7-26-26 2 Kings
Notes
Transcript
Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to share ith you this morning.
During road trips, I’m wondering if some of you have the same tradition as my family does?
You’re driving along with a car full of kids and adults, you come upon a tunnel. A long one. maybe half a mile long.
What do you and the whole car do when you enter the tunnel?
Hold your breath. I was and am reigning champ in this sport.
I can hold my breath very well. As long as it’s not under water, which is where we are heading today, not just under water, but an under water tunnel.
I really liked looking as the temple last week with Solomon and how there was the tabernacle, then the temple and now us the Believers who are the temple.
Solomon was a king who amassed a great wealth. And that great wealth served the next kings very well.
Because shortly after Solomon’s son Rehoboam became King the kingdom split in two. And that wealth was slowly sapped away from other countries as Judah began to be looted and robbed for “protection Money.
And as we get leave 1 Kings and travel into 2 Kings we are skipping A Lot of Jesus in the Old Testament, but worry not.
You can always read for yourself and find him at your leisure. But one of the things 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles does is cross reference like crazy.
One neat thing I want you to know about the Bible is that it is one unifying story that was written over the course of 1600 years by more than 40 authors.
When you hit 1 and 2 Kings and 1 and 2 Chronicles, it doesn’t JUST tell the stories of Kings of Israel and Judah, though that is a big part.
It mentions Prophets, Kings and others who also wrote books of the Bible.
Like David and Solomon, Isaiah and Jonah.
So if you are reading through the Bible with a Chronological plan it often meshes together these 4 books and throws the prophets in all over the place.
When I decided to go through the Bible looking for Jesus, I just decided to follow the Table of contents.
So, instead of hitting a bunch of prophets right now, we’re hitting a King. And not just any King.
King Hezekiah.
He is a great King.
A lot of messages in the Old Testament can have illustrations that remind us that as humans beings we don’t add up. We don’t make it. We’re not good enough.
And if I really wanted to guilt trip everybody, there are plenty of people in these texts to really make you feel low.
And to be honest Hezekiah is not much different.
If you look at your own life and maybe you say to yourself.
Well, I never murdered any one like David or Paul. I’ve never denied like Peter. I’ve never slept around like Solomon.
You could read some of these accounts and feel pretty good about yourself.
Until you read Hezekiah’s story.
He had a everything going for him and pride knocked him down.
Great, you say, pride is one of mine.
Outside of Jesus, no one adds up to perfect.
But I don’t want anyone to take any story in the Bible as a guilt trip.
I hope as an encouragement.
Look at David, a man after God’s own heart. Murdered his friend to cover up his adultery.
God still loved him.
No matter what is going on in your life.
If you are making a bad choice. He still loves you.
We often see in scripture that he also corrects us. Let’s us stew in our disobedience for a while, but when it all comes down to it.
He still loves us.
And that’s what I want us to always remember and focus on.
If God is convicting us of something, it’s not because he wants us to beat ourselves up. But he does want us to turn to him and let him work.
Hezekiah was a King who was pretty great.
Let’s check him out in 2 Kings 18-20
1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah, king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah.
3 And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. 4 He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah.
And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5 He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him.
I was recently talking to someone and they brought up their Dad.
“the only thing my Dad taught me, was how Not to be a Dad.”
Some of us had Dad’s like that.
So did Hezekiah.
His dad was Ahaz and that guy did everything wrong. He brought pagan worship to the temple. He built idols and other objects of worship to the people.
He was not a good king or a good dad.
Then comes Hezekiah.
He doesn’t live like his dad.
He has a change.
Hezekiah loves God.
And these first five verses show this.
He takes down the idols, objects of worship and anything that draws people away from God
Including the bronze serpent Moses had made in Numbers 21 that when people got bitten by a snake they just looked at the snake and got better.
now, hundreds of years later that bronze snake had a name and people were talking to it like it was real.
Hezekiah said NOPE.
I read the beginning of his reign like the start of many people’s Christian walk.
When someone comes to Jesus, things change. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. We get rid of things that can draw us away from what Jesus has for us.
We stop doing certain things, or spending time at certain places. Not because anyone tells us to, but because it just doesn’t feel right anymore.
Hezekiah, it says, did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
We don’t always, and neither did he. But the walk of someone who follows God isn’t always an easy one.
Hezekiah was not given an easy kingdom to rule. His dad had led the people astray and the nation is not as strong as it was under David and Solomon.
14 years into Hezekiah’s reign some junk happened
13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 And Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; withdraw from me. Whatever you impose on me I will bear.”
And the king of Assyria required of Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid and gave it to the king of Assyria.
Hezekiah loves God. It says he did right in the eyes of the Lord and even did it better than others.
This passage looks like an unhealthy compromise.
He’s got an invading army, but instead of fighting, he pays them off by striping gold from the temple and emptying his personal treasuries.
On the one hand, some might say he didn’t trust God.
I mean in Judges 8 Gideon defeats 135,000 enemies with 300 men. And Hezekiah has a fortified city.
But Hezekiah Loves God. And while defending and fighting is sometimes what God calls us to. More often he calls us to peace.
Assyria was tough and gold and silver is a lot cheaper than human lives.
31 Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?
32 And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.
I don’t know if Jesus was talking directly about Hezekiah or not, but it fits.
PEace should always be what we seek first. Even if it’s at our own expense.
One thing that is hard for me is patience. God is teaching me patience very slowly. Which I’m pretty sure is the only way to learn it.
Other people have abandoned patience and and just hate.
And that is easy.
I saw a clip the other day, and I’d show it, but it’s pretty vulgar, so I’ll G rate it for you.
One guy comments to another guy.
You know being kind is free.
That’s nice. a kind gentle reminder that when you are nice to others it doesn’t cost them anything.
The other guy replied. How much will it cost me to be a jerk?
The first guy never responds, but the second guy says.
That’s free too, isn’t it?
Yes and no.
Being kind pays you. People who are kind have less health problems and live more fulfilled lives. And people like having them around.
Unkind people often have more health issues, they are more lonely. And people don’t want to be around them. Which is worse for them, because then they act out more.
I know several kind people in Bly. You see them and they just own their smile.
The unkind, even if they have a smile, it’s not theirs. It’s a cost they can never repay.
And I’ve been there. There have been times in most of our lives when we’ve let the bitterness win.
But Hezekiah loved God, and instead of fighting and being bitter. He gave up stuff that didn’t matter. Money and gold.
The people were safe.
That is the job of a shepherd.
To keep the sheep safe.
Hezekiah was the shepherd of his people and the first goal is to protect.
I had this quote on my Dad calendar the other day.
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” ― Billy Graham
“When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost.” ― Billy Graham
Hezekiah didn’t know Billy Graham, but they thought alike.
Hezekiah was kind. He kept his nation safe at his own cost.
But the other nation wasn’t as kind.
A few years later, they invaded again. Hezekiah wanted peace, but they wouldn’t have it. This time they came teasing and trying to scare teh people into giving up.
Assyria’s army had another thing coming.
Hezekiah loved God and when he was in trouble the only person Heszekiah would talk to is God.
19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”
This is the end of a long prayer from Hezekiah as Assyria is getting ready to invade.
The time for peace is passed. It’s time to fight, but not Hezekiah.
35 And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. 36 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh.
Where shortly there after his kids killed him.
Hezekiah didn’t always do what was right though. There was a time he had an opportunity to glorify God and he glorified himself instead.
God was taking care of Hezekiah and he faltered. It didn’t mean he stopped loving God, it means he let the world praise him for a moment.
Back to that Billy Graham quote.
When Hezekiah lost his money, nothing left him.
Then a time came when he lost his health. His health was restored, but he did lose a little of himself and gave into pride.
Then, his character was lost and at the end of his life the Prophet Isaiah said Judah would fall.
Hezekiah lost his character. look at what he says at the end of his life.
19 Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.” For he thought, “Why not, if there will be peace and security in my days?”
If someone came up to me and with dead certainty said, “David, you will prosper and have great wealth and popularity, everyone will love you. But when you die all your kids will walk away from Jesus.” I would give up what they were selling.
The job of a Shepherd or Pastor is to point people to the teacher, that’s Jesus. I strive to love God and to love people. I Strive to point others to the same.
I will not always be perfect at my calling, nor will you.
But if we can all strive for Loving God and loving people. It will go well.
The last verse in Hezekiah’s story mentions something neat.
20 The rest of the deeds of Hezekiah and all his might and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 21 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and Manasseh his son reigned in his place.
There is this neat water tunnel that is still in Jerusalem to this day.
It’s the conduit Hezekiah build is still there to this day.
It’s a constructing wonder as it came together perfectly with teams digging from both sides until they met
Hezekiah waterway
Hezekiah waterway
You see when Hezekiah was being a shepherd to his people. God gave him wonderful things.
Same with us.
Now, I’m not saying that when you love and follow Jesus, you’ll get rich, or famous.
No
but you will get to bless others through him. Serve others. guide others.
There’s an inscription in the tunnel that explains how the two groups digging found each other, it was all but perfect.
God points us where we need to go.
We can either say, yes, or we can say no.
It is up to you, but do you just want to survive this life, or do you want to live it.
Let’s pray
