Month: November 2023

2 Kings 17:14-15 Notwithstanding they would not hear, but hardened their necks, like to the necks of their fathers, that did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected his statutes, and the covenant that he made with their fathers; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and went after the heathen that were round about them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them, that they should not do like them.

The people’s response to God’s great salvation was one of horrible evil. He had sent prophets with a warning: Turn from your evil ways! Notwithstanding, they would not hear, but they stiffened their necks and remained hard-hearted. Therefore, the city would be destroyed and the kingdom lost. The Bible gives the real cause of the judgment. The Lord gave them chance after chance to turn, but eventually, in time patience runs out and stubborn hearts remain in rebellion.

The people took on the characteristics of the idols and imitated the godless nations around them. They had forgotten the importance and benefits of obeying God’s Word. Time and again, they strayed away from God to the world. Time and again, God sent prophets to warn them to turn back. He will pursue us until we either respond to Him or we by hardness of heart make ourselves unreachable. Therefore, we return and repent on a regular basis. Jesus’ arms are always reaching out in welcome.

2 Kings 16:10-11 And king Ahaziah went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus: and king Ahaziah sent to Uriah the priest the fashion of the altar, and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof. And Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that king Ahaziah had sent from Damascus: so Urijah made it against king Ahaz came from Damascus.

The weak and wicked Ahaz had gone to Damascus and saw there an altar that he liked. He sent the blueprint to Urijah the priest to have him build this altar in Jerusalem at the temple complex. When Ahaz returned he had sacrifices made on this pagan altar next to the Lord’s altar. Building and using an idol altar near the true altar of the Lord was about as blatant and brazen a sin against the Lord as one can imagine.

The weak and compromising priest obeyed the king and took part in this evil. The priest followed pagan customs only to please those in power. Of course, the priest should have known better than to assist the king in breaking the First Commandment and leading the people into gross idolatry.

When our primary focus is to avoid offending others by agreeing with everything they say and do, we risk making them more important than God in our lives and adopting a worldview that conflicts with God’s Word. Nothing good ever comes from compromise with the world and its evil ways. But God’s Love compels us to give exclusive worship to God alone and live in pure faith in Jesus.

2 Kings 13:19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.

Elisha had told Joash, the king of Israel, to beat the ground with arrows, as a symbol of the upcoming defeat of Syria. The king only smote the ground three times, when he should have beaten the ground five or six times. If he had, Israel would have defeated Syria until it was consumed, but now they would gain only a small victory.

The king may have thought this was a rather silly thing to do, but actually he lacked faith in God’s promises. He was not bold in prayer to expect a complete victory. This lack of faith and completed obedience made the prophet very angry. To him, it was typical of the shallow commitment of Israel to the Lord and of not selling out completely to the Lord who saves them. To cover all bases, Israel and its kings worshipped pagan gods in the high places. Only a couple of kings of both North and South demolished the high places.

The holiness of God demands absolute trust and total obedience. If we could do that, our life would go from victory unto victory. But we can’t, so the love of God sends His Son who does it all for us perfectly. Jesus was obedient unto death, even to death on the cross, and He completely and forever defeated our Enemies, Sin, Death, and the Devil. His total victory, until the Enemy is totally consumed and crushed, is sealed unto us. Jesus is sold out for us. We respond by faith in total devotion. And we are bold to pray for big things.

2 Kings 12:2 And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.

Jehoash was one of the best kings of Judah as far as doing what was right in the eyes of God. One reason for his goodness was that he had a godly instructor in Jehoiada the high priest. Jehoiada and his wife Jehosheba hid him in the temple and preserved his life until he was anointed king at age seven. Since he was such a young king he needed, and he followed, the wise counsel and godly instruction of a man of God.

As long as he listened he did good. Joash repaired and restored the temple to the glory of a house of God. Being raised in the temple and living under the tutelage of a faithful believer trained him to be a rarity, a truly good king. However, his reforms did not go far enough, for he did not take away the high places where the people sacrificed and burnt incense.

The lesson for us is twofold: We can respond to the Lord by 1) listening to the instruction of godly men and woman who faithfully teach the Word of God, and by 2) instructing younger men and woman in the word and ways of God. We can make good use of the influence God has given to us.

2 Kings 7:9 Then they said to one another, We do not well: this day is a day of good tidings, and we hold our peace: if we tarry till the morning light, some mischief will come upon us: now therefore come, that we may go and tell the king’s household.

The four men with leprosy discovered the deserted camp of the Syrians, for the Lord had made the army hear the noise of horses and chariots so that the army fled away. At first the lepers kept the good news to themselves and enjoyed the spoils. Then they realized they must go and tell others. Their response to Good News was to tell.

Go and tell the Good News. This is our natural response as saved believers to the Gospel we have heard, received, and enjoyed. Our enemies have been routed by the act of God’s power and love at the cross of Christ. We enjoy the spoils of Jesus’ victory of forgiveness, life, and salvation. And we do not keep it to ourselves and “wait until morning.” We have to tell somebody what great things God has done for us. We do not forget our fellow citizens who are starving in the city. It is as Luther says: “The Christian life is one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.”

2 Kings 6:16-17 And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.

The king of Syria sent a great army to find Elisha, and they surrounded him in the city of Dothan. The servant of Elisha saw the great army arrayed against them and panicked, “Alas, what shall we do?” Elisha told him not to fear, because there are more with us than with them. He prayed that God would reveal to the servant what is really going on. The Lord opened his eyes and he saw the mountains round about full of horses and chariots. And sure enough, he feared no longer, and the enemy was smitten with blindness.

We also can respond to the enemy host against us without fear, but with courage and faith. We pray that our Lord will show to the eyes of faith what a great army of God is on our side. “If God is for us who can be against us?” When worry, doubt, and anxiety are coming against us we can pray to the Lord to reveal to us what is really going on in the spiritual world around us. When we see (believe) we will fear not. God and His heavenly host is for us.

2 Kings 1:13 And he sent again a captain of the third fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight.

Two times already the king had sent two captains of fifty to Elijah that he should come down from the hill and see the king. And twice Elijah called down fire from heaven which consumed the captain and his fifty. But when the third captain of fifty came to Elijah he came as a beggar seeking mercy. He humbled himself and begged for his life. The angel of the Lord told Elijah to go down with him. And he did.

The Lord honored the approach of the third captain. He came as a humble beggar seeking mercy from the man of God. We are not sure of the reason why he called down fire on the first two captains and fifty. But we do know why he spared the third captain’s life and went with him: he prayed for mercy.

This event is an example for us Christians today. Our response to God’s holy conviction of sin calls us to a humble, begging approach to God for mercy. The sure promise is that the Lord will show mercy because of the death of Christ on the cross. Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector: the tax collector fell on his knees and beat his chest, praying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” This man went home justified, rather than the other.

When the hammer of God’s Law strikes our heart and pronounces us guilty, we respond by coming to God in a humble posture, begging mercy for Jesus’ sake. By faith we are forgiven and the Lord spares us judgment and declares us justified, holy and righteous. Daily repentance marks the life of a Christian.

1 Kings 22:52, 53 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and walked on the way of his father, and in way of his mother, and in way of Jereboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. For he served Baal, and worshipped him, and provoked to anger the Lord God of Israel, according to all that his father had done.

The reign of Ahaziah, the son of Ahab, is summarized the way most of the kings of Israel were summarized. They did evil, walked in the way of the world, and served other gods. He lived like his father and mother and in the way of Jereboam, whose influence carried through to the succeeding kings. The singular sin that provoked the Lord was: “Thou shalt have no others gods beside me.”

The World tempts us with other gods from whom we may find good. The first sin is looking to another source for our highest good instead of to the one true God, who is revealed to us in the Son, the Word, of God. This was the sin of Adam, and all of us who were born with the same sin nature.

We also see here the strong influence of fathers upon their children and the following generations for good or for ill. A jealous God “punishes the children for the sins of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.” When parents ignore God the children tend to do the same. But generational bondage can be broken any time a person turns to the Lord. This God also “shows love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.” We love God and keep His commandments by faith in Christ. By word and example parents pass the faith on to the next generations.

Ignoring God is hating God. Believing God is loving Him.. Blessings follow. But woes come to him who leads others into sin and unbelief.

1 Kings 22:43 And he [Jehoshaphat] walked in all the ways of Asa his father, he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places.

The Bible gives a spiritual evaluation of each king’s reign. Every Northern king did evil and worshipped false gods. Only six Southern (Judah) kings did what was right and were considered good in the eyes of God. However, only two of those six went all the way in the worship of the Lord alone, Hezekiah and Josiah.

Jehoshaphat and the other “good” kings were not completely good. He did not take away the high places where the people still worshipped idols. His response to God’s goodness was commendable, but he did not go far enough. He left places, shrines and idols, where people could still have other gods beside the Lord.

The response of Jehoshaphat to God’s kingdom rule is similar to the spiritual life of many Christians. They believe in Jesus for life and generally live a pretty good life, but nevertheless they hold on to some besetting sins that still need repentance and forgiveness. It seems the sinner keeps some “high places” in the heart that he is unable to take away and let it go.

Like Jehoshaphat and the good kings, we are genuinely saved believers who are forgiven by grace, but secret sins remain. The Holy Spirit continues to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, and He will not give up, but pockets of resistance in the heart are stubborn things that are susceptible to temptation. Satan knows these high places and tries to use them to mess up our life with God. But thank God, Jesus knows them, too, and He forgives and tears them down.

1 Kings 22:8, 18 And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may enquire of the Lord: but I hate him; for he doth not prophesy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so….And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat. “Did I not tell that he would prophesy no good concerning me, but evil.

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was meeting with the king of Israel, discussing whether or not to go to war with Ramoth-Gilead. He would not go into battle unless they asked the Lord first. Four hundred lying prophets said, “Go up.” Jehoshaphat asked for another prophet of the Lord. Ahab responded, “There is another prophet, but I hate him for he prophesies bad things about me.” Sure enough, Micaiah prophesied bad things if they went up to battle, and Ahab himself lost his life by a stray arrow.

Sometimes the Word and preachers of the Word say bad things about us and our future judgment. But we want to hear only good things, sweetness and light, and not words of hell and damnation. However, the Good News of forgiveness, life, and salvation is empty and meaningless unless it is spoken into the context of bad news, sin, and judgment. Instead of saying,”I don’t want to hear that,” we can respond by repenting, “That’s me; I am the sinner. Have mercy on me.”

God’s Word does not tell us what we want to hear, but what we need to hear. So we listen with faith to Law and Gospel and apply it all to ourself.