12/12 Reading (2 Chronicles 35-36; Ephesians 3)

2 Chronicles 35: Josiah celebrates Passover and dies in this chapter. Not much else to say.

2 Chronicles 36: The last chapter briefly addresses the last 4 kings of Judah. The first one wasn’t really there long enough to do much bad stuff (just 3 months). The other three were bad. He sent king Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon to destroy Jerusalem. He did. The chapter (and book) ends with a decree from the king of Persia. Here it is:

This is what Persia’s King Cyrus says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the earth’s kingdoms and has instructed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belong to God’s people, let them go up, and may the Lord their God be with them! (2 Chron. 36.23)

Ephesians 3: Paul explains his role in everything in the first part of this chapter. He reminds the people of his “responsibility to distribute God’s grace” (Eph. 3.2). He informs them that God shared his secret plan with him, which was “that the Gentiles would be co-heirs and parts of the same body, and that they would share with the ews in the promises of God in Christ Jesus through the gospel” (Eph. 3.6). Paul is there to preach about Jesus and what accepting him will offer the people. The second part of the chapter is another prayer for the Ephesians.