Hope in Exile
Advent 2021 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 6 viewsIn the midst of exile, we have hope because the King is alive.
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Hope in Exile – 2 Kings 25
December 19, 2021
Adam Wiggins
Storyline Fellowship
There was a saying on the wall as I grew up that said the old adage: “Home is where the heart is.” Funny enough, we have no idea where that saying first came from. But it is true, isn’t it? Four walls and square footage doesn’t make a house a home. What makes a house a home are the relationships and the life and the memories that happen inside of it.
Jesus said something similar in the gospels: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” The place you belong – your home – is wherever your heart craves most. Which begs the question this morning, “Where is your heart?” “Where is it that you are trying to reach?” “Where is your home?”
Today as we continue to travel through the story of the Bible in this advent series, one thing we will see is that for believers, our Home isn’t tied to a place; it’s tied to a person and it’s tied to His presence.
I. God’s Presence Brings Life
To see this, I want us to take some long strides together through the Storyline of Scripture. So that means we’re going to look at a couple different passages. And the first is in 1 Kings 9.
In case you are just joining us, I want to briefly catch you up from where we’ve been in the series as we are turning there. We began with Adam and Eve, who were at home in the garden, enjoying the very presence of God. Genesis describes God as “walking with them” in the cool of day.
But all of that changed when they rebelled against God. Sin and death and poverty entered the world, and they were kicked out of Eden, sent out into the wild in exile. But if you remember, there was a promise made: that one day, a descendent would come from the woman who would crush the head of satan, the great deceiver. One day, there would be a deliverer.
Then we fast forwarded on to Abraham, who God called out of a foreign nation and into His family. And God made a promise – a covenant – with Abraham that one day, God would give him a great name, a dynasty, and a place to call home. God promised that one day, the entire world would be blessed through one offspring of Abraham.
And last week, we left off with David, who was known as a man after God’s own heart. He looked at his palacial surroundings and at God’s drab tent, and decided he wanted to build a new home for God to live in. But God said, “No, you won’t build me a house. I’m going to build YOUR house – your descendents.”
God made this covenant with David, promising him that a son from his own lineage would one day sit upon his throne, reigning as an eternal king, build a just kingdom, and rule with perfect righteousness. One day, there would be true peace in the land under God’s son, the King.
And so we pick up with David’s son, Solomon, in 1 Kings 9. Listen to what God tells him:
1 Kings 9:6–9 (ESV)
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the Lordhas brought all this disaster on them.’ ”
God makes it clear to Solomon: The stakes are high. If they don’t follow God faithfully and obey him, just like Adam and Eve before them, they will face exile. The very center of Jewish identity – temple – and more importantly, God’s presence with them – would be destroyed.
If you’re familiar with the story of King Solomon, then you’ll know that he started off well. God made him and Israel propser. He became wealthy, and successful, and well-respected. But like an unfortunate politician, the ego went to his head; the pride came before the fall. And before we know it, the man has 700 wives, and theres no amount of marriage counseling that can help that mess.
Solomon spiralled downward, and as he did so, so did the hearts of the people. Idolatry became commonplace, and the trajectory becomes clear: God’s people continued, over and over again, to turn away from God and disobey. It was Adam and Eve all over again, and we see the exact same consequences for sin:
II. Our Sin Brings Separation
To use another Bible word for it, sin results in exile. In being sent away, far from home, where you belong.
I want you to flip over a few pages to our main passage this morning, in 2 Kings 24-25. And as we arrive on the scene in this last passage in the book of Kings, exile is exactly what we see happening. This passage shows us the last king of Israel in the Old Testament, and the destruction of Israel’s homeland. It reads like the tragic end to a long, sad story.
2 Kings 24:18–20 (ESV)
18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 19 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim [his father] had done. 20 For because of the anger of the Lord it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that he cast them out from his presence.
Like many kings before him, Zedekiah is characterized by these haunting words: He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. And because of his sinfulness and the evil of the kings before him, God will send his people into exile.
But being taken from their homeland isn’t the tragedy here. The tragedy is in the very middle of v. 20: “The Lord … will cast them out from his presence.”
God's King – and the people with him – are losing God’s presence. He’s casting them out of the garden, away from His goodness, outside of the camp.
Let’s just pause and recognize this together: To lose God’s presence is to lose everything.
Irenaeus said it this way: “the life of man consists in beholding God.” This harkens back to the very purpose for which the Bible shows man was created. In the words of a Christian confessional statement from the mid 17-th century, “What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy him forever.”
Each one of us was created to know God and enjoy Him. Isn’t that amazing? God didn’t create you to use you; God created you so that you might exist in a vibrant, life-giving relationship with Him in which you can enjoy His presence forever.
But to lose God’s presence, because of the separation sin creates, is to lose everything.
And how does this happen in the life of Israel? God uses the enemy nations to bring about judgment. Before we make some more connections here, I want you to continue in the story with me. God has vowed to remove his presence from his people, and this is where we pick up in the last chapter of Kings:
2 Kings 25:1–11 (ESV)
1 And in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it. And they built siegeworks all around it. 2 So the city was besieged till the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 3 On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land. 4 Then a breach was made in the city, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between the two walls, by the king’s garden, and the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. 5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho, and all his army was scattered from him. 6 Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they passed sentence on him. 7 They slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains and took him to Babylon.
And if we keep reading in v. 9, we see that the Babylonians invade the city, burn down the palaces, tear down the markets and houses and walls. Nothing is left standing. The nail in the coffin is that the home of God – the one place on planet earth where God’s presence was known to reside – was also torn down and burned. The temple is no more.
Most of the people are taken away as prisoners of war to the far-off country of Babylon, leaving Jerusalem and Judah desolate and empty.
And that’s all we have time for today. Merry Christmas everyone. This isn’t holly or jolly, why are we reading this? What does this passage have to do with Baby Jesus?
It’s because, in the story of the Bible, the stark realities that sin and exile bring upon God’s people create a deep desperation in God’s people. Like wanderers in the wilderness, the people are lost, hungry, and desperate.
I want to pause here for a moment and think about the world we live in today. You don't even have to call yourself a Christian to agree with the Bible that this world is broken.
One of the stories that many in the world are telling is one called progressivism. It’s this idea that over time, as mankind gets smarter and makes more advancements, the world will be a better place. So things like education, and technology, and innovation are key to man’s salvation.
And I’m not knocking any of those things; I am still going to school and I love all of the latest tech gadgets. But consider this: We are living in a world with the most sophisticated tech in history, the most advanced medical care known to mankind, and libraries of history to learn from in governing ourselves.
Can we just agree that things aren’t getting better? People don’t treat other people better. Evidently we still haven’t figured out the government thing. And one virus has thrown the entire medical universe into complete upheaval.
This is not the world God has envisoned for us to live in. This is not a world with true, lasting peace, or with a truly righteous ruler, or with a Kingdom that knows no end. This isn't our home. In other words, you and I are in exile.
If you or your family is following along with our Advent blocks devotional we are doing this year, you keep seeing this every day, right? (In full disclosure, when we sit down with our two year old and try do this, it has become a lot less reading and a lot more dodging the blocks that are thrown at our heads. So if you’re behind or it has been a discipline, you’re not alone).
One of the ideas we keep seeing each day, is that we are still longing for God’s presence to come and stay with us. In other words, words, as we are in this exile, we are watching and waiting for God to return.
That’s what exile is.
God’s people remained in Babylon for 70 years in exile. They were prisoners of war, stripped from their home country, most of whom would never get to lay eyes on their homes again. Daniel, for instance, was taken from his home as a teenager, and spent the rest of his life until his very old age in Babylon. He never made it back home.
But During the exile, God is doing something. During this separation, God is working in the hearts of his people.
And He’s working because He never gives up on his people. He doesn’t leave, he doesn't forsakes, he never abandons.
Maybe you need to be reminded of that this morning. No matter what situation you find yourself in, what heartache you feel, no matter what health situatin you are facing, or trouble you are walking through – God has not abandoned you.
And when He feels far away, He wants you to look to Him for hope.
III. The King Brings Hope
2 Kings 25:27–30 (ESV)
27 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king’s table, 30and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived.
This last paragraph is all about hope. We thought the king was dead; but it turns out that the Davidic line continues: Jehoiachin has been a prisoner of war for 37 years in Babylon. And as this book comes to a close, we are left with this good news.
The king is given an allowance – of food, clothing, and things for his daily needs. And here is something really cool that I couldn’t pass up showing you: Archeologists have uncovered, archived, and translated an entire library of Babylonian tablets. And on one of those tablets, there is a record of King Jehoiachin, living in Babylon, who is given these rations.
Archeological finding: Babylonian Tablet
There is an incredible amount of alignment between the historical biblical account and what we continue to find in archeology and extrabiblical documents.
But the rations wasn’t the thing that instills hope to us in this passage: it’s v. 29: The King is invited to sit at the King’s table. He's shown favor. And more than that, look back at v. 29 with me: “So Jehoicachin put off his prison garments.” The King is set free!
No longer is the king a slave; but he takes off his prison garments to put on new clothes, to sit at the king’s table and to eat the king’s food. God is protecting His people and the Messianic line! That means the promises of God that he made all those years ago to David, and Abraham, and even Adam and Eve can still be fulfilled. Because the King is alive.
2 Kings ends this way because exile and sin and separation are not the end of the story. Hope is the end of the story.
But can you just imagine being in Babylon at this time? You’ve resettled your family; you’ve made this foreign land your temporary home. And all this time, when it seemed like God had abandoned you, and it seemed like God had forgotten, and it felt like God would never keep his promises, all of a sudden, the King is set free.
God isn’t finished.
Maybe you can identify with that scenario in your own life. Maybe you have felt forgotten, or abandoned, or as though God is far off.
I want you to see here that brokenness is not the end of your story. The author of 2nd Kings is telling us, “Trust in the Lord! He is still faithful! He raised up the house of David once, he can do it again! He will keep his promises, because he is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
So if you feel the brokenness of this world this morning, then I have good news for you: we have a better home, in the very presence of Emmanuel, God with us.
If you are missing someone this Christmas season, then I have good news for you: separation and death do not have the final say, because Jesus is the resurrection and the life.
If you feel weak and weary this mroning, then I have good news for you: there is one who strengthens the hurting and whose power is made perfect in weakness.
If you feel anxious or are carryign the weight of the world this morning, then I have good news for you: there is a good King who sits on a throne, eager to walk beside you through whatever may come.
If you feel no hope and only despair this morning: then I have good news for you. The light has come into the world and the darkness has not overcome it.
If you feel like this broken world is not our home: then I have good news for you: You are right. King Jesus is building His kingdom, right now, and one day He will return to earth and reign as king of kings, and lord of lords, as Emmanuel, God with us.
So look to Jesus, and Live. Because it is in Him that we find life, and life to the fullest.
One day, many years later, another man who was in exile, on an island called Patmos, also understood that exile wasn’t the end of the story. He wrote these words:
Revelation 21:1–4 (ESV)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
We are far from home, but our home is with our Lord and King. And until then, we watch and we wait for His return, when He will come back and stay with us forever.