The Lord is My Strength

If you have a Bible, I invite you to open up with me to 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26. If you are a parent, you probably remember the day when you started to try and pick out a name for your child and you possibly wanted to know what the name meant before your child was stuck with it for the rest of his or her life. Sometimes the meaning of the name is a really good one and other times, it’s not so good. I remember that before Benji was born that he wasn’t always going to be named Benjamin. At least in my mind, I had it made up in my head that if Benji was a boy that we were going to name him Calvin after the great reformer, John Calvin and the greatest third basemen/shortstops to ever play the game: Cal Ripken Jr. I was determined that my son would have all the theological genius of Calvin and if that didn’t work, maybe he could be the next iron man for the Orioles. Lora, to my knowledge, didn’t completely hate the idea until my mom told us that the name Calvin originally meant, “Little Bald One” and just like that, the name Calvin flew out the window. While our day and age may not place as much of an emphasis on the meaning of a name, those during the times in which the Word of God was written placed quite a lot of weight behind the naming of a child. If you look at the book of Genesis, we see God renaming Abram to Abraham because the name Abraham means, “Father of many nations.” We see the names Isaac, Jacob, and Esau all having great significance and really all through the narrative of Scripture we see the meaning behind a given name being really important for helping one to understand the type of person that someone is going to be. Even the name of our Lord Jesus tells us exactly who Jesus is, “The Lord is Salvation.” This morning we are going to read about King Uzziah, also known as King Azariah, and his name is incredibly important when it comes to understanding what went right and what went wrong in the life of this king. To give you a quick overview of his life, let’s read 2 Kings 15:1-7. This will be sort of a fly over of his life and then we will turn to 2 Chronicles 26. We’ll try to look at 4 things this morning: 1. The name and reign of Uzziah. 2. The Source of His Strength. 3. The Source of His Fall. 4. A View of Eternity. Let’s pray and then we will dive into 2 Kings 15.

2 Kings 15:1–7 NASB95

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; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places. The Lord struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land. Now the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.

The Name and Reign of Uzziah

Before we get to the reign of this king, let’s talk about the name of this king. What does the name Azariah mean? In Hebrew it means, “Helped by God.” and as we will see in his reign, this was certainly the case. Azariah as I mentioned earlier also went by the name Uzziah and that name is significant as well, meaning: “The Lord is my strength.” These names are perfect for Uzziah because as we look at his reign, we will see exactly how the Lord prospered him. As we saw in 2 Kings 15, Uzziah had an incredibly long reign. He had the second longest reign of any king in the Old Testament serving for 52 years, only behind Manasseh who would serve for 55 years. He was 16 when he became king and we see that he did right in the sight of the Lord but we also see those words that have become a staple throughout the books of kings and Chronicles that the high places were not removed and the people of the land still sacrificed to other gods on the high places. In 2 Chronicles 26:5, we see that Uzziah sought the Lord all the days of Zechariah who taught the king the ways of the Lord. Now this is not the same Zechariah that we read about 2 weeks ago that Joash put to death but some believe that this could be a son or a grandson of the Zechariah from 2 Chronicles 24. We read at the end of verse 5 of 2 Chronicles 26 that as long as Uzziah sought the Lord, God prospered him, and prosper he did. It is in the reign of Uzziah that the nation of Judah really enters a golden age that had not been seen since the time of Solomon. It is during the reign of Uzziah that the people of Judah live during a time of relative peace and great prosperity. It seems that Uzziah had a great relationship with the king of Israel, Jeroboam the second and this took away a lot of the tension that existed between the 2 nations. During this time, it seems that Judah is practically untouched by its enemies and instead of war happening at the doorstep of Jerusalem, Uzziah and his armies go out and do war with their enemies. We see the armies of Judah go out and fight the Philistines and have great success there, so much so that Uzziah builds cities in Philistine territory for the nation of Judah. He also has success against the Arabians and Meunites and the height of his fame and power goes far and wide. 2 Chronicles 26:8 says, “The Ammonites also gave tribute to Uzziah, and his fame extended to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong.” Uzziah’s reign extends to even the lowest in the land, even the farmers and vinedressers prosper under him because Uzziah has a love for the land. 2 Chronicles 26:9–10 says, “Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate and at the Valley Gate and at the corner buttress and fortified them. He built towers in the wilderness and hewed many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plain. He also had plowmen and vinedressers in the hill country and the fertile fields, for he loved the soil.” The military might of Uzziah was one that was practically unmatched. He had an army that would go out and wage war and he had what appears to be almost a second army that was able to stay and protect Judah. 2 Chronicles 26:14–15 just continues to emphasize the military might of Uzziah: “Moreover, Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows and sling stones. In Jerusalem he made engines of war invented by skillful men to be on the towers and on the corners for the purpose of shooting arrows and great stones. Hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.” This is a great kingdom to be a part of! Uzziah has so many resources that not only does he fortify the city of Jerusalem, he is building towers out in the wilderness! Physically, this is a stable kingdom. A long reigning king typically would be the sign of a long lasting and stable kingdom. So, that is a little about the reign of Uzziah but what is it that allowed him to have such strength and fame?

The Source of His Strength

To get an idea of where his strength came from, all we have to do is look at the name of Uzziah: The Lord is my strength. What was it that made Uzziah’s kingdom enter into this new golden age? It wasn’t the military might, it wasn’t the fame of Uzziah, it wasn’t the towers or the grand inventions, it was God! If you look back at 2 Chronicles 26:15, we see that Uzziah’s fame spread far, “for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.” Going back even further to verse 5 we see that it was God that prospered him. Really the prosperity of any nation comes back to the Lord and what He allows in His sovereignty. God allowed the rising of Uzziah and Judah just as He allowed the rising of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon to ultimately serve His glory and purpose. Daniel 2:21 says of the Lord: “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.” If you look at the state of the world today, you may think that there is no way that God is doing this but this is the testimony of Scripture. For purposes that may be beyond our understanding now, God is raising up and bringing down nations and rulers for His purpose. This is a humbling reminder for us especially as we enter into the election season. God is the One that ultimately decides the fate of the nations. He is the One that ultimately decides who will be ruling and we must be mindful of the fact that even bad rulers are used for God’s ultimately good purposes. God is not in Heaven saying, “Boy I hope they vote right this election because my will is contingent on that.” No, all is proceeding according to His plan. It is by a trust in God’s sovereignty and goodness that we lay our head down on our pillows at night and it is by that same sovereignty and goodness that we rise each morning. We also need to be mindful of the fact that all good things are from the Lord. James 1:17 says, “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” It is not just some good things, it is every good thing is from the Lord. Not just for believers but for every human being, all that is good comes from Him that is the source of all goodness. It is God’s common grace to all people that this is true. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:45b “For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” It is God and God alone that brings good things for mankind. Everything from salvation to rain upon a dry land is a good gift from the Father. Uzziah’s very name was to be an ongoing reminder that Uzziah did not build this kingdom. Uzziah on his own could do nothing to advance this kingdom. The source of his strength was utterly the Lord. So, we see the source of his strength but as we have seen far too often in these narratives, the strong don’t remain strong. Uzziah falls and stumbles just as many that came before him did. So, what is it that happens?

The Source of His Fall

We read in 2 Chronicles 26:16 “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.” There may be nothing worse for the state of man than pride. Is not pride the root of all sin? As we sin, we say that God’s righteous and good ways are the wrong ways. There may be no greater temptation for pride than success. How easy is it for us in moments of great prosperity to glorify ourselves? What may often be best for the state of our souls is weakness. Notice that it is when Uzziah became strong that his heart became so proud that he acted as he did and was unfaithful to the Lord. Something that we must all be mindful of is that you do not have to be a great king of a powerful nation to have pride-filled heart. Everything that you need in order to be prideful is already inside of you because sin is inside of you. What you and I need to understand is that the greatest threat to your spiritual life is not outside of you. The greatest threat to your spiritual life has always been your own sinful heart. And I think we see a picture of this reality in the life of Uzziah and his kingdom. Notice that he spent all of these resources on protecting his kingdom from an outside threat. He put together this vast and powerful army that was full of valiant warriors, he had machines and towers built to protect from the outside forces but what hurt Uzziah more than any army could, came from within his own kingdom and his own heart! Think back to 2 Kings 15:4, the high places were not removed. Uzziah did not do the right thing and rid the land of ungodliness. It would appear that he was more concerned about physical threats than spiritual ones. That which leads to Uzziah’s fall is not what happens outside of him, it’s what happens inside of him. That is the great danger and what a truth that you and I must be aware of! You cannot blame the sin in your life on anyone but yourself. You cannot blame your parents, you cannot blame your genes, you cannot blame where you grew up or where you went to school, you cannot blame your circumstances, you cannot even blame the devil. There has never been a sin where you can honestly say, “The devil made me do it.” No, you did it yourself. Unless you repent of your sin and turn to Jesus Christ, you will die in that sin. We must all be mindful of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12 “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.” Uzziah’s problem was that he did not remain true to his name. The Lord no longer was his strength and while he may have possessed real zeal for the Lord, that zeal was misguided. It was in his own strength, his own abilities, his own righteousness. We need grace every hour. You never outgrow your need for grace and you never outgrow your need for repentance. As we saw briefly in 2 Kings 15, we saw that the Lord struck Uzziah with leprosy and while the author of 2 Kings does not say why this happened, the author of 2 Chronicles does. It is because Uzziah goes into the temple to burn incense on the altar but it is clear in the Law of Moses that none but the priests were to do this. Yet Uzziah takes it upon himself to do that which is forbidden in the Law. It is almost as if he is trying to be like Melchizedek in the book of Genesis and be a priestly king. But notice the great boldness of Azariah the priest in 2 Chronicles 26:17-20

2 Chronicles 26:17–20 NASB95

Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men. They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.” But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him.

What an example we have as the people of God in Azariah and these 80 priests! These were godly men! These were men that weren’t afraid to stand out for what the Word of God said despite what could happen to them! Here they were opposing the king of Judah who could have easily put them to death but that doesn’t phase them! Where are the God-fearing men of our day? We need this in our day! We need men and women that are not afraid to call sin sin and are not afraid to hold our leaders to a standard of righteousness! Has the church of Jesus Christ lost its fire? Our prayer should be that God would raise up for us in our day men and women like this! Where are the great reformers of our day? Where are men like Martin Luther and John Knox that stood against popes and kings without fear because they knew that faithfulness to God was more important than anything else. Charles Spurgeon said, “We want again Luthers, Calvins, Bunyans, Whitefields, men fit to mark eras, whose names breathe terror in our foemen’s ears. We have dire need of such. Whence will they come to us? They are the gifts of Jesus Christ to the church, and they will come in due time. He has power to give us back again a golden age of preachers, and when the good old truth is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal from off the altar, this shall be the instrument in the hand of the Spirit for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in the land.” It was John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, who sat for years imprisoned for no other reason than for preaching the Gospel and Bunyan’s cell was practically unlocked. He could leave at any time as long as he promised to stop preaching. There was a moment when Bunyan appeared before the judge and the judge told him that very thing, he was free to go if he simply stopped preaching and Bunyan said to him, “If I were out of prison today, I would preach again tomorrow.” Oh that we would have such boldness to stand out for the truths of the Gospel. We must not be afraid to hold our leaders to a standard of righteousness. And may all of us from the least to the greatest recognize that God at any moment can humble our prideful hearts and if we do not humbly submit to the Lord now, He may have us submit in a way that is less than pleasing for us. Matthew Henry said, “If great men be proud men, some way or other God will humble them, and make them know He is both above them and against them, for He resists the proud.” For the rest of his life, Uzziah would be a leper and despite his long reign, Uzziah’s life would come to a close and what is ironic is that it is the year in which Uzziah died that he is perhaps the most well-known.

A View of Eternity (Isaiah 6)

As we close, keep in mind what it would be like for the nation of Judah to only have one king for half a century. This was monumental for them. For many, this was all they knew. The closest thing that we can think of is Queen Elizabeth II. Generations knew her as the queen of England and with a long reign comes a sense of stability and certainty. The nation of Judah is enjoying some of its best years since the time of Solomon and after Uzziah, the nation will not know real peace until the time of Josiah and even this is only temporary. What we all need is a view of that which is forever. We need to know that which is eternal. It is in Isaiah 6:1–3 where we all see that which we truly need. Isaiah writes, “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”” We cannot miss the heights and depths of this passage. At this time, Judah and Isaiah are in the midst of a crisis. What would the future look like? How would the new king lead? What would happen to the enemies of Judah? But the vision that Isaiah sees is what we must all, great and small, recognize: God Himself is on the throne! R.C. Sproul wrote, “The king was dead. But when Isaiah entered the temple, he saw another king, the Ultimate King, the One who sat forever on the throne of Judah. He saw the Lord.” Here was the true King! And this king was and is an eternal king! There are no rivals to His throne! Not only will this king never die, He is life itself! This is the thrice holy king, the One by which Heaven and earth was created, whom all angels and nature sing praise to. This is no little King, the extent of His reign and glory has no end! Here is the true hope of the nations and the whole earth is filled with His glory! He is the One that will reign forever and He is the One that possess all strength, might, power, and glory. Will you fall at the feet of this King? Will you be like Isaiah as you see the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and say in Isaiah 6:5 “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”” Have your eyes been opened to see this King? Have the eyes of your heart recognized that you are a man or woman of uncleaned lips that needs to have their sins forgiven? Where else can this happen but from the King Himself? May it not be lost on us that where Uzziah was a king that felt the need to act as a priest, it is only through Jesus Christ, the true Priestly-King that we can have salvation. The author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 7:24-26

Hebrews 7:24–26 NASB95

but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;

This is the King that we must worship. This is the priest that we must come to. Our great High Priest alone can go and stand before us as the mediator between God and man. Whereas Uzziah’s play at being a priest caused him to run out of the house of God, it is only through our High Priest and King that we can enter the house and throne room of God. Any other way in is a false way. The path into the Kingdom is narrow and none of us get in outside of Jesus Christ, our King of Kings, our Lord of Lords, and our Great High Priest. In Uzziah we see a man that starts the race well but whose own pride causes him to stumble. What is it in your own life that is causing you to stumble in the race that God has laid before you? Remember, you can only blame yourself. But will you embrace the King who is seated upon the throne forever? If you will not do it now, what will it take for you to do so? All will one day recognize the authority, righteousness, and power of the King of Kings? May the Lord not have to strike you in order for you to finally see this. Come to the King. He is loving and He is good and place upon Christ all the sin that has blinded you to the glory of our God. He is faithful and just to forgive. Let’s go to the Lord in prayer.