1 Chronicles 9: 1b – 13

I was travelling in the car with a man who worked for a certain electricity company. He picked up his friend, a much older and a wise man, who had been a works manager himself for many years. The older guy picked up some glossy materials left lying on a seat, and with a glint in his eye said, ‘Fobbing materials!’ It strikes me that the devil has a line in that area. See how:

Sin brings captivity (1b): Jesus said: I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin (John 8:34). But the illusion the devil sells you is that you’re free. ‘This will actually enhance your freedom’ he says. While you swallow the lie that you are free, the reality is that you’re a marionette having your strings tugged. But that is his great (lying) sales pitch. It’s ‘fobbing material’ of the cleverest sort. While you think you are buying freedom, you’re actually being handed slavery over the counter. He is very good at marketing strategy and he will love to do you a deal over sin. Passing off horse meat as beef is nothing when compared with what he does! If the devil wasn’t such a brilliant con artist, and if there wasn’t an innate desire in us for what he’s out to sell (James 1:13-16) he would never succeed. But sin is an ‘inside job.’ Our adversary has an ally on the inside of our lives in the form of the sinful nature. When he wants to go fishing in that particular ‘river’ called ‘me’ he knows he just has to put ‘the world’ on the hook, and my flesh life will want to nibble. It’s relatively easy for him to catch sinners. We have this triple enemy of the world, the flesh and the devil; and the devil uses the world to get after the flesh. Even seeing clearly how it all works, it is nevertheless hard to resist the juicy morsel dangling from the end of his rod!

Years ago, I found these words from David H. Wheaton whilst reading an older version of the ‘New Bible Commentary.’ His words were based on 2 Peter 2:13, and he wrote: Sin attracts with its offer of pleasure, but in the end he who indulges finds that he has no pleasure at all.

(Notice, by the way, that not all the people of Judah were unfaithful to God. But the sins of the many can adversely affect the few.)

Beyond captivity there can be a fresh start (4-12): Here is a long list of people who came home from Babylon, each one with a testimony that exiles can be restored. Today is the first day of the rest of your life, and God is the God of new beginnings. No fall need be final. Prodigals in the far country can come home. They can come to their senses amid the filth of the pig sty and set their faces towards Father and home. Jesus came into the world to proclaim freedom for the prisoners…to release the oppressed… (Luke 1:18). The stories of miraculous escapes from prison recorded in Acts 5:19, 20 and 12:1-19 picture what the gospel is all about. These remarkable events did happen, but they also illustrate just what is possible in individual lives. Jesus comes to those in the ‘prison’ of sin and opens the heavy door. They can walk out into the freedom He has bought if they choose to. They can also opt to stay where they are. But why would you? In John 8, where Jesus speaks about the slavery of sin, He also declares: So, if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed (John 8:36). This is the great hope held out in the gospel.

Logically, this list, showing returnees from both northern and southern kingdoms, belongs at the end of 2 Chronicles. It’s a list that continues for more verses, but we’re going to pause here and pick it up tomorrow, God-willing. What better thing to do with the pause than to fill it with prayer.