It could be like all the other nations. And though the Lord gave them thorough warning about the negative consequences of having a king, they wanted one anyways. So God had Samuel, he was the last of the judges, appoint Saul as the very first king. That's 1 Samuel chapters 8 and 9. Now, understand that was rejection of God as king, and yet, in God's providence, it was still fulfilling something He had planned all along. For back in Deuteronomy 17, the Lord had Moses predict that there would be future kings and also gave them clear instructions of what they were to do and were not to do. Now, in addition, the period of judges demonstrated that the people needed a strong leader to keep them from straying away from God because they kept doing that whenever there wasn't one. They would disobey God. They would turn to idolatry. God would be upset with them. He would chastise them. They would fall under oppression from surrounding nations. Finally, they would start crying out to God, would repent, and he would send a judge to deliver them. They needed something more permanent because as soon as the judge died, they would go back to what they were doing before. They would start disobeying God. Now, a system of kings had the potential to at least force rudimentary obedience to the law. This was going to be its advantage. However, that would depend on the spiritual moral nature of the king himself. Last week, we saw there was quite a contrast between the first two kings. Saul started off well. He was a humble man in the beginning. He led Israel into initial military victories. Things were looking good, but it didn't take that long for the true character of Saul's heart to come out. He was given instructions, he didn't follow them. In 1 Samuel 13, he offered the sacrifices contrary to the Mosaic law and was corrected about it and told because of that, you would not have an enduring kingdom. A couple of chapters later, he was told to wipe out Amalek. He did not. And what we found was he was a man who sought to blame everybody but himself. He didn't take the responsibilities. And because of that, the Lord rejected him as king and said he was going to seek a man after his own heart, which turned out to be David. And all future kings will be compared to David. Were they good? Did they seek the Lord like David did? Now, the key difference between these two men wasn't sin. They both sinned. In fact, in many ways, David's sins were much more atrocious Much worse. The key difference was repentance and humility. When Saul became increasingly proud and stubborn and was confronted about his sin, he'd blame others. He would say he obeyed and then confront. He says, no, they did it. Then he feigned repentance. Then he tried to bargain. He still demanded he be honored. David, you never find him boastful. In fact, you find the opposite expressed in the Psalms. He would express his fears and his need for God. He couldn't do this on his own. When David was sinned and was confronted about it, he simply confessed it. He was wrong. God was right. Psalm 51 is the clearest expression of his complete passing himself upon the mercies of God. No blaming of others. No saying somebody else is responsible. No seeking after honor. Simply throwing himself on the mercies of God. Now, the spiritual condition of each king then has consequences for the nation. Saul was in power after he had sinned. The nation was over and over again, and they had to fight defensive wars as God sent those around them. Now, David also fought a lot of wars. They were wars of expansion, and the kingdom expanded its borders to start in the areas that were supposed to be part of Israel from the beginning. And as David would win one war, there would be peace with that nation so that by the time the end of his reign came, he had peace with all the nations surrounding him. Good king brings blessings. A bad king brings negative consequences. And that is what we will find this morning as we survey the kings of Israel and Judah. Good king leads to godliness within the nation, leads to God's blessings. A bad king, an evil king, leads the people astray, resulting in their sin and brings God's curses. So the spiritual condition of the king sets the course for the nation. Now, in this survey, we're going to find quite a mixture of different types of kings. There are kings that were good. There are kings that are bad. There are kings that start well and end badly. And there's one case of a king that started really badly, but ended well. And all along the way, we find God sending prophets. Prophets who encourage in righteousness and to confront sin as needed. Now, the first king after David was Solomon. And before David died, he appointed him as king. He was David's son by Bathsheba. And David had promised that that baton among all the sons he had, because David had a lot of children by many wives, is that is the one that would be on the throne. And so he pointed before he died, a wise thing to do, because otherwise the rivalries between the brothers would have ended in a civil war. And Solomon showed much wisdom right from the beginning of his reign. He consolidated his power, showing both mercy but also that he's going to uphold righteousness and justice. Both things are included. That's 1 Kings 2. And then in 1 Kings 3, he showed even more wisdom. The Lord visited him one night in a dream and asked him what he would want. Anything from God. And Solomon asked for an understanding heart to judge thy people, to discern between good and evil. 1 Kings 3 and 9. The rest of his prayer in that section was just his awe that God had chosen him and was allowing him to lead the people to begin with. And it was a scary thing. It was a huge responsibility. And that's why he wanted wisdom. How can I lead this great people? Well, God granted him a wise and discerning heart so much so there'd be none like him before or after. Verse chapter three. The Lord also gave him things he did not ask for. He did not ask for riches or honor, but God gave him those too. And so there was no king like him. And if he would walk in the ways of the Lord, verse 14 says, the Lord would give him a long life. Now, Solomon's wisdom became legendary so much so that people came from all over the world, the known world, just to hear him. His wisdom surpassed that of all those in the East and all those that had been noted for their wisdom in prior times. That's 1 Kings 4.29-31. And it didn't matter the subject. The Lord gave him a breadth of knowledge. 1 Kings 4.33 says he understood even plants and animals, birds, creeping things, fish, as well as going on to write 3,000 Proverbs. He can compose 1,005 songs. In 1 Kings 10, when the queen of Sheba visited, it says he answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king which he did not explain to her. Her response after talking with Solomon and observing his kingdom was this, quote, I did not believe the reports until I came and my eyes have seen it. And behold, the half was not told to me. You exceed in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. Verse 7. Quite a kingdom. Quite a king. Now, his prosperity and his wealth were also legendary. 1 Kings 4, chapter 5 and chapter 10 all detailed the immense wealth that was accumulated by Solomon during his reign. Now, part of it is he had peace on all sides. He wasn't fighting wars. He had extensive trade to very distant lands. He had ships going all over the place. There are so many products coming in that wealth seems secondary. First Kings 7 said that silver was considered as a stones in Jerusalem. Yeah, it's just silver. Pass it aside. His house, his palace, huge for its time, approximately 150 feet by 75 feet by five feet higher. But Solomon's greatest work, as is up on the screen, was the construction of the temple. This is one incredible building. David already had gathered many materials for it, and Solomon just added to it. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 all detail everything done in the temple together. Now, imagine this. He had 180,000 men working just lumber and hew the stones and transport them. That's going to be a cost, isn't it? The temple itself, and there are quite a few different ideas you may have looked, this is one of them, was 90 feet by 30 feet by 45 feet high with a 30 foot extension on the back. Its flooring was of cypress and it was paneled with cedar that was overlaid with gold. It says the outside of the temple was also overlaid with gold. So it may not have looked quite like this. Some ancient descriptions was that it was bright, especially in the morning, it was blinding to look at it. The inside again was paneled with gold and this is a layout, and I know it's a little small from the back especially. Some of you may want to borrow my glasses so you can see it. But this would be a cutaway on the north side of the temple itself, the interior, the front porch coming into it. And it's gold like that because it was completely overlaid with gold. Everything inside was gold. So the candelabras that were inside the candle stands would have lit that up pretty bright because gold reflects light so well. The cherubim with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies. In the front were the basins and the altar. These things were huge. Very intricately designed as well with cherubim and angels, and things carved into the gold that was on the walls. Then there was the courtyard itself. Here's a close-up of that. There's all the utensils. The bronze basin there was seven and a half feet high. It had a circumference of 45 feet. It was decorated around the edges with gourds, and it sat on top of 12 bronze oxen. This is huge. Then there's the pails, the shovels, the basins, all that. Then there's all the gold furniture inside. You see the different cherubim, the angels. This is elaborate. Definitely one of the wonders of the ancient world. Well, after seven years of construction, a long time doing this with a lot of people, But when that was done, the ark of the covenant that David had brought into Jerusalem was moved inside of the Holy Holies. And when that happened, it says, the glory of the Lord filled the temple as a cloud, so much so the priests could not stand before the Lord and were driven out. Solomon then went to dedicate the temple with an address and a prayer to the people and also sacrifices. 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. This was a huge affair. It was supposed to go on for seven days and then extended another seven days. Fourteen days just dedicating the temple. The high point of ancient Israel. Peace on all sides and the temple is now here and everything was going so great. In fact, verse 66 says that the people, when they finally did return to their homes, says, were joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness the Lord had shown to David's servant and to Israel, his people. In 1 Kings 9, we find the Lord a prayer of dedication. The Lord would fulfill all His promises and would dwell in the midst of the temple, but if Solomon or his descendants would ever depart from following the Lord, then He would have them carried away and this temple would be destroyed and ground to dust. He'd cast them from their sides and there'd be a heap of ruins. So, serious note in the midst of even a celebration. In the prayer that Solomon had in dedicating the temple, it's an exaltation of God's character, His faithfulness, His promises, and then it's a series of petitions of God listening to them when they would sin, that He would forgive them. That when there was troubles that would come up in the future, that He would hear and intervene on their behalf. This became the center point of the nation, was the temple and the worship that was there. Well, Solomon did continue well for a while. The nation was at peace. The empire was strong. It was fast. He was trading with nations from far away. The people were following the Lord. Things were going great. But Solomon's heart was not totally devoted to the Lord as was his father's David. 1 Kings 11.4. His downfall began because he did not follow the instructions given in Deuteronomy 17.17 and he multiplied wives. And just as the warning the passage gave, that they turned his heart away from the Lord. He had 700 wives, 300 concubines, many of them foreign women. And he ended up building places for them to worship their false gods. And then he joined in and worshiped those false gods with them. That resulted in the Lord doing two things. First, he told Solomon that because he had not kept the Lord's covenant statutes, the kingdom would be torn away for him, though for the sake of David it would not be during his reign, but that of his son. And one tribe and one tribe only would be left to him for the sake of David. Second, the Lord would send adversaries against Solomon. And from that time forward, Solomon had troubles and he had to fight battles, defensive battles as different ones would rise up, including Jeroboam, whom the Lord had sent Ahijah the prophet to announce that he would be king over the northern ten tribes when Solomon died. Now, following Solomon's death, 1 Kings chapter 12, all these prophecies came true right at the beginning of the reign of Rehoboam. Now, Jeroboam had fled to Egypt by this time. And when he heard that Solomon was dead, he came back. And he led an assembly to Jerusalem to have an audience with the king. And they said to him that if he would ease up the yoke of burden that Solomon had placed on them, they would serve him. Well, Rehoboam was not a wise man. Instead of following the counsel of the elders that had served with Solomon, he went to his peers. And his answer to them was, is that Solomon's yoke would be light compared to what he would do to them. And so they rebelled. They said, we have no part in you. And they left and they made Jeroboam their king. Rehoboam assembled the army to fight Israel, but the Lord sent a man, Shemaiah, the man of God. And he told them this was of the Lord and go home, which they did. Jeroboam, on the other hand, was told that if he would listen to the Lord's commands and he would walk in them, that God would establish a kingdom for him, an enduring one. But Jeroboam did not do it. After Jeroboam had gained the kingdom in the north, he feared that because the Lord's command that the people were to go to Jerusalem yearly to worship at the temple, in fact, they were to gather there three times, that they would end up following the kings of Judah again. Hearts would turn away. So he built two alternative places to worship. One in Bethel at the southern end of his kingdom, just across the border from the northern end of Judah. And the other one in Dan in the far north. And there he set up altars and he set up calves. And the rest of the thing going all the way back to Exodus. And these would serve as the gods of of Israel." Now understand that this was not to worship a different God. It was the false worship of the true God. But the false worship of the true God is still false. It does not please the Lord. And after Jeroboam had done this, the Lord sent, this is 1 Kings chapter 3, a man of God to prophesy against it. And in 1 Kings 13 verse 2, the prophet cried out this, O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. And on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you. And human bones shall be burned on you. Then he gave the sign the same day saying, this is the sign which the Lord has spoken. Behold, the altar shall be split apart and the ashes which are on it shall be poured out. Now, when the man of God said this, Jeroboam reached out to seize him, and when he did so, his hand dried up, so he couldn't pull it back. He got the point. Asked the man of God if he would treat the Lord for him and restore his hand, which he did, and the Lord did restore his hand. But Jeroboam still continued his disobedience. The altar split. The ashes poured out, just as the man had said. 2 Kings chapter 23 records that about 300 years later, King Ahijah, exactly the man, the name even predicted, did exactly what had been prophesied. Our God knows the future as well as the past. In 1 Kings 14, the prophet Ahijah, that's the same one that had told Jeroboam he'd be king, delivered a message of condemnation to the house of Jeroboam because he had done more evil than all those that were before him because he had made for Israel these other gods and they became other gods. They became false worship of all sorts of things and molten images. He was going to raise up another king over Israel and a whole house of Jeroboam would be cut off. In fact, it was going to be so bad that only one son, the one that was currently sick, would die and be buried. Every other one attached to the house of Jeroboam would either be eaten by dogs or eaten by birds. That's not a pleasant thing. condemnation. All future kings of Israel will be compared to Jeroboam. The rest of the history of Israel follows the same basic pattern of Jeroboam. All of them were at least as evil as Jeroboam. Some were much, much worse. They continued the false worship of the true God of Bethel and Dan and many of the kings got worse because they started introducing the gods of the surrounding nations. the Baals, the Asherahs, and all the rest. Now, some of these kings had long reigns, up to 41 years, some very short, shortest one just seven days. Some of them inherited the kingdom from their father. Some of them were directed by the Lord to become king by destroying the previous royal line. Some were simply usurpers that were seeking power for themselves. And all along the way in the history of Israel, the Lord sent prophets, prophets to warn them of their evil and its consequences. I'm going to be flipping up here on the screen quickly every single king of Israel. Yes, we will get out before noon, I think. But it's going to be in this pattern, it's going to be the name of the king of Israel in yellow, along with the years of his age, and that's all B.C. The total years the person reigned, the moral nature, and how that person came to power. On the right side is going to be in blue is if there was a specific prophet named in Scripture that was confronting him. And we don't have the names of all the prophets. Sometimes it just says prophets. But many of them are named. Now, of course, the first one is Jeroboam. He ended up reigning for a total of 22 years. Ahijah was the first one that confronted him, there was also the man of God at the altar. He was set up by the Lord, put in power by that, but he was evil and he set the standard for what evil was. Following him was his son, Nadab. He reigned for two years. He inherited from his father, but he was also evil like Jeroboam. Following him was Basha. He was a usurper. He destroyed the line of Jeroboam as he had been told to do, or had been prophesied. Reigned a total of 24 years. Jehu, the son of Hanani, was the one who continually confronted him. But again, evil like Jeroboam. After him, Elah, his son inherited. He also was evil like Jeroboam. He reigned for two years. Then Zimri. Zimri was a usurper. He was one of the The military leaders, he killed Elah, but he only made it for seven days because Omri came and killed him. And Omri was more evil than all the kings prior. Omri set up the worship of the false gods, the Baals. Elijah, there was a whole bunch of prophets as well as Micaiah, would follow quickly to start confronting him and his son Ahab. Ahab reigned 22 years and he was more evil than his father Amri. We hear many stories about him. All the stories revolving around Elijah are basically dealing with Ahab, the majority of the text. Micaiah is also there, but he's a nasty man. His son Ahaziah followed, but he only made it for two years. Elijah was the prophet confronting him. Then Jehoram, who also inherited it, also evil like Jeroboam, Elijah, and then Elisha confront him. Next is Jehu. Jehu was picked by the Lord to wipe out the line of Omri, which he did. But that line also extended to Judah, and we'll see that when we get to the kings of Judah. But Jehu, instead of being one who would follow the Lord, quickly turned aside and did the same sins as Jeroboam. Elisha continually confronted him. His son Jehoahahaz reigned for 17 years. Elisha confronted him. He also was evil like Jeroboam. And then his son Jehoash followed 16 years. Elisha confronted him, but he also was evil like Jeroboam. Then you come to Jeroboam II. Another one, evil like Jeroboam the first. But now we have three other prophets that are alive that are dealing with them. Jonah. Yes, the same one that went to Nineveh was also a prophet in Israel and confronted him. Amos and Hosea. Well, following Jeroboam was Zechariah. He inherited it. Also evil like Jeroboam. Hosea confronted him. And then Shalem. Shalem only lasted a month. He was a usurper. He killed Zechariah. But he also was evil. Next was Menahem. Ten years and also another usurper. He murdered Shalem. But also evil like Jeroboam. Hosea confronted him. Pechahiah inherited from Menahem. He only made it for two years. He was evil. And then Pekah. Don't you like these names? I've never heard anybody name their son into these names. I haven't run into anybody like that. But Pekah actually was a usurper early on. His reign actually starts with Menahem. He was one of Menahem's generals and apparently consolidated his own power and power of the kingdom so it was somewhat split. Finally, when Pekahiah was on the throne, he murdered Pekahiah and took the whole throne. Hosea confronted him. And that led finally to Hosea. He made it for nine years. He was also evil. He was a usurper. He is the last one of the kings of Israel because after him came destruction. The Assyrians had risen up to power and they came down in 2 Kings chapter 17, tells us about this. They came down in 722 BC, destroyed all of Israel and carried everything away, including the people and deported them. Chapter 17 is also very clear on the reasons for this destruction and being deported. It says Israel would refuse to listen to the many prophets the Lord sent. They refused to turn away from their evil and turn back to the Lord's commandments. 2 Kings 17, verses 13, 14, and verse 23. And all this was really simply the fulfillment of the things that they had been told about early on in their history. All the way back in Leviticus 26, the first generation was told that if they got into the land and sinned, they would be eventually deported. Deuteronomy 28, he told the second generation, the ones that conquered, if you sin, God is eventually going to destroy it and deport you. Joshua 23 in his address before he died to the generations that would follow. If you depart, this is what's going to happen. And yet the Lord extended it for a long period of time, over 400 years before it all happened. 300 years of the nation of Israel continually sinning against God before the final judgment came through the Assyrians. Wiped them all out and deported them. They brought people in from other areas fill the land. And what was left were a remnant of a few people. And we ended up with a mixture of types of worship. The foreign people brought in pagan worship, but their idea was gods were located in certain lands. They wanted to know something about the God of Israel. So, they mixed the two together. The result in Jesus' time were the Samaritans. That's where they came from. This was the result of their sin. Now, Judah, the southern kingdom, did slightly better. And the reason is, is they actually had a few good kings. Israel only had evil kings. And whenever a good king would come on the scene, there would be repentance, revival. They would follow the Lord for a time. And a bad king would come and lead them into sin again. And they would suffer. In the same way, I've got a chart here that shows that. The kings of Judah in yellow. Here, just the years of their reign. Total years and their moral nature. And comparing them to David, because that's how they're all compared. If there was a prophet that was dealing with them, that's in blue on the right side. Of course, Rehoboam, we already mentioned. 17 years he reigned. He was evil. His son Abisham was also evil. He only made it three years. Asa made it 41 years. Hananiah the seer was a prophet that dealt with him. He started off very good, just like David, but towards the end of his reign, he became proud. That led to some problems. Jehoshaphat, his son, reigned for 25 years. And there's many stories about him in the Old Testament. Many different prophets had a ministry to him that were mentioned. Micaiah, Jehu, Jehaziel, and Eliezer, the son of Dodabahu. But Jehoshaphat, as good as he was, set up the kingdom for great tragedies to follow because he made a marriage alliance with Ahab, the king of Israel, and had his son marry Ahab's daughter. That was a bad move and he was confronted about it. And Judah did experience the tragedies that came from that. Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram, was evil. He only made it eight years. Elijah, though he was the prophet to Israel, had to come to Judah and confront him because he was also the house of Ahab. He was his son-in-law. He had a son, Ahaziah, who took the throne for one year. That would be a grandson. And when he died, Jehoram's wife, Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, was a usurper. And took over the throne for six years. She murdered all the rivals of the throne. Any of her children that would be a threat. Any of her stepchildren that would be a threat by the other wives that Jehoram or Ahaziah may have had. Except for one. There was one person, Joash, who was one year old when this all happened. And he was saved. He was hidden. When he was seven years old, Jehoiada, the priest, confronted Athaliah, had her slain, and restored the kingdom to who it should have belonged to, which was Joash. And Joash was very good at the beginning. He even repaired the temple, which had fallen to disrepair under evil kings. But when Jehoiada died, he turned evil. And so his reign ended very poorly. Jehudiah and Zechariah all confronted him about these things. Next was Amaziah. He reigned for 29 years. He was good, not quite as good as David. His heart wasn't totally after God as David's was, but he also turned evil. And later in his reign, he became proud. And that happens to quite a few of them. They get a military victory and they think they're something more than they are. And then they turn and go the other way. Uzziah was the same way. He was good, but he got proud because he had a military victory. But the Lord humbled him, gave him leprosy. He got the point. He was a co-regent from that point on because he couldn't really actively be with the people because of his leprosy. But Azariah the priest is the one that confronted him. Jotham, his son, co-reigned for a while. 16 years and he was good. Isaiah comes on the scene during his reign as well as Micah. Ahaz, his son, reigns for 16 years as well, but he followed the ways of the kings of Israel and was evil. Isaiah and Micah also would have to have confronted him. The next one is Hezekiah. Hezekiah is described as a good king. 29 years total reign. He restored the temple. They had stopped having the Passover and he restored that. He also is the one that was in power when Assyria took away the northern kingdom. And Assyria didn't stop at the border. They came all the way down and they surrounded Jerusalem. Hezekiah withstood them with the help of Isaiah. He was a man that did believe God and he saw God do great things. In fact, he saw God take Sennacherib and pull him out as described with a ring in his nose and took him back to Assyria. An angel of the Lord wiped out 185,000 in his army in one night. You know, if you're going to fight a battle, it's best to have the Lord with you. Or better yet, you choose the side the Lord's on. You don't want to fight against him. So, he was a good king. Following him, though, was the exact opposite. It was Manasseh. Manasseh was the most evil king of all the Judean kings. It was so bad that the Lord sent Isaiah and Isaiah confronted him. but told him that the kingdom was going to be taken away. They're going to be deported. Tradition has that Manasseh sawed Isaiah in half and killed him. That is the nature of Manasseh. Later in his life, though, several things occurred and he humbled himself before the Lord. And because of that repentance, it was said it would not occur in his lifetime. It would be in the future. But because of his sin and all the sin that he got the people into doing, in fact, the text says that he got people to do things worse than the nations that Israel had cast out of the land. And because they continued to do that, judgment was going to come. Now, his son, Ammon, was just as evil, but he only made it two years. And then a break came. in the person of Josiah. Remember I mentioned him earlier? Josiah was very good. In fact, he is described as the most righteous of all the kings of Judah, even surpassing David. He brought revival to the reign. But things were so bad, he wanted the temple to be repaired. So as they were going in repairing the temple, Hilkiah the priest found the book of the Law of Moses. They had lost it. He found it. And as he was reading through this and found out how much sin they had done, there was repentance on his part and he led the nation in repentance. And so there was a great revival. He restored the temple and then restored Passover celebrations, which again, had not been carried out. Zephaniah, Habakkuk, and Jeremiah were all prophets during his reign. But the condemnation was already there. It was going to come. It was a very brief revival because as soon as he was dead, The people's hearts were evil and they turned immediately. Jehoahaz lasted three months and he was evil. Habakkuk and Jeremiah are the prophets during that period. And then comes a series of kings that are confronted by Nebuchadnezzar. First there's Jehoiakim. And you have to watch the spelling on this to figure out which one's which. Jehoiakim, he reigns 11 years. He actually is Jehoahaz's brother. In 605, Nebuchadnezzar came up from Babylon and conquered Judea and Jerusalem. And Jehoiakim became a puppet king. And he stayed that way for a while, but then he decided to rebel and wasn't going to give tribute to Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar comes back right at the time Jehoiakim is king. He makes it three months, but Nebuchadnezzar then captures Jerusalem a second time. This time he plunders the temple, takes away all the valuables inside it and all the leaders and skilled workmen. That's 597 BC. He establishes Zedekiah. Zedekiah is Jehoiakim's brother, Jehoiakim's uncle. He's there for 11 years, but he eventually also rebels against Nebuchadnezzar. He comes back yet again. And in 586, he plundered the rest of Jerusalem and then burned it all. The temple, so elaborate, is now an ash heap. All the things that God had prophesied beforehand and warned about had come true. And again, it goes back to the fact they refused to listen to prophets. They refused to turn from their evil. And so, Leviticus 26-33 and Deuteronomy 4-27-28 comes true. Jerusalem's destroyed, the temple's destroyed, and they're scattered among the nations. Now, it's important to note that while the Lord sent prophets throughout the history of both Judah and Israel, to both warn about consequences of sin for all the evil kings, but also to encourage the good kings in doing good, as Isaiah did with Hezekiah. They also had a consistent message of hope even beyond the consequences of their sin. They would expand on a promise that's given in Deuteronomy 4, 28-31 and 30 verses 1-6. And in that it says that after they are taken captive, when they disobeyed, there would be a restoration. So that was predicted long before. God knew they would turn evil, they would end up with the consequences, they would be deported, but there was hope they would be restored again. And that is a theme that is consistent throughout the writings of the prophets. So warnings and condemnations, but a consistent message also of future restoration. And it was more than just a return to the land and prosperity, although that was part of many of the prophecies. For example, in Jeremiah 25, there's a prophecy, it's very specific, that the captivity, which was about to happen, would last for 70 years. In Daniel chapter 9, we find that Daniel, a prophet during the exile in Babylon, is reading through this and realizes it's almost 70 years. He's excited about this, that we're going to be restored pretty soon. And Daniel 9 is his prayer related to this very prophecy. But Jeremiah also prophesied beyond just that restoration to something very different. In chapter 31, he talks about a new covenant. And this new covenant included not just a restoration of land, but it said that the Lord would circumcise the hearts of the people and that their descendants would love the Lord with all their heart and soul. Something that had not happened before. There's going to be something different in the future. In fact, it goes on. It says not only would they be circumcised their hearts, it says he would put his law into the hearts of the people so they would know the Lord. They would be forgiven their iniquity. and their sins would be remembered no more. That's a great promise. That was something they could look forward to, even in the midst of tragedies they were suffering. Ezekiel 37, 26 through 28 speaks the same thing, though he's writing at a later time, about an everlasting covenant, one in which the Lord would dwell again with them in his sanctuary forever. The other prophets carried similar themes, Isaiah, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Micah, Zephaniah. These are all pre-exilic prophets, prophets prior to the exile to Babylon and Assyria. Very similar things. We'll see that the post-exilic prophets, those that came on the scene after the deportation, which would be Ezekiel, Zechariah, Haggai, and Malachi, all have this theme. intertwined within their message of a restoration was of a different kind of kingdom, an eternal kingdom, something different than they had ever experienced before. In addition to all that, there was intertwined with it a message of a coming Messiah. Remember, we had mentioned that God had made a covenant with David back in 2 Samuel 7, that there would be a greater son, one who would sit on his throne forever. And there kept being little bits and pieces given about what that man would be like. Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, for example, says of this one, it says, He will have the government rest on His shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. That says a lot right in itself, doesn't it? This One Coming is also going to be God. Verse 7, Then there will be no end to the increase of His government of peace on the throne of David or over His kingdom to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on forevermore. How would it happen? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. It's not something they would do themselves. God is going to do something beyond their dreams in the future. This is the one that's described in Isaiah 53 as the suffering servant who would take away their sins. That's all intertwined in the message of the prophets. Next week we'll see some more of that when we look at the exile and the return to the land when some of this starts coming true. For this morning, we really have a conclusion that there's a difference between the cycle of judges and the period of kings. And it's simply this. With the king, they have someone to follow. If the king was good, blessings would come to the nation. But if the king was bad, it'd be worse than the period of judges because the king would lead the nation into evil. People haven't changed any since those ancient times. People still follow leaders. Someone gets out in front, people will follow them. That's why you find strange things that go on. It's like, why would you do that? Well, they just want someone to lead. They don't want to make the decisions. They think somebody else has got it better or more together than they, so we'll follow and off they go. They don't think about what's really going on. Now that is good when it's a good leader. Because again, even in our own time, when the leaders are good, Moral people, the people who are seeking after God, they lead towards obedience to God's laws. His moral laws. And there are always blessings in doing what God wants you to do. No matter what the nation. God has a purpose for governments. And when that is fulfilled, it's a blessing to all people. So that's the good part of it. The bad part is when those leaders are evil, the people just follow along into the evil that they're going into. Now that brings it up to something individual. Because every individual must choose whom they are going to follow. Are they going to follow the Lord? Or will they follow leaders that cater to their sins? The New Testament warns us that in the last days, there will be those who will rise up that will speak things that will tickle people's ears. And they will gather for themselves these kinds of leaders, even within the religious groups. Within churches, people will do this. Nations do the same thing. They gather for themselves people who will do what they want to do and cater to their sin. But just because leadership of a group, of a nation, goes one direction doesn't mean you do. In fact, throughout the history of Israel and Judah, we find the individuals that keep standing up. Now, sometimes it may not be apparent, but they are around. Remember, Elijah was concerned. He thought he was the only one left. And the Lord told him, no, there are 7,000 left in Israel that have not bowed the knees to Baal. They are out there. But you as an individual have to decide whom will you follow? Now, as Christians, we are subject to being misled by leaders. We're not really any different from that perspective. We can be fooled. But if we're following the Lord, we will be able to discern between right and wrong, between good and evil. And we can make a stand upon doing what is right before God, just as the prophets did of old. And so God calls each of us as individuals to do the same thing. We are the ones he has entrusted his word to, to proclaim it to all those around us. That's our responsibility. But it starts with a choice. Am I going to follow God or am I going to follow the way everybody else is going? We can be used of God, like the prophets of old, to encourage those who are doing right. I hope you do that. In whatever the situation is. Because leadership occurs in a lot of different levels, doesn't it? Not just government functions, whether it's national, state, or local. but even within the businesses you may be part of, who's leading that company, within your schools, who's leading there on campus, within the groups that are there, within churches, who's the leadership. Encourage those who do right. Let them know you're behind them, but also to correct those who do wrong. Yes, we are to correct those who do wrong. We speak the truth in love, but we need to speak the truth. And that really leads us to this one final question. What's your own personal commitment to following the Lord? Are you willing to stand up and do what is right regardless of the direction of the leaders that are around you? Regardless of the direction of the rest of the group that you may be part of or society? Are you willing to be like the prophets of old, those who stand up against evil and encourage righteousness? That is one of the lessons we find at looking at the kings of Israel and Judah.