Sabbath school lesson 3, 4 th quarter of 2015

1. Lesson 3 for October 17, 2015

2. Josiah
(640-609)
•The last
good king of
Judah.
Jehoahaz
(609)
•He was
deported to
Egypt.
Jehoiakim
(609-598)
•First
deportation
to Babylon
[Daniel].
Jehoiachin
(598-597)
•Second
deportation
to Babylon
[Ezekiel].
Zedekiah
(597-586)
•Jerusalem is
destroyed.
(All dates BC)
Jeremiah was called as a prophet in the 13th year of Josiah’s reign
(627 BC), so he could support Josiah’s religious reformation. After
Josiah’s death, Jeremiah tried to make the last four kings of Judah
leave their evil ways. Nevertheless, his efforts were in vain and
Jerusalem couldn’t be saved from being destroyed.

3. JOSIAH “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned
thirty-one years in Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the
sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of his father David; he
did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.” (2 Chronicles 34:1-2)
At8
He was
crowned.
His father
and
grandfather
were
idolatrous
kings.
At16
He began
seeking
God.
At20
He stopped
idolatry
throughout
Israel and
Judah.
At21
Jeremiah
began
prophesying
. He was a
little
younger
than Josiah.
At26
He cleansed
the temple.
He read the
Law and
made a
covenant
with God.
First phase of
reformation:
abandoning
sin.
2 Chronicles
34:3-7.
Second phase of
reformation: a
covenant with God;
keeping the law and
following the teachings
from in Bible.
2 Chronicles 34:31.

4. “Then the people of the land took Jehoahaz the
son of Josiah, and made him king in his father’s
place in Jerusalem. Jehoahaz was twenty-three
years old when he became king, and he reigned
three months in Jerusalem.” (2 Chronicles 36:1-2)
God used Jeremiah to
announce that Jehoahaz
would never return from
Egypt (Jeremiah 22:11-12).
Josiah died in a battle while he was
fighting Pharaoh Necho II. His son Shallum
(Jehoahaz) reigned after him.
Three months after his campaign against
Babylon, Necho brought Jehoahaz to
Egypt and crowned Jehoiakim—who
supported Egypt. Necho was trying to stop
Babylon that way.
JEHOAHAZ

5. “Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king,
and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name
was Zebudah the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. And he did
evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers
had done.” (2 Kings 23:36-37)
Necho lost the battle of Carchemish against
Nebuchadnezzar. Then, Jehoiakim had to
surrender to Babylon in 605 BC.
Two grave sins blotted his reign:
1. Idolatry and rejecting God (Jeremiah 22:20-21).
2. Social injustice: “Woe to him who builds his
house by unrighteousness and his chambers by
injustice, who uses his neighbor’s service
without wages and gives him nothing for his
work.” (Jeremiah 22:13).
Those two sins often come together. Therefore, God invites us through
the Bible to do good to those around us and to treat everyone with
fairness.
JEHOIAKIM

6. “‘As I live,’ says the Lord, ‘though Coniah
the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were
the signet on My right hand, yet I would
pluck you off.’” (Jeremiah 22:24)
Jehoiachin (also known as Coniah and Jeconiah)
reigned for about three months.
The main leaders and craftsmen were deported
because he resisted Nebuchadnezzar. He and his family
died as prisoners in Babylon.
God had a message of hope for his people in those hard
times. That’s our message, too:
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,
says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil,
to give you a future and a hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11).
After some time, God’s grace was shown in
Jehoiachin. Evil-Merodach—king of Babylon—
delivered him and gave him a place at court
(Jeremiah 52:31-34).
JEHOIACHIN

7. “Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned
eleven years in Jerusalem. He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did
not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of
the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 36:11-12)
Zedekiah and the people chose to
do “all the detestable practices of
the nations” (2 Chronicles 36:14
NIV). They didn’t surrender their
hearts to God, and they didn’t
repent of their sins.
They systematically rejected Jeremiah’s
message (Jeremiah 38:17). Finally, Jerusalem
and the temple were destroyed.
ZEDEKIAH
We are called to preach an unpopular message,
just like Jeremiah was. We must encourage the
world to stop “all the detestable practices” and
to repent of their sins.

8. “I myself will gather the remnant of my flock
out of all the countries where I have driven
them and will bring them back to their
pasture, where they will be fruitful and
increase in number.” (Jeremiah 23:3)
Many nations have disappeared and have
been forgotten. Israel was going that way,
but God didn’t abandon His people.
He kept a faithful remnant.
Jesus is coming again to bring His people to
the everlasting New Jerusalem. Let’s listen
and obey His prophets.
A remnant would return to Jerusalem to meet God again after all those years of
apostasy.
God is gathering a faithful remnant today, after many centuries of apostasy. We
are called to come back to the biblical roots of faith. We are called to preach the
last repentance message.
THE REMNANT

9. E.G.W. (Prophets and Kings, cp. 35, pg. 422)
Read the next quote carefully.
How could you put it into practice?