This time, let's turn to 2 Chronicles chapter
19.
We are dealing at the present time in
this area of Scripture with the reign of
Jehoshaphat, king over Judah.
For the most part, Jehoshaphat was a good
king.
He did develop many spiritual reforms.
There was one aspect about his reign that
was not good, and that was his desire
to develop an affinity and friendship with Ahab,
who was the king over the tribes of
Israel in the north.
Ahab was probably one of the most wicked
of all of the kings over Israel, and
Jehoshaphat had some kind of a fascination and
an endeavor to create an affinity and a
friendship with him.
Now, the Bible says, Know ye not that
friendship with the world is enmity with God?
And if anybody represented the world in the
worldly system, it would have been Ahab.
So why Jehoshaphat, a righteous king, would ever
seek to develop some kind of a friendship
or relationship with this ungodly king of Ahab
is difficult to understand.
And the consequences, ultimate consequences of it were
quite disastrous.
Not to Jehoshaphat himself, but in the result
of his son.
And we'll get to that when we get
to chapter 21.
So Jehoshaphat had, or Jehoshaphat had gone on
up, visited with Ahab, was invited by Ahab
to come to watch the battle against the
Syrians in Ramoth Gilead, where Ahab was killed
in battle.
And so Jehoshaphat has now returned to Jerusalem,
chapter 19, and Jehu, the son of Hanani,
who was a prophet, went out to meet
him.
And he said to him, Should you help
the ungodly and love them that hate the
Lord?
Therefore is wrath upon thee from before the
Lord.
So here he has been rebuked by the
prophet of God, the rebuke, of course, coming
from God for his love for the, or
his help for the ungodly, and his love
for those that hate the Lord.
The Bible says, What fellowship hath light with
darkness?
What communion hath Christ with Belial?
And it warns about seeking to develop an
unequal yoke with an unbeliever.
And so the king is severely rebuked for
this endeavor on his part, and it would
seem that he was initiating it, going on
up to visit and all, and initiating this
kind of a friendship and an aid program.
When Ahab said, Would you like to go
out with me to battle?
He said, My troops are as yours, you
know, I'm like you, we're brothers and all.
And so it was a thing where he
was helping the ungodly.
He was seeking to create an alliance with
an ungodly king.
Nevertheless, the prophet said, There are good things
found in thee, in that you have created
these spiritual reforms by the destroying of the
idols of the false gods that have been
set up there in the land.
So at the word of the prophet, Jehoshaphat
again, just sort of sought to reestablish a
spiritual work within the kingdom of Judah.
He took some priests and he went around
to the various cities of Judah.
There was sort of a evangelistic campaign, and
he would go into a city, they would
gather together the people, and the priest would
again lay out the law of the Lord
to the people.
They would establish judges that they might judge
righteous judgment within the cities of Judah.
And it was actually further spiritual reforms as
they traveled through the land, seeking to turn
the hearts of the people unto the Lord.
So, they went around and the charge that
they put to the people was, Thus shall
ye do in the fear of the Lord
faithfully with a perfect heart.
And what call server shall come to you
of your brothers?
I mean, this is what they said to
the judges when they set up the judges.
And I wish that every judge would have
to face this kind of a admonition at
the beginning of his judgeship, or even should
have it on the wall of his chamber
every day.
This is what God requires of a judge,
that he judges in the cases in the
fear of the Lord faithfully and with a
complete heart.
Now in chapter 20, it records how that
at this time three nations had gathered together
to fight against Judah, the nation of Moab
and Ammon and those of Mount Seir, which
would have been the Edomites.
And word came to Jehoshaphat that Judah was
being invaded by this confederacy of nations, that
they had already come across the Dead Sea
and they were in the area of En
Gedi.
And they were approaching actually by the area
of En Gedi, which is the valley known
also as the Valley of Passengers and became
known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
Because this is where God wrought the victory
for Jehoshaphat and thus it became known as
the Valley of Jehoshaphat or Jehoshaphat.
Now it is interesting because God ultimately destroyed
this invading army and we'll get to that
in a moment.
But Ezekiel tells us that there is going
to be another confederacy of nations that is
going to attack Israel in the last days.
A confederacy of nations led by Russia and
there will be with her, of course, many
of the East Eastern Europe nations, plus the
Balkan nations, plus Iran, plus Saudi Arabia.
And they also will be destroyed in this
Valley of Passengers.
So history will be repeated and interestingly enough,
much of the destruction will be in the
same way this destruction took place.
For in the destruction described in Ezekiel, one
aspect of it, God said, every man's sword
will be against his brother.
So God speaks of an internal revolution that
is going to take place among the communist
states and nations at the time when which
they seek to come against Israel, plus the
judgment that God pours out.
But when in time people are passing through
this Valley of the Passengers or Jehoshaphat and
they see the carcasses, the bones, they'll set
a flag by it and so forth.
So this same valley in which God once
destroyed the enemies of Israel, God is going
to work again and destroy invading armies that
are coming against Israel in that same area.
I find that very fascinating indeed.
So Jehoshaphat, when he heard that these three
nations were gathered together to invade the land,
called the men of Judah together and he
proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah.
And he set himself to seek the Lord
and the people gathered together and Jehoshaphat stood
in the congregation of Judah there at the
house of the Lord in the new court.
And he said, O Lord, God of our
fathers, you are the God of heaven or
the God of the universe and the ruler
over the earth.
Now in a sense, God is the ruler
over the earth because whatever happens on the
earth happens because God has allowed it to
happen.
And yet in a narrower sense, Jesus recognized
that Satan was ruling the earth at the
present time.
Now Satan only rules because God allows him
to rule.
So in an overall sense, yes God rules,
but God in his rule has allotted man
free moral agency, self-determination, the power capacity
of choice.
God has allowed man to choose who he
desires to rule over him.
And the majority of men have chosen that
Satan should rule over their lives.
And God has not violated man's choice.
He's allowed him to make the choice and
then respects the choice that man has made.
So in the world today, Satan is ruling.
When Jesus came, Satan took him up to
a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms
of the world and said, all of these
will I give to you and the glory
of them.
If you will bow down and worship me
for they are mine and I can give
them to whomever I will.
Now Satan is boasting to Jesus that, Hey,
it's all mine.
I have the power to give it to
whoever I want.
And Jesus did not dispute that claim.
In fact, why did Jesus come?
In order that he might redeem the world
because it was under Satan's power.
Now Jesus called Satan the Prince of this
world.
He said to his disciples, the night he
was betrayed, just before going to the garden
where he was arrested by the soldiers, he
said, I have told you that I go
to my father.
Now, if you love me, you would rejoice
for my father is greater than I.
But now he said, the Prince of this
world cometh, but he hath nothing in me.
So Satan is referred to by Christ as
the Prince of the world.
Paul calls him the God of this age,
referring to the sinners.
He said the God of this age has
blinded their eyes that they cannot see the
truth.
So in a narrow sense, Satan is ruling
over the earth at the present time.
This is his domain.
This is his kingdom.
When the Antichrist comes on the scene, book
of Revelation chapter 13 tells us that Satan,
the dragon is going to give to him
his authority and his throne.
Now Satan said to Jesus, it's mine.
I can give it to whoever I will.
And he's going to give it to the
Antichrist who will rule over the world.
Now it is interesting how many of the
world leaders have been involved in the occult.
And of course, one of the most notable
of recent times was Hitler, who actually was
controlled by what the men who were called
the white masters, those men who were steeped
in the art of white magic.
Many of them after Hitler's fall, fled to
Peru where they still exercise quite a bit
of power and control over the lives of
many people.
But Hitler was taking directions and following the
advice of these men of the occult.
And of course, it doesn't give me comfort
to hear our presidents say, or at least
Jean Dixon say, that so many of the
presidents call her for advice.
Now Satan, one day is going to turn
over the full authority and power of this
earth, that is his, to the Antichrist.
But of course, he knows that his time
is short.
The scripture said he knows that his reign
is about over.
And so he's really doing his best to
mess things up before he has to exit
the scene.
Now, Jesus said to his disciples, when you
pray, you should say, our father, which art
in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven.
We pray that his kingdom will come.
We pray that his will be done here
in the earth, because right now his kingdom
has not come.
His will is not being done.
You do not see the world that God
wants or God's God intends.
He doesn't want a world that is filled
with suffering and war and hardships and inflation
and pollution and all of this.
The Bible tells us that when he comes
to establish his kingdom, that righteousness will cover
the earth as the waters do cover the
sea.
And that there won't be the physical maladies
that men experience today and that Satan during
this period of time will be bound and
be cast into the abyssal while Jesus reigns
upon the earth for a thousand year period.
And so when Jehoshaphat said that you rule
over the earth, that is only in an
overall sense as God rules over the universe.
But in the universe, there is one planet
that is in rebellion against the rule of
God.
And as the result of that rebellion against
God's rule, that planet is hurting its suffering
and it's headed.
It's on a head on collision course with
great calamity and disasters and they're coming.
There's no escaping it.
But after this time of great disaster, then
Jesus will come and he will reign and
God's kingdom will then extend and cover over
the whole earth.
So Jehoshaphat in his prayer acknowledged the greatness
of God and then he acknowledged that God
was the one that brought us into this
land.
He was the one that delivered this land
to our fathers for he had promised the
land unto Abraham and to Abraham's seed.
God drove out the inhabitants that were there.
And then he said, they built this and
they were standing, remember, in the temple.
And he said, they built this sanctuary for
thy name that when calamity came, they might
come to this place and call upon you.
And here is where he makes reference to
the prayer of Solomon in verse nine.
When Solomon dedicated the temple and they dwelt
in this land, they have built thee this
sanctuary for thy name saying when they build
it, they said, if when evil comes upon
us as the sword or judgment or pestilence
or famine, and we stand before this house
and in thy presence for thy name is
in this house and we cry unto thee
in our affliction, then thou wilt hear and
help.
And so he acknowledges first the greatness of
God, the purposes of God in bringing them
into the land and the promise of God
that when they were in trouble, when the
sword was threatening or judgment, and they come
into your house and they pray, then that
you would answer.
Now he lays out the cause, Lord, here
they come, the Moabites, the Ammonites and the
Edomites, and they're too many for us to
handle.
We don't have the power.
We don't have the might against them.
And so he is asking God
for help.
In verse 12, Oh, our God, wilt thou
not judge them?
For we have no might against this great
company that comes against us, and neither do
we know what to do, but our eyes
are upon you.
God, we're facing an enemy that is stronger
than we are.
We don't know what to do, but we're
looking to you for help.
Now how many times I have been in
a similar state when the situation that I
faced was overwhelming.
I didn't know the answer.
I didn't know what to do.
And so I just turned to the Lord,
Lord, my eyes are upon you.
I'm looking to you for wisdom, for guidance,
for help.
And so the Lord answered Jehoshaphat by this
fellow Jehaziel, who was the son of Zechariah.
The Spirit of the Lord came upon him
in the midst of the congregation, and he
said, Hearken ye, all Judah, the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, thus saith the
Lord unto you, be not afraid or dismayed
by reason of this great multitude, for the
battle is not yours, but God's.
Tomorrow go ye down against them.
Behold, they come up by the cliff of
Ziz, and you'll find them at the end
of the brook before the wilderness of Jerual.
You will not need to fight in this
battle.
Set yourselves, stand still and see the salvation
of the Lord with you, O Judah and
Jerusalem.
Fear not, nor be dismayed.
Tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord
will be with you.
And so the glorious promise of God, commanding
them to not be afraid or dismayed.
For the battle is not yours, but God's.
It's so wonderful when God takes up our
part.
When God stands up for our defense, David
said, The Lord is my refuge and my
strength.
I will not fear though the mountains be
removed and cast into the midst of the
sea.
How wonderful when God is my strength, God
is my defense, my defender.
Don't be afraid, don't be dismayed.
This battle isn't yours, it's God's.
Now you go down tomorrow by the cliff
of Ziz, where you'll get the overview of
the valley of Jerel there.
And you just stand still and see the
salvation of the Lord.
And then again, don't be afraid, don't be
dismayed, for the Lord is with you.
The consciousness of the presence of God is
always one of the greatest factors to dispel
fear from our lives.
I can be extremely frightened until I realize
God is with me.
Then all of a sudden I'm not afraid
anymore.
It's only when I lose the consciousness of
God's presence with me, it's only when I
get things out of perspective and I forget
that my life belongs to Him, that this
is His church.
And I try to start carrying the burdens
myself and losing that perspective of God's presence
with me, sometimes I become terrified.
As David said, why art thou cast down,
O my soul?
Why art thou disquieted within me?
And sometimes my soul gets cast down or
very disquieted.
It's because I have forgotten that it all
belongs to God, that I am His, that
He is with me.
Hopest thou in the Lord, David said, He
shall yet deliver thee.
Hey, did you forget about God?
You forget that God's on the throne?
And how many times we forget that God
is on the throne and we try to
take up the battle ourself, and we try
to do things ourself until we get into
the place of despair.
But God says, don't be afraid, don't be
dismayed, I will be with you.
So as the result of this, of course,
Jehoshaphat bowed his face to the ground before
the Lord.
He just, and all of the army, the
men of Israel just fell on their faces
before the Lord and just worshiped the Lord.
Oh, what good word this is.
Here we thought we were going to get
wiped out.
Here we thought there was no hope for
our survival.
And now the word of the Lord comes
and says, hey, we're not going to even
have to fight against this huge army that's
invading the land.
All we have to do is be a
spectator.
We're going to go down and watch God
fight the battle.
Ringside seats as God destroys the enemy and
the priest, as the people were lying there
before the Lord, worshiping God, the priest stood
and they praised God with loud voices.
The next morning they left Jerusalem, heading down
through the valley of Hinnom and around towards
the right, going south towards Bethlehem.
Through the shepherd's field, the valleys below the
city of Bethlehem.
Again, taking another southern turn over near the
area of the Herodian and then on past
that area, turning now again east, coming down
to the little village of Tekoa, the home
of Amos the prophet.
And there just beyond Tekoa, the cliffs of
Ziz that overlooked the wilderness area towards En
Gedi, this valley where the invading army was
coming up from En Gedi into the land.
Yet what a strange army it must have
looked like because out in front of the
army were the choir, the singers, and they
were singing praises unto God.
And the people were responding to their praises.
They would sing, O praise the Lord, for
He is good.
And the army would answer, for His mercy
endureth forever.
And so they were going towards the battle
to watch the victory of God, singing praises
of victory already unto the Lord, for His
mercy endureth forever.
It is possible for you to have the
victory before you have the victory.
Paul talks about being more than conquerors through
Him who loves us.
What does that mean, more than a conqueror?
I know what it means to be a
conqueror, but what does it mean to be
more than a conqueror?
It means that you have the victory before
you have the victory.
You have the victory even before the battle
starts.
You have that glorious victory of God in
your heart and spirit.
You're rejoicing and praising God before you ever
see the accomplished work of God.
And so here they were.
Their hearts were lifted.
They were rejoicing.
They were praising the Lord because they had
the word of God and the promise of
God that He was going to destroy their
enemies.
Now even before they got to the battleground
to see what God was doing, they were
already rejoicing and shouting and praising God for
the victory that had been promised unto them.
Oh, what a glorious scene that must have
been to see that valley full of men,
probably some two hundred thousand strong, being led
by a choir as they were going down
to see the work of God in delivering
their enemies into their hands.
The victory through praise, and it is at
this point we read, and as they praised
the Lord, the Lord put ambushments against their
enemies.
As they were praising the Lord, the Lord
began His work in destroying their enemies.
There can be glorious victory in your life
through praise.
As you learn to praise the Lord and
just spend your time in praise of Him
for His promise, we need to take the
promises of God and put them over against
our situations.
And then just praise the Lord for His
promises that He has given to us of
victory in our situations.
Now I don't think that you should praise
the Lord that you have so many debts
that you can't pay them all, but I
think you should praise the Lord in that
He has promised, I will supply all of
your needs according to my riches in glory
by Christ Jesus our Lord.
So I can't praise the Lord for these
duns that I'm getting from the bill collectors,
but I can praise the Lord that He
has promised to supply my needs.
So my praise are in the promises of
God, and as I am praising God for
His promises, God begins a work, His work
of mystery many times.
I don't know how He's going to do
it, I don't know what He's going to
do, but He begins His work, and He
begins to accomplish His work.
And it's so glorious as they praise the
Lord, the Lord put the ambushments against their
enemies.
Now we do spend an awful lot of
time complaining to the Lord about our situations,
about our problems, about the circumstances of our
life.
If you would take that time that you
spend complaining to the Lord, and just start
praising the Lord for His promise to watch
over you, and to deliver you, and to
keep you, and to bless you, then you'd
find that God would, while you are praising,
bring you victory in your heart.
Suddenly the whole perspective changes as I'm praising
the Lord, as I'm thanking Him for His
word and for His promises.
My whole attitude changes.
It goes from one of fear, and dismay,
and anxiety, to one of confidence, and victory.
All right Lord, go at them.
You know, and I just had that beautiful
confidence that God is working.
So as they praise the Lord, the Lord
put ambushments against their enemies, so that when
they got to the cliff of Ziz, and
they began to look down in the valley,
they saw the valley was full of all
these dead bodies.
Four, the men of Mount Seir, the Edomites,
began to fight against those from Moab, and
it turned into a real brawl in the
Donnybrook, and the men of Ammon joined in,
and so they were all fighting with each
other, and killing each other, so that by
the time the children of Israel got there,
they were all wiped out.
Oh, God is so good.
I was talking with John, who is one
of our young men here in the church,
who is now a recruit in the Costa
Mesa Police Department, and he was sharing how
the other night, the officer who was training
him, he and the officer pulled a car
over down here on Fairview, in Fair Drive,
in the Exxon station, and he said as
they started pulling the guys out of the
car, he said there were six big bikers,
and he said that as they started pulling
out the booze, and as they started to
get to some of the other things, the
guys jumped them, and he said just the
two of us officers against these six big
bikers, and he said I heard one of
them say, grab his gun and we will
shoot the brains out of these guys, and
so he said he felt this guy tugging
at his gun, and he said now the
guns have a front throw on them, you
have to pull them out front ways to
get them out of the holster, and this
guy was behind him and trying to pull
it up straight, couldn't get it out, and
so he said he just took and elbowed
the guy, and he said but boy they
were swinging, rolling on the ground and everything
else, and of course they put out the
officer in distress call, and he said but
pretty soon he said he and his partner
were standing up, and these guys were all
brawling with each other, he said they were
swinging away and hitting each other, and he
said they just stood there back to back
watching these guys wiping out each other, and
after it was over he said to his
training officer, did you get hit, and he
said no, and he said neither did I,
and all of that swinging they never hit
him, and he told his training officer praise
the Lord, the Lord just put them to
confusion, got them fighting with each other, and
we were able to escape, but Jesus Christ
is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and
He can put the enemies to confusion, He
can deliver His child out of distress, out
of danger, He can keep you unscathed in
the midst of a battle, the Lord is
the same, they went on down, they found
that these guys had worn all their jewelry
into battle, all the precious gems and everything
else these guys were wearing, and so they
began to strip the dead bodies of all
of the valuables, the jewels, the ornaments, and
everything else, and there was so much that
they couldn't even carry it off, it took
them three days to strip all the bodies,
and they came back with great rejoicing unto
the Lord, on the fourth day they assembled
themselves in the valley of Baraka, which means
the valley of blessing, for there they blessed
the Lord, and so they named the valley,
the valley of Baraka, unto this day, then
they returned every man of Judah and Jerusalem,
and Jehoshaphat was in front of them, and
they came back to Jerusalem with joy, for
the Lord had made them to rejoice over
their enemies, and as they came to Jerusalem,
with the psalteries and the harps and the
trumpets to the house of the Lord, the
fear of God was in all of the
kingdoms of those countries, when they heard how
the Lord had fought against the enemies of
Israel, so the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet,
for his God gave him rest round about,
and Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah, he was thirty
-five years old when he began to reign,
he reigned for twenty-five years, he walked
in the way of Asa his father, departed
not from it, doing that which was right
in the sight of the Lord, albeit the
high places were not taken away, for as
yet the people had not prepared their hearts
unto God, the God of their fathers, now
the rest of the acts of Jehoshaphat, first
and last, they're written in the book of
Jehu, who was a prophet, who is mentioned
in the book of the kings of Israel,
now Jehoshaphat, then once again joined affinity with
Ahaziah the king of Israel, now Ahaziah was
the son of Ahab, he also was an
extremely wicked person, but Jehoshaphat had some strange
drawing, towards the kings of Israel, and so
they made an agreement to build ships, in
order that they might go to Tarshish, to
get gold and all, but the ships broke
up in a storm, and they never made
it to Tarshish, actually Eliezer, a prophet, prophesied
against Jehoshaphat saying, because you have joined yourself
with Ahaziah, the Lord has broken thy works,
and the ships were broken in a storm,
they were not able to go to Tarshish,
now Jehoshaphat died, and was buried with his
father in the city of David, and Jehoram
his son, reigned in his stead, and he
had brothers, who were also sons of Jehoshaphat,
and it named several of the brothers, and
Jehoshaphat had given to his sons, great gifts
of silver, gold and precious things, and he
gave them cities, but the kingdom he gave
to Jehoram, because he was his oldest, his
first born, now when Jehoram was risen up
to the kingdom of his father, verse 4,
he strengthened himself, and killed all of his
brothers with a sword, and also many of
the princes of Israel, and Jehoram was 32
years old when he began to reign, he
reigned 8 years in Jerusalem, he walked in
the way of the kings of Israel, that
is the northern kings who were wicked, like
as did the house of Ahab, for he
had the daughter of Ahab to wife, and
he wrought that which was evil in the
eyes of the Lord, now here is where
Jehoshaphat, seeking to become friends, and joining affinity
with the kings of Israel, got him into
trouble, for no doubt on some of his
ventures, up to the kingdom of Israel, in
visiting Ahab, he took his oldest son with
him, Jehoram, who saw the daughter of Ahab,
and fell in love with her, and of
course because he was seeking to make an
affinity with the kings, they arranged the marriage,
and his oldest son married the daughter of
wicked Ahab, who was also the daughter of
Jezebel, and thus she had the same kind
of influence upon her husband, Jehoram, the son
of Jehoshaphat, as did Jezebel upon Ahab, a
very wicked influence in the kingdom, now this
is where the dad may say, well I
can go and it won't bother me, you
know I know how to handle myself, and
I won't be touched by the things, but
yet his son going with him, was the
one that was affected and hurt by the
relationship, and so we need to be careful
of the relationships that we develop, not only
for our own sake, you may be able
to handle it, but it can have disastrous
results in your family, your children, they may
not be able to handle those pressures, and
so had he not been going up, and
seeking to make these kind of friendship, ventures
towards Ahab, no doubt his son would never
have met, this Athaliah, and married her, and
thus this horrible thing would not have transpired,
it cost him the rest of his sons,
all of the rest of the sons were
killed by this one boy, who was given
the kingdom, he was influenced for evil by
the wife, that he married who was the
daughter of that wicked king Ahab, and she
had an evil influence in Israel, I mean
in Judah for a period of time, how
be it the Lord would not destroy the
house of David, because of the covenant that
he made with David, now during the days
of this, and remember he only reigned for
eight years, but as he began to reign,
first of all the Edomites rebelled from under
their dominion, and then the people of Libna
rebelled against them, and there came to him
a writing from Elijah the prophet, saying thus
saith the Lord God of David thy father,
because thou hast not walked in the ways
of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways
of Asa the king of Judah, but you've
walked in the way of the kings of
Israel, and you made Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem to go whoring, like the whoredoms
of the house of Ahab, and you've also
slain your brothers of your father's house, which
were better than you, behold with a great
plague will the Lord smite your people, and
your children and your wives and all of
your goods, and you will have a great
sickness by the disease of your bowels, until
your bowels fall out by reason of the
sickness day by day, you're going to die
a slow death as your bowels fall out,
so God's disease that he was going to
bring upon him, because of his wickedness, and
he was only about 40 years old at
the time of his death, so died at
a relatively young age, but because of that
wickedness this message from Elijah the prophet, now
some people see difficulty here, because if you
go back to second Kings, it would seem
that Elijah died, while
Jehoshaphat was still king, Elijah basically was not
a prophet to Judah, he was a prophet
to Israel, and he was a prophet during
the time of Ahab in the northern kingdom,
it was Ahab and Jezebel that Elijah was
really chiding for their wickedness, and he was
a real thorn unto Ahab, but as you
go back to Kings, where the recording of
the death of Elijah takes place there in
the second chapter, it would just appear that
the writer of second Kings, just throws in
the account of his death, because he's going
to move now to the southern kingdom, and
talk about it for a while, so he
doesn't follow a chronological order, there would seem
to be about a six year difference here,
but it was only that he recorded the
death of Elijah, out of a chronological sequence
in second Kings, and so Elijah wrote this
message of rebuke, and of judgment that is
going to come upon the son of Jehoshaphat,
because of his evil, and the Lord stirred
up against Jehoram, the spirit of the Philistines,
and the Arabians, that were near the Ethiopians,
and they came to Judah, they broke into
it, they carried away the substance that was
found in the king's house, his sons also,
and his wives, and there was never a
son left, save Jehoiah has his youngest of
his sons, so the Arabians and the Philistines
also began to attack, I mean the kingdom
went so quickly, in eight years just deteriorated
down to nothing, the Edomites revolted, the people
of Lebanon revolted, and now the Philistines, the
Arabians, they come in, they take everything, they
took all of his wives, took all of
his children, left only one, his youngest son
Jehoiah has, now after this the Lord smote
him, in his bowels with an incurable disease,
and it came to pass in the process
of time, at the end of two years,
that his bowels fell out, by reason of
his sickness, so he died of sore diseases,
and here the declaration, they made no burning
for him, like the burning of his fathers,
now that was a time of mourning, where
they would, you know, mourn people, and build
fires, stay up all night in mourning, but
not for him, 32 years old was he,
when he began to reign, he reigned in
eight years, and he departed without being desired,
the story of a wicked man, he departed
without, no one mourned his going, he departed
without being desired, how be it, they buried
him in the city of David, but not
in the sepulcher of the kings, now the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, made Ahaziah his youngest son,
who is also called Jehoiah has, Ahaziah or
Jehoiah has, are one and the same, they
made him the king in his stead, for
the band of men, that came with the
Arabians to the camp, and slain all of
the older sons, and so Ahaziah the son
of Jehoram, the king of Judah reigned, and
he was 42 years old, when he began
to reign, and he reigned one year in
Jerusalem, his mother's name was Athaliah, the daughter
of Amre, and he also walked in the
ways of the house of Ahab, now something
is wrong here, I'm going to have to
go home and figure this out, Ahaziah, 42
years old was Ahaziah, when he began to
reign, I'm going to have to look that
up, because his dad was only 40 years
old when he died, so something is wrong,
with the things here, perhaps a copy is
here, I'll have to look that up in
my commentaries, his mother's name was Athaliah, the
daughter of Amre, or granddaughter of Amre, they
don't have words granddaughter of Amre, was the
father of Ahab, and he also walked in
the ways of the house of Ahab, for
his mother was his counselor to do wickedly,
wherefore he did evil in the sight of
the Lord, like the house of Ahab, for
they were his counselors after the death of
his father, to his destruction, and he walked
in their counsel, and went with Jehoram, the
son of Ahab, the king of Israel, to
war against Eziel, the king of Syria, at
Ramoth Gilead, in the Syrian Joram, now he
also continued this same friendship, with the kings
of the north, and he went up, and
he too was invited to come into the
battle, with Jehoram against Syria, or Jehoram rather
went to battle against Syria, Jehoram was injured,
and was recovering from his wounds, that he
had received in the battle, when Ahaziah went
up to visit him, and to comfort him,
and this is the time when Jehu, rebelled
against the reign of Jehoram, came to him,
and killed him, and they also found Ahaziah
there, and Jehu killed him also, and so
they brought his body back to, and they
buried him there, so rather than bringing it
back for burial in Jerusalem, now when her
son was killed, Athaliah then took over the
reigning of Judah, and in taking over the
reign, immediately she killed all of the other
sons, in order that there would be no
other heir apparent to the throne, except that
one of the nurses, grabbed one of the
little sons, and she hid him, so that
he was not slain, he was just a
baby, at the time that he was hidden
away, and they took him to the priest
Jehoiada, and they raised him there in the
temple, and so in chapter 23, Joash, this
one son that escaped the sword of Athaliah,
escaped the assassination attempts, when he was seven
years old, the priest Jehoiada called together the
captains of the people of Judah, and the
chief men, and he said look, I have
Joash, who is a descendant of David, because
God promised that there would not cease to
be a descendant of David upon the throne,
Athaliah is not a descendant of David, she's
a usurper and all, and so we want
to establish him, and set him up as
the king, so I want you to divide
into three companies, three of you go out
into the cities, three of you stand at
the gates, don't let anybody in, and the
other third will stay in here, and we'll
surround him, and we will protect him, and
so they had him stand by the pillar,
they put the crown upon his head, this
little seven year old boy, and they began
to cry, God save the king, God save
the king, and they began to rejoice and
shout, for the fact that God had again
placed upon the throne, a descendant of David,
and Athaliah when she heard the tumult of
the people, and heard them talking about a
king, she came down into the temple, and
she saw this little fellow with a crown
on his head, and she began to cry
treason, treason, and Jehoiada ordered the priest to
grab her, not to kill her in the
temple, but to take her outside of the
temple precincts, and stone her, and so Athaliah
was destroyed, and now Joash began to reign
as the king, he was only seven years
old, so in reality he was just a
little puppet type of a king, as long
as Jehoiada the priest was alive, Jehoiada exercised
tremendous influence over little Joash, he had raised
him from a child, and now did exercise
tremendous influence over him, and with the influence
of Jehoiada, actually there was again a spiritual
revival, as they executed actually not only Athaliah,
but all of the other priests of Baal,
and all that had been established, now in
verse 16 chapter 23, Jehoiada that is the
priest who raised this little boy, made a
covenant between him, and between all of the
people, and between the king, that they should
be the Lord's people, in other words let's
return to the Lord, let's get back to
being God's people, so the people went to
the temple of Baal, and they broke it
down, they broke down the altars and the
images, and they killed the priest of Baal
there before the altars, and they reestablished the
priesthood there in Jerusalem, and they began the
worship within the temple once again, because the
wicked sons of Amaziah, had just gone in
and ripped up the temple, it had become
a disgrace, almost a ruins, and so they
sought then to repair, now this little Joash,
ordered them to collect funds throughout all the
land, to repair the temple, but the priest
didn't bring the money in, and so he
called Jehoiada, and he said hey I've ordered
the temple repaired, how come the people haven't,
how come the priest haven't brought the money
in, so he had a chest made, and
he set the chest there in the temple,
and then he ordered all of the people
of Judah, according to the law of Moses,
they were to give a tenth unto the
Lord, and so the people came, and they
began to put it in, and the money
was designated for the refurbishing, and the rebuilding
of the temple, and so they gave the
money then unto skilled men, and the temple
was rebuilt, in verse 15 of chapter 24,
we find Jehoiada, the priest that exercised such
a good influence, died in a ripe old
age of a hundred and thirty years, and
they buried him in the city of David
among the kings, because he had done so
much good in Israel, but at his death,
the princes of Judah made obeisance to the
king, and the king began to hearken unto
them, and they left the house of the
Lord God of their fathers, and they began
to worship the pagan gods in the groves,
and the idols, and the wrath came upon
Judah and Jerusalem for this trespass, and yet
he sent prophets to them to bring them
again unto the Lord, and they testified against
them, but they would not give ear, so
God was angry, he sent his prophets, but
they wouldn't listen to the prophets, and so
the Spirit of God came upon this prophet,
whose name was Zechariah, and he stood above
the people, and he said unto them, And
thus saith God, Why do you transgress the
commandments of the Lord, that you cannot prosper?
Because you have forsaken the Lord, he also
has forsaken you.
And they conspired against him, and they stoned
him with stones at the commandment of the
king, in the court of the house of
the Lord.
And thus Josh the king remembered not the
kindness, which Jehoiada his father had done unto
him, but he slew his son.
Now this Zechariah was the son of the
priest, actually he probably grew up with Joash,
but Joash is turning against God, against the
early roots, and when he died he said,
The Lord look upon it and require it.
Now it is interesting that the Jews later
on began to always almost worship their fathers.
Our fathers, our fathers, I mean that was
always their cry, our fathers.
It was almost an ancestral worship that developed
by the Jews in later years.
And it was a thing that when Jesus
was talking with them, it was a thing
of debate almost, as they would say, but
our fathers, as though their fathers were so
righteous and so holy.
And Jesus one day got after them and
said, Which of the prophets did your fathers
not kill?
Their fathers that they always, you know, revered
in such righteousness and all, killed the prophets
that God sent to them.
Of course, Stephen points out the same thing
when he stood before the Sanhedrin.
He tore down this concept of our fathers
were so righteous, and he tore down that
concept and he really laid it out on
them.
And they got so angry they began to
gnash their teeth and they drug him out
and stoned him.
So, Jesus gave the parable of how that
this Lord had gone away and he left
his goods, the vineyard and all, in the
hands of his servants.
And so, the time came for harvest and
he sent a servant to them that he
might gather the fruit or the money from
the sale of the fruit and all and
bring it to him.
But, they mistreated and killed the servants.
And finally he said, I will send my
own son.
Surely they will respect him.
But when the son came, they said, Hey,
this is the heir.
Let's destroy him and then it will be
ours.
And Jesus actually was speaking a parable concerning
himself and how the father had sent the
prophets and how they had actually killed the
prophets, but then when he sent his own
son, they even sought to kill him.
And he said, what will the father do?
He will take the vineyard from those, the
goods from those evil servants and he'll give
it unto others.
As Jesus was then prophesying the gospel, God's
grace coming to the Gentiles and the God's
spirit being poured out upon us.
So, here's another account of prophet of God,
Zechariah.
Son of Jehoiada, the priest, the faithful priest
who was put to death by Joash in
the later years as he turned really.
And so as the result of this, God
allowed the Syrians to come to pass at
the end of the year and he delivered
Judah and Jerusalem to the hands of the
Syrians.
Now the Syrians didn't have a big army
at all when they came down in this
invasion.
There were just a few of them, but
God delivered a whole host of Judah into
the hands of just a few Syrians because
of their sin against the Lord.
The death of Joash is then recorded beginning
with verse 25.
In chapter 25, Amaziah, the son of Joash,
began to reign.
He was 25 years old when he began
to reign.
He reigned for 29 years and his mother's
name was Jehoiadan of Jerusalem.
And he did that which was right in
the sight of the Lord, but not with
a complete heart.
It came to pass when the kingdom was
established, actually his dad was finally killed by
a couple of his servants, and so he
had the servants killed who had killed his
father.
But he did not slay their children because
of the law of Moses that said the
children should not die for the sins of
the parents nor the parents for the sins
of the children, but every man shall die
for his own sin.
And Amaziah gathered together the people of Judah
and they made an expedition against the Edomites.
And they were successful in this war against
the Edomites.
There came a man of God to the
king, verse 7, prior to the battle, because
the king had used a part of the
money, 100 talents of silver, and he had
hired 100,000 of the men of Israel
to come with him to fight against the
Edomites.
So the man of God came and said,
Why are you leaning on the arm of
flesh?
Why are you trusting in the Israelites for
help?
You ought to trust in the Lord.
Send them home because they shouldn't be going
into battle with you.
He said, Well, watch, I do.
I've already given 100 talents of silver.
He said, Just forget it.
Count it as a loss.
But send them back.
Don't let them go into battle with you.
Well, he listened to the voice of the
prophet of God and he sent the men
of Judah home who were angry, the men
of Israel home.
They were angry and so they actually began
to rip up some of the cities of
Judah on their way home.
But Amaziah went down then against the Edomites
and God gave the Edomites into his hands.
But then the stupid guy captured some of
the gods of the Edomites, the little idols,
and he brought them back and set them
up in his home and he began to
worship these little idols, the gods of the
Edomites.
Therefore, the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Amaziah.
He sent to him a prophet that said,
Why have you sought after the gods of
the people which could not deliver them out
of your hand?
It came to pass as he talked with
him, the king said, Did I hire you
as a counselor?
You better shut up for why should I
smite you?
And then the prophet was quiet and he
said, I know that God is determined to
destroy you because you have done this and
you have not hearkened to my counsel.
So Amaziah, the king of Judah, sent a
message to Jehoiah Haz, the king of Israel.
And he said, Let's come and face each
other.
And so Jehoiah Haz, the king of Israel,
sent a message back and said, Look, young
man, you went down and you had a
victory over the Edomites.
Now just stay home and enjoy that victory
for why should you meddle to your own
hurt?
In other words, be satisfied with the victory
you had over the Edomites and don't go
looking for trouble.
Why should you meddle to your own hurt?
But Amaziah would not hear and he demanded
that they come out and meet face to
face.
So the king of Israel came against him
at Beth Shemesh and Amaziah and his troops
were defeated.
And the king of Israel came to Jerusalem
and he broke down the wall of Jerusalem
from the gate of Ephraim to the corner
gate, a space of about 600 feet.
And he took all of the gold and
the silver and all of the vessels that
were found in the house of God and
the treasures of the king's house and he
took hostages and he returned to Samaria.
And Amaziah lived for another 15 years and
the rest of his acts are found in
the book of the kings of Judah in
Israel.
Now after that time Amaziah turned away from
following the Lord.
They made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem.
He fled to Lachish, but they came to
Lachish and there they killed him.
Now this business of why meddle to your
own hurt is a good warning really because
many times people think that they can meddle
with sin and not get hurt.
They think that they can play with fire
and not get burned.
And it is interesting that many times our
greatest dangers lie immediately following our greatest victories.
Having a great victory can be a dangerous
thing because many times flushed with victory we
begin to gain confidence in our flesh.
We begin to almost go out looking for
trouble.
Looking for temptation so that we can conquer
over it.
Putting ourselves in a place of temptation or
jeopardy in order that we might show how
strong we are.
Meddling around with things that we have no
business meddling with.
In places we have no business being.
Meddling usually results in our own hurt.
And so they were defeated.
But that wasn't all.
A part of their defenses were destroyed.
The king came and he destroyed a part
of the wall of Jerusalem.
When you fall into temptation a part of
your defenses are destroyed.
The first time you came up against it
it was a real battle.
You didn't fall easily.
You really held your own for quite a
while.
But when you fell a part of your
defenses were wiped out.
So the next time you face that thing
you didn't have the same amount of strength
to resist.
It was a little easier to do it
because you've already done it once.
You didn't have just that same inner strength
against it.
It was easier to fall the second time.
The third time it was even easier yet
because a part of your defenses were destroyed.
And he took away the treasures.
Whenever Satan defeats you a certain amount of
your treasures go with it.
Treasures of purity and innocency robbed.
Meddling to your own hurt.
Don't meddle with sin.
Don't meddle in the places of sin.
Don't go to the enemy's territory looking for
a fight.
Looking to prove how strong you are, how
tough you are, how righteous you are.
How many people have been hurt by meddling?
Chapter 26.
We find the beginning of the reign of
Uzziah.
Now he was only 16 years old when
he began to reign and he had one
of the longest reigns outside of Manasseh, the
longest reign of any king in Israel.
He reigned for some 51 years.
Uzziah was a good king.
Uzziah was a popular king.
Uzziah became a powerful king.
He built Eilat and restored it to Judah.
He reigned for 52 years in Jerusalem.
His mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem.
He did that which was right in the
sight of the Lord according to all that
his father Amaziah did.
And he sought God in the days of
Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of
God.
And as long as he sought the Lord,
God made him to prosper.
Very interesting Scripture.
As long as he sought the Lord.
As long as you put God first in
your life.
Jesus said that you should not be worried
about what you're going to eat, what you're
going to drink, what you're going to wear.
For after these things do the pagans worry.
But seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness and all these things will be
added unto you.
As long as he sought the Lord, as
long as he put God first, God made
his ways to prosper.
We need to put God first in our
lives.
As long as he sought the Lord.
Very important Scripture.
So he went forth and he warred against
the Philistines.
He broke down the wall of Gath, and
Javna, and Ashdod.
And he built cities about Ashdod among the
Philistines.
God helped him against the Philistines, against the
Arabians, and the Mahunans.
And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah.
And his name spread abroad even to the
entering in of Egypt.
For he strengthened himself exceedingly.
He built towers for defense there in Jerusalem
and at the corner gate, and at the
valley gate.
And he fortified them.
And he built towers in the desert.
He dug many wells.
For he had a lot of cattle.
And he had a lot of vineyards and
all.
There was just general prosperity under Uzziah.
He had a host of fighting men that
went out to war by bands.
And there were 2,600 captains over them.
He made Jerusalem, in Jerusalem, weapons of war,
engines of war that were invented by cunning
men.
That they would put them on the towers
to hurl stones and to shoot arrows.
And his name spread far abroad.
So, he became a powerful king, a powerful
ruler.
The kingdom was strengthened under him.
But when he was strong, his heart was
lifted up to his destruction.
For he transgressed against the Lord.
For he went into the temple to burn
incense at the altar of incense.
Now, this was the duty that was to
be exclusively the priest.
As the king, he had no business intruding
into the temple to offer incense.
It was a job only for the priest.
And so, Azariah, the priest, with another 80
priests, who were all valiant men, came in
and challenged him.
As he was swinging the incense there before
the altar of incense, they challenged him.
They said, get out of here.
You have no business being in here.
And he became angry with them and turned
against them.
But as he did, leprosy broke out on
his forehead.
And so, the priest grabbed him and thrust
him out physically because of the leprosy.
And he became a leper.
He had to dwell outside until the day
of his death.
And his son took over as the king.
Now, Uzziah was a good king for the
most part.
It was in the time of his strength
that he fell.
But because of all that he had done,
he was a popular king.
The nation prospered under his reign.
And his name spread abroad throughout all of
the land.
And twice, it talks about in verse 15,
and his name spread far abroad.
For he was marvelously helped and he was
strong.
And in verse 8, and his name spread
abroad even to the entering in of Egypt.
He was a king that the people had
great confidence in because as long as he
was on the throne, because he was a
very cunning man, a very skillful man.
He had built up all of these defenses.
They had developed all of these weapons of
war.
They had invented many excellent weapons for battle.
And the people felt a security.
Things prospered under his reign.
His name was spread abroad so that people
were looking at him.
Confidence was in him.
And I point that out because in the
sixth chapter of Isaiah, and Isaiah the prophet
lived at this time.
He began his prophesying during the time or
shortly after the death of Uzziah.
So we are now coming historically into the
period of the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet.
And in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, he
makes this interesting statement concerning Uzziah.
And in the year King Uzziah died, I
saw the Lord sitting on the throne high
and lifted up and his train did fill
the temple.
Up until that time, Isaiah's eyes were upon
Uzziah just like everybody else.
He was captivated by the abilities of this
man.
Uzziah was sort of the hero for all
of the people.
And God had to move Uzziah out of
the way in order that Isaiah might see
the Lord.
It's terrible when a man hides our vision
of God.
Even though he is good, even though he
has done a lot of good, we must
not get our eyes upon men.
Now, at the time of his death, there
was a great despair.
Oh, Uzziah is dead.
What are we going to do?
You know, we've prospered now for 50 years.
The kingdom is strong and powerful.
What are we going to do?
The throne is empty of this popular, powerful
king.
What are we going to do?
Uzziah is dead.
But God gave to Isaiah a vision of
the throne.
But God was sitting upon it behind the
scenes.
God reigns.
I saw the Lord high and lifted up,
sitting on the throne.
And His train, His glory, did fill the
temple.
So, the death of Uzziah and his son,
Jotham, who began to reign in his stead.
And chapter 25 takes up the reign of
Jotham.
25 years old when he began to reign.
Reigned for 16 years.
He did that which was right in the
eyes of the Lord, just like his father
Uzziah.
However, he didn't enter into the temple.
But the people under him began to do
corruptly.
And of course, you'll get that in Isaiah's
prophecy.
And Jotham became mighty because he prepared his
ways before the Lord his God.
But not much is told us about him.
The rest of what he did is told
in the book of Kings.
And he reigned for 16 years.
So, he was actually just 36 years old.
No, he was 41 years old.
25 when he started.
And he slept with his fathers.
They buried him in the city of David.
So, it brings us up to chapter 28.
And next week we will finish the book
of 2 Chronicles as we come to the
end of the books of history prior to
their being carried away into the Babylonian captivity.
Now, you know that the Old Testament is
divided into different sections.
The first being, the first 5 books being
the books of Moses.
And then we have the books really of
the history of the nation.
Beginning with Joshua coming into the land, the
period of their judges.
And then the period of their kings up
until the time of their captivity by Nebuchadnezzar.
And then we have 2 more books of
history.
Ezra and Nehemiah.
But the books of Ezra and Nehemiah carry
you into the post-captive period after they
returned from Babylonian captivity.
So, 2 Chronicles will bring us up to
the what they call the pre-exilic history
of the nation.
And the post-exilic we will have when
we get the books of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Then we go into the books they call
of poetry.
As we get into Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Psalms, Solomon.
Then we get into the books of the
major prophets.
Major only because of the length of their
books.
Not because of the importance of their prophecies
or the position.
Or not because one prophet was greater than
the other.
But just the size of their books.
The major prophets.
And then the smaller books of the prophets
which are called the minor prophets because the
books are smaller.
And when we get into the books of
poetry you must fit them back into this
period of history we've already covered.
Because these books were written during this period.
For instance, Job was written sometime during the
historic period of Genesis.
Job could have lived about the same time
as did Abraham.
And so, that book goes way back historically.
The Psalms, of course, cover mainly David's reign.
But yet, some of the Psalms were written
by Moses and some of them by Solomon
and others after Asaph, one of David's musicians.
As you get into Proverbs, of course, you're
into Solomon's reign.
As you're in the Song of Solomon, you've
got again one of the thousand or more
songs that Solomon wrote.
Then as you get into the prophets, Isaiah,
we're in the particular period of history right
now where Isaiah comes in.
And with Jeremiah, this is the period of
history that Jeremiah, we're coming right up now
to Jeremiah in the next king.
And that's when Jeremiah began his prophesying when
he was just a lad of 17 years
old.
And you begin to fit then the prophets
back into this period of history.
So, it's important that you sort of get
the history in your mind because to understand
the prophets and their messages, you've got to
know what were the circumstances of Judah and
Israel at the time the prophets were telling
them of the destruction that was going to
come upon their enemies or the destruction that
was going to come upon them because they
had forsaken God.
And so, to get a good understanding of
the prophets, it's important that we lay the
foundational base in the history so that you'll
be able to understand more completely the message
of the prophets when we get there.
So, sometimes history has a way of being
a drag, but yet it does have its
value in understanding better the message of the
prophets as we move on.
So, shall we stand?
May the Lord fill your heart with praise
and thanksgiving through the week that you might
know God's work and God's victory in your
life.
May God help you to bring things into
their proper perspective and the proper priorities that
you might seek first the kingdom of God,
His righteousness, and that you might realize the
power and the glory of the God that
you serve in order that you might see
His work in your life in a very
real and beautiful way.
In Jesus' name.