Month: February 2024

2 Chronicles 13:18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.

In the Civil War between Judah and Israel, Ahijah and his people prevailed and slaughtered the army of Israel, the breakaway Northern kingdom under Jeroboam. Judah prevailed because they relied upon the Lord. Judah may not have been so great, but they did rely on the Lord. God was faithful to their faithfulness and granted them victory over their enemies. They did not rely on their strength or numbers, but on the promises of God. For out of Judah will come the Savior, our Messianic Deliverer.

We are small and weak in the face of our spiritual enemies, but God is our fortress and champion because of Christ. We can count on Him to prevail over our enemies, and we win the victory. Satan is bound, Sin is overcome, and Death is no more. These deadly enemies of our soul have been utterly slaughtered at the cross and the empty tomb. Count on it! Trust the Lord to grant the victories He promised, even through all the little troubles and battles we face.

2 Chronicles 13:10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business.

In Abijah’s speech to Jeroboam and the people of the Northern Kingdom, he accuses them of setting up their own priests to minister to their false gods, the golden calves, but we (Judah) have retained the true worship of the true God with the chosen priests and Levites. He says they have not forsaken the Lord but have remained faithful to the Lord and His prescriptions for true worship.

Now the truth may be a little different than that, for 1 Kings 15:3 says that Abijah was unfaithful to God and was a wicked king. However, the Chronicler chose to highlight the little good he did in order to show that he was still under God’s covenant promise to David. He did not forsake the Lord, as Jeroboam did. Because of his fiery speech recorded here, he was spared the immediate consequences of his sin.

The example for our learning is this: although we are sinners justly deserving God’s wrath and judgment, we are at the same time saints who have received God’s grace, favor, and blessing because of Christ. We confess our sinfulness, repent of sins, and believe in Jesus, our Forgiver and Savior, who brings us righteous before God. Jesus is my God, my Lord and Savior, and because of the gospel I will remain faithful to Him.

2 Chronicles 13:6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord.

Abijah, king of Judah, was arrayed in battle against Jeroboam, king of Israel. There he spoke to Jeroboam and his army. He said that the Lord gave the kingdom over Israel to David and his sons forever by covenant. And he told them that Jeroboam, a former servant of Solomon, has responded to God’s covenant promise by rising up and rebelling against David’s son, Solomon. This act of rebellion and splitting God’s kingdom is the same as rebelling against God and His Word. He thought he could withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hands of the sons of David. He even set up golden calves with priests to worship these idols.

Abijah believed God and His covenant promise: that as an heir of David his kingdom would endure forever, and that the future Son of David would come to earth to establish the eternal kingdom of God. But Jeroboam had disbelieved that Promise, rejected the kingdom, and rebelled against God. History shows that the Ten Tribes of Israel were scattered and lost to history, while the Kingdom of Judah, though fallen, would endure to bring the Messiah to redeem mankind and establish the kingdom of God in the hearts of believers to last forever.

Our response to God’s promised Savior and Lord is clear: worship Jesus and trust Him, or rebel against Him by continuing in sin without repentance. We confess rebellion and receive forgiveness.

2 Chronicles12:14 And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord.

Rehoboam’s story is tragic, for he did evil, as did many of the kings of Israel and Judah. All men are sinners, but what was the specified evil? It was that he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. He was not like his grandfather David, who had been called a man after God’s own heart. David was also a sinner, but he wanted the Lord in his heart and life. Rehoboam did not prepare to seek the Lord.

He did not hear the words of the Law, which would convict him of sin and failure and of the need for the mercy and forgiveness of God. The Law prepares the heart. He did not hear the words of the Gospel, which would convict him of mercy and forgiveness from God. The Gospel moves a person to seek the Lord and desire to live accordingly. Since he did not prepare his heart in this way, he was left only with his own selfish sinfulness, which is evil.

We also need to respond to the Word by repentance and faith in the Gospel. We are convicted that without Jesus in our life we are evil. We don’t want to hear that, but the message is life-changing. The Spirit works in our heart through the Word to prepare us to seek the Lord in all of our life. If we do not respond by trusting Him completely we find ourselves alienated from Him.

2Chronicles 12:1, 5, 7 And it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel with him….Then came Shemaiah the prophet to Rehoboam…and said unto him, Ye have forsaken me, and therefore have I left you in the hand of Shishak….And when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, They have humbled themselves: therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance, and my wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak.

Rehoboam, first king of Judah, had forsaken the Lord once he established the kingdom. As a result, Shishak, king of Egypt, invaded Judah and made off with treasures. The prophet came to Rehoboam to tell him the reason for the trouble. Then, because of God’s Word, he humbled himself before the Lord. Therefore, God granted some deliverance and would not destroy Judah. God’s wrath would not be poured out on Jerusalem, at this time.

Shishak attacked because Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord; Shishak’s invasion was limited because Rehoboam humbled himself. Both responses yielded predictable results. The lesson for us is clear: when we ignore the Lord and sin against His Law and try to go it alone bad things will happen: when we humble ourselves before the Lord and repent and believe then the Lord limits the extent of the damage that comes from living in a sinful world. When trouble threatens we turn to the Lord in humble penitence and complete trust in Jesus. Sin still makes life hard, but because of Mercy we are not destroyed. Expect some deliverance in response to humble prayer. Deliver us from evil.

2 Chronicles 11:14, 16 For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem; for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the Lord….And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the Lord God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the Lord God of their fathers.

After the division of the kingdom of Israel, King Jeroboam in the Northern Kingdom had established the false religion of worshipping Golden Calves and forbade the Lord’s priests from executing their office. Thereupon, many Levites and other faithful citizens of Israel left the idolatrous kingdom of Israel and came to Judah and Jerusalem to seek the Lord and worship Him as He commanded.

By this migration we can see that Israel (the North) became more and more secularized, pagan and worldly, while Judah (the South) grew stronger and more faithful with more believing citizens, though they finally lost their way, too. And by the way, Judah lasted 135 years longer than Israel, and the kingdom was restored from Captivity, while the ten lost tribes of Israel were lost forever.

The faithful people of God may always be smaller in number than their worldly counterparts, but they live longer, for eternity. These people obeyed God rather than Jeroboam, and by their actions strengthened the Southern Kingdom. Most of the people of the Northern Kingdom would go along with the evil kings, hoping to personally benefit.

Drifting along with negative trends and rationalizing away God’s teachings can lead to ruin. It is easier and lazier to just live the way the world lives than to be courageous in your faith. It takes the response of faith to leave the world and join with God’s faithful people. Taking a stand for God’s truth and God’s way in the face of the world’s way and its citizens is hard without the Spirit and the Word. Losing what the secular world offers requires faith to see the invisible riches offered in the Gospel. Come to Judah!

2 Chronicles 10:11, 14 For whereas my father put a heavy yoke upon you, I will put more to your yoke: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions….And answered them after the advice of the young men, saying, My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.

King Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, heard a complaint from the people asking him to ease the heavy yoke and servitude of his father. Rehoboam asked advice from the elders, who advised him to lighten the yoke and make life easier. He then asked the advice of the younger men in his court. They advised him to make the yoke even heavier. He followed the counsel of the younger men, and he told the people he would make the yoke even heavier.

Bad choice! Jeroboam rallied the people to rebel, and split the kingdom, taking the larger part with him to form the kingdom of Israel, leaving only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin as a small kingdom under Rehoboam. The lust for power and control tempted Rehoboam to respond with the wrong choice that led to the breakup of the Kingdom.

The Bible says that he did not listen because the turn of affairs was of God that the Lord might perform his word. The Lord allows evil things to happen through the sin and selfishness of human beings. The results of rebellion are allowed to continue until the people repent and turn to God. Thus the strong kingdom of Solomon was divided and weakened, until only a remnant in Judah remained faithful in order to bring the Messiah, the Savior, into the world to bring all people back to God and to Life.

Our response of bad choices causes terrible consequences that God uses to bring us to our senses, repent, and come to Jesus for forgiveness and life. Many times in our life bad things happen in our life by our own sin and the sins of others. We let God use these things to bring us to Jesus for forgiveness, new life, salvation, and joyful restoration.

2 Chronicles 9:3-4 And when the Queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel; his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he went up into the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her.

The Queen of Sheba paid a visit to King Solomon and his kingdom. She heard the wisdom of Solomon, saw the organization of his government, and beheld the glorious beauty and riches of his temple and palace. She was overwhelmed with awe. There was no more spirit in her. It was all breath-taking, for the Hebrew word for spirit also means breath. Just the reflections of the glory of God took her breath away.

Solomon’s wisdom and wealth was awesome and glorious, and so the God of Israel must be awe-inspiring. What she saw with her own eyes instilled the fear of God in her, so much that there was no more spirit in her. Whether or not she became a convert, a true believer, we are not told, but she was impressed with the God of Israel.

Remarkably, the same response happens in us believers in Christ as well, or at least it should if we let it. What God did for us, to us, and in us in Christ Jesus is even more awe-inspiring and breath-taking. Our response is the same, and sometimes we get a glimpse of glory, as through a glass darkly. Philippians 4:19: “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Paul prays in Ephesians (1:18) that we may know “the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints.” Jesus takes your breath away.

2Chronicles 8:11, 15 And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city f David unto the house that he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, where unto the ark of the Lord hath come….And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites concerning any natter, or concerning the treasures.

Although Solomon carefully followed God’s instructions for building the Temple and offering sacrifices, he paid no attention to what God had said about marrying pagan women. In fact, he married 700 wives and had 300 concubines, many of which were foreign girls, pagan idolaters. Here he marries the daughter of Pharaoh, of Egypt, the symbol of the world opposed to God.

This was his first step away from the Lord, which brought about the downfall of the kingdom after his death. No matter how good or obedient we are in most areas of life, one unsurrendered sin can bring a downfall. We honestly want to surrender everything to the Lord who gave up everything to purchase us for Himself. Jesus is Lord of all. His love is total, unconditional, and unlimited. We respond 100% to such love. We desire to guard carefully every area of our life, especially our relationships, and we try not to give sin any foothold.

But we fail. Therefore, daily repentance and turning and returning becomes a way of life. We won’t totally get rid of all sin, but can always live in the state of forgiveness. Repentance reminds us of the sins that still plague us.