Jump Start # 3017
2 Chronicles 36:16 “but they continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy.”
Our verse today is written as the final curtain falls upon the beloved Jerusalem and the people of God. Babylon was at the doorsteps and doom was the forecast. The patience of God had run out. The people of God would be taken into Babylon for more than a generation. Many would die there. Many would never see Jerusalem again. God had tried to turn these people, but their hearts were stubborn, ungodly and plagued with sin. The previous verse tells us that the compassion of God caused the Lord to send messengers again and again. But our verse tells us that all of that was futile. The people weren’t turning. Repentance wasn’t in their plans. It got to a point where, as the verse ends, “there was no remedy.”
That’s an interesting expression, ‘There was no remedy.” Our first thoughts might take us to the medical field, where cancer doctors have tried everything and every drug, but the cancerous disease continues to fill the body. We are beyond “remedy” the doctors might say. Those words might take us to our local car shop. We have tried to bandage an old engine for years and years. But now, the costs to repair are more than the car is worth. We are beyond remedy. I think of a young troubled teenager. He’s been in and out of trouble for a long time. Counselors tried. Expelling from school did nothing. Attempt after attempt to rescue that child was tried. There is no remedy, as he is led away to prison.
Some thoughts for us:
First, there are some things that God cannot fix and God cannot save. That thought troubles us. We believe nothing is beyond the all powerful and the Almighty. God can shut the mouths of lions, part seas, calm storms and bring food from above, but what He will not do, is force someone into obedience. God will warn. God will teach. God will show. But it’s up to the person to take hold and believe. God’s people were sent prophets, messengers and teachers. What did they do? They mocked them, despised them, scoffed at them and ignored them. There was no remedy.
This reminds us that it is not God who sends anyone to Hell, but a person who chooses that by ignoring God. When a person rejects Christ, there is no remedy. There is no hope.
Second, the “no remedy” came after a long series of prophets and teachers being sent to Judah. This all demonstrates the patience of God. The people would know, if they had only listened. God was not quick to wipe them off the earth. He tried and tried and tried. “Again and again” are the words in the verse before to describe God sending the prophets.
Third, bad news always follows “no remedy.” Contextually, it meant the walls were coming down around Jerusalem. People would die. The temple would be robbed and burned. And, there was no one to save them. There was no one to step in and rescue them. When we turn our backs to the Gospel of Jesus, bad news follows. It comes in the form of divorce. It comes in the form of withdrawal of fellowship. It comes in the form of lost jobs.
Much too often we think we know better. We think we don’t have to do what God tells us. We know how to get through things. We ignore his teachings and we get ourselves in a corner and then find out there is no remedy.
Fourth, there comes a time when there simply is no more time. That was the situation for Judah. For a long, long time God had put up with their idolatrous ways. Solomon started it. King after king kept going that direction. Once in a while, there would be a good king who would try to reform the nation and get it back on the right track with God. That generally lasted as long as that good king was alive. Once the king died, back to their wicked ways they would go. But now, time had run out. No more kings. No more prophets pleading. No more patience. The nation had run out of time.
And, it is the same for us. There comes a time, when we are out of time. Most often, it’s when a person passes and leaves this world for the next. Instead of enjoying the blessings of mercy and grace, they experience the wrath of the Lord.
There is no remedy…that’s not a good place to get yourself in.
Roger