King of Kings! Lessons from 2 Chronicles

Are you Good or Bad? (2 Chronicles 14:2)

Not the most well-read book of the Bible. Why look at it?

2 Chronicles focuses on the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

Focuses on God’s faithfulness to His covenant via temple worship. Possible written by a priest (Ezra). Religious revival and reforms are a key theme, along with the Levitical priesthood.

Covers 4 and a half centuries of Judah’s history.

Judah contained Jerusalem and Solomon built an impressive Temple. God’s home on earth (1 Chronicles).

The Northern Kingdom, Israel, was pretty much all bad! Fell to Assyria in 723BC

Judah had approximately 50% Good or Great kings and lasted until 587BC. Periods of revival delayed God’s judgement.

Today’s passage

We see Asa being encouraged to follow God wholeheartedly by the prophet Azariah.

Today’s passage shows the key themes when Judah experienced revivial:

Period of decay, idolatry, rebellion.

Encouragement to seek the Lord and reform (always centred on Temple).

Reforms enacted, people uplifted, true God worshipped, followed by some rest, victory or other blessing.

Point of application: Almost every king of Judah and Israel in the Bible is given a rating of Good or Bad. with respect to Asa.

ILLUSTRATE: This isn’t like an internet poll today, such as TripAdvisor. This is a binary rating. It’s good or bad. Your King: Rated!

And yet, when we read their stories, especially in 2 Chronicles and Kings, we see that even the ‘Good’ kings often did bad things.

English Standard Version Chapter 28

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done, 2 but he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel.

What does the impefectio

Rev 20

The New International Version (1984) The Dead Are Judged

11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. 15 If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

How can we get a Good rating in a world full of personal failure and disappointment? How can we live up to God’s standards?

APPLY: How can we get a Good rating in a world full of personal failure and disappointment? How can we live up to God’s standards? v3 “The LORD is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.”

IMPERFECT PEOPLE CAN BE SAVED, EVEN WHEN THEY KEEP ON MAKING MISTAKES.

BUT YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT GOD THINKS, EVEN DEEP DOWN.

Be obedient! 2 Chronicles 15:2,7

When Asa trusted the Lord, he and the nation was blessed. (v15).

Obedience = Blessing, just like the garden of Eden

Judah exiled to Babylon. Promised Land barely contains any of God’s people for 70 years. Where are God’s promises?

The problem both nations had was that they were not faithful to what God had commanded them.

From the very beginning of the promises, God says that living in the land of promise was CONDITIONAL on obedience. (Holman concise Bible commentary).

Holman concise Bible commentary.

Examples of good, blessed kings from 2 Chronicles: Asa , Jotham , Hezekiah , Josiah , .

Examples of bad, cursed kings from 2 Chronicles: Jehoram disease and defeat , Joash was assassinated , Uzziah suffered leprosy , Ahaz humiliated , and Manasseh was imprisoned .

Ultimately Jerusalem fell in 586BC due to God’s wrath .

No different for Christians!

ILLUSTRATE: 1994 plane crash. Breaking rules = death!

APPLY: How do Christians fail God? Inattention, cold hearts, strong tempatation. Following God’s law can seem boring when we are weak. We don’t trust, we don’t have faith. TRYING TO ADD TO GOD’s FORMULA FOR BLESSING.

Asa not faithful () We need Jesus - the faithful King of Judah

The story of Israel and Judah is depressing! From Judges to Kings there is a continual sense of failure.

Perhaps you feel your own life is similarily depressing?

How many times have you tried to improve yourself?

Stop swearing, stop smoking, lose weight, pray more and read the Bible more?

Is it just willpower? Well, no, not when it comes to spiritual things, although we have surely neglected the discipline of previous generations.

Way back in Genesis Jacob made a remarkable royal prophecy about his son Judah. .

1 and 2 Chronicles, with the relative success of the line of Judah, as opposed to Israel’s failure, is proof of this, as the Chronicler knows.

Time and time again in the OT we see a coming King, a messiah from the tribe of Judah.

Yes and Amen. “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.”

How is God faithful to His people today?

He promises to help against sin. (1 Corinthians 10:13)

He promises to cleanse from sin.

English Standard Version Chapter 1

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He promises never to leave us or foresake us.

He promises never to leave us or forsake us.

ILLUSTRATE: JOHN WAYNE He will be victorious - he will defeat the bad guys.

JOHN WAYNE He will be victorious - he will defeat the bad guys.

POLITICS: There is always great hope when someone new takes over - often followed by disappointment.

We see in 2 Chronicles that several ‘good’ kings have mistakes recorded in Scripture.

2 Chronicles 32:25 NIV84

But Hezekiah’s heart was proud and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the Lord’s wrath was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.

APPLY:

No more invasion, sin or disappointment for God’s people. We will dwell securely and we will never fail God again.

REST

Sabbath rest for the people of God. Jesus is our Sabbath, our rest.

We will never worry about letting God down again.

Conclusion

The message of 2 Chronicles is that God is faithful to those who trust in Him. However, like Judah of old, even a good king (a successful Christian) can be prone to sin and a loss of God’s blessing. Trust in Jesus - the ultimate fulfilment of God’s promises!