The Bible Series Kings
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Joshua had strongly and forthrightly declared to the nation of Israel… Joshua 24:14-15
“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
How could you or why would you ever REFUSE to serve the LORD!? A CHOICE TO COMMIT
We see in Deuteronomy 17:14-20 God declare to the nation how its kings should behave and rule…
“You are about to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you take it over and settle there, you may think, ‘We should select a king to rule over us like the other nations around us.’ If this happens, be sure to select as king the man the Lord your God chooses. You must appoint a fellow Israelite; he may not be a foreigner. “The king must not build up a large stable of horses for himself or send his people to Egypt to buy horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You must never return to Egypt.’ The king must not take many wives for himself, because they will turn his heart away from the Lord. And he must not accumulate large amounts of wealth in silver and gold for himself. “When he sits on the throne as king, he must copy for himself this body of instruction on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from becoming proud and acting as if he is above his fellow citizens. It will also prevent him from turning away from these commands in the smallest way. And it will ensure that he and his descendants will reign for many generations in Israel.
This by the way is good practical advice for all of us… DAILY keep the things of God, the WORDS of God before our eyes, hearts, and minds!
As David is on his death bed he passes these words onto his son and his descendants… 1 Kings 2:1-3
As the time of King David’s death approached, he gave this charge to his son Solomon: “I am going where everyone on earth must someday go. Take courage and be a man. Observe the requirements of the Lord your God, and follow all his ways. Keep the decrees, commands, regulations, and laws written in the Law of Moses so that you will be successful in all you do and wherever you go.
WOW! What great instructions… FOLLOW His ways!
Choose to Serve
Daily in God’s Word
Follow His Ways
It was NOT for lack of instruction, knowledge, or even warning that we see the TRAGIC narrative of Kings unfold before us this morning.
Rather it is due to the LACK OF:
Obedience
Desire
Wise Choices
The book of Samuel introduces the “Anointed One” to come.
We see God’s PROMISE ONE will sit on David’s Throne and be from his line!
The book of Kings records for us God’s faithfulness to His promise as we look at this nation of Israel’s history spanning 384 years…
TODAY we have a fitting message as we honor our graduates...
We will observe generations,
EACH given the opportunity to make their own choice in how they will live
And we will see how God views their choice!
Kings Overview
Kings Overview
The book begins with David passing the throne onto his son Solomon… Solomon’s reign is recorded to the greatest extent in Chapters 1-11.
We are introduced to Solomon requesting wisdom over anything else from God as he begins his reign
Books of Poetry & Wisdom
However he does not pay attention to the wisdom he gives (1000 wives & their gods)
Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem as his father David had wanted to do, and we see the glory of God and his blessings… BUT THEN CHOICES ARE MADE…
Chapter 12 the nation and kingdom is divided (930 BC)
Northern Kingdom 10 tribes (ISRAEL)
Southern Kingdom 2 tribes (JUDAH)
We see God send His PROPHETS to both kingdoms… we see a sad CENTRAL THEME emerge in this book!
A strong Disobedience to God and His Word
Division occurs
Among brothers, tribes, and a kingdom
Between God and Man… Sin separates us from God & disobedience IN ANY FORM IS SIN!
Dispersion… our sin has consequences
Israel is taken into captivity as exiles to Assyria 722 BC
Judah is taken into captivity as exiles to Babylon in 606 BC
God had warned them of this all the way back when the temple was built… 1 Kings 9:4-9
“As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’ “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’ “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’ ”
You see God had given them responsibilities and He had expectations… of his people, His Kings, and His Prophets!
KINGS:
Worship God and God alone… “He is a jealous God… and He is ONE!”
Get rid of the idolatry in the land… drive it out, it has NO PLACE among you!
Trust in God… He is able!
Be faithful to His commands, His Word
PROPHETS:
NOT FORTUNE TELLERS
Spoke on God’s behalf… His Words
Call out idolatry… call sin sin!
Call the people the kings to REPENT
Challenge and call people to follow the scriptures!
I want you to consider the extent God went to, striving with His people, kings, to follow Him...
Look at the Kings and Prophets
Look at the Kings and Prophets
The RED individuals were those who did EVIL in the sight of the Lord, the BLUE individuals did what was RIGHT in the eyes of the Lord!
God is Faithful even in the midst of so much unfaithfulness
He sent prophets to both kingdoms
Elijah one of the greatest and Elisha follows after him!
Elisha receives double blessing of God’s Spirit (7 vs 14)
God is also faithful to allow and bring consequences for their choices and actions
CHOICES: We ALL have them and ALL make them:
All 20 of the kings of Israel chose to disobey God
We see 8 of the 20 in Judah chose to obey “They did right in God’s eyes”
We see 40 kings listed here and God sums up their lives one of two ways
Graduates please open your paper I gave you… [show lives summed up]
None of us knows how long we have
Each of us has a choice of how we live those years though!!!
Proverbs 3:5-6 was ironically written by Solomon to his son… oh had the kings, his sons, generations followed this wise statement…
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.
Josiah… is a young man and king I would like to briefly look at as we close. He is eight years old as he takes the throne, no previous Godly examples in his life… yet look!!! 2 Kings 22:2
He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right.
In his eighteenth year ruling (age 26) Josiah rehabs the temple, finds a scroll and reads it 2 Kings 22:11-13 IT IS THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD!!!
When the king heard what was written in the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes in despair. Then he gave these orders to Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Acbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the court secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal adviser: “Go to the Temple and speak to the Lord for me and for the people and for all Judah. Inquire about the words written in this scroll that has been found. For the Lord’s great anger is burning against us because our ancestors have not obeyed the words in this scroll. We have not been doing everything it says we must do.”
He gathers all the people… what a leader, what an amazing choice despite the examples he had seen, the situation he had been given… 2 Kings 2:1-3
When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were traveling from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, for the Lord has told me to go to Bethel.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the Lord lives and you yourself live, I will never leave you!” So they went down together to Bethel. The group of prophets from Bethel came to Elisha and asked him, “Did you know that the Lord is going to take your master away from you today?” “Of course I know,” Elisha answered. “But be quiet about it.”
I love the unique way this book concludes…
GOD OF HOPE…
GOD OF HOPE…
In 2 Kings 25:27-30 we see God extend to the people of Israel… HOPE!
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, Evil-merodach ascended to the Babylonian throne. He was kind to Jehoiachin and released him from prison on April 2 of that year. He spoke kindly to Jehoiachin and gave him a higher place than all the other exiled kings in Babylon. He supplied Jehoiachin with new clothes to replace his prison garb and allowed him to dine in the king’s presence for the rest of his life. So the king gave him a regular food allowance as long as he lived.
This king even though he did evil in God’s eyes, is punished, he was taken captive, yet…
God extends MERCY
God preserves the line of David
God will keep His word!
Graduates, church…
Choose to Serve the Lord (responsibility)
Daily remain in God’s Word (need)
EACH OF US are given the opportunity to make the choice in how we will live (choice)
In the end how God views your choice is all that matters!