All of us have had the experience, loss to one degree or another. But some experience the loss of everything. And in some cases, the loss is not complete, but that's the way we feel. What happens when all is destroyed? In the case of the Southern Kingdom, there came a point when Jerusalem was finally destroyed and the people were carried into captivity in Babylon. There is, however, an interesting end of the story, especially as it is compared to the end of the story given in 2 Kings. I'm referring to the last chapter in the book of 2 Chronicles. It tells the story of a king, and yet at the same time, it's telling us about Judah's decline. It's telling us about how it all ended. It's not only its decline, but Jerusalem's destruction. And finally, a proclamation by Cyrus. So with all that in mind, turn with me to 2 Chronicles 36. We're going to begin by a passage describing Israel or Judah's decline, that is, the southern kingdom. Then the people of the land took Johaz, the son of Josiah, and made him king in his father's place in Jerusalem. Josiah had at least four sons, three of whom became kings in Judah. And we're now dealing with one of those who was 23 years old, according to verse 2, when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. Three months? He remained in power only three months, but no reason is given for that other than he was dethroned. It says in verse 3, now the king of Egypt deposed him at Jerusalem. And he imposed on the land a tribute of 100 talents of silver and a talent of gold. So the king of Egypt dethroned the king of the southern kingdom. This passage says they imposed a tribute. 100 talents of silver. 100 talents of silver is 120,000 ounces, 3.75 tons. And a talent of gold was 1,200 ounces, which is 75 pounds. So that was the tribute imposed on the southern kingdom. Then the king of Egypt made his brother king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name. That's in verse four. The act of remaining, I'm sorry, renaming shows that the Egyptian king had superiority and control over the new king. In these few verses, the will of the king of Egypt is in contrast with Judah's people. Whereas the people still held out hope that a descendant of David would lead them to great glories predicted by David's great son, such as in Psalm 2, such was not to be the case anytime soon. Other superpowers would dominate the southern kingdom's affairs. God had given his people over to their hand in discipline. And what we're reading here is a case in point. Jehoiakim was 24 years old when he became king and reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord his God. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against him and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. Here is another wicked king. He reigned 11 years. part of the time under the Egyptians, and part of the time under Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuchadnezzar intended to carry him to Babylon, but didn't succeed. Although the Chronicle does not record that fact, we know that he died while he was still in Jerusalem, as Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah chapter 22, and again in chapter 36. Because of his wickedness, the Lord allowed him to fall to Nebuchadnezzar, who had driven the Egyptians out of Palestine in 605 BC. In that year, Daniel and his friends were taken captive to Babylon. Jehoiakim had at first been loyal to Nebuchadnezzar, but after three years, he rebelled. The chronicler, but not the author of 2 Kings, Reports that Jehoiakim was then bound with bronze shackles and taken to Babylon along with the sacred objects of the temple. This was Nebuchadnezzar's first of three attacks on Jerusalem in 605, 597, and 586. Apparently, Johan Kim was released or escaped from Babylon because he was given a dishonorable burial outside the gates of Jerusalem. Verse seven says, Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles of the house of the Lord to Babylon and put them in the temple at Babylon. Wow, taking temple objects was common in times such as this when there was complete military conquest of a city. But wow, the spiritual precious articles of the Lord and the temple of the Lord were taken to Babylon. Verse 8 tells us now the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim, the abominations that he did and what was founded against him indeed are written in the books of the kings of Israel and Judah. Then Jehoiachin, his son, reigned in his place. Jehoiachin's conduct did nothing to retard the inevitable conquest of Jerusalem. Judah's captivity was one step closer when Babylon misplaced Egypt as the controller of God's people. was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months and 10 days, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He assumed the throne when he was 18 years old, and he succeeded his father, but he only reigned for three months and 10 days. Verse 10 tells us, at the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar summonsed him and took him to Babylon, with the costly articles of the house of the Lord and made Zedekiah his brother king over Judah in Jerusalem. Like his father, Jehoiachin, Jehoachim, under Nebuchadnezzar's thumb, he suffered deportation to Babylon. He surrendered Jerusalem and spent the next 37 years of his life in prison in Babylon. After the death of Nebuchadnezzar, he was released and evaluated to a place of honor, according to 2 Kings 25. This is the second deportation in 597 BC. Verse 11 says, Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. whose other name was another son of Josiah. Having removed Jehoiachin, Nebuchadnezzar replaced him with his uncle. Zedekiah was Judah's last king in Old Testament times. But would you believe, verse 12 says, he did evil in the sight of his God. and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. His 11-year reign was evil, a situation well-documented by Jeremiah in Jeremiah 21 and Jeremiah 32. And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear on an oath by God but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. In Zedekiah's reign, Judah bottomed out spiritually. The king refused to humble himself before either the Lord or Nebuchadnezzar, even though God repeatedly sent messengers and messengers urging him to do so. Hardness of heart is now characterized the Davidic king, as he had characterized the Pharaoh of Exodus. God humbled the king against his will as he had previously humbled the Pharaoh. Verse 14 says, moreover, all the leaders of the priest and the people transgress more and more according to all the abominations of the nations and defile the house of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. The leaders and the people increased in wickedness." The last verse in this section is interesting. The Chronicle did not set them off as a sermon, but caused them to flow out of what he had said about Zedekiah. The writer gave reasons for the conquest of Jerusalem and the exile of the Israelites. This is the third deportation in 586 BC. Verse 15 says, and the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by his messengers, raising up early and sending them because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. The Lord, in his mercy, continued to send warnings through the prophets to his messengers. But 16 says, but he mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no more remedy. What constitutes the greatest evil for the Chronicler, and it is a theme which is taken up elsewhere in the Bible, is not wrongdoing in and of itself, but wrongdoing in defiance of the clear knowledge of what is right. When the Babylonians took the city in 586 BC, they destroyed it and the temple. The people despised the word of the Lord and mocked the prophets. There was no remedy. To sum up what we've seen so far, The captivity of the Southern Kingdom took place in stages. In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem, made Johari-Kim a vessel and took captives to Babylon, including Daniel, by the way. In 597, Nebuchadnezzar again invaded Jerusalem and deported Jehor-Chen and took additional captives, including this time Ezekiel. Finally, in 586, Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took captives, all but the poorest of the people, 2 Kings chapter 25. So, this last chapter of 2 Chronicles details Judah's decline. One king after another did evil in the sight of the Lord and the Deportation to Babylon was in three stages. The rest of this chapter describes the destruction of Jerusalem. I should say the rest of the chapter, the next section in this chapter. Verse 17 says, therefore, he brought against them the kings of the Chaldeans who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary and had no compassion on the young men or virgins or the aged or the weak, he gave them all into his hand. At last, Nebuchadnezzar's army came under God's leading, according to this verse, and delivered a smashing blow that brought Judah's independence to an end. Young and old alike were killed, and many were taken as prisoners. Verse 18 says, and all the articles of the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of God and the treasures of the king and his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar took back to Babylon all the treasures of the temple, as well as the treasures of the king and his leaders. Then, verse 19, They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all the palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. The valuable treasures of the temple were looted, and the building itself burned and reduced to rubble, along with the palaces. Also, the city walls were broken down. The burning of the temple symbolized the end of God's glory and presence among his people in the land that he had given them to occupy. The real tragedy of the exile was not the removal of the people or even the utter destruction of the city and temple. It was the departure of God from their midst, an absence symbolized in one of Ezekiel's vision by the movement of the Shekinah glory from the temple to the summit on the Mount of Olives. Verse 20 says, and those who escaped from the sword, he carried to Babylon where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she laid desolate, she kept Sabbath to fulfill 70 years. Those who escaped death were taken to Babylon where they existed as slaves until Babylon's fall to Persia in 539 BC. The Jewish people had refused to keep the Sabbatic year for 490 years. Now their land would keep an enforced Sabbath for 70 years. This probably refers to approximately 70-year period from the first deportation under Nebuchadnezzar in 605 to the rebuilding of the temple by the returned exile in 536. Two reasons are given for Babylonians' captivity, continued idolatry the failure to give the land 70 sabbatical years of rest. One more section in this passage and it's the proclamation of Cyrus. Verse 22 says, Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, The word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and also put in writing saying, thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth of the Lord God of heaven has given me and he has commanded me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is Judea. Who is among you of all the people? May the Lord his God be with you and let him go up. Wow, what a turn of events. The first year that Cyrus was ruler, he conquered the Babylonian Empire, though he had been king since 559. He led the readers directly to continuing the historical account in the book of Exodus. God had descended on the temple in a cloud at its dedication. That's back in chapter 7, verse 1. Now he leapt it in smoke. Had the chronicler ended there, there would have been little hope for the future. He justified God's treatment. The returned exiles could not excuse the Lord accused the Lord of being unfair or impatient, rather it ends with His grace standing out. One author says, these two verses, and he's talking about the two I just read, verses 22 and 23, which end the book, reflect the whole mood of the book. Rather than ending with the failure of man, the writer concludes by focusing attention on the faithfulness of God. God was in control of the Persian king as he had controlled the kings of Babylon, Egypt, and Israel. He had promised Israel a future as a nation. His people would experience the future under the rule of a perfect Davidic son. The Lord was moving now, after 70 years of captivity, to bring the future to pass. Even though the Babylonian army had burned the Lord's temple to the ground, it would rise again, according to these verses. The message to the returned exile was clear. God would respond to their repentance. He would forgive their sin and heal their land. Moreover, he would rise up a descendant of David who would rule over not only Israel, but all of the nations forever. Now that Cyrus had decreed the building of the temple, here was prima facie evidence that God had not annulled his covenant with Israel, nor the Levitical system revealed at Sinai." End of quote. Another has said, the closing words of Chronicles are identical to the opening ones of Ezra. If the same person wrote both books, he may have duplicated his information to tie the events of these two books together. If different people wrote them, the writer of Chronicles probably included this material to present a note of hope at the end of his, open quote, sermon, end of quote. Still another has noted, it is noteworthy that in the Hebrew order of the Old Testament books, Chronicles stands last Instead of ending with a curse, Malachi 4, 6, the Jewish Bible ends with a positive and encouraging no. Thus says Cyprus king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth of the Lord God of heaven has given me and he commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judea. Who is among all of you his people? May the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up. So we have come to the end of this chapter. Let me summarize it. The final four kings of the southern kingdom experienced continual decline until finally Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were carried into captivity. But after 70 years, They were allowed to return. The summary of the last chapter of 2 Kings records that a king who only reigned for three months was put in prison. Jehoiakim, who reigned for 11 years, became a vassal to the king of Babylon for three years and watched captivity be taken to Babylon, including himself and Daniel. Jehoiachin, who only reigned for three months, witnessed the raid of the temple and the deportation of the people of the Babylon, including himself in 597. Zedekiah, who reigned for 11 years, saw the temple destroyed, was deported, and was killed in 586 BC. In other words, divine discipline went from being put in prison to being a vassal to being taken captivity to death. The sovereignty of the Davidic king over the southern kingdom had ended. With the death of Josiah, Judah fell under the control of foreign powers, first Egypt, then Babylon. God used other more powerful kings and kingdoms to punish his people. The temple motif in Chronicles also climaxes this section with its destruction. In view of what God promised David, There must be a great king coming. History shows that God blessed all of David's descendants who followed him faithfully in proportion to their obedience. Consequently, the coming king's reign would be greater than anything history had ever seen since he will carry out God's will completely. The responsibility of every reader is to follow the example of David. He realized that he was the recipient of great grace. He responded to that grace by submitting to the authority of the giver. He put the interest of the benefactor before his own selfish ambition and desires. This was his heart for God. God responded by blessing him and making him a channel of blessing to God's people and to the nations of the world. One more quotation. The people of the covenant might and did fail in Old Testament times. But the Lord had reserved the day when he has said, I will restore David's fallen tent. I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins, and it as it used to be. Amos 9.11. This, the author says, is the message of Chronicles. So we've concluded our study of 2 Chronicles, and it ends on a note of hope. It describes the decline and the destruction of Jerusalem. But when all is destroyed, God's promises will still be fulfilled, and we can trust them. What a great lesson. What a great God. Lord, thanks for your grace, for your promises, for your faithfulness, for your blessing, and this example of it. In Jesus' name, amen.