← ArchiveJeremiahJeremiah: Hope Beyond the Ruins (Jeremiah 52:1-3)DateJuly 27, 2026SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamTextJeremiah 52:1–3Passages in this sermonJeremiah 521:54Genesis 39:151 Kings 722:12Micah 533:30Zephaniah 133:37Malachi 333:42Matthew 133:54TranscriptClick any line to jump there.0:00We'll be right back. Welcome to the church locally that gathers here at Bethel.0:30If you don't know where you are, that's where you are. And we gather, I was reminded this week, we're reading the Ten Commandments at our house and we get to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. And we had the discussion in our house that, hey, we now worship on, we don't worship on the Sabbath, on Saturday, we worship on Sunday morning because our hope is anchored in a0:57risen Savior. And we're going to celebrate that. We gather because of the gospel, Jesus in our place. The Son of God lived a sinless life. He suffered. He actually died physically, was buried physically. And I know you're not going to believe this because the world doesn't understand, but he rose again. And that is the anchor of why we gather.1:25And you say, well, pastor, do you actually believe he rose again? Yes. In fact, I have staked my life on the fact that he rose again. And if I die a fool, I would rather be a fool with the wisdom of the Lord than wise in the world's eyes any day. So my name is Josh. I don't know if I introduced myself. I'm one of your pastors. And today I get to bring the word of God. So turn with me to, I almost said Isaiah, Jeremiah 52.1:54We all love a good ending, don't we? The stories you read, the sports shows you watch, unless you're a Mississippi State fan, we don't have a lot of good endings in our life. But I'm waiting on the good ending. The movies we watch, today we arrive at the end of Jeremiah. For several months we have been worshiping through this, but we've heard God speak to2:25the prophet and say, Jeremiah, when you were in your mother's womb, I called you. We have seen God take us down to the potter's house and watch the potter change the clay that was flawed and remake it. And God say to his people, as Israel, as clay is in the hands of the potter, so you are in my hands. We've heard people in Jeremiah say to the prophet, well, go speak to the Lord and we will do2:55whatever he says, whether pleasant or unpleasant. And Jeremiah says, okay, I'll go speak to God. And Jeremiah comes back and they say, no, we don't want to do that. We've heard kings rebel. We have seen a nation harden its heart. And we get to the end and you think, well, I think, well, something good has to happen.3:19We're waiting for the, you know, just as I am playing in the background and Jeremiah saying to the Judah, every head bowed and every eye closed, no one looking around. But we don't have a sermon in the ends. We don't have revival.3:47We don't really have much of anything except history. Some scholars actually believe that this is true because Jeremiah himself, who would be around 90 years old at Jeremiah 52, has already passed. And Baruch, his faithful scribe, who was kidnapped and taken to Egypt, along with Jeremiah, against the word of the Lord, finishing the story for us. But don't mistake the ending for nothing, right?4:14God is giving us his history, but he's also giving us a theological promise to look forward to it because for the last 51 chapters, Jeremiah has said, the judgment of the Lord is coming. The judgment of the Lord is coming. The judgment of the Lord is coming. And at the very end, we see the judgment of God has arrived. That's what we're going to read today.4:44But here's a reminder. If God's promises of judgment are always fulfilled, then his promises of salvation will always be fulfilled in our lives. So as we read these verses, the reminder is this. Even in ruin, hope remains in our lives. Even in ruin, hope remains.5:11So let's start in Jeremiah 52, 1 through 4, and then we'll read the rest of the chapter as we go. So we'll read the word, we'll apply the word, we'll read the word, we'll apply the word, and then we'll dismiss and we will live out the word of God in our lives. Hear the word of God, Jeremiah 52. Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king.5:37He reigned 11 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamotol, daughter of Jeremiah. She was from Libna. Zedekiah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, just as Jehoiakim had done. Because of the Lord's anger, it became, or it came to the point in Jerusalem and Judah that God, that's he, finally banished them from his presence.6:05Then, Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon. Let's pray. Father, we don't need a history lesson today. Lord, what we need is the gospel. We need to be reminded that in our lives, some which are walking in suffering, Lord, some6:30walking in ruin, some in difficulty, that even in tragedy, hope remains. And, Lord, we thank you that you sent Jesus, your one and only son, to die on the cross. And that he rose again on the first day of the week, a day like this. So, Lord, today, as we open your word, we simply say thank you for the gospel.7:01And, Lord, would you open our hearts to receive your word and to live out in obedience to our faith, your desire and your will in our lives. Lord, we pray in Jesus' holy name. Amen. As we read, I want us to see two things. I want to see pictures of sin, what your sin does in your life. And then I want you to see a picture of grace, what grace does in our lives.7:31So, verse 3, let's go back to that. Because of the Lord's anger, it came to the point in Jerusalem, in Judah, that God, Yahweh, finally banished them from his presence. Now, at the center of this history is the king named Zedekiah. Remember, Zedekiah means my righteousness is the Lord. You would think that anyone named that would not do evil.8:01But yet, Zedekiah, the king of God's people, rebelled. Not like his father, Josiah, who found the book of the law and rent his garments. And he had revival in the land. He said, God, we've not been obeying you. Lord, bring repentance in our life. No, Zedekiah was different. The Bible actually says that he did evil in the sight of the Lord.8:26And the result of a hardened heart was devastating. It says in verse 3 that God had enough. And he banished them from his presence. Yeah, I wonder if we truly understand how terrifying that phrase is.8:51That God banished his covenant people from his presence. And if you think, if I think that that would not happen to me or to you, you need to read the Bible. Genesis 3. Adam and Eve, who had communed with God in the garden because they were perfect and righteous and whole as God had made them.9:18Ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge that God said do not. And because of their sin, God banished them from his presence. Zedekiah, a king, who means my righteousness is the Lord, did evil in the sight of God. And God had enough and banished his people from his presence and from Jerusalem, the holy city.9:42That should terrify us. That because of our sin, we can be banished. Banish from the holy city. Banish from worship and communion. Banish from God's blessing and provision. And church, this is exactly what sin does. This is a picture of our sin. It banishes us from the presence. So if you are here today or watching online and you think my sin is no big deal.10:13Jesus died. God will gloss over my sin. Hear what Romans says. The wages of your sin is death. Let me give it Jeremiah language. The wages of your sin is banishment. And sometimes because we are a natural people, we think that the worst thing that can ever happen to us is that we die naturally, physically.10:40There's a worse death. There's a worse death. It's a second death. That we would be banished from the presence of a loving God forever. This is a picture of our sin. I love what J.C. Ryle says about sin. He said, Sin must indeed be exceedingly sinful when the father must need to give his only son to be the sinner's friend.11:05Sin must indeed be exceedingly sinful that the father must send his only son to make the sinner his friend again. Your sin banishes you from the presence of God. This is a picture of our sin. But the picture continues.11:34Verse 4. In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem with his entire army. They laid siege to the city and built a siege against the wall all around it. The city was under siege until Zedekiah's eleventh year. So about eighteen months to two years the siege lasted. By the night day of the fourth month, the famine was so severe in the city that the common people had no food.12:02Then the city was broken into and all the warriors fled. They left the city at night by the way of the city gate between the two walls near the king's garden. Though the Chaldeans, which is another word for the Babylonians, surrounded the city. They made their way along the route of the Arabah. The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho.12:29Zedekiah's army left him and scattered. The Chaldean seized the king, brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he passed sentence on him. At Riblah, the king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah's sons before his eyes. That wasn't enough. He slaughtered the Judean commanders. That wasn't enough. He blinded Zedekiah, bound him with bronze chains.12:59The king of Babylon brought Zedekiah to Babylon, where he kept him in custody until his dying day. And here we see a second picture of our sin. And that is the picture of chains in verse 11. The king was bound with bronze chains. These are the consequences of Zedekiah's sin. The strong warrior, the strong king, in the middle of the night, fled the city.13:29And he was caught. But remember where this all first began. Zedekiah wasn't caught because he was a weak leader. He was caught, and there was a famine, and there was a siege, and he was blinded, and he was put in chains. Why? Remember verse 3. Because who had enough? Because God had enough of his sin. And church, is this not a reminder of what sin does?13:59The Babylonians goused out his eyes, bound him with bronze chains, carried him to Babylon, and kept him in prison until the day that he died. Why did they spare Zedekiah? I mean, if you're the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, wouldn't it easier just to kill him? Then you wouldn't have to feed him, water him. He's like a pet. What do you do with a deposed king? Is he going to escape?14:29Is he going to try to have a coup behind your back? No. Nebuchadnezzar wanted the world to know, this is what happens when you sin against Babylon. You are enchained, and you're enslaved for the rest of your life. And if we're honest, I think we can see a picture of our sin in this, right? Sin enslaves us. Satan never tempts us because he wants us to flourish.14:58Satan did not tempt Zedekiah to sin because he wanted Zedekiah to flourish. Satan never tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of good and evil, a tree of knowledge, because he wanted them to be wise. No, he wanted them to sin and transgress God. Why? Because Satan wants for your life exactly what Nebuchadnezzar wanted for Zedekiah.15:24He wants to enslave you and lead you around in chains every single day until you die. And is this not a picture of our sin? Satan entices us because he wants to enslave us. He wants us to ignore the root and the fruit of our sin. Until we find ourselves in chains that we never imagine wearing.15:48That's what addiction does. It chains us. It enslaves us. That's what pride does. It chains us and enslaves us. Bitterness and lust, greed, unforgiveness. Sin always promises liberty. Hold that grudge against that person, and you'll stick it to them. Until you realize all that unforgiveness does is create bitterness in your heart.16:18Sin only enslaves. It promises liberty, but it leaves us captives and imprisoned. And perhaps today you feel this in your life. Perhaps you walk in today and you say, I know. I know I'm enslaved. And no one else sees them. They're invisible. But you know you're enslaved. This is why the gospel is such good news.16:48Through the death of Jesus Christ, he has broken the chains of our sin in Babylon. This is why, for the Christian, we can read passages like this and we can weep over our sin, but we can also say, my chains are gone. I've been set free. I've been set free. My God, my Savior. This is why we sing songs. He breaks the power of canceled sin. He sets the prisoner free.17:18Because Jesus undoes what our sin does. But if you never get a picture of your sin, you will never understand what grace truly looks like. So if you're here today and you are walking in the bondage of your sin, I plead with you, you do not have to leave in the same way. Zedekiah, you do not have to let Babylon lead you until you're deaf in chains. Cry out to Christ.17:47He sets the prisoner free in your life. Chains are not worth keeping. Praise God for the gospel. We have one more picture of sin, I think, in this chapter. And then we're going to look at grace. Look at verse 17. Now, it gets worse. I just want to discourage you before I encourage you. And this is exactly what the pride of life does.18:17Sin makes your life destructive. Verse 17. Now the Chaldeans broke into the pieces, the bronze pillars for the Lord's temple. Whose temple? The Lord's temple. The water carts for the bronze basin that were in the Lord's temple. Whose temple? The Lord's. And they carried all the bronze to Babylon.18:46You might think, well, what else did they take? I'm glad you asked. They took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, dishes, and all the bronze articles used in the temple service. The captain of the guards took away the bowls, the fire pans, sprinkling basins, the pots, the lampstands, the pans, and the drink offering bowls. Whatever was gold or silver. If it was valuable, they took it.19:15And as for the two pillars, the one basin with the 12 bronze oxen under it, and the water carts that King Solomon had made for the Lord's temple, the weight of the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. Which means if you tried to measure it, you couldn't. That's how weighty the sacredness of God was to his people.19:40If you tried to measure the height, you could. One pillar was 27 feet tall, had a circumference of 18 feet. It was hollow, four fingers thick, and had a bronze capital on top of it. One capital encircled by bronze grating pomegranates stood seven and a half feet high. The second pillar was the same with pomegranates.20:09Each capital had 96 pomegranates all around it, and the pomegranates around the grating numbered 100. The captain of the guards also took Saraiah, the chief priest, Zephaniah, the priest of the second rank, and three doorkeepers. From the city, he took a court official who had been appointed over the warriors, seven trusted royal aides found in the city,20:31the secretary of the commander of the army, who enlisted the people of the land for military duty, and 60 men from the common people who were found within the city. Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guards, took and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath.20:58So Judah went to exile from its land. These are the people Nebuchadnezzar deported. In the seventh year, 3,023 Jews. Eighteenth year, 832 people from Jerusalem. In Nebuchadnezzar's 23rd year, Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, deported 745 Jews. Altogether, 4,600 people were departed.21:25Now you might think, okay, why did you read that? Well, first, it's in God's word. And if God wants us to know it, I want to know it. But second, if you notice, in this history, God focuses our attention to the temple in a very specific way. Because he wants you to understand what your sin does and my sin does. The picture of sin here is that God's people had lost the sacredness of the Lord himself.21:54They had lost the sacredness of the Lord himself. And he draws our attention because he focuses on these two massive pillars. It's interesting, I was researching it this week, and I forgot that in 1 Kings 7, these pillars were so important to the people of God that they named them. Anyone guess the names of the pillars? Yeah, me either.22:26So, 1 Kings 7, 15, one pillar was named Yaqin, which means he will establish. And the other was named Boaz. In him is strength. Here's the reminder. Everything glorious that David and Solomon had built for the Lord had now been taken away. God's people had lost their sacredness.22:53They had lost their sacredness. That is what sin does in your life, in my life. And you might read this and say, well, okay, did they lose their sacredness in Jeremiah 52? And I would be like, I don't know. Because somewhere along the way, I feel like before the temple fell, God's people had assumed his presence without endearing themselves to the holiness of God.23:21And isn't that how sin crops up in our life? They treated as common what God had said was holy. That's what we do. We listen to Satan's temptations. Well, you don't need the commands of God.23:51That's a suggestion. Right? Did God really say? And then we think, well, you know, maybe there was a suggestion. And we assume the presence of God. They assume God's presence while rejecting God's covenant. They prize the temple, but despise the God who dwelt there. And this is what John Calvin just pointedly says about this text, about holiness.24:19Nothing is more dangerous than to treat lightly what God has made holy. Nothing is more, church, nothing is more dangerous than to treat lightly what God has said holy. And I just feel like in our lives, God let Babylon take away these sacred vessels because God was saying to his people, if you don't want my holiness, then fine.24:39You don't have it. And may it never be said of us that we treat lightly the sacred things of God in our life. And is this not what sin does? Sin turns temples into ruin. But can I share the gospel?25:11Jesus Christ, the only son of God, was ruined so that you and I might become the temple of God again. This is how Jesus reverses the curse in our life. So we've seen the picture of sin. Now let's look at the picture of grace as we end Jeremiah. Verse 31. On the 25th day, some of you are asking, well, what month was that? On the 12th month?25:41Some of you are like, well, what year was that, pastor? Well, here it is. On the 37th year of the exile of Judah's king, Jehoiachin, king, Evel, Merodach, that's a different king now of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, pardoned king Jehoiachin of Judah and released him from prison. He spoke kindly to him, set his throne above the thrones of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes.26:10He dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death for the rest of his life. So King Jehoiachin reaches, he's about 53 years of age at this point. He has been exiled for 37 years at this point.26:40I don't even know where he is. No one knows. Is he in prison in Babylon? He's been exiled, though, for 37 years. And then from nowhere, in the first year of King Evel, Meroduch, all of a sudden kindness finds King Jehoiachin. And I love what Scripture says. First, he was pardoned. He was pardoned.27:09Not the best translation. I didn't write the CSB. The Hebrew says that the sentence upon him was lifted up. It was taken away. It's actually the very same language used of the prisoner that was with Joseph when Pharaoh pardoned him from prison. Jeremiah is appealing to the patriarch language to say, as Joseph was pardoned in prison, so Jehoiachin was also pardoned.27:37And not only that, if you read further in verse 33, not only was Jehoiachin pardoned, but his prison clothes were changed. Guess what happens to Joseph when he's in prison? And he gives a favorable report to Pharaoh. Okay, you don't have to guess. It's the same thing that happened here. So what happens?28:07His prison clothes were changed, right? They were taken off. The garbs that he wore because of his sentence, he no longer had to wear those anymore. And I see in this a picture of grace. These are not accidental parallels. Because Joseph's story reminds us of the gospel in our lives. What happens when you trust in Jesus Christ by faith? The chains of your sin, the sentence of death upon you because of your sin and my sin, it is pardoned.28:37Jesus takes that away. No, it didn't just poof, it's gone. There's something deeper here in the gospel. Jesus didn't just take away your sin. He took it upon himself. That's a deeper level of love than we can imagine. He didn't just pardon me. He took my penalty. Jesus said, Father, I will take Josh's sentence upon myself so that he might be released from the prison of his sin eternally.29:07You know what happens when we come to faith in Jesus Christ? The ratty, nasty clothes we wear of sin are taken off. And we're given a robe of righteousness in Jesus Christ. What a picture of grace. What a picture of grace. And I read this and if you say, well, pastor, you're a biblical scholar.29:37You teach Old Testament and you have a degree in Hebrew. Surely you know, surely you know, pastor, why Jehoiachin received kindness after 37 years of exile. And my astute, learned, biblical answer to you is this. I have no clue. And if you ask me, pastor, why would God in his sovereign holiness be kind to sinners and send his only begotten son to live a sinless life and die on the cross for guilty, rebellious people?30:06I would say to you, in my learned understanding, I don't know. But here's what I do know. He did. And because he did, we can be set free.30:35And you know, there are just some things I am comfortable not knowing in my life. But I do know this. When God said to me, Josh, if you believe in my son, I will set you free. I said, God, how could I say no to that love? When God said to me, Josh, I will change your nasty clothes that are soiled by sin. I will release you from prison if you will put your faith in my son, Jesus Christ.31:03You know what I said to that? God, I don't know why you would do this, but I'll take that offer. By faith, I will believe. What a picture of grace we have in Jesus Christ. And I would say to you, if you have never trusted in Christ as your Savior because you say to me, Pastor, I don't have the right clothes to wear to church. I don't have the right clothes to come into the King's presence. I'm still in shackle.31:34I can't come to God like this. I would say to you, you know, that's how you come to God. You come as you are, and he gives you new clothes. You come as you are, and he releases the shackles. Church, this is the picture of grace. And if you say to me, well, I can't come to faith unless I know why he is kind to me. We'll never know. Because we don't deserve grace.32:04We don't deserve mercy. And yet in Christ we have it. This is the picture of grace. I want to give you one more picture of what we have in Christ. Verse 34, as for this allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, for the rest of his life.32:28Jeremiah closes with a theological promise. Now, you might read that and say, no, that's a historical account, not a theological promise. Until you realize that Jehoiakim is the captive son of David. Then you realize that God had promised his people, no matter what you do or how you live,32:55there will always be a son of David on the throne. And Jeremiah ends, yes, in captivity, but there's hope. There is still a son of David alive. And as long as there is a son of David alive in Judah, God's promises have not become void. Some of you are biblical scholars and say you're turning in your Bible right now thinking,33:26okay, well, pastor, Micah 5, where's the son of David? Zephaniah 1, where's the son of David? Malachi 3, verse 5, the last book of the Bible, where's the son of David? Then I would say, well, why did you stop there? Why not turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 1, in verse 1, where Matthew says,33:54And because of this is an account of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. The promises of God and Jeremiah reach their zenith when the ultimate son of David was born in Bethlehem.34:17And because of this, we see a picture of grace. The son of David was the best king the world could ever know. Through his perfect life, atoning death and victorious resurrection, Jesus, the son of David, secured an everlasting kingdom and an everlasting righteousness for all who trust in him.34:42One of my favorite verses in all the Bible. Jesus, the son of David, who knew no sin, became sin so that we, sinners, might become the righteousness of the son of David and of God. And because of Jesus Christ, let me give you Jeremiah language. Church, you have more than a daily ration in Christ.35:10You have eternal provision. You have eternal provision. You have more than bread at the king's table in Jesus. You have communion with the king of kings. You have more than temporary pardon. You have the perfect righteousness of Christ credited to your account. And you have more than just simple survival to the day you die. You have abundant life and life eternal in Jesus Christ.35:40There is a glimpse of grace even in Jeremiah until the day you die. It's as if Jeremiah is saying to us, all the pictures of sin in Judah will one day be made right in Jesus Christ.35:55Which is why David, the shepherd boy, would one day write, surely goodness and surely mercy will chase after me.36:13And I will dwell in the house of the Lord, even until the day of my death.36:33This is the grace you have in Jesus Christ. Today, if you are feeling ruined, you don't have to leave here the same. Today, if you're tired, worn, you don't have to leave here the same.36:58Because of Jesus Christ. Run to him. And find that the ultimate son of David, the king of kings, Jesus, turns your ruin and your destruction into hope. That sin destroyed the temple, but Jesus Christ became ruined that we might become the temple of the living God.37:26I don't know about you, but that's good news. Praise God for his pardon. Praise the Lord for his grace. If you need to come to faith today, you can come to faith with a genuine prayer of repentance. God, for the first time, I admit that I'm a sinner.37:49And Lord, today, I realize I'm a slave to my sin. I can't do it on my own. But I believe that you sent your only son, Jesus, the son of David, to live a sinless life, to die on the cross, who rose again to seal my pardon and to break me free. So, Lord, today, for the first time, I repent of my sins.38:17And I will follow you no matter the cost. The Bible says this, whoever prays that prayer, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord, will be saved. Maybe you're here today and you are a Christian. You're just tired. You're worn. You're ruined. Let me just remind you, you're not ruined forever. God is doing something in your life.38:47Run to Christ again and find refreshments. Find healing. Find strength. Find that Jesus is more than enough to satisfy the longing of our hearts. Father,← Previous in JeremiahJeremiah: Oracles to the Nations (Jeremiah 46–51)More sermons on Jeremiah →
