First let's get something clear about erroneous notions of Paul and his founding a new religion, which he didn't. True, the halakhah of his Judaism switched from the Pharisaic oral law to the Ruach Hakodesh, but his religion was still one of the Judaisms of the time, not a new non-Judaism Gentile religion.

DIVREY HAYAMIM ALEF (I CHRONICLES)

DIVREY HAYAMIM BAIS (II CHRONICLES)

Since II Chr. 36:22-23 is virtually identical with Ezra 1:1-3a,

a case can be made for common authorship. If so, the author, if

he wrote I-II Chronicles as well as Ezra-Nehemiah (incorporating

the memoirs written by Nehemiah), could not have written this

work before 445 B.C.E. when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem. It

is certainly possible that Ezra is the author as the Talmud

attests. A later hand may have added a few touches, but the bulk

of the material may be the result of Ezra's ministry. If Ezra

were a young man in 458 B.C.E. when he embarked for Jerusalem, he

might still have been alive toward the year 400 B.C.E. which is

the approximate time when this corpus of literature reached its

final stage of editing.

Much of the Hebrew Bible was available to the Chronicler and many

other (now lost) writings as well. These he used to preach to

the post-exilic Jerusalem community his long sermon known to us

as I-II Chronicles.

Whereas the author of I-II Kings is writing from the Babylonian

Exile, the author of I-II Chronicles is a post-exilic Jerusalem

writer and one with a heightened Messianic expectation, who wants

to tell the whole story of G-d's electing love and providential

care, from Adam to Dovid's coming Son (this is the story the

genealogies are telling), viewing all of history from the point

of view of the Messianic covenant G-d made with Dovid (II Sm. 7).

In I Chronicles, chs. 1-10 lead to an idealized Dovid (in many

ways a typological portrait of the coming Mosiach); chs. 11-29

detail the events of Dovid's rule that have primarily Messianic

or eschatological significance. In II Chronicles, chs. 1-9 is

about Dovid's preeminent son Shlomo (also idealized into a

Messianic type--I Chr. 22:10--with a golden reign) and most of

this section is about the building of the Beis Hamikdash for the

G-d of Israel who is coming to dwell with His people forever;

chs. 10-36 are about Dovid's later sons, the kings of Judah, all

seen in a certain sense as foreshadows of the final "Dovid" who

would sit on "the throne of the L-rd." As Moses receives the

plans for the Tabernacle from G-d and hands on his ministry to

Joshua, so David receives instructions about the Beis Hamikdash

and hands on this divine legacy to Solomon (see I Chr. 22:13),

whose "peace" (shalom) points the people to Joshua's "rest"

(M'nucha) (see I Chr. 22:9). Everything divine emblem connected

with the planning of the Beis Hamikdash--the Levites, the

singers, the musicians, the gatekeepers, the orders of the holy

kohenhood, the Beis Hamikdash worship in the divinely chosen city

of Jerusalem--all these help the Babylonian returnees liberated

by the Persian Empire to see themselves not as merely in

Jerusalem worshipping at the Beis Hamikdash but as the

Exile-chastened remnant of Messianic salvation preparing the

ground for the coming of the long-awaited Messianic kingdom, as

it says in I Chr. 17:14, "I will set Him (the King Moshiach) over

My houseand My kingdom forever, His throne will be established

forever."

I Chronicles tells us much about leaders. The author of this

book was preaching at the beginning of a religious revival, and

he used the leaders of the distant past as models for those he

was exhorting to lead the spiritual awakening of his day.

According to I Chronicles, a leader is someone who offers goals

and honors those who reach them. "Whoever attacks the Jebusites

first will be the chief officer," David said (I Chr. 11:6).

A good leader is someone who gives something to every person who

follows him (I Chr. 16:3).

A leader is someone who has praise in his heart, more praise in

fact than those whom he leads, because one of his duties as a

leader is to exhort the people to praise (I Chr. 16:7).

A leader also fears G-d (I Chr. 16:30) more than those who follow

him, or else his followers have nothing to learn from him, for

what is wisdom but the fear of the L-rd? (Prov. 1:7)

A leader is a shepherd who counts the sheep and he knows when one

is missing. He is a keeper of the flock of G-d who knows that

G-d does not dwell in expensive religious edifices (I Chr. 17:5).

Therefore, a good leader would rather start a few home meetings

and have a dozen sheep counted in each one than wait (while

people perish) for the purchase of an expensive building to seat

the same amount.

A good leader has followers who know and do their duties (I Chr.

23:27-30). This means that every area of the ministry has

someone over it and accountable for it (I Chr. 27:25-34). A

leader is someone called by G-d to do something for G-d, and a

good leader is someone strong enough in the L-rd to do what G-d

has called him to do (I Chr. 28:10).

A good leader is someone who can uncover the skills of those he

serves, and can help them experience the honor of serving G-d

(I Chr. 28:21).

A leader can set a good example in giving and can the credibly

challenge others to give (I Chr. 29:5).

A leader in the Biblical context is a person "with a God-given

capacity and with a G-d-given responsibility to influence a

specific group of G-d's people toward G-d's purposes for the

group." Notice in this excellent definition these 4 ingredients

in a good leader: l)giftedness, 2)a sense of accountability to

G-d for those being influenced, 3)the group is limited and

definable and so defines the leader, 4)there is in the giftedness

the recurring ability to determine G-d's direction for the group

(this is why congregational leaders often resign--they sense they

have lost this ability for a particular Brit Chadasha kehillah).

Leaders love to rank themselves based on their supposed sphere of

influence: small group, community, intercommunity, regional,

inter-regional, national, international. A congregational leader

will tend to rank congregational leaders at the apex of his

leadership hierarchy. A researcher/strategist/theologian will

disagree and assert that researchers/strategists/theologians are

at the apex. The truth is that all are just little shepherds

tending to tiny (but important) aspects of G-d's vast master

plan.

Do you know your gift-mix? Is it expendable? Can you match your

leadership roles to your strengths?

What is your present role in the L-rd's body?

What are your personal goals?

What is your commitment to minions?

A good leader doesn't back away from challenges. Hebrew and

Greek may take a little work. But if J.W.'s are willing to do

the work to get out every day in a disciplined way and attempt to

use Hebrew and Greek to convince people that Moshiach Yehoshua

isn't divine, then how can a good leader do less than work as

hard?

I Chr. 10:13 tells why Saul died. This is a warning to us.

I Chr. 15:16 shows that the Word is to be brought forth in the

midst of joyful singing and wonderful music. If you have a great

pulpit ministry but neglect the ministry of music, the Word will

not be brought forth as it should be. There should be ministers

in charge of the music--see 15:27 and the worship service

depicted in II Chr. 29:20-30.

Study in Hebrew the clear Messianic prophecy at 17:10-14.

Study I Chr. 21:17. A rabbi might say, "We have no teaching about

King Dovid's Son, the Moshiach, which condones any Messianic

human sacrifice for sin." Oh, no? Look at I Chr. 21:17-where

Dovid makes a reference that would have to include the Moshiach

and the Moshiach's Beis Hamikdash when Dovid says, "O L-rd my

G-d, let your hand fall upon me and my family, but do not let

this plague remain on your people." Meditate on the Messianic

"Son of Abraham" shown us in Isaac (Gen. 22) and Joseph and Jonah

(to say nothing of Isaiah 53) and you will see the Messianic

prophecy regarding human sacrifice and the Moshiach's person,

that is, His death and resurrection.

In chapter 28, notice how Dovid is a new Moses (the post-exilic

Chronicler is saying that the Moshiach who is coming now that we

are back from the Exile will be a new Dovid like Moses). Isaiah

says this explicitily in Isa. 42:4 and 49:9.

Do you make a sacrifice of thanksgiving every morning and every

evening (I Chr. 23:30)? If not, now you know why depression

sometimes attacks you.

Why the Song Service is important: When King Jehoshapat had to

fight a battle where he was horribly outnumbered, he appointed

"men to sing to the L-rd and to praise him for the splendor of

his holiness as they went out at the head of the army...(and)..

as they began to sing and praise, the L-rd set ambushes against

(their enemies)." (II Chr. 20:21-22)

Some will have itinerant teaching ministries (like that described

in II Chr. 17:8-9 though more will hopefully be teaching home

Bible studies and building them up until a congregation planting

can evolve).

Some of our students will become emissaries of Moshiach's

shlichut. What are the keys to becoming a kiruv outreach worker

for Moshiach? (Hint: they both have to do with spiritual renewal

and revival because without these, such

ministers are only entertainers performing an empty religious

charade.) One key is discovering and falling in love

with--almost as though for the first time--the Word of G-d. The

great revival under Josiah began when Hilkiah the kohen said, "I

have found the Book of the Law in the Beis Hamikdash of the L-rd"

(II Chr. 34:l5). A prophetess told Josiah the other key in

II Chr. 34:27--he humbled himself and was genuinely sorry for his

sins and wept.

One of the themes of II Chronicles has to do with what makes a

good leader. The author makes the point that what leaders need

is not necessarily "success" but revival. "Success" will destroy

some leaders: it says that after King Uzziah "became powerful,

his pride led to his down fall" (II Chr. 26:16). Again, it says

that "in those days (King) Hezekiah became ill and was at the

point of death. He prayed to the L-rd, who answered him and gave

him a miraculous sign. But Hezekiah's heart was proud and he did

not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the L-rd's wrath

was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem" (II Chr. 32:24-25).

Leaders tend to fluctuate between fear and discouragement on the

one hand and pride and arrogance on the other, because they

forget how unimportant they are in themselves, since, as G-d said

to King Jehoshaphat, "the battle is not yours, but the Lord's"

(II Chr. 20:15).

King Jehoshaphat "had some good in him," but he was always

getting himself in deep trouble by political alliances and

business partnerships with unbelievers (see II Chr. 19:2;

20:35-37). Do you have people entangled in your life who are not

God-fearing and regenerated? Ephesians 2:2 says that the spirit

of HaSatan is at work in them. How can light and darkness yoked

together expect to prosper and be blessed by the L-rd? We must

learn to keep the world at arm's length and show our unsaved

friends "mercy mixed with fear, hating even the clothing spotted

by corrupt flesh" (Jude 23).

If a nation yokes itself with a HaSatan-influenced (Ephesians

2:2) president, that nation will pay the consequences. Look at

II Chr. 28:19: "The L-rd had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king

of Israel, for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been

most unfaithful to the L-rd." Should believers care if an

unregenerate becomes president? Of course! One U.S. President's

favorite verse in the Bible was: "If my people, who are called by

my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and

turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and

will forgive their sin and will heal their land" (II Chr. 7:14).

But what does revival look like? One picture of it is given in

II Chr. 5:14 where it says of the kohanim in Shlomo's newly

constructed Beis Hamikdash in Jerusalem, that they "could not

perform their service because of the cloud (of the L-rd's

presence) for the glory of the L-rd filled the Beis Hamikdash of

G-d." What does it mean to say that a person is "walking in

revival"? And how important is this? King Shlomo answers that

question when he says that G-d steadfastly maintains the Covenant

with his servants who "walk before him with all their hearts"

(II Chr. 6:l4). Even many believers desperately need revival.

Some have neglected being faithful to a body of believers where

the L-rd wants them to be protected, like He protected little

seven year old King Joash. HaSatan was trying so hard to destroy

little King Joash that HaSatan even had his grandmother Athaliah

(daughter of Ahab, who usurped the Dovidic throne 841-835 B.C.E.)

trying to murder him. But the L-rd had him surrounded with

ministers and little Joash was hidden in the house of the L-rd

where HaSatan couldn't touch him. Do you have a Brit Chadasha

kehillah home where you are submitted under congregational leader

care? If not, you are like little Joash would have been had he

been wandering around on the streets with his demon-possessed

enemies looking for him.

It's so easy to neglect personal study of the Word and prayer and

let one's congregational leader do all that so we can be free to

give our heart to our careers and friends and relationships and

other things and just drop in for a few services or watch a few

religious television shows to convince ourselves that we are not

backsliding away from revival. But what does the Word say in

II Chronicles: "The L-rd is with you when you are with him. If

you seek him he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he

will forsake you" (15:2). Don't you realize you will dry up in

unfruitfulness unless you seek the L-rd in personal prayer and

Bible study and fellowship? People cannot he won to the L-rd by

you unless you are close to the L-rd. It ways this in II Chr.

15:9 about King Asa's personal revival, that "large numbers had

come over to him from Israel when they saw that the L-rd his G-d

was with him."

How does personal revival begin? It begins with the fear of the

L-rd, when you and I realize that we represent G-d to people and

therefore that we must fear the L-rd because He will hold us

accountable for how we live as his representatives. II Chr. 19:6

says it well. Here King Jehoshaphat is charging judges with

their responsibilities. However, he might as well be speaking to

us since believers will judge the world with Moshiach Yehoshua

and even angels (I Cor. 6:2-3). King Jehoshaphat says, "Consider

carefully what you do (in other words, how you live and speak),

because you are not judging for man but for G-d...Now let the

fear of the L-rd be upon you" (II Chr. 19:6-7). That's the

warning. Now here's the promise: King "Jotham grew powerful

because he walked steadfastly before the L-rd his G-d" (II Chr.

27:6).

Unfortunately, many of the wicked kings we study in this book and

in I and II Kings were willing to change their religious

commitments as light-heartedly as Catholics become Jews or

Protestants become Muslims today. Note what wicked King Ahaz

said when he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, "'The g-ds of

the kings of Aram (Syria) help them; I shall sacrifice to them

and they will help me'; but they were his ruin and that of all

Israel" (II Chr. 28:23). We do not ask anyone to change their

religion in order to prosper. We ask people to have the courage

to believe the truth. Then we identify with them and work with

them so that their religious expression of their commitment to

the truth avoids as much cultural dislocation as possible.

That's why we want to see established messianic synagogues in

Jewish neighborhoods and messianic mosques in Arab neighborhoods.

That's why we are focussing on cross-cultural outreach and

congregation planting. (See the author's two books, Everything

You Need To Grow a Messianic Synagogue and The New Creation Book

for Muslims.)

Many Israelis and Jews do not believe in hell. The Holocaust has

led many Jewish people even to disbelieve in G-d. However,

various kinds of holocausts are predicted in II Chr. 7:19-22,

since judgment begins at the household of G-d. This should make

Gentiles and nominal backslidden believers fear as well, because

if G-d did not spare the Jews, "neither will he spare you

Gentiles." (Romans 11:21). Look at the warning of II Chr. 7:19:

"But if you turn away and forsake the decrees and commands I have

given you and go off to serve other g-ds (like the humanistic and

non-Biblical g-ds of Talmudic Judaism and Secular Humanism) and

worship them, then I will uproot Israel from my land

(holocaust!), which I have given them, and will reject this Beis

Hamikdash I have consecrated for my Name. I will make it a

byword and an object of ridicule (anti-Semitism!) among all

peoples." This is the negetive message, a severe warning not to

neglect receiving the Ruach Hakodesh and the circumcision of new

birth (Deut. 30:6) so that one desires to study the Word of G-d

and so that one can be taught by the Holy Spirit to interpret it

correctly and not with a carnal and unspiritual mind. However,

on the positive side, we can point to the feet that G-d blesses

those who honor G-d's Word, showing how that anti-Semitic "Haman"

Saddam Hussein was militarily defeated on Purim, 1991, and how

America was miraculously blessed with less than 100 casualties in

the Persian Gulf War because she protected G-d's people and

obeyed Gen. 12:3.

But there is a greater positive message to be seen in

II Chronicles. Since Yeshua (Moshiach Yehoshua) is risen with

those he has already spiritually resurrected unto Chayyei Olam

(Eternal Life), his Body (the whole house of true believers) is

the everlasting Beis Hamikdash that G-d has made for his Word and

his Spirit to inhabit. If we are filled with his Spirit, the

gifts of the Spirit can operate in our life. G-d says in II Chr.

7:16 "I have chosen and consecrated this Beis Hamikdash so that

my Name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will always

be there." G-d's Name is his personal self-disclosure. The

personal Word of G-d, the Moshiach of Israel, is that

self-disclosure of the Father. When we are filled with the Ruach

Hakodesh various gifts can flow through us: preaching, inspired

utterance, ministry, teaching, encouraging, contributing,

leading, comfort, supernatural wisdom, supernatural knowledge,

miracles, supernatural faith, healing, discerning evil or other

spirits (see II Chr. 18:21 when a false prophet like Rev. Moon is

unmasked because God's prophet can discern that he has a lying

spirit), tongues and their interpretation, planting a

congregation, leading someone or many people to commit their

lives to Moshiach Yehoshua, caring for G-d's people, helping and

more. Through the gifts of the Spirit we can be the eyes and

heart of Moshiach, for his eyes and his heart always dwell in his

Beis Hamikdash which is the people of G-d.

II Chr. 16:12 says "In the thirty-ninth year of his reign (King)

Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease

was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the

L-rd, but only from the physicians." The Bible does not teach

that when you are sick you should not see a doctor. However,

even if you do see a doctor, you should look to the L-rd to give

the doctor wisdom and to be the ultimate healer in the situation.

G-d promises not only to heal our land but to touch us

individually if we have a change of heart and repent and confess

that we have done wrong and have acted wickedly and if we turn

from our old ways completely and turn back to G-d (6:37-38).

Will you make a commitment right now to start putting personal

prayer, personal Bible study, and personal ministry first in your

life and to make ministry preparation a priority so that G-d can

use you? Ask G-d to give you the wisdom of Shlomo and the

discernment you need to yield to G-d for a total healing.

The glory cloud that appears at the dedication of both the

wilderness Tabernacle and the Beis Hamikdash of the son of Dovid

(Shlomo) is a type of the incarnation. See II Chr. 5:7-14 and

also Ex. 40:34-35; II Chr. 7:1-3. Notice what happens in II Chr.

5 when the Word in the ark enters the Beis Hamikdash: "then the

Beis Hamikdash of the L-rd was filled with a cloud." See II Chr.

6:32-33: both the Servant of the L-rd and the Beis Hamikdash are

to be lights to the Gentiles (a related theme is found in

Isaiah). Both the Moshiach and the Beis Hamikdash bear the Name

of G-d (Jer. 23:5-6; Isaiah 9:6). Note also II Chr. 7:4 where

the L-rd's Word entered His House in order to trigger divinely

acceptable blood sacrifice--all this is a type of the

Incarnation. Note II Chr. 7:19-22. The sins of Israel's kings

brought the Exile of Israel and the destruction of the Beis

Hamikdash (events which are themselves a prophetic picture of the

death of the Incarnate Word).

The hope of Scripture (including II Chronicles and Ezekiel) is

that Dovid's great Son the King Moshiach would raise up a Beis

Hamikdash worthy of the new holy age. His resurrection body is

that Beis Hamikdash. Like Joshua, who brings the people of G-d

toward their promised rest, so Shlomo the son of Dovid raises up

the Beis Hamikdash and brings the people of G-d toward Messianic

rest (II Chr. 22:8-9; Josh. 11:23; 21:44).

Look in the Hebrew Bible at the mention of HaSatan in I Chr.

21:1.

One can see why the Persian King Cyrus is called "Moshiach" in

Isa. 45:1, since he undertakes to cause the Beis Hamikdash to be

rebuilt. He is also mentioned climactically at the end of

II Chronicles, showing G-d's sovereign hand in the affairs of the

people He is saving.

I CHRONICLES 17:13

I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me...

I CHRONICLES 21:17-18

17. And Dovid said unto G-d, Is it not I that commanded the

people to benumbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil

indeed: but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine

hand, I pray thee, O L-rd my G-d, be on me, and on my father's

house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.

18. Then the angel of the L-rd commended Gad to say to David,

that Dovid should go up, and set up an altar unto the L-rd in the

threshing floor of Oman the Jebusite.

II CHRONICLES 6:10

Now the L-rd has fulfilled his word that he promised; for I have

succeeded my father Dovid, and sit on the throne of Israel, as

the L-rd promised, and have built the house for the name of the

L-rd, the G-d of Israel.