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[0:00] Jeremiah 51 ended with verse 64, which said, Thus far are the words of Jeremiah. And that likely marked the end of the record of Jeremiah's prophecies.

[0:13] And chapter 52, which Justin just read for us, is really an epilogue of the book. The final chapter of Jeremiah is based largely on 2 Kings, chapter 24, verse 18, to chapter 25, verse 30.

[0:28] So that's kind of an important reference because I'll be continually referring back to that. Because a large chunk of it, most of it really is word for word taken from those two chapters of 2 Kings.

[0:40] And the only difference being really the verses 22 to 26 of chapter 25 of 2 Kings, which is the story of the assassination of Gedaliah, the governor of Judah, governor of the new, I guess, province of Babylon.

[0:56] Judah is a province of Babylon. Because that was already covered extensively earlier in chapters 40 to 41 of Jeremiah. And the reason why the editor of the book seems to have added this ending epilogue to the prophecies seems to be to show that the word of the Lord through Jeremiah has been fulfilled.

[1:16] That Jeremiah's prophecies, every single one of them was fulfilled. And you can see in the structure of this chapter that one by one, everything that Jeremiah prophesied was fulfilled.

[1:28] You can see the destruction of Jerusalem, the despoiling of the temple, the deportation of Judah, and the discharge of Jehoiachin. And all of this is intended to show us that those who believe in God's promises can have hope even in desperate situations.

[1:43] That let me just pray. I seek God's help as we go on. God, we submit this time to you. We need you to speak. For your word to pierce through the division of bone and marrow, soul and spirit.

[2:06] To have its effect on us. And to build our faith in you and our hope in your promises. So won't you please do that in us as your church this morning in worship.

[2:20] In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So verses 1-2 give us a concluding assessment of King Zedekiah's legacy.

[2:31] He was the last king of Judah. So read with me. Verses 1-2, chapter 52. It says, Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king. And he reigned 11 years in Jerusalem.

[2:43] His mother's name was Hamotel, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. The Jeremiah of Libna mentioned here is not Prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah, as you may have assumed. So who is Jeremiah of Anaphoth.

[2:55] That's the prophet. So Zedekiah is definitely not Jeremiah's grandson. And further, the prophetic assessment of King Zedekiah was this. That he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.

[3:05] According to all that Jehoiakim had done. The comparison with Jehoiakim is a little bit surprising at first. If you remember what kind of King Jehoiakim was throughout the book of Jeremiah.

[3:18] Because we saw in chapter 36, Jehoiakim is the defiant king who cut up the scroll of Jeremiah's prophecies. And burned it piece by piece in his own furnace.

[3:30] And not only that, after doing that, he ordered the arrest of Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch. And he was also the king, as we found out in chapter 26. Who had earlier killed one of the prophets of the Lord, Uriah.

[3:44] And so he is Jehoiakim by all accounts is an evil king. Zedekiah, however, is a little bit more complicated if you look at him. Because he's, on multiple occasions, he has sought out the support of Jeremiah.

[4:01] He sought his counsel. In fact, as we saw in chapters 37 and 38, Zedekiah was kind of a closet supporter of Jeremiah. He believed Jeremiah. But nonetheless, because Zedekiah, due to his fear of the nobility in his nation.

[4:17] And his fear of the masses, he kept Jeremiah in prison under house arrest. And he did not obey the word of God. And because of that, he receives the exact same verdict as Jehoiakim in God's eyes.

[4:35] Zedekiah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that Jehoiakim had done. Good intentions that don't translate into actionable steps that show that you had no intention of doing good.

[4:52] So God's assessment of Zedekiah is the same as that of Jehoiakim. So, Christian brothers and sisters, I want to exhort you. The Spirit of God dwells in you. And you know what the Lord requires of you.

[5:04] But if you intend to do it without making any plans to do it and actually doing it, then it is no different from Zedekiah. As James 1.22 says, Be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

[5:20] Jesus says in John 15.9-10, It doesn't matter in the end how much we claim to love God.

[5:38] It doesn't matter how well we present ourselves to others as mature believers. If we are not keeping Christ's commandments, then we are not abiding in the love of Christ.

[5:49] So then do we daily find God's mind in His word and seek to obey everyone of His commands? What is the Holy Spirit bringing to your mind right now?

[6:00] Let us be doers of the word, not hearers only like Zedekiah. That's a sight point that's coming up as we read. And then the consequence of Zedekiah's disobedience is given in verse 3. 4.

[6:11] Because of the anger of the Lord, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that He cast them out from His presence. The disobedience of Judah was so severe and the Lord's subsequent anger so intense, it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that God cast them out from His presence.

[6:32] And that phrase here of God casting them out from His presence is exactly the same phrase in Hebrew that was used in chapter 7, verse 15, where God said to the people of Judah that if they persist in their sin, I will cast you out of my sight.

[6:47] Slightly different in the English, but in Hebrew it's exactly the same phrase. And this is explicitly stated here in verse 3 to show that that prophecy was fulfilled. As God had threatened, He has cast them now out from His presence.

[7:02] That prophecy has been fulfilled. In the first half of verse 3 tells us that it was God who cast them out from His presence due to His anger. And that's the ultimate and divine reason for the disaster that befalls Judah.

[7:17] But there's a second reason also. The second half, read what it says, the second half of verse 3. And Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. That's the immediate human reason for the disaster that befalls Judah.

[7:30] And those two reasons are not mutually exclusive. Why did Jerusalem fall? Why was Zedekiah captured? Why was the temple destroyed? The divine reason is that God expelled Judah from His presence because of their sin.

[7:43] And the human reason is that Zedekiah foolishly rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. The Bible always simultaneously affirms divine sovereignty and human responsibility. They are not mutually exclusive.

[7:55] So yes, God is, in an ultimate sense, sovereignly responsible for everything that happens in your life and in this world. But in an immediate sense, you are humanly responsible for everything that you say and do.

[8:08] And the one does not negate the other. That's what we see here in verse 3. And then starting in verses 4 to 6, we are told what happened when the Babylonians invaded Jerusalem. Read with me.

[8:19] It says, To destroy all the surrounding stronghold cities, one by one, as we saw in chapter 34, verse 7.

[8:55] And that effectively severed all communication and supply lines to Jerusalem and made them basically famished. It brought about a famine in the city. And during that, we can state that's when Nebuchadnezzar focused his assault on the city walls.

[9:10] And it says in verses 7 to 9, Then a breach was made in the city. And all the men of war fled and went out from the city by night by the way of a gate between the two walls by the king's garden.

[9:21] And the Chaldeans were around the city. And they went in the direction of the Arabah. But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And all his army was scattered from him.

[9:33] Then they captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath. And he passed sentence on him. The Babylonians had surrounded the city.

[9:43] But apparently there was some kind of a secret gate between the two walls by the king's garden. And Zedekiah and his fighting men used that to sneak out in the middle of the night. But the Babylonian army catches wind of this and overtakes them.

[9:57] And Zedekiah, when they are overtaken, is deserted by all his soldiers and is captured. And then the sentence he receives in Riblah is severe. It says in verses 10 to 11, The king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.

[10:10] And also slaughtered all the officials of the Judah at Riblah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains. And the king of Babylon took him to Babylon and put him in prison till the day of his death.

[10:23] It's this cruel punishment. He kills his own sons and then takes his eyes out. That's the last thing he sees before he rots away in prison. And this too is the fulfillment of chapter 38 verses 14 to 23.

[10:38] Jeremiah had warned Zedekiah that if he surrenders that he would survive. That he would not be taken. But because he does not surrender to Babylon and refuses the word of the Lord.

[10:50] He is caught and brought to the face of Nebuchadnezzar as Jeremiah prophesied. And his children are slaughtered as Jeremiah prophesied. Again, this is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord. And then verses 12 to 16 tell us about the destruction of all the landmarks in Jerusalem.

[11:06] It says, In the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, that was the nineteenth year of the king Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the bodyguard who served the king of Babylon, entered Jerusalem.

[11:18] Now, if you compare it, you may have seen some people bring this up. Second Kings 25.8, which is basically a parallel.

[11:29] It tells us that Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the bodyguard, came to Jerusalem in the fifth month on the seventh day of the month. Unlike this verse, which says he came on the tenth day of the month.

[11:41] And the difference, I think, is that 2 Kings 25.8 tells us that Nebuchadnezzar came to Jerusalem on the seventh day. That's the day he arrived. But here in Jeremiah 52.12, it's telling us that Nebuchadnezzar entered Jerusalem on the tenth day.

[11:56] So he came, he arrived on the seventh day, but does not enter until the tenth day. I mentioned that in case you noticed it, because to show you that it's not a contradiction. Nebuchadnezzar then arrived on the seventh day, but did not enter the city until the tenth day, possibly waiting for the intensity of the battle to subside.

[12:12] And especially considering the fact that Jeremiah 52 and 2 Kings 25 are almost word for word identical, I find it hard to imagine that that slight change was accidental. I think that's a deliberate change.

[12:25] After he entered Jerusalem, he says in verse 13, So the Babylonians were not merely about quelling a rebellious state.

[12:40] They wanted to demoralize them as a nation and break their pride. And so they burned the house of the Lord, the great temple of Jerusalem. Apparently there was no one from the UNESCO World Heritage Committee there in Babylonian camp to designate the Jerusalem's temple as a protected historic site.

[13:00] And that's significant because 1 Kings 9.10 tells us that it took Solomon 20 years to build a temple and the king's palace. 20 years.

[13:11] To give you some perspective, it only took 8 years to build the Colosseum in Rome. 10 years to build the temple of Artemis in Ephesus. Only comparable ancient construction is the Pyramid of Giza, which took 20 years, like the temple and palace.

[13:30] So all this to say, the temple and the royal palace that Solomon built were constructions of epic proportions. And if it hadn't been for the Babylonians who destroyed them, they would have certainly been numbered among the world's ancient wonders of the world.

[13:45] So this calamity is too, again, prophesied by Jeremiah. He had said regarding the temple and the city of Jerusalem in chapter 26, verse 9, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant.

[14:01] Shiloh was the Israelite city where the tabernacle of God, the dwelling place of God before the temple was built, was set up after the conquest of Canaan. And even though Shiloh was the dwelling place of God at that time in Israel's history, due to Israel's sin, God abandoned it and the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines.

[14:20] And the Ark of God was captured and the Covenant was captured and the city, Shiloh, was reduced to a heap of ruins. And Jeremiah had prophesied that that would happen exactly to Jerusalem and to the Jerusalem temple.

[14:34] And that word of the Lord has been fulfilled. Jeremiah, verse 14, 52 verse 14, recounts even further destruction.

[14:45] It said, And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down all the walls around Jerusalem. The word broke down is a key word in this book, in the book, especially in Jeremiah's commission as a prophet.

[15:00] When God first called Jeremiah to the prophetic ministry, he said in chapter 1, verse 10, See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.

[15:14] Similarly, in chapter 18, verse 7, God declared that it is his prerogative as the sovereign creator to pluck up a nation and to break it down as he sees fit.

[15:25] And God repeated that regarding his own people in chapter 31, verse 28, And it shall come to pass that as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy and bring harm.

[15:38] So I will watch over them to build and to plant, declares the Lord. So the breaking down of the walls of Jerusalem, which represents the breaking down of the kingdom of Judah, it was an integral part of Jeremiah's commission.

[15:50] So that too is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord. So that's a destruction of Jerusalem. And then we see the despoiling of the temple in verses 17 to 23.

[16:03] This was not the first time that the Babylonians looted the temple. After their first invasion of Jerusalem in 597 BC, they carried away various temple furnishings and utensils.

[16:17] And that's recorded in 2 Kings 24, 13. But they did leave some things behind. And it may have been because some of these items were too large and too heavy to take back.

[16:29] They had come prepared for war, not necessarily to carry back a caravan. And some of the looted items were probably replaced as well by this time, 586 BC, when the second Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem took place.

[16:44] And so there were plenty of spoils for the Babylonian army inside the temple to enjoy. And you might recall from chapters 27 and 28 that some false prophets in Judah were prophesying that the Lord will soon bring back all the vessels of the temple that were carried off during the first invasion, Babylonian invasion.

[17:03] But then Jeremiah said this in chapter 27 verses 19 to 22. For thus says the Lord of hosts, concerning the pillars, the sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he took into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and all the nobles of Judah in Jerusalem.

[17:30] Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord in the house of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem. They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord.

[17:43] Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. So now keep that in mind, this prophecy from chapter 27 in mind as you read our present passage, chapter 52 verses 17 to 19.

[17:56] It says, And the pillars of bronze that were in the house of the Lord, and the stands and the bronze sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon.

[18:09] And they took away the pots and the shovels and the snuffers and the basins and the dishes for incense and all the vessels of bronze used in the temple service. Also the small bowls and firepans and the basins and the pots and the lampstands and the dishes for incense and the bowls for drink offerings.

[18:26] What was of gold, the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver as silver. The things that Jeremiah had prophesied would be carried off to Babylon were the pillars, the sea and the stands which supported and the rest of the vessels.

[18:39] And in exactly that order, verses 17 to 19 tell us that the valuable items in the temple were all carried off to Babylon in fulfillment of the word of the Lord.

[18:52] And Jeremiah wants to make sure that we understand that these were not just trinkets, little earrings, and these are significant items, treasures of great value.

[19:04] So verses 20 to 23 tell us this. It says, As for the two pillars, the one sea, the 12 bronze bowls that were under the sea and the stands which Solomon the king had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these things was beyond weight.

[19:19] As for the pillars, the height of the one pillar was 18 cubits, its circumference was 12 cubits, and its thickness was four fingers, and it was hollow. On it was a capital of bronze.

[19:31] The height of the one capital was five cubits. A network and pomegranates of all the bronze were around the capital. And the second pillar had the same with pomegranates. There were 96 pomegranates on the sides.

[19:44] All the pomegranates were 100 upon the network all around. So the bronze of all these things was beyond weight. That might explain why they were left behind after the first Babylonian invasion.

[19:56] It was simply too much for them to haul home. But this time they came prepared. The Chaldeans broke in pieces and carried all the bronze to Babylon. The bronze sea was designed, intent originally to hold water, representing the forces of chaos, and subdued and brought to order by the Lord at creation.

[20:15] And it was used for ritual washing. And 1 Kings 7, 23 to 26 described this bronze sea as a magnificent piece of metallurgy, about 15 feet in diameter and 7 feet high, all in cast bronze 3-inch thick.

[20:30] It held about 10,000 gallons of water. And that enormous bronze sea rested on top of 12 bronze bulls, grouped in threes arranged on each side of the stand.

[20:43] And the pillars were about 18 cubits with 12 cubits in circumference. That's about 40 feet tall and over 4 feet in diameter. And these massive columns were decorated with ornate capitals, which are the heads, the topmost parts of the pillar that touch the surface that it's supporting.

[21:00] And according to 1 Kings 7, 17 to 19, there were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars.

[21:10] Likewise, he made pomegranates in two rows around the one lattice work to cover the capital that was on the top of the pillar. Now the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars in the vestibule were of lily work.

[21:21] So it's a little bit hard to follow that. Let me explain. The capitals were decorated with lattices of checker work, like the lattices of like an apple pie, and a pattern of wreaths chained together.

[21:33] And on top of that were rows of pomegranates, 96 to be exact, according to verse 23. And then the pillar was topped off with lily work, sculpted like a lily flower.

[21:45] So this was an exquisite piece of metalworking. And these expensive, beautiful items made of gold, silver, bronze, and these sacred items set apart for the worship of the Lord were all broken in pieces and carried off to Babylon to be melted and repurposed.

[22:05] Now why are all these details provided? All of these are gone now, right? Broken to pieces and carried off as spoils of war.

[22:16] So I think these descriptions are included here to convey that sense of loss and longing that the Judeans were feeling. There's a mournfulness in these descriptions, almost like a couple that's describing their luxury car, their pride of possessions that they had, which had been totaled in an accident, is now being towed off to a junkyard.

[22:40] It's like, oh, like, that's the kind of longing, that loss is being conveyed here in all these descriptions, detailed descriptions of the furnishings that were lost.

[22:52] This, the furnishings within the temple represented Israel's worship. Israel's past history and their future hope as a nation were all wrapped up around the temple in Jerusalem.

[23:04] And so these inscriptions convey a sense of dashed hopes, crushed dreams. We're supposed to feel the tragedy of it all. And after the despoiling of the temple, we read about the deportation of Judah in verses 24 to 30.

[23:25] But before Nebuchadnezzar sends people into exile, he kills all people of stature in order to cripple Judah's ability to reorganize and form a coalition.

[23:36] So that's what he does in verses 24 to 27. He strikes them down. And then in verses 28 to 30 is recorded the number of exiles. The Judeans were reported, it seems, in mass to Babylon on three specific occasions.

[23:50] Read verses 28 to 30 with me. It says, This is the number of the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive. In the seventh year, 3,023 Judeans. In the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar, he carried away captive from Jerusalem 832 persons.

[24:06] In the 23rd year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, carried away captive of the Judeans 745 persons. All the persons were 4,600.

[24:16] So again, if you compare it to its source material, 2 Kings 24. 2 Kings 24, 14 tells us that the total number of exiles at the first deportation was 10,000 people, which is significantly larger than the 3,023 recorded here.

[24:34] Most likely, the difference is that 10,000 people is a rounded estimate that includes men, women, and children, while 3,023 is a more precise figure that only includes the men who are counted.

[24:45] This was a standard way in the ancient world to estimate a large crowd size. You just count the men, and then you multiply it by two, and add a percentage, and you have this population of men, women, and children.

[24:56] So if 3,023 Judeans represent only the men, the other two numbers, 832 and 745, probably also represent only the men. So while it says here in verse 30 that all the persons that were deported were 4,600, if you count the women and children, it's probably in the range of 15,000 to 20,000.

[25:16] That's not a large number. This is a tiny and very discouraging number. You're supposed to be discouraged by this number as you're reading this. Because in the modern world, right, a city has a population between 20,000, I mean 100,000, 300,000 people, which is why Cambridge is a city.

[25:34] A population of 20,000 to 100,000 is considered a large town, like Concord, North Reading, or Newburyport. And then Judah, I mean, and then a population of 1,000 to 20,000, which is what the range of this population of exiles is, is considered a town, right?

[25:53] A large town, it's a smaller town. And so Judah's population has been decimated by the war, and likely a good number of them died as they were going to Babylon as well.

[26:04] And so they're now a size of a small town. To give you a perspective, in Numbers chapter 1, verse 46, it tells us that the total number of men who came out at the time of the exodus from Egypt was 603,550.

[26:23] That's only the men. So the Judean exiles in Babylon are now about 2.5% of the number of people that originally came out of Egypt as a nation.

[26:37] This is a tragic state of things. And look again at the last sentence of verse 27. It says, So Judah was taken into exile out of its land.

[26:48] That makes it sound as if the entire nation of Judah was sent off into exile. Even though some Judeans remained in the land because God had declared in Jeremiah 24 that the future of Israel lay with the exiles in Babylon.

[27:01] It lies with the exiles in Babylon and not with the remnant of Judah. So this pitiful number of exiles, in a real sense, represents the totality of the nation. All of Israel. Now a small town going pathetically into exile in Babylon.

[27:19] This too is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord. It's devastating if you think about and connect back to Israel's history. Israel's covenant relationship with God began with the promises that God made to Abraham.

[27:34] And what did he promise him in Genesis 12? God called Abraham to leave his country, his people, and his father's house and promised to give him, if he did that, a land and a nation.

[27:46] A people and a place and promised his presence to dwell among them. A people, a place, and the presence of God among them. And chapter 52 is a systematic undoing of that promise.

[28:00] The people are decimated and deported, the place is destroyed, and the presence of God has deserted them. The destruction of Jerusalem, the despoiling of the temple, and the deportation of Judah represent the dashed dreams and hopes of Israel.

[28:18] But there's a glimmer of hope in the last four verses of Jeremiah 52. It says in verses 31 to 34, And in the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the 12th month, on the 25th day of the month, Evel Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought him out of prison.

[28:44] And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table.

[28:55] And for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king, according to his daily needs, until the day of his death, as long as he lived. As Jeremiah prophesied in chapter 22, verse 27, Jehoiachin, also known as Jehoiachin, will never return from exile.

[29:16] And that too is a fulfillment of the word of the Lord. It's a fulfillment of the word of the Lord. But for those who are not looking out for the promises of God, this is an insignificant event, right? I mean, he's still in exile.

[29:27] The entire nation is still subject to Babylon. What's the big deal? The king gets a nice treatment in the palace. But it's significant because the discharge of Jehoiachin, which is included here, is intended to give the Judean exiles hope.

[29:45] Because throughout the book of Jeremiah, all the prophecies, the side-by-side with the prophecies of judgment were always promises of restoration. And this seems to be the initial stirrings of that.

[29:59] And God had promised in chapter 24 that I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good and I will bring them back to this land.

[30:11] I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

[30:25] So this is beginning to be, it's showing the beginning of God's favor and perhaps that hope, for people who are holding on to that hope of restoration, this is a sign for them.

[30:37] And throughout chapter 52, Jeremiah made it a point to prove that every single word of the Lord was fulfilled. And if the judgment that God threatened was fulfilled, then the restoration that he promised will also be fulfilled.

[30:50] And that's why even in the book of Jeremiah, written at the lowest point of Israel's history, it ends with a note of hope. Because those who believe in God's promises can have hope even in desperate situations.

[31:06] And this hope is not disappointed because God had promised in chapter 33 that he would raise up a king from the line of David who will execute justice and righteousness and restore God's people.

[31:17] And the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 1, verse 12 to 16, it connects the genealogy of the Messiah, Jesus Christ, from, it traces it from Jehoiachin, who was just freed by Evo Merodach during the Babylonian exile.

[31:35] And so Jesus is the king that comes, the last, ultimate, an eternal king who reigns forever. And he's the one who fulfills the hope of the Judean exiles.

[31:46] So the people in Jeremiah's day were mourning the destruction of the temple, the despoiling of the temple, and the deportation of Judah. But Jesus is the one who brings the restoration of all these things.

[31:57] And let me show you. First, after the deportation of Judah, Judah ceased to exist as a sovereign nation. But Jesus brings about the restoration of God's people by forming a new Israel that includes both Jews and Gentiles.

[32:13] In Hosea 11, 1, God said, When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son. Here, God's using the language of sonship to describe the nation of Israel.

[32:26] But in Matthew 2, verses 13 to 15, we see that Jesus, along with his earthly parents, fled to Egypt and stayed there until the murderous Herod died.

[32:37] And Matthew tells us about that incident. This was to fulfill what the Lord has spoken by the prophet Hosea. Out of Egypt I called my son.

[32:48] Matthew is quoting from Hosea to say that God, what God said about the nation of Israel, essentially, he's applying it to Jesus. Jesus is the new Israel, the son of God, who succeeds where the nation of Israel had failed.

[33:02] And unlike Israel, Jesus obeys his father perfectly, even unto death on the cross, and so that through his death on the cross, Jesus makes way for sinners to be forgiven and reconciled to God.

[33:13] And all those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus for salvation are united with him and who is the new Israel and become part of that true Israel as adopted children of God.

[33:24] That's what Ephesians 2 and Romans 9 tells us. So Jesus fulfills this promise. Likewise, Judah mourned the despoiling of the temple. But Jesus restores the temple of God and the worship of God in himself.

[33:36] In John chapter 2 verses 21 to 22, Jesus says that his body is the temple of God. He says his body is the temple of God and that he will die and be raised up on the third day. Because in the Old Testament, the temple was the focal point of all worship.

[33:50] It was uniquely indwelled by the presence of God. And therefore, believers from all over the world had to gather at the temple in Jerusalem to worship. And the believers' communion with God, their walk with him was in a real sense confined to that locale.

[34:04] But it was mediated by the temple. But now Jesus says after he's come and after he dies and is raised from the dead, he says he replaces the temple. And the proper worship will be given no longer through the temple but through Jesus because the Son reveals the Father.

[34:20] He's indwelled, mutually, they mutually indwell one another. And he is the abode of God on earth, the new center of worship. And just as formerly sacrifices were made in the old temple to atone for the sins of God's people, in this new temple, the ultimate sacrifice is made and Jesus is sacrificed on the cross as the unblemished Lamb of God to cover our sin and he's raised up for our justification.

[34:48] So that all those who repent of their sins and believe in Jesus are united with him and themselves become the temple of God indwelled by the Spirit.

[34:58] That's why 1 Corinthians 3, 16 to 17 said, Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

[35:09] If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him for God's temple is holy and you are that temple. And finally, Judah mourned the destruction of Jerusalem but this too is being restored by Jesus.

[35:23] In Revelation 21, 1 through 5 tells us that about new Jerusalem will come and that new Jerusalem is described as the bride of Christ.

[35:34] It's the church of God. Jesus is the one who constitutes a new Jerusalem and all his people are part of that new Jerusalem that's being fulfilled. And he says in Revelation 21, it's the new heavens and a new earth and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

[35:53] He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as they are God. 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.

[36:09] And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.

[36:22] So Jesus is the Savior and King who restores the dashed hopes and dreams of all Israel and he is our Savior and King who restores our dashed hopes and dreams as well.

[36:38] What are your dashed dreams? Maybe you've been disappointed or you're depressed because your life is not what you thought it would be.

[36:50] You thought you would be a globetrotting successful businessman or a freelancer but instead you feel like your work is mundane and purposeless. You thought you would be a picture-perfect mom with little picture-perfect well-dressed darlings.

[37:12] But instead your days involve a lot of sleepless nights tantrums soil diapers stained clothes whining crying and cleaning after these little yet tireless agents of chaos.

[37:28] You thought you would be an acclaimed artist musician writer photographer or photographer but instead you feel like you're always pulling teeth just to get some payment just to get some publication and you face a lot of rejections and criticisms.

[37:56] Earthly hopes and dreams never quite looked like what we had imagined them to be even for the most successful people. The world is fallen and the curse of sin means that as God said to Eve in Genesis 3.16 there will be pain in child bearing including I think child learing.

[38:18] And the curse of sin means as God said to Adam in Genesis 3.17 to 19 in pain you will eat of the fruit of your labor all the days of your life. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread.

[38:29] Pain is part of earthly existence. Work is never easy. Whether you're a homemaker or a bread winner that's the nature of living in a fallen world.

[38:40] And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying. Or they're so rich that they're actually not doing any work. They're paying someone else to do their work. Relationships are never easy because of the sinfulness of our hearts.

[38:55] There is strife and stress in all parenting all marriages all dating all friendships. every day we feel that this world is not the way it's supposed to be and we're supposed to feel that way because it's not the way it's supposed to be.

[39:09] we live in a sinful fallen world and if we place our hopes and dreams on it it will crumble under our expectations.

[39:25] Jesus is the only one who can free us from the penalty and power of sin and he is the only one who can make all things new.

[39:36] The only hope that will never be disappointed for you is that hope in Jesus Christ. The new Israel the new temple and the new Jerusalem and because of Jesus according to 2nd Corinthians 1.20 all the promises of God find their yes in Christ as we were saying.

[40:01] That is why it is through him that we utter our amen to God for his glory. We believe those who believe in God's promises can have hope even in the most desperate situations.

[40:17] What are some promises of God that you can remember? What has God promised to you? Isaiah 14 29 to 31 He promised us He gives power to the faint and to him who has no might he increases strength even youth shall faint and be weary and young men shall fall exhausted but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint are you faint and weary Deuteronomy 31 8 says it is the Lord who goes before you he will be with you he will not leave you or forsake you do not fear or be dismayed are you afraid to feel forsaken Romans 8 28 says and we know that for those who love

[41:19] God all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5 to 6 trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding in all your ways acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight Matthew 6 31 33 therefore do not be anxious saying what shall we eat or what shall we drink or what shall we wear for the Gentiles seek after all these things and your heavenly father knows that you need them all but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added to you promises of God do you feel guilty this morning are you coming with shame and you feel like there's a barrier between you and God first John 1 9 if we confess our sins he is faithful and just forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and if you are not yet a follower of

[42:31] Jesus you have not put your faith in Jesus yet here's a wonderful promise from Romans 10 9 to 10 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead you will be saved for with the heart one believes and is justified and with the mouth one confesses and is saved God holds out these promises to you not as a no or if or maybe perhaps but as yes in Jesus Christ yes so that we can respond with our amen we believe so take a moment if you would close your eyes you can if it helps you take a moment to reflect on your disappointments your defeats your desperate situations and then raise your eyes the eyes of faith unto

[43:39] Jesus Christ Christ Thank you.