst it's accurate in Many ways. Historically, it's not bothered about history, it's bothered about who Jesus is. [00:30:48] The spiritual interpretation of history. [00:30:56] That's why in the Gospel of John, that little word signs is used instead of miracles. [00:31:02] He speaks of signs, not just miracles. [00:31:06] Something that speaks, something that will lead you to something deeper. [00:31:12] Now, Chronicles is exactly the same. [00:31:15] Chronicles is not just history. Chronicles is an interpretation of history. [00:31:25] Well, let's just gather up these few things that we've been saying and then we'll talk a little bit about authorship and date. [00:31:33] Let's just put it like this. [00:31:36] To understand Chronicles is to understand the purpose of God. [00:31:49] I don't believe that you can understand other parts of the Old Testament and understand the purpose of God in quite the same way. It's not so apparent. [00:32:04] But if you understand Chronicles, you've got the heart of the matter and that's its importance. [00:32:14] We just need to see that it is of strategic value in that way. [00:32:22] Now, what about the authorship of Chronicles? That's a controversial point. Nowhere in the Book of Chronicles is there any clue or any outward indication of the compiler. I think it's wrong to speak of authorship. I seek to correct myself on that because it is quite clear from over 15 references made to sources. So it is quite clear that the chronicler used a large number of sources. [00:32:59] It is quite obvious from the style and vocabulary I understand, it is quite obvious that it was one compiler. It is not the work of many compilers. It's the work of one compiler using many sources. Some rate the sources mentioned as much as 20, others at least 15. I've counted at least 15 sources mentioned clearly in the Book of Chronicles. [00:33:26] Well, have we got any clue at all to who wrote Chronicles? It's very, very difficult because if Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah were the work of one man, it rules out quite a number. [00:33:42] Jewish tradition tells us that Ezra the scribe was the compiler of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. But as has been pointed out, it makes it just a little bit difficult because one of the most remarkable facts is that Ezra's not mentioned in Nehemiah. [00:34:00] It's one of the mysteries of Scripture. As to why Ezra fades out. [00:34:08] Well, we, I suppose, are not really at liberty to follow lines where the. Where the scripture does not obviously speak or indicate. [00:34:22] The Jewish tradition that Ezra was the compiler of Chronicles is a very strong one. It's not just a small one, it's an exceedingly strong one. And indeed, up to something like a few years ago, nearly all scholars have always agreed that Ezra the scribe was the Compiler of this book. [00:34:43] It is certainly interesting that Chronicles and Ezra, Nehemiah have many links that link the whole three together. [00:35:01] One link is the very large number of peculiarities of vocabulary and grammar that are found in all three volumes. [00:35:17] The Book of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah. Throughout the whole lot there are definite peculiarities which are which are quite consistent to all three. Another thing is there are many Chaldeans in all three. [00:35:33] Another interesting point, and one that I think we should just look at, is that in 2 Chronicles and 36 and the last two verses 22 and 23, You know the last two verses of chapter 36 and note the first three verses of chapter one of Ezra, they are exactly the same. [00:36:10] The only thing is that the first three verses of Ezra go straight on you. Note that whosoever there is among you of all his people, his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, which is in Jerusalem. Well, let just go straight on. [00:36:32] So the last verses of Chronicles are the first verses of Ezra. Now that is an interesting point. [00:36:41] Another point is the abruptness with which Ezra begins. [00:36:45] And if this has not at one time been one work, it is a very strange beginning indeed. [00:36:55] And we would have to question ourselves as to exactly how and where Ezra begins. [00:37:05] Has someone tampered with it then? Someone taken the last few verses of Chronicles and put them on? [00:37:11] How did they do it? It seems somehow or other that there are very real links between Ezra and Nehemiah and the first and second book of Chronicles. Another interesting point is this, that whoever wrote Chronicles and Ezra, Nehemiah had a very deep insight into the priesthood and into Levitical service. It is obvious that he knew the temple from the inside. [00:37:39] He also knew the law in a most remarkable way. Now, all that would naturally point to Ezra, who was a priest as well as a scribe. [00:37:49] It would point to him as being of the long line of priestly families. Actually, Ezra's pedigree goes back to error, and it's a most remarkable thing. If that is so, it could be quite an indication as to the authorship or shall we say, the editorship of the books. [00:38:17] Whatever is happening could not have been compiled before 536 BC. It couldn't have been compiled before then. You see from this last verse of the second book of Chronicles, it quotes the actual decree of Cyrus allowing the Jews to return to Jerusalem and build the house. That was in 536 BC. [00:38:44] So it obviously was not earlier than that. Time. [00:38:51] Now, that, anyway, is just a little bit about authorship and date. Boiling it all down. It just simply means that we don't really know who is the compiler of these books. [00:39:02] The strongest tradition is that Ezra is the compiler. And there would be much that would favor such a thought. All the outward evidence would seem to be in favor of the. [00:39:17] Of Ezra being the compiler. There are difficulties, though, and it would seem perhaps the easiest way to say is that Ezra was the compiler in general and that probably there were certain additions after his death. [00:39:34] That would seem to be the only thing we could really say from all the evidence. [00:39:41] What is the key to Chronicles? [00:39:46] What really is the key? [00:39:50] Well, it's not very difficult to find the key to Chronicles. [00:39:53] It's the temple. [00:39:56] It's as simple as that. [00:39:58] That is the key. [00:40:00] It is the key to Ezra and it's the key to Nehemiah. There are aspects of it in Chronicles. [00:40:07] We go right back to the beginning and we go right on to the end. And we find the temple is the heart of everything, the secret of everything. It's the deepest secret of God. [00:40:17] It is the deepest secret of the purpose of God, the temple or the house of God. [00:40:24] Now, there are other emphases in Chronicles, but all the other emphases are seen in the light of the temple. [00:40:35] It doesn't matter what they are. They're seen in the light of the temple. [00:40:39] Even tremendous things like the Messiah is seen in the light of the temple. I believe that's why Malachi, in the light of this is suddenly the Lord shall return in his temple. [00:40:55] Malachi, you know, worked with Nehemiah in probability, knew firsthand much of this that we're considering now as being at that point it was probably being recorded. [00:41:12] Well, now, that's a very interesting. There are other emphasis in Chronicles, but everything comes down to this simple little key. Here is a key. You can all go away and remember this. The key to Chronicles is the temple or the house of God. You take that key and you open everything. [00:41:29] Doesn't matter where it is, will open everything in history. Not just Chronicles in history. [00:41:36] Do you know that this little key will open to you every sea co in history? [00:41:44] It may seem a fabulous statement to make, but that is the claim of Chronicles. [00:41:49] The temple is the secret of world history. [00:41:53] It is the. It is the secret of divine history. [00:41:58] Around it and upon it centers and focuses everything. [00:42:03] The dwelling place of God, his sanctuary. [00:42:09] Now, it's a remarkable thing. Let's just, in the light of that, consider some facts. Very, very simple. Try not to Be too weary. [00:42:19] If Chronicle and Ezra Nehemiah were one work originally, why were they split up? [00:42:34] I am suggesting a little thing that may be of interest. [00:42:39] When they were split up, I have a strong, I was going to say, intuition that the last verses of Chronicle and the first version of Ezra were made the lip. [00:43:00] So that when Holy Spirit guided those men to break up that one volume into two volumes, Chronicles and Ezra Nehemiah, everyone would know, although their order was inverted, Ezra Nehemiah preceded Chronicles in the Jewish Scriptures. [00:43:22] Yet by those first verses and the last verses, everyone would know really, that they should be inverted. Now, why did the Holy Spirit do that? [00:43:33] Because that simply means this. Chronicles was the last word, the final word of God in the Old Testament. [00:43:44] When the Lord Jesus had the Bible, as it were, the Scriptures, the sacred scriptures in his hand, the last word in them was Chronicles. [00:43:56] Everything ended with Chronicles. It was God's last word to the Jewish people. [00:44:07] Now, that's tremendously instructive because it has only been with the addition of the New Testament that Chronicles has been taken from its place at the end of the Old Testament and put back into its right place with Ezra and Nehemiah following it. [00:44:33] That obviously means one thing. [00:44:35] If you were a Jew, the days of our Lord, you were studying the Scripture. You would read through everything. You would read through the whole. You would survey the whole of divine history, from Adam right the way through to the captivity. [00:44:55] Then you would have the next great section, what they called the former prophets. [00:45:06] That takes you up to the captivity, the former prophet. And then you would have the latter prophet, which was all the prophetical books. Then you would have the third great division, which was what is called the writing. [00:45:18] Now, why was Chronicles placed in the writings? [00:45:23] The Psalms were in the writings, Proverbs were in the writings. Job was in the writings, and so was Chronicles. [00:45:39] That was because it was, as it were, the key to the old covenant, right the way back through the whole thing, whether it be the Psalms, whether it be the writing, whether it be. Whether it be the prophets, whether it be history, or whether it be the law. [00:45:59] Chronicles was God's last word, summing up the whole of history and giving us the key to adore. [00:46:06] Now, that was all to be summed up in the Lord Jesus. That's why the Lord Jesus made such a law. And that was the point upon which the Lord Jesus was legally crucified. [00:46:16] He said, you remember that? No, I'm sorry. He was not legally crucified. It's the point which took him to that they decided he must die. The point when he said that he could destroy this temple in three days and could build it again. He could destroy this temple and build it again in three days. [00:46:40] But he spake says John of the temple of his body. [00:46:49] Chronicles was God's last word and the Lord Jesus was the fulfillment of it all. [00:46:58] That's something that I think is very instructive. Then again, we note another big thing about Chronicles. [00:47:06] The span of it. We have spoken once or twice of this. It goes right back to Adam. [00:47:11] It traces history very swiftly. Adam and then begins to more fully trace it when it runs parallel Samuel and Kings, as if very swiftly, it traces it to that point. And then more fully and slowly it begins to trace it there. And then when Samuel and Kings comes to an end, it goes on to the end of Old Testament history. [00:47:40] Now, what do all those facts mean? [00:47:44] What do they really mean? [00:47:47] They all add up simply to this. [00:47:51] The temple is the heart and the meaning of God's purpose of dealings with man, whether in creation or in redemption. [00:48:05] That is, this question of God's dwelling place was the point of creation, the meaning of creation apart from the fall and redemption. [00:48:19] It was not as if God just did had an afterthought, decided to save men and then make them his dwelling place. [00:48:28] The very creation of humanity had this great object in mind to be a sanctuary for God, to be a vessel for God, to be a dwelling place for God. [00:48:43] So it's the key to creation and it is the key to redemption. [00:48:48] And it's traced right away from Adam. [00:48:51] And all the people in this story are included. You go right back, whether it is to Enoch or whether it's just to Noah, or when you come down the line to each one, many insignificant people. But look, they namely there. [00:49:06] We don't know the trials, we don't know the tears. We don't know the experiences they went through. But they were part of this tremendous depth. They were being woven into the history that had to go behind this great object of God's love. [00:49:24] So you see, Chronicles is absolutely amazing when you think of that. The fact that it came at the end of the Jewish scriptures, it summarized them, finalized them as it were. It was the crown consummation of them. [00:49:40] The same way that it overlaps everything. It goes right back to Adam and right on to the coming of the Messiah. [00:49:48] It takes these two great things, the first Adam and the last Adam, and then it gives you the key to it all. [00:49:56] What is God after? [00:49:58] Why didn't he just finish with it? What is he really wanting to do. [00:50:05] And then it shows you the material. [00:50:07] Poor, frail human vessels. [00:50:12] Yet the question is this, if there was a heart for the Lord, in spite of what they were, they went on and they were incorporated. They went too. [00:50:23] And there were others that were much finer, but they hadn't got that heart for the Lord. And at a certain point they went off the record and they were not in quick. [00:50:37] Take, for example, the omissions. [00:50:39] And then he got a few more things say, so don't feel too heavy. [00:50:44] Take for example, the Omission of Chronicles. There are some remarkable omissions. Do you know, the chronicler has been very, very wrongly accused of being nationalistic and over patriotic. This was very common amongst modernists 50 years ago to say the chronicler was nationalistic and over patriotic. And therefore his picture is an unbalanced picture. He's sort of writing in a kind of rabid Victorian style, you know, God save the Queen and the Empire. [00:51:16] He would not ever admit, seemingly. So they said that the people of God did anything wrong. [00:51:24] Therefore he never mentioned Bathsheba and they said that was very wrong. [00:51:31] He never hinted that David fell, he just whitewashed it and overlooked it. [00:51:37] He never tells us about Absalom's rebellion. [00:51:41] He never tells us about Adonius rebellion. [00:51:44] He never mentioned Israel, the whole nation of Israel, the kingdom of Israel. He ignores it. [00:51:52] They say it's very well. [00:51:55] And that's only a few little examples of the omission. [00:51:58] In Chronicles, there are many omissions and they're all the seamy side. [00:52:05] It's all the seamy side. He omits it. [00:52:08] He doesn't bring it in. [00:52:10] So people have said the chronicler was nationalistic and therefore he's given an unbalanced picture of history. [00:52:20] Is that so? [00:52:22] No. [00:52:25] The Holy Spirit is saying this through the Book of Chronicles. [00:52:29] The house of God will never be built by division, by controversy, by agitation, by quarreling. [00:52:49] Nor will the house of God be built by indulgence or Agatha. [00:52:58] The house of God will be built as we go on with the Lord. [00:53:06] And therefore the chronicler, in the hand of the Holy Spirit is prepared to take big risks. [00:53:13] And he omits much. [00:53:20] Because he wants to just focus our heart on this one thing. God has a tremendous object and he's going to get it. [00:53:29] And he's got hearts that will go through with him. [00:53:32] And that's a tremendous thing. When we actually look at it, we shall see it much more clearly. [00:53:38] Why is it that the chronicler omits these things and if he does mention other things but he only mentioned failure when it directly was turned to glory. [00:53:51] Of course, Bathsheba was turned, that was termed to glory, but it's not mentioned. There are many things like that, but not mentioned because they did not have a direct bearing in some ways, in this, I'm glad we have Samuel and Kings because it gives us another picture and tells us much more. [00:54:10] You see, take David, for instance. In Chronicles, David just comes upon the scene. Oh, we only had Chronicles. We would think this Christian life was a wonderful thing. He just comes onto the scene and he's crowned. [00:54:23] Then the very next thing he does is he takes Jerusalem, makes it his capital. Well, we would all think, well, this is a wonderful victory. This is the victory life. We would say, now then, any of you are not living this kind of victory, victory life. You're not living the normal Christian life. But I'm very thankful that we've got Shamu. [00:54:41] And that tells us that David had a grueling experience as a shepherd lad, and then a grueling experience in the court of Saul, and then a grueling experience as an exile. [00:54:55] And at last he came to the throne. [00:54:58] Chronicles doesn't tell us she's a history that went behind it. [00:55:03] Yep, Chronicles, isn't it? [00:55:05] Now, that's just like God, isn't it? One day when we see the Holy city, well, it'll be so wonderful that if we didn't know, we would say, you know, there's no history behind this. It's all wonderful. Look at these polished gems. Look at these 12 foundations of precious stone. Look at these pearl dates. [00:55:24] Look at this transparent gold in the street. Look at the crystal water that flows out of the throne of God. We would say, that's the throne of God. We would forget that it had been the altar of God, that the throne, the altar has become the throne. We would know we would only have new Jerusalem. We would be so thrilled if we. If we didn't know. The history would just say how wonderful it all is. Look what God has done. He's just stripped his hands, waved the wand, and here is the new Jerusalem. [00:55:56] We would say, isn't God wonderful? [00:55:59] I say God is far more wonderful than that. [00:56:04] He takes the most unbelievable material, he puts it through the most unbelievable trials, and in the end, he produces a city. [00:56:16] Well, if you saw the city as you will one day, at least what it stands for, you'll see it and you'll marvel at it and you'll worship because of it. [00:56:28] If you didn't know what went behind it, you'd Think why this is just amazing. [00:56:35] But Chronicles tells us, you see, on one hand it disregards so much. On the other hand, behind each nave, included in those genealogies is a mystery. [00:56:49] One day we shall know the histories of many of these unpronounceable names. [00:56:53] We shall meet them and we shall find they went through much the same experience that we went through under a different covenant, but the same kind of experience. [00:57:03] We shall marvel. [00:57:04] These are the people of God. These are the people that are in the house of God. Part of the house of God. [00:57:12] God's dwelling place from every age and every generation. [00:57:16] Well, I say that's very, very wonderful. And I would like to ask just one other question. Why is Israel omitted? Why does the chronicler ignore Israel? Don't think that's a lot of wrong thing to do. They're the people of God. In fact, there are 10 names, 10 tribes. He ignores them. Is that not wrong? Isn't that exclusive? Isn't that narrow? Isn't that getting a bit fanatical? [00:57:40] Oh no, the chronicler is very clear here. He says, I'm. I'm a bit concerned lest you get the wrong idea from Samuel and Kings. [00:57:55] Oh no, the house of God is not found on the long way ground. [00:58:02] Call it what you will, you'll never find it in the wrong ground. [00:58:07] God has clearly defined the ground of the house of God is Jerusalem. [00:58:13] All that hold that ground are found before God. The house of God. [00:58:22] Israel took another spot, it's very interesting, called Beth, which means the house of God. [00:58:29] And they made it their house of God. [00:58:33] It had got the name, it had got the outward worship. [00:58:40] It was on the wrong ground. [00:58:43] Just on the wrong ground. You can call it any name you like. [00:58:47] It's on the wrong ground. [00:58:50] So the chronicler says, I'm very shy there. The people of God. I know, but they're on the wrong ground. [00:58:58] I've got to come now. [00:59:02] Well, we're glad we've got Samuel and King because it shows that God has not forsaken them. And there's one very wonderful thing in Chronicles that shows that some of them of Israel returned. [00:59:11] And it gives their genealogies those that return. But they returned on the right ground. [00:59:17] They're not lesson. They came back to Jerusalem. [00:59:23] Now that's a tremendous thing for us in these days. You know, there's an awful lot that Bethel people of God, they say it's the church. [00:59:36] They call it the church. [00:59:38] It's got semblance of it truly. It's the Lord's people. [00:59:42] They're very certain the word of God is heard just as it was in Israel to Elijah and Elisha and many others. But it's not the house of God. [00:59:55] It doesn't go through, just does not go through. [00:59:59] And that's why he omits Israel. [01:00:08] That's the thing we're going to have to see as we look through this. [01:00:12] That's the reason for the genealogies. You know what the genealogies are? [01:00:16] They are to prove a person's right to an inheritance in the land. [01:00:26] Ezra said, it's no good you coming saying you just want it. You've got to prove a genealogy. You've got to prove your pedigree. [01:00:32] I've got to be absolutely sure about you. [01:00:37] And you know what he did when he began to find out these pedigrees? He suddenly found there were a lot of people that hadn't got the pedigree. [01:00:44] And some people who were married had to get unmarried. [01:00:48] Many other people had to get out the land. [01:00:52] He cleared them out because it was a question of this genealogy. It just simply meant there had to be a history for there to be any participation in this. [01:01:06] That's tremendous, isn't it? [01:01:08] I say those genealogies have got something. There has to be a history of contribution, of faithfulness, of loyalty, of probation. [01:01:25] It has a spiritual history. [01:01:28] Don't believe in apostolic succession. [01:01:30] That's so called. But I believe in another kind of apostolic succession, the pedigree of faith. [01:01:38] Glad to trace mine back to Abraham. [01:01:43] You must trace yours back. Then the pedigree gives you your light to the house of God. [01:01:50] He saw a city. [01:01:52] We seek the city because we're the thin state. [01:01:55] We are sons. We were by faith. We've got the pedigree, the spiritual pedigree. We've got the genealogy. [01:02:05] It's very important. [01:02:07] And I want you just to note that there are two other emphases in Chronicles other than the house of God. God? Two important emphases. [01:02:21] One is the Messianic line, the line of the Messiah. And the other is Levitical ministry or worship. [01:02:33] Now, don't you think that's interesting? [01:02:36] I do. [01:02:38] I do. [01:02:42] I believe that though Kings teaches us that every child of God is watched over by the throne of God because they are a child of God. [01:02:55] I believe Chronicles teaches us that only as we're found part of the house of God will we ever bring back the king. [01:03:07] Chronicles traces a line, a royal line, traces that line from Adam, Abraham through to David. And then it shows us the line being kept alive through Nehemiah. Zerubbabel and so on until in the end. [01:03:26] Do you know that if you take the genealogies of chronicles and the genealogies Matthew and Luke, you got the whole script, got the whole of history. [01:03:38] They link the New Testament takes up their chronicles, finishes now. Why? [01:03:48] Why do you know that the whole of world history is waiting for a body to be formed for God's Christ. [01:03:57] When that body is formed, the whole world here history will pack up the moment the body is completed. The moment the whole. [01:04:10] Unfortunately, the original recording finished at this point. However, we understand that there was only four minutes that was lost.