God Bless the Faithful...The Good, The Bad, and the Ok

The stories of Kings in the O.T. included the the GOOD, the BAD, and the OK. The stories of the Kings teach us about power of influence. The secret to GOOD, is faithfully following God.

Israel had been divided into 2 parts

Israel

Judah

Between the 2 they had been led by Kings for about 200 years. As your about to find out some were GOOD, some were BAD, and some were just OK. Lets start right with OK...

An OK King...

Azariah who also went the name of Uzziah was 16 years old when he became King. He would rule for 52 years...

2 Kings 15:1–7 MEV

In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah, king of Judah, became king. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jekoliah from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. But the high places were not removed. The people continued sacrificing and making offerings on the high places. The Lord afflicted the king, and he was leprous until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house. Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the house, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the deeds of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? So Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the City of David. Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Azariah did everything his father had taught him to do. Scripture said he did what was right in the sight of the Lord. That’s not a bad report, but there’s a reason he’s just OK. He refused to deal with sins of his people. He allowed them to continue to sacrifice to the idols in the high places. He also...

2 Chronicles 26:16–21 MEV

And as he grew strong, his heart grew more proud, leading to his destruction. Then he acted unfaithfully against the Lord his God, for he entered the temple main hall of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. But Azariah the priest entered in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—men of valor. And they stood against King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord for it is for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave from the sanctuary because you have been unfaithful, and there will be no honor for you from the Lord God.” Then Uzziah was enraged, and in his hand was a censer for incense. And when he became angry with the priests, leprosy appeared on his forehead in front of the priests in the house of the Lord, near the altar of incense. Then Azariah the head priest and all the priests turned to him, and he had leprosy on his forehead; and they hastened to remove him from there, and he also hurried to leave because the Lord had struck him. So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day of his death. He dwelt in a separate house with his unclean disease because he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the house of the king, and he governed the people of the land.

He was just OK because he did some good things, but he was disobedient and unfaithful.

The BAD King

King Ahaz would rule for 16 long years.

2 Kings 16 MEV

In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like David his father. He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the children of Israel. He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree. Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to battle, and they besieged Ahaz but could not subdue him. At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judeans from Elath. The Edomites came to Elath and live there to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria went up to Damascus, captured it, exiled the people to Kir, and killed Rezin. Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria and saw an altar that was in Damascus. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a pattern of the altar and model of it, according to the manner of its construction. Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Thus Uriah the priest worked until King Ahaz came from Damascus. When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his libations, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he moved from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord. He put it on the north side of the new altar. Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, and the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.” So Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz commanded. King Ahaz cut off the bases of the stands and removed the basin from them. He took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on stone pavement. The structure for the Sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s outer entrance he removed from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria. Now the rest of the deeds of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

Ahaz was a terrible King. It says that he did not do what was pleasing to God. Not only did his people still sacrifice to idols, the King did himself. He even sacrificed his own son in worship to Molech. they believed when children were passed between the red hot brass arms of the idol it would provide cleansing from evil and show their faithfulness. After 210 years of rebellion, moral corruption, and idolatry they would reap the full punishment of their actions. They were defeated and taken into Assyrian captivity.

The GOOD King

Finally we’ll look at Hezekiah. He was 25 years old when he stepped in to rule. He would rule for 29 years.

2 Kings 18:1–8 MEV

In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi daughter of Zechariah. He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to everything that David his father had done. He removed the high places, broke down the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and crushed the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the children of Israel had made offerings to it. They called it Nehushtan. He trusted in the Lord God of Israel. Afterwards, there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah or among those who were before him. He clung to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses. The Lord was with him. Wherever he went, he prospered. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

Hezekiah would be described the way we all hope to be...

He did what was right in the sight of the Lord!

He served the Lord wholeheartedly, it say he clung to the Lord. He crushed the idolatry in the land and was blessed by God. He prospered everywhere he went.

Only One Choice

3 different Kings, 3 different choices. We have the same choices before us today…GOOD, BAD, and OK. We should never allow ourselves to be like Ahaz! Nothing but destruction will await us. I pray that we don’t find ourselves like Azariah and settle for OK. My prayer for you today is that you would choose to be like Hezekiah and cling to Jesus and all His ways. He was blessed because he was faithful! Choose GOOD!