Category: 2 Kings

Grace

Post author By Bruce
Post date March 9, 2013
2 Comments on Grace

And with one fell swoop, we finish two books, which happen to end with the same story.

We started 2 Kings way back in June of 2012. Now many major and minor prophets later, we finally come to a close here with an epilogue which talks about the end of Jehoiachin’s life.

As you may remember he was the second to last king of Judah, but he only lasted three months on the throne before being taken into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar.

I personally find it a curious story to place here. Why did God see fit to put this story in his Word?

One thing we don’t see is why Jehoiachin was suddenly treated with such favor. The Bible is silent on this point.

Jewish tradition holds, however, that Jehoiachin, upon being imprisoned in Babylon, ultimately repented, and as a result, God caused him to find favor in the eyes of the Babylonian king Evil-Merodach (Nebuchadnezzar’s son).

Whatever happened, I do believe God put this passage here as a picture of his grace. And it reminds me in many ways of what God has done for us.

Jehoiachin had done nothing for Evil-Merodach that he might set him free.

But Evil-Merodach not only set him free, he spoke kindly to him, gave him new clothes, let him feast at his table, and gave him a seat of honor.

That’s exactly what God did for us.

Though we had done nothing for God that he might save us, yet by his grace and mercy, he did so.

He forgave us our sins, setting us free from the chains of sin and death. Not only that, he speaks kindly to us, clothing us with Christ, and one day we’ll feast at his table, crowned with glory and honor.

That’s grace.

Do NOT take this seriously because this is not good Biblical interpretation, but I found it very interesting that the day Jehoiachin was officially pardoned was the 25th day of the 12th month. (He was probably actually set free 2 days later as stated in 2 Kings).

Who knows? Maybe God knew about the change in the calendar and that Jesus’ birth would be celebrated on December 25th. Perhaps, he wanted Jehoiachin’s pardon to be a picture of our own.

Merry Christmas Jehoiachin!

Then again, maybe not. 🙂

All kidding aside, the thing to remember is that all that we are, and all that we have is by God’s grace, and his grace alone.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, grace

2 Kings Jeremiah

Failing to heed the warning signs

Post author By Bruce
Post date February 20, 2013
No Comments on Failing to heed the warning signs

After the fall of Jerusalem, a man named Gedaliah was named governor of the area by Nebuchadnezzar.

Gedaliah appears to be a good man, and he attempted to calm the fears of the remaining Jews and was successful. In fact, many of the Jews that had scattered among the nations, returned under Gedaliah.

But Gedaliah was naive. He was warned that a man named Ishmael, of the house of David, was plotting to kill him. Despite this, Gedaliah refused to believe ill of Ishamel, and did nothing to protect himself.

The result was that Gedaliah paid for it with his life. Not only that, the good he had done came apart as the people who had returned to Israel under him fled to Egypt.

What can we learn from this? We can have the best of intentions, and indeed do much good in our lives. But if we fail to heed the warning signs around us, all the good we do can come undone.

My pastor has in past Sunday messages shared about his own life and how his own family almost came undone at one point.

He was an assistant pastor at another church at the time, but he had spent so much time at the church doing ministry, it was causing harm to his family.

His wife had come down with ulcers because of the stress, his son had started to develop a nervous tic in his face as well. But all the while, he ignored all of this because he was doing “good” in his ministry.

Had he continued on that path, he could’ve lost both his family and his ministry.

Finally he realized he wasn’t living within God’s will. He took some time off to seek God, and during that time, he realized that he was out of God’s will and that he needed to change.

God has since blessed both his family and ministry in great ways and we are so blessed to have him as our pastor.

You may be doing good things, but are there warning signs in your life that you’re missing? With your personal life? With your family? With your finances? With your ministry? If you fail to heed the warning signs, you can lose everything.

Let us not be like Gedaliah, but rather heed the warning signs.

And by following God’s leading and direction, let us walk the path he has laid out for us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, warning signs

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Jeremiah

Reasons for the fall

This is one of the few times in scripture that the same event is talked about in four different places.

Jeremiah 52 appears to be a historical appendix, however, and seems to have been added by someone other than Jeremiah. It’s an almost word for word repetition of the Kings’ account.

Basically Zedekiah had rebelled against Babylon, despite taking an oath in God’s name to be a vassal under him, so Nebuchadnezzar put Jerusalem under siege for 2 years.

As a result, there was famine in the city, and at last, the walls were broken through.

Though Zedekiah fled, he was eventually captured. His sons were put to death, after which he was blinded and taken into captivity until he died.

Nebuchadnezzar killed the officials of Judah, and also the chief priest and the next in rank.

Everything of value in the temple was taken away, and then the temple itself, the palace, and the houses of the land were all burned down.

Why? 2 Chronicles makes the reasons crystal clear.

[Zedekiah] did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord…He became stiff-necked and hardened his heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel.

Furthermore, all the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:12-16)

What can we learn from this? Why did Jerusalem fall?

First, they did what was evil in God’s sight. It goes without saying that when we do evil, we bring evil upon ourselves.

Second, when they heard God’s words of rebuke, they didn’t humble themselves and repent. Rather, they hardened their hearts, not only continuing their evil deeds, but becoming even more unfaithful to God.

Third, they followed the religious practices of the nations around them, and in doing so defiled the temple of God.

Finally, they continually mocked the words of God and scoffed at his messengers until finally there was no remedy for the evil in their hearts. It is possible to so harden ourselves that we make it impossible for ourselves to return.

How about you? What path are you going down?

Are you unrepentedly doing what God has called evil? When you hear God’s words of rebuke in his Word or through messages at church, do you just close your eyes and ears?

Are you following the religious practices and beliefs of the people around you, and in so doing defiling the temple of the Holy Spirit within you?

I’m not just talking about following other religions. I’m talking about following the gods of money, sex, and materialism as well. These things will defile your lives.

Worst of all, have you become so hardened to God’s word, that you actually scoff at it and anyone who would preach it?

These are what caused Israel to fall into destruction. And it will cause you to fall to destruction too.

I’m not saying that you’ll lose your salvation. But you will eventually destroy all the good things in your life. And you’ll wreck all the good plans God intended for your life.

Instead of having a life worth living, you’ll be left with a wasted life full of regret.

Let us not be like the Israelites who lost everything. Let us keep hearts that are soft and humble before God. For only in doing that can we find the way of life.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, destruction, hard hearts, life, soft hearts

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Jeremiah

God’s choice, our choice

The sovereignty of God and the free will of man is one of those things that has been a long-standing debate in the Christian world.

We see this tension in this passage, so we’ll discuss it a bit here, but I won’t claim to have any new answers on the subject.

At this point in history, Jehoiakim was deposed by the king of Babylon after Jehoiakim rebelled.

His son Jehoiachin took over, but his reign lasted only three months before Nebuchadnezzar came again and took him prisoner too, along with a bunch of other people.

The king’s mother, his wives, his officials and leading men, the entire army, as well as a thousand craftsmen and artisans were all taken as well.

In Jehoiachin’s stead, Nebuchadnezzar made his uncle Zedekiah king.

It was during this time that God gave Jeremiah a vision of two baskets of figs, one of very good figs, and one of very bad figs.

God told Jeremiah that he considered the people that were taken into exile the good figs and the people that remained in Jerusalem the bad figs.

And while he would ultimately destroy those remaining in Jerusalem, God promised to restore the exiles to their land and bless them.

The question is why would God spare one group and destroy the other? God said, of the exiles,

My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land.

I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord.

They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart (Jeremiah 24:6-7).

Certainly some of the people taken into exile were innocents, so to speak. Daniel and Ezekiel were two examples of this.

But there were many others who were not so innocent. Why would God spare them? I don’t know, other than to say it was due to God’s mercy.

Some people would say, “Well, it’s because of God’s foreknowledge. He knew they would return to him eventually, and so that’s why he spared them.”

But that ignores the passage where God says that the reason they would return to him is that he would give them a heart to know him. He was the one that would change their hearts.

Why didn’t he do the same for Zedekiah and the people remaining in Jerusalem?

I don’t know.

What can I say for sure?

First, people are condemned directly by their own choices. Had Zedekiah and the other people chosen to follow God, he would have blessed them. But they chose not to.

Second, nobody would come to God unless he started to work in their lives and gave them a heart to know him. This is true of the exiles. It is true of us.

As someone once put it, “He fixed our broken antenna so that we might hear him.”

Third, God is never arbitrary in his choices. God always has his reasons.

The problem we have is that he never gives us those reasons in his word. We have a lack of data because God has chosen not to reveal it to us. And so there we have to stop.

The question we ultimately have to ask ourselves is this: What will we choose?

Nobody can ever come to God and say, “It’s not my fault I didn’t follow you.”

We are responsible for our own choices. And so God will hold us responsible for the choices that we make.

We can choose to follow him or choose not to. What will you choose?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, free will, God's sovereignty

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Jeremiah

To know God

The last four kings after Josiah can all be basically painted bad.

Jehoahaz (known as Shallum in Jeremiah 22), Jehoakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah all were miserable failures as kings.

We’ll take a closer look at the latter three later, but God makes his comment on the first three kings in Jeremiah 22.

Basically, they were all more interested in themselves than in serving God or the people. They used their positions of power merely to enrich themselves while ignoring God and the needs of the people. And so God passes judgment on all three kings.

In doing so, he compares them to Josiah, saying,

“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the Lord.

“But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.” (Jeremiah 22:15-17)

All of these men knew of God. They knew what he had done in the past. But they didn’t truly know him. And God makes crystal clear that knowing him doesn’t simply mean knowing about him.

To know God means to acknowledge him with our lives and with our actions. To do what is just and right, things that these kings simply did not do.

James put it this way,

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that — and shudder. (James 2:18-19)

How about you? Do you simply know about God? Do you simply believe that he exists? Or do your actions and your life show it?

Tags Actions, Bible Original, Bible verse, deeds, faith, knowing God

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

One bad choice

Choice. It is a gift. And a responsibility.

Every day, we have choices in life that we face.

Some choices are mundane. What to have for breakfast. Whether to drive or take a bus or train to work.

Other decisions are much more important. Namely, are we going to follow God today or not? And more specifically, are we going to follow God in this moment or not?

Josiah for most of his life made the decision to follow God.

He made many wise decisions in leading his people and was a very good king, one of the best in Israel’s history.

But one day, for whatever reason, he ignored the voice of God, and it cost him his life.

The king of Egypt had gone out to war, but not against Judah.

For some reason, Josiah went out to stop him, and the king of Egypt said,

What quarrel is there between you and me, O king of Judah?

It is not you I am attacking at this time, but the house with which I am at war.

God has told me to hurry; so stop opposing God, who is with me, or he will destroy you. (2 Chronicles 35:21)

This he said at God’s command. (2 Chronicles 35:22)

But Josiah failed to heed God’s voice.

Why? I don’t know.

Pride, perhaps.

Pride in his army.

Pride in his strategy to hide his identity in battle.

Pride, perhaps, that God would not speak to a foreign king.

Whatever the reason, however, Josiah fell that day, and Judah’s fall didn’t come long after that.

Sometimes we have days where we know what’s right, but for whatever reason, choose what is wrong.

Sometimes we try to justify our actions; other times we don’t even bother to do that.

But if there’s a lesson to be learned from Josiah, it’s this: one bad choice can be our undoing.

It can be our undoing in our marriage, destroying years of marriage with a single act of unfaithfulness.

It can also be our undoing in ministry, destroying years of credibility with one sinful decision.

It can be our undoing in many different aspects of life.

All it takes is one bad choice.

Of course, God will forgive us if we repent.

I believe Josiah went to heaven. God forgave him.

But by his one action, his reign came to an end, as did his life.

So let us make the decision, every moment of every day to follow God.

And let us always keep in mind the prayer Jesus taught us.

“Lead us not into temptation.” (Matthew 6:13)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, choice, temptation

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

A superficial repentance

We now come to the beginning of the end for Judah.

Josiah was the last great king of Judah. And on the surface, it looks like there was true repentance under his leadership.

He destroyed the false idols and altars. He got rid of all the spiritists, mediums, and all the false priests as well.

They also had the greatest Passover feast since the time of Samuel.

And it says,

As long as he lived, they did not fail to follow the Lord, the God of their fathers. (2 Chronicles 34:33)

But it says in 2 Kings 23:26-27,

Nevertheless, the Lord did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger.

So the Lord said, “I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, ‘There shall my Name be.’”

What was the problem?

While Josiah’s repentance was quite genuine, the same cannot be said of the rest of the people of Israel.

While there were certainly those among the Israelites that truly repented, there were others that stubbornly clung to their sinful ways.

It may have been hidden, but it was there.

And after Josiah died, all that evil came flooding back into the open.

How about you? Are you truly serving God with all your heart as Josiah did?

Or are you like many of the people of Israel, superficially serving God, but continuing to serve the idols of this world in your own home and workplace?

You may be fooling others, but you’re not fooling God.

And you will pay the price for it if it continues, just as the Israelites did.

Let us not just serve God with our actions, but with our hearts, putting away all the things that would lead us away from Him.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, repentance

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Living life without the Book

Post author By Bruce
Post date December 15, 2012
No Comments on Living life without the Book

You know that things were a mess spiritually for the people of Judah when their own priests had no idea where God’s book of the Law was.

It’s utterly inconceivable to me.

How in the world could the priests teach the people God’s word when they didn’t read it themselves?

I suppose they could remember some of the things that were taught by their fathers.

But considering that Hezekiah was followed by two corrupt kings and the temple fell into ruin shortly thereafter, it’s doubtful just how accurate the things they remembered were.

So what do you have a result?

People for the most part living, as was in the time of Judges, according to what they thought was right.

But what they thought was right was often not what was truly right in God’s eyes.

That’s what Josiah found out.

As the priests were restoring the temple, someone found the book of the Law. It was almost brought up to Josiah as an afterthought.

“Everything’s being done as you asked to restore the temple. All the money is being paid out so that the work can be done. Oh, and by the way, the book of the Law was found.” (2 Kings 22:9-10)

But while it may or may not have been an afterthought to Shaphan, Josiah’s secretary, it certainly wasn’t an afterthought to Josiah.

When the words of the law were read to him, he tore his robes saying,

Go and inquire of the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah about what is written in this book that has been found.

Great is the Lord’s anger that burns against us because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book; they have not acted in accordance with all that is written there concerning us. (2 Kings 22:13)

The news that came back wasn’t good. Huldah the prophetess replied,

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me, ‘This is what the Lord says:

I am going to bring disaster on this place and its people, according to everything written in the book the king of Judah has read.

Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods and provoked me to anger by all the idols their hands have made, my anger will burn against this place and will not be quenched.’” (2 Kings 22:15-17).

That was the bad news. But then she said,

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I have spoken against this place and its people, that they would become accursed and laid waste, and because you tore your robes and wept in my presence, I have heard you, declares the Lord.

Therefore I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be buried in peace.

Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am going to bring on this place. (2 Kings 22:19-20)

What can we get from this?

Our lives become a mess spiritually without the Book. We cannot live our lives not being fed with God’s word, and hope to live lives pleasing to him.

One of my pet peeves is preachers who speak a lot and barely touch the Word of God during the entire message.

They might talk 30 or 40 minutes, and then say, “Okay let’s look at what God says about this.”

They go on to read God’s word for about 5 minutes, and then they move on to their own thoughts, barely touching the Word again.

The message may have some very good things in it. We might take home some godly advice.

But people go home well fed with the pastor’s words and very little of God’s word.

For other people, they may be very well fed at their church, but are starving the rest of the week spiritually.

Their Bible gathers dust while their lives fall apart because they’re living by their own wisdom rather than God’s.

How about you? Is the Bible lost in your church? Is it lost in your own home?

If it is, you’ll soon find the temple of your body in disrepair because you’re living by your own wisdom and the wisdom of men rather than God’s.

Whose wisdom are you living by?

May we have hearts like Josiah, hearts that are humble and responsive to God’s word.

And hearts that are committed to living life with the Book, not without.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's word, Man's wisdom

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Cleaning out the junk

I’ll admit it. I’m a pack rat. I just have a tendency to keep unwanted and unneeded things around. It’s my nature I guess.

I would guess there are many people around like me. But if there’s one thing that we shouldn’t keep around in our lives, it’s sin and the things that would lead us into temptation.

And so when Amon’s son, Josiah became king, he quickly started clearing out the junk.

It didn’t happen all at once. Josiah became king at age 8, but by age 16, it says that he began to seek the God of his father David (2 Chronicles 34:3).

What caused him to turn, I don’t know.

Maybe when he was a boy, his grandfather Manasseh had a talk with him about all his failures. Josiah sure didn’t get any good influence from his father.

But whatever the reason, he started seeking God.

Immediately, he started to get rid of all the idols, altars to other gods, and all other things that were ensnaring the people in idolatry.

He went so far as to crush all the idols to powder and to get rid of all the false priests from the land.

That’s cleaning out the junk.

We need to do the same.

Maybe it’s books or magazines or videos that are causing us to fall. Maybe it’s things in our hearts such as envy, bitterness, or anger, or greed.

But whatever junk may be there, it has no place in our hearts.

And if we’re truly seeking God, we need to get rid of it, just as Josiah did.

What do you need to get rid of in your life?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, junk

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Increasing our guilt

Hey! Finally! We’re back in the books of Kings and Chronicles…if only for a short time.

The story of Amon, son of Manasseh, is very short, but not very sweet.

Like Manasseh, Amon got into all kinds of idolatries and unspeakable sin. It’s amazing that he would do so, after he saw what had happened to his father.

But there was one thing that was very different between this father and son, and it’s written in 2 Chronicles 33:23.

Unlike his father Manasseh, he did not humble himself before the Lord; Amon increased his guilt.

The result? Ultimately, his own people conspired against him and murdered him.

I have to believe that there were prophets who tried to warn Amon, just as they did with Manasseh.

But he refused to listen. Instead, he “increased his guilt.”

What does that mean?

I suppose one thing that it means is that he piled sin upon sin.

When we confess our sins and repent, God washes them away and we’re given a clean slate.

But when we don’t repent, our sins pile up just as a trash pile would.

I remember visiting the garbage dump when I was living in Hawaii, and it wasn’t a pretty sight.

Another thing it probably means is that his sins got progressively worse.

So often, when we commit a small sin, our conscience smites us, and if we repent right away, it keeps our hearts sensitive to sin and to God’s Spirit.

But when we ignore the voice of God, our hearts become hardened and soon we can’t hear his voice, nor do we feel any guilt when we commit sin.

The result is a heart that no longer cares when we do what’s wrong, leading to bigger and bigger sins.

A final thing it probably means is that by knowing he was sinning, he increased his guilt by sinning anyway.

Sometimes we sin unintentionally. It’s still sin, and it still must be dealt with, but when we sin knowingly, our guilt is much greater, and so is our accountability.

Jesus said,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

How about you? Are you confessing and repenting of the sin in your life? Or are you letting it pile up in your life?

Let us not be like Amon who increased his guilt and had to pay the price as a result.

Let us be like Manasseh who repented and turned from his sin, and in the process, found God’s mercy.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, forgiveness, guilt, repentence

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Never too late

“It’s too late for me son.”

George Lucas called the Star Wars saga the redemption of Darth Vader. How a young man got corrupted by evil but was eventually brought out of it through the love of his son.

In one of the climactic scenes of Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker pleads with his father to let go of his hate, to leave the emperor and come away with him.

Vader regretfully says, “It’s too late for me.”

But with the emperor about to kill Luke, and Luke pleading with his father to save him, Darth Vader turns against the emperor, saving his son and ultimately, himself.

As I read this passage about Hezekiah’s son Manasseh, it follows a similar storyline.

Here was Manasseh, the son of of one of the best kings Judah or Israel ever had. But somehow, he went wrong.

He started worshiping other gods. He put idols and foreign altars in the temple and the courts of the Lord. He practiced witchcraft and consulted mediums and spiritists.

He even went so far as to sacrifice his own sons by flame to these gods he worshiped.

In the book of Kings it says that he shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end. (2 Kings 21:16)

Time and again, God warned him through the prophets. But not only did he not listen, he murdered them.

Tradition has it that while Isaiah was hiding in a log, Manasseh had him sawed in two.

And so God said,

“I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears it will tingle…

I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down.

I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and hand them over to their enemies.

They will be looted and plundered by all their foes, because they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt until this day. (2 Kings 21:12-15)

The Assyrians came and took Manasseh captive, putting a hook in his nose and binding him with bronze shackles, and taking him to Babylon.

In Kings, the story ends there.

But Chronicles gives us more information. That as he was in Babylon, he sought God, humbled himself greatly, and repented.

And because of that, God restored him to his place as king in Jerusalem.

Manasseh then worked the rest of his life to undo all the evil he had done previously, and he eventually died in peace.

Manasseh had done some pretty awful things. He was one of the worst kings Judah had ever had. And yet, even for him, it wasn’t too late to repent.

God will judge people for their sins, as he did with Manasseh.

But as slow as he can be to pass judgment, and he did wait a long time before passing judgment on Manasseh, he is very quick to forgive.

Are you feeling it’s too late for you? That you’ve messed up your life too much for God to forgive you?

It’s never too late. All you have to do is turn.

And when you do, you’ll find that God is not only waiting for you, but is running to greet you, hold you in his arms, and say “Welcome home.”

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, repentance

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Isaiah

Forgetting God’s grace

It’s amazing to me that after all God had done for Hezekiah, that he still forgot God’s grace in his life. It says in 2 Chronicles 32:25

But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the LORD’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

In what way was Hezekiah proud? After his illness, envoys from Babylon came to visit because they’d heard all that God had done in extending his Hezekiah’s life.

But instead of giving all the glory to God, Hezekiah instead pointed to all his riches, his gold, silver, his armory, and all of his treasures.

And so Isaiah confronted him saying,

Hear the word of the Lord Almighty: The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon.

Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon. (Isaiah 39:5-7)

It would be a good guess that the Babylonians took note of the wealth of Israel on this visit, and that it was this visit which planted the seed for their later invasion of Judah.

But more than that, Hezekiah missed an opportunity to share the grace of God with the Babylonians that they might turn from their sin and follow the living God.

That’s what happens when we forget God’s grace in our lives. We become proud of all that we have and have accomplished and forget it was from God that we received all these things.

Not only that, when others start to notice God’s blessing in our lives, we start pointing to ourselves instead of God. And as a result, people become impressed with us instead of the God we serve.

How about you? When others look at you, are they impressed with what you’ve accomplished? Are they impressed with what a great person you are?

Or when they see you, do they start to hunger for the God who lives within you?

Let us not forget God’s grace in our lives. Rather let us always remain humble and thankful, eager to share the grace that we’ve received with those around us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's grace

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Isaiah

Laying our problems before God

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 19, 2012
1 Comment on Laying our problems before God

Hezekiah had finally turned his heart back to God, but it was still troubling times for the people of Judah, as Assyria was still bent on taking Jerusalem.

But with his faith in God restored and perhaps taking heart from God’s promise of deliverance after his recovery from illness, Hezekiah told the people,

Be strong and courageous.

Do not be afraid or discouraged because of the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater power with us than with him.

With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles. (2 Chronicles 32:7-8).

Upon hearing this, the people of Jerusalem were initially encouraged.

But that didn’t last long as the king of Assyria sent his field commander to intimidate them while the Assyrian army was laying siege to one of Judah’s major fortified cities, Lachish.

And as Satan is wont to do, Assyria’s field commander used a mixture of lies and truth to try to discourage the people.

Basically he told them that Egypt couldn’t help them, that no nation had been able to stand against the Assyrians. None of these nations’ gods had been able to protect them from the Assyrians hands either. All this was true.

But then he said that God himself couldn’t help them, and that even if he could, he was really on the Assyrians’ side. He claimed that God himself had sent Assyria to attack Jerusalem.

This especially was an interesting mix of truth and lies, the lie of course being that God couldn’t help them.

But I do wonder if they had heard about all the words the prophets of God had warned Jerusalem with. That Assyria would come and attack.

It’s possible that they were saying, “See, even your own prophets told you we were coming. God sent us to destroy you.”

This was of course conveniently ignoring the prophesies of Assyria’s own destruction and the fact that the reason God gave these warning was so that Jesusalem might repent and be saved.

Hezekiah immediately went to the temple upon hearing these words and through Isaiah the prophet was told once again that God would deliver them.

When the Assyrians were forced to withdraw because of an attack by the Cushite king and his army, they sent word to Hezekiah basically saying (very Terminator-like), “We’ll be back.”

And they once again boasted of all they had done to the other nations.

What did Hezekiah do? He took the letter out and spread it out before God. Then he prayed,

O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.

It is true, O Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands.

They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands.

Now, O Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God. (Isaiah 37:16-20)

I think there are several things we can take from this prayer.

First, when we are in trouble, the first thing we should do is remember who God is. That he is God in heaven, and that he alone is God over all the earth. That he is the creator and that he has the power to help us in our time of need.

Second, lay our problems before him. Be completely honest with him about our needs and our doubts.

Finally, humble yourself and ask for his help.

And because Hezekiah did this, God heard him and delivered him. He slaughtered the army of Assyria and then had its king killed by his own sons.

What troubles are you going through in your life? Remember that God is bigger than your troubles.

Lay out your problems before him. Ask for his deliverance. And then trust him, doing exactly as he says.

If you do, like Hezekiah, you will find God’s salvation in your life.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, deliverance, problems, trust

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Isaiah

Humbled

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 18, 2012
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Once again, a small caveat on the chronology of events: I’m purely guessing here.

Unfortunately, the Bible doesn’t put in one book, the blow by blow events of what happened. So all I can do is try to piece together things as best I can.

As we saw earlier Sennacherib, the king of Assyria had already taken the northern Kingdom of Israel, and had then attacked Judah. Judah had been paying tribute to them, but then stopped.

When Sennacherib came the first time to attack Jerusalem, Hezekiah bought him off with treasures from the temple, and from his own coffers.

But now Sennacherib had come again, and so Hezekiah made further preparations, blocking off the water from the springs outside the city to make sure that they would have enough water during a siege, while denying it to their enemies.

He also had the walls repaired, had weapons made, and basically did everything humanly possible to prepare for the siege.

Again, I’m purely speculating here, but even though his treaty with the Egyptians failed to protect him from Assyria, and while was doing everything humanly possible to prepare, he still wasn’t trusting in God.

Hezekiah was putting all his trust in Egypt and his own efforts. And so God struck him with an illness.

And after months or perhaps even years of ignoring Isaiah’s warnings, he finally called Isaiah to the palace to inquire of the Lord. And Isaiah told him,

This is what the Lord says: “Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.” (2 Kings 20:1)

What must have gone through Hezekiah’s mind at that time? His city under siege, he was dying, and there was no son to take his place (Manasseh, his son, wasn’t born until three years later).

Perhaps he raged at God. “Why is this happening? Why are you doing this to me?”

Maybe that rage turned to self-pity. “Why does this have to happen to me?”

But then it turned to humility.

With no other recourse, he humbled himself before God, pleading that God not remember his sin and pride, but the good things that he had done. To remember how he had sought the Lord in the past.

And as he wept before the Lord, God stopped Isaiah as he was going home and sent him back to Hezekiah, saying,

This is what the Lord, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will add fifteen years to your life.

And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city. (Isaiah 38:5-6)

And then the Lord, gave him a sign, causing the shadow cast by the sun to go backwards on the sundial.

How he did that, I don’t know. Whether he reversed the earth’s rotation, or whether it was a trick of the light is not clear. But whatever he did, God kept his promise, and Hezekiah recovered.

What can we get from this? Many times God will humble us in order to get our attention. If we refuse to listen to him, and go our own way, he loves us too much to just leave us be. He will work to bring us back.

Hezekiah wrote later,

What can I say? He has spoken to me, and he himself has done this. I will walk humbly all my years because of this anguish of my soul…

Surely it was for my benefit that I suffered such anguish. In your love, you kept me from the pit of destruction; you have put all my sins behind our back. (Isaiah 38:15,17)

Are you suffering because of the sin in your life? God doesn’t desire to destroy you. He desires that we humble ourselves and live. To trust in him that our lives may go well. And that we might teach others to trust in him too.

Hezekiah finished his psalm of praise by saying,

Fathers tell their children about your faithfulness. The Lord will save me, and we will sing with stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the temple of the Lord (Isaiah 38:19-20).

So let us not trust in ourselves. But every day, let us humble ourselves before God, trust in him, and teach others to do the same.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, humility, repentance

2 Kings Isaiah

Where our strength and salvation come from

Post author By Bruce
Post date October 12, 2012
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It’s hard to match up the events of history to the prophesies, but I’m guessing these two passages roughly go together.

The king of Assyria (Sennacharib) was on the move again and came against Judah, mainly because Hezekiah had rebelled and stopped paying tribute to him.

Sennacharib attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them, and as a result, Hezekiah panicked.

He apologized for his actions and then paid a huge amount of tribute to make Sennacharib back off. He even stripped gold from the temple and gave the Assyrians silver from the temple treasuries as well as from his own treasuries.

Why did he have to go so far?

God had warned Hezekiah in Isaiah 30-31 not to make alliances with Egypt. That it would do no good.

Yet despite the warnings, Hezekiah and his people ignored Isaiah.

Not only that, they told him to stop confronting them with God’s word. That they only wanted to hear things that would make them feel good. (Such as, “Egypt will wipe out Assyria.”) (Isaiah 30:10-11)

And so God said that judgment would come as a result of their rebellion.

But God also told them,

In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it…

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion.

For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! (30:15, 18)

In other words, “Stop striving. Stop trying to save yourself. Stop relying on your own wisdom and strength to save you. Repent. Turn from your sins. Rest in me. Trust me. And I will save you.”

God told them that he himself would cause Assyria to fall, that they didn’t need to trust in Egypt. That he was God and Egypt was not. (Isaiah 30:31-32, 31:3-5)

But as I said, Hezekiah didn’t listen. He made his alliance with Egypt, paying them a lot of money in order to do so.

But as God warned them, Egypt fell at the hands of Assyria and was unable to help Judah.

So when Hezekiah was force to pay tribute to Assyria, he didn’t have enough because of the money he had paid Egypt. That’s why he was forced to strip the temple of its gold and silver in order to pay the tribute.

And even after he paid the tribute, Assyria came to attack.

Only then did Hezekiah finally repent. And when he did, God as he promised delivered Judah.

What can we take from this? All of us go through hard times in our lives. And it’s so easy to rely on ourselves.

But God longs to help us. To work in our lives that all may go well with us. And as he told Hezekiah and the Israelites, so he tells us:

O people of Zion, who live in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. How gracious he will be when you cry for help! As soon as he hears, he will answer you.

Although the Lord gives you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, your teachers will be hidden no more; with your own eyes you will see them.

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (Isaiah 30:19-21)

God whispers his words of wisdom and comfort to us. The only question is, will we listen? And will we rely on him, rather than ourselves?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, faith

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Returning to God

It’s been a while since we’ve hit the history books. Time to get back in it.

And here we run into one of the great kings of Judah, Hezekiah.

The writer of Kings says of him,

There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after him. (2 Kings 18:5)

Quite frankly, Hezekiah had a terrible role model in his father Ahaz.

But perhaps because of what happened to the northern kingdom of Israel, and the warnings of prophets such as Micah and Isaiah, Hezekiah wasted little time in turning the country back towards God.

And in his life, I think we can see how we ourselves can turn back to God when we have fallen.

The first thing that Hezekiah did was to rid the country of all the idols people were worshiping.

He even got rid of the bronze snake that God had used to cure the Israelites of their snake bites when they were traveling in the desert (Numbers 21:4-9).

In the same way, if we are to return to God in our lives, we need to turn our backs on the idols in our lives, whether it’s the god of money, or the god of possessions, or whatever it may be.

Anything you place before God in your life, that is your idol.

Now I’m not saying you have to throw away all your possessions and your money.

What I am saying is that you need to make God more important in your life than these things.

Your idol may even once have been a good thing, such as the bronze snake once was.

Perhaps it’s a hobby you have. But right now, it’s dominating your time and it’s causing you to ignore your relationship with God and the things he wants you to do.

If that’s the case, you need to turn your back on that too.

The next thing that Hezekiah did was to clean out the temple and purify it.

As Christians, we are the temple of Christ. Christ dwells in us, and we need to make sure our temples are pure as well.

Part of that is taking out the idols that are dominating our lives.

But it’s also bringing our sins before God, confessing them, and asking for his forgiveness.

Back in the days of Hezekiah, that required a sin offering, a sacrifice of goats. (2 Chronicles 29:23-24)

For us, Jesus was the final sacrifice. By dying on the cross, he took the punishment for our sins.

And now the Bible says that his blood purifies us from all sin. (1 John 1:7).

But in order to keep our hearts clean before him, we need to constantly confess our sins before him and repent of our sins. In 1 John 1:9, it says,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness.

Finally, Hezekiah and the people dedicated themselves to God once again.

Having put aside their idols, and turned from their sins, they said, “God we are yours. We give our lives to you once again.”

And that’s what we need to do as well.

It’s not enough just to turn from our sins, we need to turn to God as well.

It’s not enough to stop following idols in our lives. We need to start following God with all our hearts.

Maybe you’re a fallen Christian. You started walking with the Lord, but have since walked away.

To come back is as simple as a prayer.

Lord Jesus, I’ve turned my back on you and gone my own way. Please forgive me. You said that if I confess my sins, you are faithful and just and will forgive me.

Lord, I turn back to you now. Help me to turn my back on the idols in my life. Please take the throne of my heart once again.

I thank you so much for your grace and mercy. I thank you that you never give up on me. I love you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, return to God, temple of christ

2 Kings

Serving two (or more) masters

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 30, 2012
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This passage serves as a bit of an epilogue to the end of the kingdom of Israel.

After the Israelites were deported to Assyria, other people were brought in by the Assyrians to settle in the Israelite towns.

But soon, the people there were getting killed by lions and the Assyrian king was told that it was because the new settlers didn’t know how to worship the Lord.

When I first read this, I struggled with the idea that the Lord really sent the lions.

The writer clearly says God did, but looking at the rest of the passage, it was hard to understand.

The reason being that the king of Assyria commanded them to take one of the priests they had taken captive and to bring him back to Samaria in order to teach the people how to worship God.

Supposedly after that, the attack from the lions stopped.

The problem is, all the priests from Samaria were corrupt. They were not true priests. They were all appointed by Jeroboam I to take the place of all the true priests who had gone to Judah (2 Chronicles 1:13-16).

Furthermore, they were not teaching the true worship of Yahweh, but a corrupted worship of Yahweh, in the form of the golden calves.

So it was hard for me to understand why God would’ve stopped sending lions for a corrupted worship of himself.

On reflection, however, I suppose it’s possible that he did punish them and relented later simply because of their ignorance.

As Jesus would later say,

That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.

But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows.

From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. (Luke 12:47-48)

At any rate, even having been taught about the Lord, the new settlers continued to worship their own gods. And thus you have two seemingly contradictory statements.

In verse 32, it says, “They worshiped the Lord.”

But in verse 34, it says, “They neither worship the Lord nor adhere to the decrees and ordinances, the laws and commands that the Lord gave the descendants of Jacob.”

I think what God is saying here is very simple: “Worship” isn’t worship when you’re trying to serve two masters.

One of the first things that God told the people from Mount Sinai was that they were to not have any other gods before him.

And it is this command that the writer of Kings brings up in his condemnation of the settlers of Samaria in verses 34-40.

How about you? Are you serving the Lord alone? Or are you trying to serve two masters?

Some people make money their master, and it was for this, that Jesus condemned the Pharisees.

He told them,

No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

You cannot serve both God and Money. (Luke 16:13).

For other people, possessions are their god. Or sex. For others, it’s their hobbies.

Whatever you place in your life ahead of God, that’s your god.

And God says that if you place another god before him, he will not accept your worship. Your worship to him becomes as meaningless as the worship of the settlers in Samaria.

Who is the master of your life today?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Kings

But I’m not that bad!

In this passage we come to the end of the northern kingdom of Israel.

After a succession of bad kings, it culminates with the reign of Hoshea.

The interesting thing to me is that he wasn’t the worst of the kings of Israel.

If I were God, I’d probably have exiled the Israelites during the time of Ahab or one of the other horrible kings of Israel.

Don’t get me wrong. Hoshea was an evil king. But it says of him in verse 2,

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him. (2 Kings 17:2)

In other words, he was bad, but not so bad compared to the kings that had come before him. And yet when God’s final judgment on Israel came, it came during his reign.

Sometimes we look at the people around us and say, “I’m not so bad. I don’t kill anybody. I try to be nice. Sure I do some bad things, but I’m better than this person or that person.”

And we think that just because we are better than some of the other people around us, that we’re probably acceptable to God.

But the truth is, we’re not.

The Israelites sometimes sinned very publicly in worshiping false gods, and sometimes they sinned in private.

It says in verse 9,

The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord that were not right.

But whether committed in secret or in public, God sees it all.

The main problem with the Israelites is found in verses 14-17: they would not listen to God and were stiff-necked, not trusting him.

As a result, they started following worthless idols and became worthless themselves, following the practices of the people around them, and falling deeper and deeper into sin.

The same can happen to us. When we refuse to listen to God, and refuse to trust him, when we start following the sinful practices of the people around us, and follow the gods of money, sex, etc, we become worthless ourselves.

And sooner or later, judgment will come.

It doesn’t matter whether we’re better than others or not.

Judgment will come to them, certainly.

But judgment will certainly come to us as well.

So let us not fool ourselves into thinking we’re okay just because there are others worse than us.

Rather, let us turn from our sin, put our trust in God, listen to him, and follow him each day.

And as we do, we’ll find God’s blessing, presence, and favor in our lives.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, final judgment, kings of israel

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Isaiah

A rock to stand on; a rock to stumble over

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 28, 2012
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Compromise. It’s so easy to do, especially when it comes to our faith. And God asks us to make a decision. Will we stand for him? Or give in to the pressure around us?

Two prophets of God, Oded and Isaiah, chose the former, while Uriah the priest chose the latter.

Because of Judah’s apostasy, God delivered Ahaz’s army into the hands of the Israelite army. But in their victory, the Israelites plundered the people of Judah, and took many of them to be their slaves.

But as they were about to enter Samaria, Oded stood up to the Israelite army, and he warned them to turn from this sin of enslaving their brothers.

This probably was not an easy message for Oded to give. Remember that as bad as Judah was in terms of apostasy, Israel was worse. And here he was, one man, standing up to an entire army saying, “You’re wrong!”

It would’ve been much easier for him to say, “They won’t listen to me. Why even try? I’ll just get myself killed.”

But he stood up and delivered God’s message to the people, and for once, they listened to him. They clothed the captives, gave them medical treatment, and then released them.

Uriah, on the other hand, took no stand at all.

It’s especially amazing because in Isaiah 8:2, God refers to him as a “reliable witness” for him.

But in 2 Kings, Uriah received pressure from Ahaz to build an altar to the gods of Assyria, and to offer sacrifices on it.

And like Aaron did under pressure from the Israelite people years before, Uriah buckled when faced with Ahaz’s command. He built the altar for Ahaz and started worshiping false gods.

God warned Isaiah about any kind of compromise in chapter 8:11-21. There’s some debate about the meaning of verse 12, but one rendering is,

“Do not call for a treaty everytime these people call for a treaty.” (see NIV notes)

In other words, people were clamoring for a treaty with Assyria because of the alliance (or conspiracy) between Israel and Aram.

But God said, “Don’t do it. Don’t compromise yourself that way, allying yourself with an ungodly country. Don’t fear this conspiracy between Israel and Aram. And don’t fear all that the people around you do.

“Rather, fear me. If you do, I will be a sanctuary for you. (Isaiah 8:12-14)

“Don’t go seeking mediums and spiritists. Seek me and my word. You have me! Why seek others for can shed no light? In the end, you will find only distress, darkness, and fearful gloom. You’ll end up in utter darkness.” (19-22)

God told Isaiah,

[The Lord] will be a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall. And for the people of Jerusalem he will be a trap and a snare.

Many of them will stumble; they will fall and be broken, they will be snared and captured. (Isaiah 8:14-15)

The New Testament writers, of course, used this verse to describe how Jesus would be a stumbling block to people. Peter wrote,

They stumble because they disobey the message. (1 Peter 2:8)

The message, that is, of repentance and the need to put your faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sin.

But whenever we disobey God, he becomes a rock that causes us to stumble and fall. And our disobedience will break us just as it broke the people of Judah and Israel.

So we have a choice. We can disobey God and stumble over him. Or we can choose to make our stand on him. To make him the cornerstone of our life.

What happens if we do? Peter writes,

The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame. (1 Peter 2:6)

Let us be like Isaiah and Oded. Let us not compromise our faith when the pressure comes.

Rather, let us stand on he who is our rock. Our cornerstone. Let us say as Isaiah did:

I will wait for the Lord…I will put my trust in him. (Isaiah 8:17)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Chronicles 2 Kings Isaiah

Who do you fear? Who do you trust?

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 27, 2012
No Comments on Who do you fear? Who do you trust?

As I mentioned before, when Ahaz son of Jotham took the throne in Judah, he led the people further into idolatry.

It says in Kings and Chronicles that he started making idols for worshiping the Baals and that he even sacrificed his sons in the fire, perhaps to win the gods’ favor in his conflicts with Aram and the northern kingdom of Israel.

The king of Aram and the king of Israel had allied themselves together to attack Jerusalem, and it says in Isaiah that when Judah heard about this,

The hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. (Isaiah 7:2).

Because of this, Ahaz apparently started thinking of starting his own alliance with Assyria.

And at this point, Isaiah stepped in. He met Ahaz and said,

Be careful, keep calm and don’t be afraid.

Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood — because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.

Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah’s son have plotted your ruin…[but] it will not take place, it will not happen….’ (Isaiah 7:4-5, 7).

Then Isaiah told Ahaz, “Ask for a sign that you may know God will do this.” (Isaiah 7:11).

But Ahaz refused saying, “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the test.” (Isaiah 7:12)

This sounds very pious, but the truth is Ahaz didn’t want to know if Isaiah’s words were true or not. He was determined to make his alliance with Assyria, and to put his trust in them, not the Lord.

Isaiah got very frustrated with Ahaz as a result, saying,

Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of God also?

Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel…

Before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste. (Isaiah 7:13-16)

Of course, we know that Matthew uses this passage to point to Jesus (Matthew 1:21-23).

But Isaiah seems to also be pointing to a more immediate birth. (Many people think it refers to the birth of Isaiah’s next son as noted in chapter 8, verses 3-4).

He then warns Ahaz against putting his trust in Assyria. That though God would indeed use Assyria to take down Aram and Israel, they would also take down Judah (Isaiah 7:17-8:10).

That’s exactly what would happen.

When Aram and Israel once again attacked Judah, it says in Chronicles that King Ahaz sent to Assyria for help.

The king came, but “gave him trouble instead of help.” (2 Chronicles 28:20).

Assyria did help deliver Judah, but it came at a heavy price as Judah would become a vassal of Assyria (2 Kings 16:7).

And things just spiraled downward from there.

Ahaz started offering sacrifices to the gods of Aram and after a period of perhaps trying to syncretize the true faith with false ones, he eventually gave up completely on the true faith.

He completely shut down the temple and instead started setting up altars at every street corner. (2 Chronicles 28:22-25)

The lesson? Be careful who you fear. Be careful who you trust.

Ahaz didn’t fear the Lord, and because of that, when circumstances turned against him, he feared his enemies.

And because he didn’t trust the Lord, he put his trust in untrustworthy people and worthless idols. But eventually, that choice destroyed him.

How about you? Who do you fear? Do you fear people and what they think about you?

Do you fear economic and financial problems. Do you fear all that the world fears?

Or do you fear God?

Who are you putting your trust in?

In money? In your own wisdom and abilities?

In the end, these things cannot deliver you, and like Ahaz, you will fall.

As Isaiah told Ahaz,

If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all. (Isaiah 7:9)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Almost perfect

In this passage, we have a very short account of the reign of King Jotham of Judah. For the most part, he was a good king. It says in 2 Chronicles,

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Uzziah had done, but unlike him he did not enter the temple of the Lord (2 Chronicles 27:2).

Uzziah, of course, got in trouble because he entered the temple to offer incense, something that only the priests were supposed to do.

Jotham also had great success against his enemies, conquering the Ammonites. He became powerful because,

He walked steadfastly before the Lord his God. (2 Chronicles 27:6)

So why do I say he was almost perfect, instead of perfect? It says again in verse 2,

The people, however, continued their corrupt practices.

What corrupt practices are they talking about? We find it in 2 Kings.

The high places, however, were not removed; the people continued to offer sacrifices and burn incense there. (2 Kings 15:35)

So while Jotham walked steadfastly before God, the people he was supposed to be leading didn’t.

And it was for this that prophets like Isaiah and Hosea condemned the people for, as we have already seen.

What’s worse is that Jotham apparently neglected to raise his son Ahaz in the worship of the Lord. And so when Ahaz took over the throne, he led Judah even deeper into idolatry.

What can we learn from this?

We may be walking with the Lord, doing his will, but God has given us a sphere of influence.

It may be our spouse, our children, our neighbors, or our coworkers.

And it’s not enough that we simply live for the Lord. We are to also make a difference in the lives of the people God has given us.

If we don’t, God will hold us responsible.

Of course, we can’t make decisions for people. We cannot make the people around us serve the Lord.

But especially in cases where we have authority over them, namely our children, we are to do everything we can to teach them about the Lord and encourage them to follow him.

Who has God put in your life?

Are you satisfied in just serving the Lord yourself?

Or are you encouraging the others around you to do the same?

Tags ahaz, Bible Original, Bible verse, jotham, sphere of influence, walking with the lord

2 Kings

Disobedience, blood, and defeat

Post author By Bruce
Post date August 25, 2012
No Comments on Disobedience, blood, and defeat

At this point, we’ll take a brief break from Isaiah and stick up our heads to see where we are in the book of 2 Kings.

In short, it was the beginning of the end for the northern kingdom of Israel.

Jeroboam II was now dead, and with his death, ended Israel’s prosperity.

They went through 5 kings over the next 32-33 years or so.

Considering that one of the kings managed to reign for 10 years, and a second for 20, you can see the massive instability they went through as a nation.

Of the remaining three kings, one reigned six months, the next one month, and after ten years under the next king, the fourth king lasted only 2 years.

This period in Israel’s history was marked by three things.

First, it was marked by disobedience.

The account of each reign started basically the same way for four of the five kings, and probably the only reason nothing is said about the fifth is that his reign lasted only one month.

But for each king, it’s noted that they did evil in the eyes of the Lord and that they continued in the sins of Jeroboam I. That is, they continued their worship of the golden calves.

In doing so, the people worshiped as they saw fit. Put another way, they rejected God’s law, doing what was right in their own eyes.

This resulted in the second thing that marked the northern kingdom: blood.

Four of the five kings were assassinated during this time.

The only king that succeeded his father was assassinated within two years, and the length of their “dynasty” was a mere twelve years.

There was no respect for the king (although admittedly there was little to respect), and anarchy was the result.

The third thing that marked the northern kingdom was defeat.

Assyria started to attack Israel, first exacting tribute from them and then ultimately capturing Israelite towns and deporting them to Assyria.

What can we learn from this?

When we turn our backs on God and start living our own way, it leads to chaos and defeat in our lives.

You only have to look at the divorce rate, the poverty rate, and the instances of child abuse, crime, and violence in our country to see that.

Because we have turned our backs on God and instead live according to what we think is right, our society is going to hell. Literally.

And the result is many defeated, broken people. People whose lives are torn apart by sin and are captive to the kingdom of darkness.

This was what God told Isaiah would happen. That the people would close their eyes and ears to him until their lives were absolutely devastated. (Isaiah 6:11-12)

How about you? Are you living in disobedience to God, and find yourself with a life that’s broken?

It doesn’t have to be that way. If you turn to him, you will find forgiveness and healing for your life.

It is not God’s desire that anyone perish, but that they should find life.

But it starts with one simple step. Turning to God and saying, “I’m done with doing things my way. Forgive me for my sins. I want to start living your way. Be Lord of my life.”

And as Paul wrote,

If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:9)

Tags anarchy, Bible Original, Bible verse, blood, defeat, disobedience

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Where pride leads

Like father, like son. That’s the tale of Amaziah and Uzziah (also known as Azariah).

Both started out well, but then gave into their own pride.

In Uzziah’s case, he got some godly counsel from a man named Zechariah (not to be confused with the prophet Zechariah) who taught him to fear the Lord early in his life.

And because he sought the Lord, it says in verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 26 that God gave him success.

He was able to defeat the Philistines, the Arabs, the Menuites, and the Ammonites.

He had a very strong army and became a very powerful king.

But in verse 16 of the Chronicles passage, it says

But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. (2 Chronicles 26:16)

The Kings account just brushes over the event, merely saying he got leprosy, but the Chronicles account tells exactly what happened.

In his pride, Uzziah decided to do what only the priests were allowed to do: offer incense inside of the temple.

Perhaps Uzziah thought to himself, “I’m a good guy. I love God too. Why shouldn’t I do this?”

The priests tried to dissuade him from disobeying God in this, but he refused to listen. And just as he was about to offer the incense, God struck him with leprosy.

When Uzziah saw this, he quickly departed from the temple and lived out the rest of his life with this disease.

Not only that, he had to basically give up the throne, letting his son Jotham reign in his place, while he lived in a separate house, never to enter the temple again.

Solomon wrote,

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Proverbs 16:18).

Uzziah learned this too late.

How about you? Do you let your pride get the best of you?

It can and will destroy everything you build up in your life, if you allow it to.

It destroys relationships, reputations, and legacies.

But if we remain humble, submitting ourselves to God, we will find blessing.

As James wrote,

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. (James 4:6)

Let us destroy the pride in our lives, before it destroys us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, haughty spirit

2 Kings

The God who remains faithful though we are not

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 27, 2012
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In this passage, we see yet another evil king in the history of the northern kingdom, Jeroboam II.

His life is very unique among the kings listed in that God helped him despite the fact that he was an evil king.

As far as we can see, there is no sign that Jeroboam ever sought God. Yet from a worldly point of view, he was very successful.

He reigned for 41 years, which was the longest reign of any king in the northern kingdom’s history. He also restored the boundaries of Israel during his time.

But the Bible makes clear that this was in spite of Jeroboam’s unfaithfulness to God. It says,

The Lord had seen how bitterly everyone in Israel, whether slave or free, was suffering; there was no one to help them.

And since the Lord had not said he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam son of Jehoash. (2 Kings 14:26-27)

In other words, God is faithful to his word, even when we are unfaithful to him.

That said, we need to understand that just because things are going well in our lives doesn’t mean our lives are right with God.

Jeroboam was blessed in spite of himself.

But you can be sure that when he faced God after his death, there was no blessing for him, only judgment.

And so even when we are blessed, we need to search our hearts and ask, “Is God blessing us because we are following after him? Or he is blessing us in spite of ourselves?”

On the other hand, when we are feeling down because of our sin, and we’re feeling like God could never use us or forgive us, we need to remember that God is faithful.

He will forgive us and restore us if we repent.

Though we are unfaithful, he remains faithful to us. (1 John 1:9).

As Paul wrote,

If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself. (2 Timothy 2:13)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, jeroboam ii, right with god, unfaithfulness

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

How we respond to God’s word

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 26, 2012
No Comments on How we respond to God’s word

Pride would be the downfall of Judah’s next two kings, Amaziah and Uzziah.

In the case of Amaziah, his problem can be summed up in 2 Chronicles 25:2 where it says,

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but not wholeheartedly.

This particularly showed when a prophet confronted him for hiring some Israelite (that is, northern kingdom) mercenaries for his battle against Edom.

The prophet said, “If you march out with these men, God will not be with you because he is not with any of these people from the northern kingdom.” (2 Chronicles 25:7-8)

When Amaziah heard this, he got very upset, mostly because he had spent a lot of money hiring these people. But in the end, he reluctantly let them go.

The second time he was confronted by a prophet went much worse. After defeating the Edomites, he took their gods and started worshiping them.

When a prophet of God came to rebuke him for this, Amaziah told him,

Have we appointed you an adviser to the king? Stop! Why be struck down? (2 Chronicles 25:16)

So the prophet stopped speaking, but only after warning the king once more of God’s impending judgment.

That would come when Amaziah foolishly decided to attack the northern kingdom of Israel.

King Jehoash called him on his pride, saying, “Be content with your victory over Edom. Don’t come marching here thinking you will gain victory over us as well.”

Amaziah refused to listen, however, and paid for it with his life.

How about you? How do you respond to the words of God?

Do you obey them reluctantly? Do you simply ignore them?

Or do you obey wholeheartedly?

So many times, we think we know what is best, while rejecting what God has told us.

In our pride, we think we can succeed by living by our own wisdom.

But it’s a pride that will lead to our downfall.

Solomon wrote,

There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 16:25)

Let us not walk in our own wisdom, but in the path that leads to life.

Tags amaziah, Bible Original, Bible verse, pride, respond to God's word

2 Kings

The God who gives life

This is one of the more interesting, if short, stories that we see in scripture.

After Elisha had died and was buried, the Israelites continued to have problems with their neighbors, in this case, raiding bands from Moab.

As a group of men were burying one of their friends, one of these raiding bands came and in their hurry to get away, these men threw their friend into the first available tomb.

It just so happened to be Elisha’s. And when the dead man touched Elisha’s bones, he revived.

At a guess, God was trying to send a message to Jehoash and all of Israel, that he was the God who lives. And even if his servant Elisha was dead, God wasn’t and was still working.

Not only that, he was the God who gives life to the dead.

And although Israel was perishing in their sins, and suffering from oppression from the Arameans, and their surrounding neighbors, God had the power to give life to them.

All they had to do was turn to him.

Unfortunately, there is no sign that the Israelites in the northern kingdom ever did turn. Things went from bad to worse as we will see.

But God says the same to us.

We may be stuck in a bad situation because of our sin, but if we turn to him and repent, he has the power to give life. All we have to do is turn.

Let us not be stubborn as the kings of Israel were.

Rather, let us humble ourselves, pray, seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways. And he will heal us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity

2 Kings

Respect, or wholehearted devotion?

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 24, 2012
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One wonders at the relationship between Jehoash and Elisha.

Jehoash, according to this passage did evil in the eyes of the Lord and continued the idol worship of his father and the kings before him.

But still, there seemed to be some respect and even love for Elisha.

As Elisha lay dying, he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariots and horsemen of Israel.”

These were in fact the same words that Elisha had used when Elijah was taken from him. (II Kings 2:12)

One would think that if Jehoash had truly respected and loved Elisha, he would’ve followed his advice completely. But he didn’t.

And now, Elisha told him to shoot out an arrow, and as he did, Elisha said, “This shows that you will have victory over Aram.”

Then he said, “Strike the ground with the arrows.”

One wonders how Jehoash responded when he heard this.

Perhaps he was puzzled as to why Elisha said this, and so he may have just hesitantly struck the ground three times.

But Elisha got angry with him, saying, “You should have struck it 5 or 6 times. Then you would’ve completely destroyed Aram. Now you will only defeat them three times.”

And that’s what happened.

Jehoash, with God’s help, was able to defeat the Arameans three times and recapture some of the towns that his father Jehoahaz had lost.

But Jehoash’s response to Elisha mirrored his attitude toward God.

There seemed to be some respect there. Perhaps even some affection.

But he refused to give his whole heart to God and his Word. If anything, there was a half-hearted obedience to God’s word.

The result was a reign and a life that was far less than what God desired for him.

He could’ve accomplished a lot more had he committed his whole heart to God, but he didn’t.

How about you? Have you given your whole heart to God? Have you committed yourself to obeying him completely?

Or is your commitment limited to a kind of respect for God and his Word. A respect that says, “Well, I agree that what God says is probably good, but it’s not for me.”

Let us not be half-hearted in our pursuit of God.

Let us give everything to him, loving him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength.

As the old hymn goes,

Love so amazing, so divine
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, god and his word, obedience to god

2 Kings

Never too late

Jehoahaz was one of a long line of bad kings in Israel’s (that is, the northern kingdom’s) history.

Like his father Jehu, he continued the worship of the golden calves rather than serving the Lord.

As a result, God allowed them to fall under the power of the Arameans.

Jehoahaz’s army was soon reduced to 50 horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers by the Aramean army.

But unlike many of the kings of Israel, Jehoahaz turned his face to God, and sought after him. And when he did, it says,

The Lord listened to him, for he saw how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel.

The Lord provided a deliverer for Israel, and they escaped from the power of Aram. (2 Kings 13:4-5)

What I get from this is that it’s never too late to turn from our sins and turn to God. No matter how far we’ve gone, if we are willing to turn back to God, he will accept us and restore us.

As much as we may anger him with our actions, he longs to show mercy to us if we’ll only repent.

Do you feel you are too far gone? That there is no way God could accept you after all you’ve done?

No one is so far gone that God cannot restore them.

If we will just humble ourselves before him, he will lift us up. (James 4:10)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

The little boy who never grew up

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 22, 2012
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The little boy who never grew up. Kind of sounds like Peter Pan, doesn’t it?

It also describes Joash, unfortunately.

Raised and mentored by Jehoiada the priest, Joash served the Lord for the first part of his life. He even confronted Jehoiada and the priests when they failed to restore the temple as he had commanded.

But then something happened. Jehoiada died.

The one who had guided Joash all his life was gone.

Jehoiada had done all he could for Joash, and Joash was now in a position to take all that he had learned and put it to good use as he ruled over Judah.

But he didn’t.

Instead, shortly after Jehoiada died, the officials of Judah came to him and turned his heart away from the Lord.

Soon, they abandoned the temple of God which they had restored just a short time before, and they started worshiping false gods.

And if that weren’t bad enough, when God sent Jehoiada’s son Zechariah to warn Joash to turn from his sin, Joash had him killed, not remembering the kindness that Jehoiada had showed Joash all those years.

As a result, God’s judgment came upon Judah.

God delivered Judah into the hands of the Arameans even though Judah had them outnumbered.

When the Arameans finally left, Joash was severely injured, and shortly thereafter, was assassinated by his own officials.

Ironically, while Jehoiada was buried with the kings of Judah, Joash was not.

What happened? Joash never really grew up. He never learned to put his full trust in God.

Instead, he relied on men.

When the men he relied on were good like Jehoiada, he did what was good.

When the men he relied on were evil, he did evil.

And in the end, it cost him.

How about us? Who is our mentor? Who do we trust? Who do we rely on?

There comes a time in all of our lives when we need to grow up. The godly people in our lives will not be with us forever.

And when they leave us, we need to learn to grow up. To put our trust not in men or women, but in God alone.

Let us learn to put our hands into the hand of the living God and to put our full trust in him alone.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Getting our temples cleaned up

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 21, 2012
No Comments on Getting our temples cleaned up

Joash, under the tutelage of Jehoiada the priest, got off to a good start.

One thing he wanted to do early in his reign was to restore the temple.

The temple had been damaged, probably during the reign of Ahaziah.

Apparently at his mother’s urging, he along with his brothers had broken into the temple and used some of the sacred objects for Baal worship (2 Chronicles 24:7).

And so Joash gave orders that it be repaired to the priests.

But for reasons that go unexplained, the priest kept putting it off and never got around to doing it.

Joash got pretty upset when he found out about it, and he confronted Jehoiada saying,

Why haven’t you required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax imposed by Moses the servant of the Lord and by the assembly of Israel for the tent of the covenant law? (2 Chronicles 24:6).

As a result, the work got started.

Not only did they rebuild the temple, but they also were able to make some new articles for the temple as well, presumably to replace the ones that his father and uncles had taken for Baal worship.

As I look at this passage, I wonder, “Do we pay enough attention to the temple of the Lord.”

I’m not talking about a building. Rather, I’m talking about the temple of our bodies. We are called the temple of Christ because Christ dwells within us.

What spiritual damage has been done to our lives, because of sin?

Are we letting sin remain there? Or are we cleaning it out so that we might be holy vessels for God?

Sometimes we get so wrapped up in serving God and doing things for him, that we forget that God is first and foremost interested in us as people.

He’s not so interested in what we can do for him. Rather, he is interested in us.

And he wants his temple to be cleaned up, restored, and made holy unto him.

I’m not saying that we need to be perfectly cleaned up in order to serve God.

What I am saying is that we shouldn’t leave the temple derelict because we are too wrapped up in doing “God’s work.”

God’s work is primarily in us first, and only after that, does he turn his attention to what he can do through us.

May we be temples that are clean, holy, and without blemish.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, God's temple

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

The rightful king

One wonders what Jehoshaphat would have done if he had only seen the future.

He had made an alliance with Ahab’s family through the marriage of his son to Athaliah, Ahab’s daughter.

What would Jehoshaphat have done had he known that this daughter would turn his son away from the Lord?

What would he have done had he known Athaliah would convince his son to murder his brothers?

What would he have done had he known she would then attempt to wipe out the rest of the royal family upon the death of her son so that she could seize control of the country?

Fortunately for Jehoshaphat, Ahaziah’s sister was able to save one of Ahaziah’s sons, Joash, from the hand of Athaliah.

And after hiding in the temple for six years, he was brought out by the priest Jehoiada and crowned king of Judah.

We can look at the actions of Athaliah and despise her for what she did.

But how often do we do the same thing as her: seize control of the throne of our hearts and displace the true king?

The Bible says that God is to be our king, but so often we push him off of the throne of your hearts, and we usurp his position.

Instead of living for him, we live for ourselves. Instead of following him, we follow our own desires.

And when God tries to take his rightful place in our hearts, like Athaliah, we scream out, demanding our right to sit in that throne.

So often, when we take control of the throne of our hearts, we think it’ll make us happy.

But when all is said and done, we end up making a mess of things.

Our marriages fall apart. Our families fall apart. And everything we looked to build up in our lives comes tumbling down.

But what happens when God takes the throne?

That’s when true joy comes.

And God can bring healing to what has been damaged or destroyed by our bad decisions.

The people of Judah suffered under the reign of Athaliah for 6 years.

But when the true king took the throne, they had hope once again. And they rejoiced.

You may be suffering from the bad choices you have made.

But if you put God on the throne, there can be hope in your life once again. And with that hope, joy.

Have you usurped God’s position on the throne of your heart?

Let us restore God to his rightful place and make him king of our lives once again.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity

2 Kings

Doing the right thing (or the wrong thing) for the wrong reasons

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 15, 2012
No Comments on Doing the right thing (or the wrong thing) for the wrong reasons

Jehu had a mixed legacy as king of Israel.

On one hand, he fulfilled God’s will in destroying the house of Ahab, for which he was commended. God told him that because of this, his dynasty would last four generations. (2 Kings 10:30).

But unlike the promises he had made to other kings, namely David and Solomon, God did not promise a lasting dynasty. Why not?

Perhaps because he saw the heart of Jehu.

In chapter 9, you see that Jehu didn’t particularly take his anointing seriously until the men with him pledged themselves to him as king.

In fact, it seems very much as if his actions came more from a desire for power than from a reverence for God. God’s anointing and the prophesy made over him just gave him justification for his actions.

He would then use this justification time and again in these two chapters.

As well as killing off Ahab’s family, Jehu also killed Ahaziah king of Judah, and a number of Ahaziah’s relatives. Not only that, he killed off Ahab’s chief men and close friends.

God never commanded any of this, and it was perhaps for these actions that God pronounced judgment on Jehu in Hosea 1:4.

But beyond this, he showed that his actions weren’t purely out of his love for God because while he destroyed Baal worship in Israel, he continued the sins of Jeroboam, namely the worship of the two golden calves.

What about you? What are your motives as you live your life?

Are you motivated by your love for God and your desire to serve him?

Or are you motivated by your own selfish desires.

You may be doing the right things and may even be praised by others for your actions.

But if your heart isn’t right, you gain nothing before God who sees your heart.

Let us never serve God or do anything else for our own selfish gain.

Rather, let us make God king in our lives, and do everything for his glory.

As Paul wrote,

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, selfish desires

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Who to listen to?

There was an old song in the 80s that said,

You’ve got to know who to, who not to listen to.
They’re gonna hit you from all sides.
You’ve gotta make up your mind who to, who not to listen to. — Amy Grant

This is very true. Where are you getting your counsel from? Because where you get your counsel from will shape your life, whether for the good or for the bad.

Ahaziah learned this to his regret.

This Ahaziah was the king of Judah, not the king of Israel that we looked at earlier in 2 Kings 1.

And like his father, he took bad advice.

He got bad advice from his mother, Athaliah, and since she was a relative of King Joram in Israel, Ahaziah took bad advice from Joram as well.

As a result, he continued to worship the Baals as his father did. As 2 Chronicles 22:3-4 put it,

He walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother encouraged him in doing wrong.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done, for after his father’s death, they became his advisers, to his undoing.

Those last three words are the key to this passage.

By following bad advice, it led to his undoing.

He followed Joram into a war with the king of Aram, and after Joram got injured, Ahaziah went to visit him.

But it was at that time that a man named Jehu came to kill Joram.

And because Ahaziah had associated himself with Joram, particularly in the evil he had committed in following false gods, Jehu killed him too.

Ahaziah died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But he was there because he chose to follow bad advice.

How about you? Whose counsel are you following?

Are you following the counsel of people who are godly?

Or are you following the counsel of those who are not?

This is not to say that non-Christian can never give good advice. They can.

And there are times when Christians can give you some very bad advice.

The key is to measure all things you hear by God’s word. Because he is the only one who gives perfect counsel.

David wrote,

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:1-2)

May we be people who take the counsel of God, and if we do, we will be

like a tree planted by streams of water which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does will prosper. (Psalm 1:3)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, wrong place at the wrong time

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Contradictions in the Bible?

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 13, 2012
No Comments on Contradictions in the Bible?

One interesting thing about trying to chronologicalize the events set forth in Kings and Chronicles is that the details are not always exactly the same.

In fact, there are times when they seem downright contradictory.

The death of Ahaziah (that is, the king of Judah), namely how he died, is one of these times.

In this blog, I’ve tried not to avoid these kinds of issues or other issues that are sometimes “uncomfortable” to discuss.

Before I address the issue of Ahaziah, I should set forth my thinking on dealing with these kinds of passages.

One thing to keep in mind is whenever you have two people relating the same event, it’s very rare that you’ll have complete agreement on the details.

Very rarely will you have word for word agreement on any two accounts of the same event.

You often see this when people give testimony in a courtroom.

But it doesn’t mean that the event didn’t happen or that there is necessarily a contradiction in the testimony.

So what I try to do is find ways to reconcile the testimony given. And if there’s a reasonable way to do so, I’ll go with it.

So how did Ahaziah die?

Kings seems to imply that he was wounded, escaped to Megiddo and died there from his wounds shortly thereafter. He was then buried by his servants in Jerusalem. (2 Kings 9:27-28).

Chronicles seems to imply that Ahaziah was captured and executed by Jehu in Samaria.

But what do the accounts really say?

It says in 2 Kings that when Jehu killed Joram, king of Israel, he also ordered the death of Ahaziah who was visiting Joram.

Ahaziah was injured, but escaped to Megiddo.

2 Chronicles, however, gives us more information.

Jehu apparently sent out a search parties to find Ahaziah, and they found him in Samaria.

So what happened?

Here’s one possibility.

When Ahaziah was injured, he went to Megiddo first. Jehu heard from his search parties that Ahaziah was there and followed him.

But when Ahaziah heard that Jehu was coming, he ran once again, this time hiding in Samaria.

When Jehu arrived in Megiddo, he found that the bird had flown the coop, so he sent out more search parties.

They eventually found Ahaziah, and had him brought to Jehu in Megiddo, and there Ahaziah was executed.

Note that nowhere in Chronicles does it say that Ahaziah was killed in Samaria. It only says that he was found and captured there and was then brought to Jehu. It doesn’t say where Jehu was when Ahaziah was brought to him.

Kings on the other hand, doesn’t say anything about Ahaziah dying from his wounds. It merely says he died in Megiddo.

At that point, either Jehu buried him there, and Ahaziah’s servants then later moved him to Jerusalem, or Jehu simply left Ahaziah in the care of Ahaziah’s servants.

If that’s the case, when Kings says Jehu buried Ahaziah, it simply means he allowed him to be buried.

Is this what really happened? I don’t know. But it is a reasonable explanation.

So what’s my point?

There are some difficult passages to reconcile in the Bible. Some are found here in Kings and Chronicles. Others are found in the gospels.

But I think if we can remember that generally these accounts complement rather than simply copycat each other, we can resolve most of these supposed discrepancies with some thought.

Tags ahaziah, Bible Original, Bible verse, jehu

2 Chronicles 2 Kings

Ignoring God’s warnings

I wish sometimes that the Israelites had been a bit more creative in naming their children. It gets a little confusing to keep track of sometimes.

First you have Ahaziah, king of Israel, and Joram (short for Jehoram) his brother taking over for him when he died.

Then in Judah, you have another man named Jehoram/Joram who becomes king, and when he dies, his son, another man named Ahaziah, takes over as king.

So in two nations, at just about the same time, you have two kings named Jehoram/Joram and two kings named Ahaziah.

Anyway, enough of that rant.

To be clear, these passages talk not of Jehoram/Joram, king of Israel with whom Elisha had much contact with, but of Jehoram/Joram of Judah, with whom Elisha had little, if any contact with.

This Jehoram was the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

But unlike his father, he did not follow after God with his whole heart.

The trouble probably started with who he married, a woman named Athaliah, who was the daughter of Ahab.

I mentioned in an earlier blog the problem with allying yourself with ungodly people, and it finds its culmination here.

When Jehoshaphat died, Jehoram immediately decided to kill all his brothers to make sure they wouldn’t try to take his throne.

One wonders if he wasn’t prompted in this by Athaliah, who showed a similar ruthlessness after Jehoram’s son Ahaziah died.

She apparently was also the one who led Jehoram into idol worship. (2 Chronicles 21:6; 2 Kings 8:18)

For the sake of David, God wasn’t willing to destroy the dynastic line, but he did bring discipline into Jehoram’s life, trying to get him to see the error of his ways.

Edom and Libnah both revolted against the Israelites, because, “Jehoram had forsaken the Lord.” (2 Chronicles 21:10)

In fact, Jehoram came perilously close to dying and had to be broken out of a situation where he was surrounded by the Edomites.

Despite this near-death situation, he still didn’t repent.

God then played his final card in order to get Jehoram to repent: a letter from Elijah the prophet.

While the book of Kings writes extensively about Elijah and Elisha, you only see Elijah’s name once in Chronicles, and Elisha is never mentioned at all.

But this one time has stirred up all kinds of controversy.

It seems from the chronology set up by Kings that Elijah had already been taken to heaven by this time.

How is it then that Jehoram received this letter from Elijah?

As is often the case, nobody really knows, but there are a lot of theories.

I’ve read one theory that Elijah wasn’t really whisked away to heaven, but was taken somewhere quiet to live out his retirement. He then sent this last letter out to Jehoram at God’s prompting.

I don’t think I buy this, but it’s an interesting theory.

Another theory is that these things weren’t written chronologically.

Under that theory, Elijah still had not ascended into heaven when Jehoram took sole possession of the throne.

Still another theory is that God told Elijah what would happen. So before Elijah was taken away, he wrote a letter and gave it to one of his disciples to deliver to Jehoram at the proper time.

Considering that Elisha was able in great detail to see what Hazael would do in the future, I see no reason why Elijah wouldn’t be able to do the same for Jehoram.

For that matter, both Cyrus and Josiah were specifically mentioned by name and their actions written about years before they were born. (Isaiah 44:28-45:1; 1 Kings 13:2)

If we truly believe these were prophesies (and I do), what Elijah did would’ve been a piece of cake.

At any rate, whatever the case may be, Jehoram received this warning, apparently from the grave.

It should’ve been enough to shock anyone into repentance. But Jehoram didn’t, and God passed judgment on him.

Jehoram died a terrible, painful death, and when he died, it was “to no one’s regret.” (2 Chronicles 21:20).

What can we get from this?

God, because of his promises, often shows patience and mercy to us when we sin and turn from him.

He will give us warnings and allow difficult circumstances in our lives to try to get us to turn back to him.

But if we refuse to listen, judgment will come.

I’m not saying you will lose your salvation. But you will not simply get away with your actions. God will not allow it.

And judgment can be a most painful thing.

Let us not ignore the warnings and discipline of God in our lives.

Rather, as the writer of Hebrews puts it, let us “submit to the Father of our spirits and live.”

For “God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.” (Hebrews 12:9, 10)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Kings

Nothing hidden from God

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

That’s the age-old question. Of course, as Christians, we’d say the chicken.

In the case of this story, which came first, Elisha’s prophesy of Hazael’s assension to the throne, or Hazael’s intention to usurp Ben-Hadad’s throne?

I also kind of wonder if Elisha was fulfilling God’s command to Elijah to anoint Hazael as king of Aram (I Kings 19:15), or whether Elisha is merely confirming the message Elijah had already given him.

I don’t know the answer to either question, but I’d like to focus on the first one.

I’ve always thought that Hazael heard Elisha’s words and then took it upon himself to fulfill it by murdering Ben-Hadad.

But there is another possibility.

It’s possible that Hazael had already been planning in his heart to take advantage of Ben-Hadad’s weakened condition and to murder him. And what Elisha was doing was to expose what was already in Hazael’s heart.

Whatever the case, nothing is hidden from God. Neither the future, nor what lies in people’s hearts.

Everything is laid out before him.

In this, we can take warning…and comfort.

The warning we can take is that we cannot hide the sin that we do, nor can we hide the sin that lies within our hearts.

And so we need to be very careful how we live, because we all will stand before God’s judgment seat some day.

As Hebrews says,

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:13)

But we can also take hope in knowing that God holds the future. As David wrote,

You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in Your book.

Every moment was laid out
before a single day had passed. (Psalm 139:16 — NLT)

I mentioned in my last blog that God’s timing is perfect. And if we can remember that God does hold our future, it makes it much easier to trust him and wait for his timing.

There’s an old song that I love. It says,

You haven’t rested for days
And you’re so wrapped up in worry
That you can’t even think

You’ve done the best you can do
But the answer still evades you
To the problems that you face

He’ll lead you if you just ask
But you’ve got to trust His wisdom
And believe in His word

He sees what you cannot see
And He knows and wants the best for you
So it’s time that you learned.

God holds the future — He’s got a plan
There’s no need to worry, ’cause it’s all in His hand.

So if you are struggling, with what you should do
God holds the future for you.
–David Meece

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, god holds the future

2 Kings

God’s perfect timing

The story here is an interesting on a couple of levels.

First, the issue of Gehazi. The last we saw of him, he had been struck with leprosy for his deception of Naaman in chapter 5.

Now he’s seen here talking to King Joram about Elisha.

There are several possibilities.

One is that the story is not in chronological order, so that this incident happened before Gehazi’s leprosy.

Another possibility is that God relented and healed him.

One interesting rabbinic theory is that the four lepers in chapter 7 were Gehazi and his sons, and that because of their actions, God healed them.

There are other possibilities as well, but I would say these are the two most likely.

The second thing that’s interesting about this story is God’s timing.

Here is this Shunnamite woman, who had been warned by Elisha to leave the country because of the famine to come.

When she comes back, apparently her husband had died in Philistia, and she and her son had come to the king to beg for their house and land back.

At the exact moment they walk in, there is Gehazi talking to the king about how Elisha had raised this woman’s son from the dead.

Imagine the shock on Gehazi’s face when he recognized her.

“This is the woman, my lord the king! And this is her son whom Elisha restored to life!” (2 Kings 8:5)

The king questioned her about the incident and apparently was so impressed, that he immediately took care of this woman’s case, restoring her land and everything that belonged to her.

God’s timing is always impeccable.

I can think of so many times in my life, when things fell into place at just the right time.

When I think, for example, of how God brought my wife and I together, it particularly amazes me. (But that’s a story for another time).

But I have to admit, in the midst of trial, it can be difficult to wait. Sometimes, it’s tempting to try to move ahead of God’s timing, and to force things to happen.

I was talking with a guy who really wants to get married, but right now things don’t seem to be moving in that area.

Many single Christians in Japan get tired of waiting and force the issue, getting married to a non-Christian.

Only they find that when they do so, they’ve just replaced one problem with another, bigger problem.

Let us always remember that God’s timing is perfect.

As David wrote,

I am still confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:13-14)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, faith, spirituality

2 Kings

Out of patience, low on faith

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 9, 2012
No Comments on Out of patience, low on faith

The respite that the Israelites gained from the kindness they showed to the Arameans didn’t last long.

Once again, the king of Aram led another assault on Samaria, the capital of Israel, laying siege to it. As a result, no food was coming into the city, leaving the people starving.

Things got so bad, that one woman complained to the king about a horrid agreement she had made with another woman: She cooked her own baby and they ate it, agreeing to cook and eat the other woman’s baby the next day.

But the second woman hid her child, and so the first woman brought the case before the king, asking for justice.

What did King Joram do? He placed blame on God and the prophet Elisha, saying,

May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today. (2 Kings 6:31)

He then went in search of Elisha to kill him. When he found him, he told Elisha,

This disaster is from the Lord. Why should I wait for the Lord any longer? (2 Kings 6:33)

In other words, “Elisha, I’m out of patience, and low on faith. Why should I follow God any longer when things are going so badly?”

Yet one wonders what Joram was doing long before this?

Had he sought Elisha’s advice before? Had he sought the word of the Lord before this?

In all probability, he hadn’t. Instead, he had tried to handle his problems his own way, and in his own wisdom.

Now that he realized that he couldn’t handle things, he still didn’t seek God. Rather, he tried to place blame on God once again for his bad decisions.

(You remember he did this before when he led an attack with Jehoshaphat on Moab in chapter 3 of 2 Kings).

When Elisha told Joram God would take care of the situation, Joram apparently took his word for it, but one of his officers had also apparently run out of faith and muttered to the king his doubts concerning Elisha’s words.

So Elisha basically told him, “You will see God’s deliverance, but you will not get to enjoy the benefits of it.” (2 Kings 7:2)

God did deliver the people, and while Joram’s officer stood at the gate watching the people rush out of the city, he got trampled and died.

What can we learn from this?

How much faith do we have when things aren’t going well? Do we just give up? Not only on the situation, but on God?

Or do we keep trusting him, even though we can’t see how he could possibly deliver us?

It’s easy to believe in God when things are going well.

Do we continue to believe in him when things are not?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, faith, religion

2 Kings

Returning good for evil

“If I ever get my hands on him…”

“You won’t know when. You won’t know where. But someday…”

Have you ever said these things?

When we’ve been hurt, these are common thoughts to have.

But they’re not the way God would have us live.

In this story, with the Aramean army surrounding the city Elisha was in, God struck them with blindness.

I’m not sure whether it was complete blindness or if it was a situation where God simply caused them to be unable to recognize what they were seeing.

They may have been very much like Mary Magdalene and the two men on the road to Emmaus who could look right at Jesus and not recognize him.

I kind of guess it was the latter, considering an entire army had to be escorted to Samaria. That would’ve been tough if they were completely blind.

Then again, maybe the men of the city did escort the army down.

Whatever the situation, King Joram had the Arameans in his hands.

And with the Aramean army surrounded by his own, Joram asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them?”

Perhaps he was thinking, “This is my chance to strike a huge blow against the Arameans, taking out a large part of the army.”

Or “It would only serve them right. They attacked us; we didn’t attack them.”

But Elisha instead had them treat the Aramean army to a giant feast, and then sent them on their way.

Apparently, this so shamed the Arameans, that they would actually stop their attacks for a time.

When people ill-treat you, how do you respond?

God doesn’t call us to act as the world does. Rather, he calls us to respond as his Son did.

When Jesus was mocked, beaten, and put on a cross, he forgave his enemies.

Not only that, he returned good for evil by paying the price for their sins by dying on the cross.

Remember the words of Paul who wrote,

Do not repay anyone evil for evil…

If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.

On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:17-21)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, good for evil, revenge

2 Kings

Eyes that see beyond

I can’t say I read this story very often, nor do I think I’ve ever heard it preached on in Japan in the 17 years I’ve been here. But I’ve got to say it’s probably one of my favorite stories in the Bible.

It’s one of my favorites because it’s one of the few times we catch a glimpse of the spiritual world that surrounds us.

Here are Elisha and his servant surrounded by the enemy, and it seems that they’re in deep trouble.

But while Elisha’s servant is panicking, Elisha never blinks an eye. Why?

Because he saw beyond what his servant saw.

His servant could only see the enemy around them. Elisha saw an even greater army surrounding them, an army on his side.

He prayed, “Lord, open my servant’s eyes.”

And when he did, his servant saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. (2 Kings 6:17)

I have to admit, I worry and fret about a lot of things. At work and at home, it’s easy to see the problems that I have and have them consume my thoughts.

How I long to have the eyes of Elisha. Eyes that see beyond my circumstances, to the God who is greater than any problem that I could possibly have.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, faith, spiritual world

2 Kings

Nothing too small

What amazes me about God is that he is concerned even with the minor details of our lives. There is nothing that he considers too small to bring up to his attention.

In this story, some of the prophets were building a place for all of them to live and were cutting down some trees.

But as one of them was doing so, the axhead flew off the handle and landed in the water.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t his own axe. It belonged to another.

But when Elisha heard about the problem, he didn’t brush it off. He didn’t say, “I don’t deal with trivial things such as this.”

Instead, he cared enough to help recover the axe.

I wonder if we truly understand the loving care that God has for us. That he cares not only about the big things in our lives, but the small.

How often do we hold back in our prayers, not asking for things, because we believe it’s not worth God’s attention?

But to God, we are worth his attention. And if we are concerned, then so is he.

So when we face worries or concerns in our lives, let us be quick to bring them up to our heavenly Father.

Know that he will not reject our requests because they are beneath him or unworthy of his time or attention.

He who notices every sparrow that falls to the ground, notices every detail of your life as well, down to the number of hairs on your head.

Let us rest and take comfort in the love that he has for us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, spirituality

2 Kings

The salvation that comes from God

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 5, 2012
No Comments on The salvation that comes from God

As I read this passage, it reminds me of the salvation that we receive from God.

First, we learn that it needs to be proclaimed in order for people to receive it.

It’s amazing to me that this girl, who goes nameless in this story, would show such compassion for her master when she was stolen away from her own people to become a slave.

And yet, she cared so much for her master, that she told his wife, “If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:3)

Had she never said a word, he would have wasted away in his leprosy.

In the same way, many people are wasting away in their sin, and unless we tell them about the one who can save them, they will die in that sin.

Paul wrote,

How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in?

And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?

And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

And how can they preach unless they are sent?

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” (Romans 10:14-15)

The second thing about salvation is that it has to come God’s way, not our own.

When Naaman was told that he would have to bathe in the Jordan, his first reaction was revulsion.

“Why should I go to the Jordan? Why not the rivers in my own land? They’re much better than the Jordan!

“What kind of prophet is this anyway? I thought he would just wave his hand over me and I would be made clean. This guy wouldn’t even see me!” (11-12)

But Naaman had to learn that healing wouldn’t come by doing things his own way, but through God’s.

God required that he show humility, admitting that he couldn’t help himself.

And God required that he demonstrate faith, believing his word and then obeying it.

He requires the same from those who seek salvation today: That we would humble ourselves, admit we are sinners who need help, and then putting our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of ours sins.

Finally, salvation is not a gift we can buy.

I believe that it was for this reason that Elisha refused payment and that Elisha’s servant Gehazi was punished with leprosy for lying to Naaman and saying that Elisha had changed his mind.

God had wanted to make clear that this salvation Naaman had received was a free gift.

But Gehazi ruined that picture God was trying to show Naaman and the Arameans.

In the same way, salvation from sin is a free gift.

We cannot pay for it. We cannot earn it.

All we can do is humbly receive it.

As Ephesians 2:8-9 says,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God– not by works, so that no one can boast.

Tags believing god, Bible Original, Bible verse, grace, romans 10, salvation

2 Kings

The God who preserves, the God who provides

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 4, 2012
No Comments on The God who preserves, the God who provides

In these two short stories, we see the loving care of God.

In the first, in the midst of a famine, Elisha has his servant prepare a stew for a company of prophets that were meeting with him.

But unbeknownst to the servant, he put in a some kind of herb or gourd that was poisonous.

The men realized this while eating and cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” (2 Kings 4:40)

But God in his love preserved their lives, and not only that, turned what was poisonous into something that sustained them.

In the second story, we see a situation very similar to what Jesus did twice in the New Testament.

Someone brought bread to Elisha, but he didn’t feel right about keeping it all to himself.

So he told his servant to divide it among the 100 men that were there, saying, “This is what the Lord says, ‘They will eat and have some left over.'” (43)

And that’s exactly what happened.

Right now, my wife and I are somewhat concerned about our finances, and so my wife is looking for a job right now to help supplement our income.

And there are specific things that we need in terms of her working hours and conditions in order for it to all come together.

But we believe that God is the one who will provide.

We are grateful that he has provided all these years up until now, and based on that, we will trust in him.

It’s not always easy. But if he could provide for Elisha, and watch over his life and the life of his men, I believe he can do the same for us.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, faith

2 Kings

Giver of life, restorer of hope

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 3, 2012
No Comments on Giver of life, restorer of hope

The life of Elisha, in many ways, parallels that of Elijah in terms of the miracles that he performed.

At a guess, this list of miracles was noted to show that Elisha did indeed receive that double portion of Elijah’s spirit.

And in this story, like Elijah, Elisha raised a woman’s only son to life.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This woman and her husband thought their chances for having a child were passed.

But they still had a deep love for God and did not let themselves grow bitter over their circumstances.

Still, you get the feeling from the woman’s words to Elisha that she did feel an emptiness from not having a son. (2 Kings 4:16)

Yet out of her love for God, she desired to do something to help Elisha, and so she had her husband make a room just for Elisha to stay in whenever he happened to be in the area.

And so Elisha asked what he could do for her.

She probably thought that asking for a son was impossible, and since that was the only thing she really wanted, she told Elisha that she didn’t need anything.

But Elisha learned from his servant Gehazi that this couple had no son, and so he told her that they would have a son by the next year. And God did as Elisha said.

But after several years, the child was in the fields with his father. Suddenly, he grew faint, and he eventually died in his mother’s arms.

Devastated, she went out to Elisha.

Refusing to say anything to his servant, she went directly to him, pouring out her heart to him.

Elisha returned to her home with her, and when his servant’s efforts to restore the boy failed, he himself went in and prayed for the boy.

And by God’s grace, the boy’s life was restored.

In this passage, I think we find two truths.

First, God is the giver of life.

He did it twice. Once in allowing the woman to give birth, and the second time in breathing life back into her son’s dead body.

In the same way, he also breathes life into us, not just once, but twice.

He breathes life into us once at birth. Then when we receive Jesus as our Savior, he breathes spiritual life into us.

And in both cases, life is a gift. It’s not something we can work for or attain. It’s God-given.

As Ephesians 2:8-9 says,

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.

Second, God is the restorer of hope.

God restored hope that this family’s name would be carried on with the birth of her son. And he restored it again, when he brought the boy back to life.

God can do the same for us, restoring hope, when all hope seems to be gone.

I love a song that someone in my church wrote. It says,

May the God of hope fill you with all joy
And peace as you trust in him,
That you may overflow with hope by the Holy Spirit’s power.

May the God of hope fill you up.
With joy and peace as you trust in him.

He works all things for good.
God of hope, you’re my hope.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, giver of life, restorer of hope

2 Kings

An unpayable debt

I hate being in debt.

I don’t use my credit cared often, but when I do, I always pay it it off before the end of the month.

My only other debt is the one I owe on my house. I pray I never have to take out another loan for the rest of my life.

The problem with debts, of course, is that you eventually have to pay them back. And if you can’t, you’re in trouble.

That’s what happened with the woman in this story.

For whatever reason, after her husband died, he left behind debts that she couldn’t pay.

Perhaps they were medical bills from his final illness. But whatever they were, she was in trouble, because in those days, if a person couldn’t pay their debts, they were often thrown in prison or forced to work as slaves.

In this case, her creditors were planning to take her two sons as slaves, which would have left her with no one who could support her in her old age.

And so she came up to Elisha for help.

Very much like the story of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17), he had the woman take what little she had from her house, and miraculously was able to multiply it.

He just told her to get as many jars as she could get from her neighbors, and upon doing so, told her to fill the oil she did have into those jars.

The oil never did stop flowing until all the jars were filled. Not only was she able to pay off her debt, whe was able to live off of the rest the money she had made.

In the same way, we too had an unpayable debt: the debt of sin.

In Romans 3:23, it says, “For all have sinned” (Romans 3:23).

And we must all pay for our sins.

How can we pay for them? The truth is, we can’t.

And because of that, we are doomed to be separated from God forever when we die.

But God loved us so much that he sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. And by doing so, he paid the debt for our sin.

When Jesus died on the cross, he said “It is finished.”

The word he used on the cross was often used when a person paid off their tax bills in Rome. It means, “Paid in full.”

What Jesus was saying was that our debt of sin was paid in full by his death on the cross.

And just as God poured oil into all those jars, he pours his Holy Spirit into our hearts, guaranteeing our inheritance in heaven someday (Ephesians 1:13-14).

But not only does he pay off our debt and give us eternal life, he also gives us a life worth living on earth and promises to provide for our needs here.

So let us always keep in mind Paul’s words.

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32).

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, unpayable debt

2 Kings

Doing God’s will, or our own?

Post author By Bruce
Post date July 1, 2012
No Comments on Doing God’s will, or our own?

Joram, king of Israel, was facing a rebellion by Moab.

After being subject to his father Ahab, the Moabites now refused to pay tribute to Israel, and so Joram allied himself with Judah and Edom to attack the Moabites.

Once again, Jehoshaphat showed poor judgment, as he had much of his life, in choosing his friends.

Perhaps it was because his son was married to Ahab’s daughter that he allied himself with Joram.

Perhaps it was because of Jehoshaphat’s own problems with Moab earlier.

But whatever the reason, it got him into trouble again.

As he and the two other kings were traveling with their armies to attack Moab, they soon found themselves with no water to support themselves.

Then, typical of many people today, Joram placed the blame on God, saying, “What! Has the Lord called us three kings together only to hand us over to Moab?” (2 Kings 3:10)

Jehoshaphat at least had the wisdom to ask Elisha for help.

But Elisha showed his scorn for Joram saying, “What do we have to do with each other? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” (13)

Once again, Joram placed blame on God for his circumstances basically saying, “No. The only reason we’re here is because God led us here. This is his fault.” (13)

But God in his grace, not only provided water for the three kings and their armies, but he also gave them the victory as well.

Nevertheless, the question we need to ask ourselves is this:

“Are we doing God’s will? Or are we simply doing our own will in God’s name?” What’s the difference?

When we simply make our own plans, and ask God to bless them, that’s not doing God’s will. That’s doing our own will and attaching God’s name to it.

So often when we do that, we get in trouble, and we start wondering why.

Then we start blaming God for our problems.

But that’s not how we are to live.

Rather, we need to be asking, “God, what is your will? May your will be done in my life.”

And if we seek him first, and seek his guidance, he will lead.

It is as we obey him, that we will be prosperous and find success in the things we do. (Joshua 1:8)

How about you? Are you doing God’s will? Or are you doing your own will in God’s name?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity

2 Kings

When we defy God’s word in our lives

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 30, 2012
No Comments on When we defy God’s word in our lives

This is a passage that is an uncomfortable reminder of what happens when we defy God’s word in our lives.

I’m not talking about ignorance of God’s word. I’m talking about outright defiance.

In this passage, Elisha was going up to the city of Bethel, when some youths came up to meet him.

I should note here that while some translations say it was small boys, the words in the Hebrew are much broader in meaning than the definition in English.

The very same word for boys is used when talking about the soldiers that led the charge against Ben Hadad in 1 Kings 20:14-17.

In this case, it was probably young men, perhaps in their teens or perhaps a bit older, that came out to confront Elisha.

And that’s exactly what they did: confront Elisha.

Elisha didn’t enter the town and run into these young men by chance. Rather, they came out of the town to chase him away.

They went up to him en masse saying, “Go on up, you baldhead.” (2 Kings 2:23).

They seemed to be referring to Elijah’s ascension into heaven, and they were essentially saying, “Get out of here. Go join your master and leave us alone. We don’t want anything to do with you.”

Some Bible commentators have suggested that their hostility went beyond words, that they were actually hinting at physical violence.

I don’t know if that was true or not, but what is clear is these young men’s utter contempt for the word of God and the prophet who brought it.

As a result, Elisha called a curse on them, and God sent two bears that attacked these men.

It seems a bit extreme, to be sure. If these young men were indeed threatening violence against Elisha, then perhaps it was necessary in order to preserve his life.

But whether they were actually threatening Elisha’s life or not, God made something crystal clear to these men and to the people of their town:

If you despise the word of God, and utterly reject him, there will be judgment for it.

It may come sooner. It may come later. But it will come.

In the case of these men, it came sooner, to their regret.

What can we learn from this?

How do we respond to God’s word in our lives?

Sometimes, God’s word can make us uncomfortable, because it shows us areas in our lives which are wrong.

Sometimes it makes us mad, because we don’t like what it says.

But however it makes us feel, God calls us to respond to what he has said. We cannot just ignore it.

And if we openly rebel against it, we will pay the price.

God is a patient God. But his patience will not last forever.

In 2 Chronicles 36, it talks about the judgment that would eventually fall on Judah, for like Israel, they would eventually fall into sin and corruption.

It says,

The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place.

But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15-16)

How about you? How do you respond to God’s word in your life? How do you respond when it makes you uncomfortable or angry because God is confronting you in your sin?

Do you just ignore it? Do you even openly rebel against it?

By doing so, you harden your hearts to God, just as the Israelites did.

And if you do it long enough, eventually, there will be no remedy for you any longer, and judgment will come.

But if you soften your heart to God, confess your sin, and let his word transform your life, then forgiveness and healing will come into your life.

Which will you choose?

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Kings Bible Original

Being salt to an unproductive and dying land

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 29, 2012
No Comments on Being salt to an unproductive and dying land

This country is a swamp. In time you will come to see that for yourself.

This country is a more terrible swamp than you can imagine.

Whenever you plant a sapling in this swamp the roots begin to rot, the leaves grow yellow and wither.

And we have planted the sapling of Christianity in this swamp. (p. 237)

Such are the words of the apostate priest, Father Christovao Ferreira, in Shusaku Endo’s book, “Silence.”

In the book, Ferreira tries to convince another priest that all his efforts to bring Christianity to Japan were in vain.

And in a country where even today, the Christian population remains miniscule (less than one percent), not much seems to have changed.

I have heard Japan even described as a missionary’s graveyard, where people have come with great hopes of spreading the gospel, only to return home down and discouraged.

All this comes to mind as I read this passage in Kings.

Here, Elisha comes to a city and the people say,

Look, our lord, this town is well situated, as you can see, but the water is bad and the land is unproductive. (2 Kings 2:19)

People say the same of Japan.

“It’s a great place. The people are nice. But the water is bad and the land is unproductive. No matter how much we try to spread the seeds of the gospel, nothing grows.”

But what does Elisha do? He throws salt into the spring, and says,

This is what the Lord says: ‘I have healed this water. Never again will it cause death or make the land unproductive.’ (21)

This is what Jesus wants to do with Japan.

He calls us the salt of the earth, and by spreading us throughout Japan, he wants to heal the “water” of the land.

Instead of being a stagnant swamp that rots whatever is put in it, he wants to fill Japan with the living water of his Holy Spirit.

His will is that death should not reign here, but that the seeds of the gospel would find fertile ground.

But for that to happen, we need to be salt. Jesus said,

You are the salt of the earth.

But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. (Matthew 5:13)

How can we lose our saltiness?

By blending in with this world.

By being exactly the same as the rest of this world in our way of thinking and in our actions.

By being self-centered in our daily lives, rather than God-centered.

By focusing on the things of earth, rather than the things above.

The list goes on.

The question we need to ask ourselves is, “How salty are we?”

If we want to see a change in Japan, if we want to see it turn into a fertile, productive land for the seeds of the gospel, it starts with us. It starts with us being the salt in this land that God calls us to be.

Let’s be that salt.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse

2 Kings

Never alone

Elijah’s time had come to leave this earth and to be with God.

But before he departed, he asked Elisha, his disciple, “What can I do for you before I’m taken from you?”

Elisha replied, “Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit.” (2 Kings 2:9)

Elijah wouldn’t promise that outright, saying only that if Elisha saw how Elijah was taken, his request would be granted by God.

And as they walked along, suddenly a chariot of fire came and took Elijah away, right before Elisha’s eyes.

When they had crossed the Jordan together, Elijah had struck the water with his cloak and it divided for him.

Now as Elisha came back, he said, “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” (14)

In other words, is God with me as he was with Elijah? Or have I been left lonely?

His answer came, as he took Elijah’s cloak that was left behind, struck the Jordan and saw it split before him.

This story calls to mind what Jesus told his disciples at the last supper. He told them,

I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.

You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it…

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. (John 14:12-14, 18)

Just as God’s Spirit was with Elisha after Elijah departed, God’s Spirit is with us.

And just as Elisha was able to do greater things than even Elijah, we are able to do even greater things than Jesus did while he was on earth.

Why? Because as with Elisha, God does not leave us lonely. He does not, as Jesus put it, leave us as orphans.

Rather he comes to us and imparts to us not only his love, but his power.

More than that, Jesus promises that we may ask anything in his name and he will do it.

So let us be like Elisha was with Elijah:

Faithful to our Lord.

Constantly following him.

Willing to do whatever he asks.

As Jesus said,

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21)

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse, christianity, double portion, elisha, glory to the father

2 Kings

A God who demands more than lip service

Post author By Bruce
Post date June 27, 2012
No Comments on A God who demands more than lip service

Ahaziah’s reign as king of Israel didn’t last long. Two years to be exact.

And just as his father Ahab did, he worshiped Baal as well as worshiping Yahweh through the calves that Jeroboam had set up years before.

But Ahaziah had no real desire for dealings with Yahweh on God’s own terms. And when Ahaziah had an accident, he sought another god to see if he would live or not.

But God sent Elijah who told him,

This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending men to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?

Therefore, you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die! (2 Kings 1:6)

When Ahaziah heard these words, he sent a captain and 50 men to Elijah.

What his purpose was, I’m not sure, whether to arrest Elijah, or to simply question him more.

But twice, Ahaziah’s captains came up mockingly saying, “Man of God, the king says, “Come down!”

And twice, Elijah said, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” (10,12)

The third captain, however, came humbly saying, “Man of God, please have respect for my life and the life of these fifty men, your servants! (13)

God then sent Elijah down. Eljiah confronted Ahaziah, and shortly thereafter, Ahaziah died.

What can we learn from this? God demands more than lip service from us.

Ahaziah, like most of the Israelite kings, paid lip service to God, but refused to worship him as God had prescribed.

Not only that, when the chips were down, they went to other gods rather than the one true God.

The two captains called Elijah, “Man of God,” but they didn’t mean it. The third did, and his life was spared as a result.

How do we treat God? Do we give him only lip service? Or are we truly humble before him, doing what he has asked?

The day is coming when at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord. (Philippians 2:10-11)

Some will confess it with joy and thanksgiving. Others will confess it, grinding their teeth.

But all will confess that he is Lord, and there will no longer be any lip service from that time on.

So let us stop any lip service now. Rather, let us serve God from our hearts, and acknowledge that he is truly Lord.

Tags Bible Original, Bible verse