Through the Bible Study — 2 Kings 13–14
Listen
Transcript
Organized into readable paragraphs from the preserved Whisper transcript. Non-speech markers are removed.
Hello everyone. Let's pray. Dear God, thank you for letting us all gather here in the middle of our week to focus our attention back on where it should be, on you. I pray that everyone in here will be refreshed with your spirit this evening and be able to turn fully their attention to where it should be, onto you. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. If you guys will all stand for this first
song for your amazing love that we in no way deserve. We thank you for the way that you care for us and that you take care of us and the fact that you do it all for people who truly do not deserve it in any way. I pray for Pastor Ryan as he comes up that you would give him the words that you are calling for him to speak and that the rest of us will really sit and take it in and focus on what you have to teach us and say to us. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.
Oh, there it is. Wow, that's really loud. Not anymore. Now it's perfect. I love microphones and they love me. Always have. I always like to tell the story. I usually tell this when I do weddings to really put brides at ease is that I did a wedding one time up at the barns at Timber Creek and we did the rehearsal and they had a buddy do the sound for them. I won't share all
my thoughts on that. And he was their DJ. And so we practiced and I practiced with the microphone. And so he just left all of his stuff there. And I show up the next day to do this outdoor wedding. And that's really a place where you need a microphone because all of the outdoors just absorbs the sound. And so I pick up the microphone and I'm like, and no one can hear me. You know why? Because he left
the microphone on all night long and the battery was dead. So I had to yell everything so that people could hear me. So that was fun. So anyway, that's just, one story in lots and lots of stories of me and microphones. So that has nothing to do with our study tonight. It was just a great way for him to get a sound check to make sure that everything is where he wants it to be. And he gave me the thumbs up. So we're good to go now. If you would open up
in your Bibles to the book of second Kings chapter 13, second Kings chapter 13. I don't have a clever title for tonight. We could just call it more of the Kings because that feels clever enough. We could even call it the conclusion of Elisha, but I didn't call it either one of those things. I just called it second Kings 13 and 14. We continue on with, with the Kings of the North and the South.
You got to really pay attention. I hope you've held onto that little list. I actually referred to it three. Yeah, that's right. I actually referred to it three times this week because I was like, wait, which King is this again? Which kingdom is he with? Because they started naming them the same things. But when last we were together, we saw Joe Ash from the, from the
Southern kingdom, who was a pretty decent King, although he didn't end quite as well as he could have. And we, we ended with his son, Amos. Amos became a King in the Southern kingdom. Well, now we jump back into the Northern kingdom again to start off in second Kings chapter 13. And so this is what it says. We look first of all, the King Jehoahaz of the Northern kingdom. It says in the 23rd year, chapter 13, verse one,
the 23rd year of Joe Ash, the son of Ahaziah, King of Judah, Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu became King over Israel at Samaria. And he reigned for six years. And he was a king over Israel at Samaria. And he reigned for 17 years. He did evil in the sight of the Lord and follow the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin. And he did not turn from them. Now let's repaint
who some of our characters are again here just quickly. Since we've gone back in time just a little bit, we're back with Joe Ash being the King of the, of the Southern kingdom. And this guy Jehoahaz comes to power in the Northern kingdom. His dad was a guy by the name of Jehu. Now Jehu is the one who ultimately took out the rest of the family. And he was the one who took out the rest of
the family of Ahab, who it seemed like he was going to be a great king, but he failed in the end and ended up going back into the sins of Jeroboam. I'll remind us what those are in just a moment. And because of that, God told him, because you were obedient, your sons will sit on the throne. But because of your disobedience, it will only be to the fourth generation. So this is the next of his
sons that's going to come to power. And it says that, that he reigned for 17 years and that he was an evil king, mainly because he followed in the sins of Jeroboam. And he was a king who was a son of Jehoahaz. Now, if you remember, when Jeroboam first took over in the Northern kingdom, he got concerned that those from the North would go to worship God in the Southern kingdom, that they would go to Jerusalem and they would defect from the Northern kingdom. And so he
established gods, if you will, not necessarily a false god, but a false worship of the true God. He built these two golden calves, one at the North and one at the South. And that's what he said, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. And he said, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt. And he established idolatry, which was really just a false worship of the true God in
the Northern kingdom. And that sin is going to be the sin that we will see continue to dominate the kingdom throughout their entirety, because we don't see one good king come from the Northern kingdom. Well, this one that we see, his name is Jehoahaz. And again, did evil in the sight of the Lord. He didn't turn from the sins of Jeroboam. And I want you to notice what it says in verse
three. It says, Now, because of the sins that the people were living in, because of this idolatry that they were continuing in, God decided to start to deal with them. And the way that he dealt with them is he started sending against them other kingdoms, other kingdoms that would ultimately be a thorn in their flesh to bring judgment upon them. Now, the reason why he was bringing judgment upon them is because he wanted to see them repent. And we're going to see that in just a moment,
that that was his greatest desire. But I'm reminded of something. I was reminded of this several times today as I was studying through this. And that's that we're told in scripture that those whom God loves, he disciplines. Those whom God loves, he disciplines. And so oftentimes when we walk in sin in our lives, God will bring some sort of discipline into our lives. In the
case of the nation of Israel, who he brought into their lives was, Hazael, the king of Aram, to ultimately be a thorn in their flesh. But his desire was not to destroy. We're actually going to read that several times. His desire was to bring them to repentance because discipline in our lives is never to destroy us. Discipline in our lives is always to correct us. And sometimes when we see that discipline come into our lives, we say, why would
God allow this into my life? Why is God causing this in my life? I don't understand what's going on. And sometimes we have to sit back and think, what brought me to the place where God had to bring discipline into my life? My dad was such a faithful father growing up. And every time he ever had to discipline me in any sort of way, the first question he would ask me every single time
is, do you know why I have to do this? And sometimes I would be like, yes. And other times I would be like, no. Mainly because I didn't want to admit that what I'd done was wrong. And until we had discussed why I had landed myself in the situation that I had landed myself in, he would not continue on with the discipline because he was faithful, because his desire was not to destroy
me. His desire was to disciple me. If you think about it, that's what discipline is, right? Discipline is discipleship. And that's what God wants to do with the Northern Kingdom here. And that's what God wants to do with you. And sometimes he will allow discipline into your life, not to bring destruction to you, but because he wants to bring correction to you so that you could
ultimately be who he has called for you to be. And that's what he does with the Northern Kingdom. And I want you to notice what happens. It says in verse four, then Jehoahaz entreated the favor of the Lord, listened to him, and he saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. And the Lord gave Israel a deliverer so that they escaped from under the
hand of the Arameans. And the sons of Israel lived in their tents as formerly. Now, before we get to the next sad verse, let's just talk about how great this is. Discipline seems in this moment to have done what God intended for it to do. It brought Jehoahaz to a place where he realized that the reason why all of these kingdoms were coming against him, the reason why they were being
defeated, why they were having the issues that they were having, is because of the sin that they were in, because of the idolatry that they had taken part in. And so he took the first right step when he saw discipline in his life, when he saw discipline in the nation. And the first right step that he took was to entreat the Lord, to cry out to the Lord, to call out to God and say, Lord, we have sinned. Would you please deliver us from this discipline that you've brought us into?
And I want you to notice what it says that God did. Did you notice those words? It says, and God heard, and God saw, because God heard the cry of Jehoahaz, and he saw the distress that they were in. And so God made a promise. The promise that God made is that God would send a deliverer. Now, does that sound familiar to you? If you were with us at all in our study in the book of Judges,
you know that this was the pattern that the children of Israel often found themselves in. They would fall into idolatry. And then, God would have to bring correction, usually through some foreign government that would come and oppress them. And when that correction did its work, they cried out to the Lord and repented. And then after they repented, God promised, and he always sent a deliverer. Now, there's a little
bit of debate amongst commentators as to who this deliverer that God sent was. If it was an immediate delivery, which it seems there may have been some aspect of this, that it was actually the king of Assyria at this point in time. Because the king of Assyria, historically in this moment, began to attack the king of Aram, which withdrew them from the nation of Israel and ultimately became a deliverance for the people. I believe the second one, and that's that what we're actually going to see is a deliverer be raised up sometime later. His name's also going to be Jeroboam. He
will be Jeroboam II, and he will ultimately be the one who sets them free from many of the Aramean enemies that were against them at that point in time. Either way, God heard, God saw, and God provided a deliverer. Because every time we find ourselves in a place where discipline has had to come into our lives, and we cry out to the Lord, God is anxious and eager, not only to hear, to see, but to answer us and to deliver us from the evil that we found ourselves falling into. Only the problem is, it was an impartial repentance. Notice what it says in verse 6.
Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, with which he made Israel sin. But walked in them. And the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria. For he left to Jehoahaz of the army, not more than fifty horsemen and ten chariots and ten thousand footmen. For the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like the dust at the threshing.
The rest of the acts of Jehoahaz and all that he did in his might are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. He slept with his fathers and they buried him in Samaria. And Joash, his son, became king. And his son became king. And Joash, his son became king. And Joash, his son became king. Isn't it fascinating that they realized that the discipline of the Lord was upon them.
They cried out to the Lord because of the discipline that was upon them. God delivered them from the discipline that had come upon them. And yet they still refused to completely repent of the sin that landed them in that situation. It's fascinating to see that happen, isn't it? Do you know what I find? Is that we can be a lot like that. We can be a lot like that in our lives.
Is we can find ourselves falling into sin. And we realize that we can be a lot like that. And we realize that the discipline of God is upon us. And so we cry out to God because we don't like the consequences that we're going through at that particular point in time. And God delivers us from the consequences. And then we find ourselves falling back into the exact same sin.
I have a question for you. What are your idols of Jeroboam? What in your life is the thing that you always go back to? See, for the northern kingdom, it was these two idols. It was these two golden calves that they always seemed to find themselves falling back into. It was like that temptation to have the visible presence of God there was exactly what they would always go back to.
Because no matter how spiritual they could be in their thinking, they were still very visual in their worship. And so they always went back to the false worship of the true God. What is it for you? What sin in your life do you always default back to? That you cry out to God. Because of the consequences that have come about because of that sin. You find yourself saying, Lord, I need delivered from this sin.
And God, in a moment, brings about the peace that you need because of the repentance. But the repentance is partial because you fall back into the exact same sin. I would tell you this. Until you're ready to destroy that idol, you will always go back to that idol. Until you are willing to destroy that area of sin in your life, you will always go back to that area.
Because no matter how many times God delivers you from the consequences, and God is gracious, we're going to talk about that. That's the first point where we really see the graciousness of God shown here, right? But it's going to come up three times in our teaching tonight. And I'm even going to close with that. No matter how gracious God is to us, eventually, you have to destroy the thing
that keeps bringing the consequences into your life. And so, Jehoah has passes away, and his son, Joash, becomes king in his place. Verse 10. In the 37th year of Joash, king of Judah, Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel in Samaria. If these people could have gotten a little bit more creative with their names, it would really help us a lot.
If one of them could have been named Tom, maybe a John in here somewhere, right? They're all named Jehoahaz and Jehoahaz. Like, come on, people. Come up with something original. Anyway, it's neither here nor there. So Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, became king over Israel and Samaria, and he reigned 16 years. And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he did not turn away from all the sins
of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, with which he made Israel sin, but he walked in them. Now the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did in his might, with which he fought against Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? Are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? Are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
Are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? Are they not written in the books of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And Joash slept with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne, and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. So that's a quick brief synopsis of the reign of Joash. The next story we're about to move into, which is the death of Elisha, is going to be about
also this king, Joash. Just keep that in mind, okay? This is not the last time we deal with him. So verse 14, when Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was about to die, Joash, the king of Israel, came down to him and wept over him, and said, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen. Now I have this underlined in my Bible. As a matter of fact, I do my devotions in a different Bible than the one that I do my
studying out of, because that's the way my brain works, and I get too confused otherwise. But I have it underlined in both of my Bibles. As a matter of fact, when we were reading through this in our devotional time, if you're going with us through the Bible in a year, we read through this a few weeks ago. And this just really struck me. It really hit me. Because if you think about it, next to Elijah, Elisha was the greatest miracle worker of
the Old Testament, if not besides Jesus, the greatest miracle worker of the entire Bible. As a matter of fact, Elisha's mentor, the guy that discipled him, the guy that trained him, Elijah, did not face death. And yet we now come to the end of the life of Elisha. Elisha was a miracle worker. The one who raised the dead, the one who was able to make iron float in the middle
of the water, the one who turned a meal that had been poisoned into something that could be eaten, the one who worked all of these miracles that were so phenomenal, has now been diagnosed with an illness that would ultimately take his life. I think it's important for us to pay attention to the fact that even great men of faith face illness, and they face death. Because there's just no escaping it on this side of eternity, barring the rapture. It doesn't mean that you don't have enough faith, and it doesn't mean you've done something wrong.
It just means that we live in fallen bodies, no matter how amazing of a man you can be, no matter how amazing of a woman you can be. You still face the reality of death, and you still face the reality of illness. For whatever reason, at that particular point in time, back in the moment, you still face the reality of death. You still face the reality of illness.
You still face the reality of death and you still face the reality of the Bible. We've lost faith, and we've got to get back to the story of brokenness because that's what this man says, and it's a great thing. So we're going to get back to that story, and we're going to get back to the story of God's death. And He's not just going to make us all suffer, because we just lost faith.
He's asking us to be strong, to be willing to stand up against it, and to walk in it. He's asking us to be doing the good thing. He's asking us to be willing to stand up against it, and to face the reality of this very moment of death. And He's asking us to be willing to stand up against the reality of his death because the year before we passed away was the month of June.
so many people and yet he's facing the reality of his own mortality and it doesn't make him any less of a man of faith and i don't know who needs to hear that here this evening but i think somebody here needs to hear that that your physical issues that you deal with doesn't mean that you don't have enough faith the the physical weaknesses that you faith doesn't face doesn't mean that you've done anything wrong it doesn't mean that you have sin in your life it just means that that that's what god is doing in you right now that god has allowed that for a reason and god will ultimately glorify himself through that because i've watched him do it time and again with people
that have faced illness and people that have faced death and so this is where elisha finds himself and as he's laying on his sickbed joash the guy that we just talked about the guy who was evil in the sight of the lord because he won't would not turn from the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, comes down to visit Elisha. And I want you to notice what he says. Joash, the king of Israel, came down to him and he wept over him. And he said, my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen.
That's a euphemism at that point in time to say, you are the strength of Israel. This is the king who's opposed to the truth of who God is, who probably Elisha had called out personally at points in time, who has now found himself in the moment of Elisha's greatest weakness coming and weeping. I believe it was Charles Spurgeon that said, may we live our lives in such a way that even the ungodly will miss us. I think that's how the quote went.
What a beautiful, beautiful symbol of what it looks like to have a life that was well-lived. Because a life that was well-lived will cause even your enemies to praise you. And so he comes to him and he says, you're the strength of Israel. Kind of like, what are we gonna do now? Like, what now in life is gonna happen? And so Elisha has kind of one last prophecy for him.
I want you to notice what it says in verse 15. Elisha said to him, take a bow and some arrows. And so he took a bow and some arrows. And he said to the king, put your hand on the bow. And he put his hand on it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. And he said, open the window toward the east. And he opened it. And Elisha said, shoot. And he shot. He said, the Lord's.
Arrow of victory. Even the arrow of victory over Aram. For you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have destroyed them. Oh, what a great moment, right? He said, grab a bow and some arrows. And in this last kind of moment of strength that Elisha has left, he lays his hands on him. He says, now take and open up the window, the one that faces the east,
which is where the Arameans would have been. And he said, now shoot your arrow. And he shoots the arrow and he says, that's the arrow of the Lord's victory. Why? Because he wants to do all of that. Because he wants to prepare him for what he's gonna say next. Next he says, verse 18, take the arrows. And he took them and he said to the king of Israel, strike the ground.
And he struck it three times and he stopped. So the man of God was angry with him and said, you should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Aram until you would have destroyed it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times and Elisha died and they buried him. That's it, that's the last prophecy. And I bet you're asking yourself the same question
that I kind of asked myself. That's a little harsh. Why did he say that to him? Right? He takes the arrow, that's the arrow of the Lord's victory. Now take the arrows again and strike the ground. My understanding of the Hebrew here is that he didn't actually want to take the arrows and like strike the ground. He wanted him to just start shooting every arrow
that he had out that window until it struck the ground. So he takes and he shoots three arrows. And Elisha gets mad at him. Why did he get mad at him? What did he just explain to the king that the shooting of the arrow meant? It was the victory of the Lord over the Arameans. So if he's got more than three arrows in there, why not shoot every arrow you've got?
Instead, he only shot three. And he said, that's too much. That's too much. That's too bad because now you're gonna be content to only defeat them three times. Whereas if you had done what you should have done, knowing what those arrows meant, you would have utterly destroyed the enemy. You should have kept striking. What's that mean for us? Well, oftentimes we are kind of like Joash.
We can be content with just a little bit of victory. We can be content with just a little bit of God in our lives. We can be content with just a little bit of victory over sin, with just a little bit of a prayer life. Meanwhile, God is saying, if you would have just kept striking, you would have seen victory like you could have never imagined. You would have seen me like you could have never imagined.
You would have seen works like you never could have imagined. Instead, you were content with just a little. So what's that mean for us? Well, I think that that means for us two things. Number one, in your prayer life, you should just keep striking. Too many times we're like, well, I prayed about it once and it didn't happen. Or I prayed about it like three times and it didn't happen.
Really? Because I think you should pray about it until you see something happen. Again, I think I've shared this with you before, but somebody came to me one time and said, so how long do I keep praying about the same thing? I said, until God releases you from the burden. As long as you feel a burden to pray about that thing, you should be praying about that thing.
But too many of us are content to just pray a few times, see that nothing happened and just give up. Well, clearly nothing's gonna happen with this. We'll just move on to the next thing. No, if the Lord still put that burden on you, then you need to keep praying. You need to keep digging in. You need to keep going. Because God in your prayer life wants you to keep striking
because who knows what God wants to do and who knows how close you are to that breakthrough. The second thing I think that it means for us is that it means that in your pursuit of God, you should just keep striking. In your pursuit of God, you should just keep striking. Well, I read the Bible that one time and I really didn't get that much out of it. Well, I went to church that one time
and it really didn't speak that much to me. So I think I'm just gonna give up on it. Well, you know, I started to do a little bit of studying, but it was really hard for me. So I just kind of gave up on it. Listen, you're either gonna pursue God with your whole heart or you're not. Because God said, I don't want you to be lukewarm because lukewarm makes me sick.
I want you to either be hot or cold. I want you to either pursue me with all of your heart or don't pursue me at all. And brothers and sisters, I know for me, and I shared it last week, to know God and to still be pursuing him is truly the soul's paradox of love. It comes out of A.W. Tozer's book. Sorry, it's been ministering to my heart here lately, so I've been sharing about it a lot.
But that's what God's been telling me. He says, don't let your pursuit be weak. Don't let your pursuit of God be something where you're content with just a little bit of knowledge about God. Because in your prayer life and in your pursuit of God, you will have as much or as little as you want. How much do you want? of the goodness of God do you want in your life? And so he says, what were you doing? You should
have struck it five or six times, and then there'd be complete deliverance. Instead, only three times, so there's only going to be three victories. We're going to find that that's exactly what happens. And so Elisha dies, and they bury him. And now comes this fascinating story, middle of verse 20. Now the bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. And as they were
burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band, and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood up on his feet. Come again? That's the coolest story I've ever read, right? Top five. Top five coolest stories. I want you to imagine, I do a lot of funerals, right? Okay? I've watched a lot of people be lowered into the ground.
Never in my life have I seen one. Pop back up out the grave. That would be the, I would be like, what did we even just do here? I remember asking, I won't tell you what he said, but I remember asking the funeral home director one time, like, what's the craziest thing you've ever seen happen at the gravesite? That would be it, right? If I was that guy, what's the craziest thing you've ever seen happen? You're not going to
believe this, right? All these guys are coming after us. We're like, we just got to hurry and get this guy buried. So we throw him in this grave. He's back out again. It's the wildest thing I've ever seen happen in my entire life. Why did he rise from the dead? Because he hit the bones of Elijah and comes popping out the grave. I can't explain this. I really can't.
I can just say that's pretty impressive. Remember what Elisha asked? He asked for a double portion of the spirit that was on Elijah. Now from this, I think that there's a really fantastic lesson for us to learn. And I wrote it down so that I would make sure that I said it the way that that I want to. This is the perfect picture of how a life well lived can have a long lasting
effect even after you're gone. It's the perfect example of how a life well lived can have a long lasting effect even after you're gone. I remember being a real little kid, eight years old. We were living over on B Street. And I remember my dad getting a call from Steve Manley. I think I've shared this with you before, but my dad loves J. Vernon McGee. He's like his favorite Bible teacher
of all time. I think it's because my grandfather was a Texan and he had those funny Texas sayings. And so does J. Vernon McGee. And so we just, anywhere in the country that we were on vacation, my dad found J. Vernon McGee on the radio because he knew exactly when he was going to be on. Never did understand that, but he always found him on the radio. And so I remember my dad getting a call
from Steve Manley. And he said, brother, you're not going to believe it. J. Vernon McGee passed away. J. Vernon McGee lost or won a battle with cancer, all depending on how you look at it, himself. And I remember 1988, J. Vernon McGee passed away. Well, to this day, I don't get to do it all the time, but probably once or twice a month, because he's on at like 6 a.m., I tune
into J. Vernon McGee. And you know what's fascinating? Is that all of these years later, almost 30 years later, we're still listening to J. Vernon McGee. And people are still being saved by the ministry of J. Vernon McGee. Matter of fact, every now and then there'll be a letter writing time and people will be writing letters in it. It's been translated into, it's been
translated into languages all over the world. His radio program. And people write it all the time about how they got saved or discipled through the ministry of J. Vernon McGee. And it's just fascinating that God's able to do that. You know, the story goes like this, is that he was the original podcaster, right? He literally set up like a studio in his garage, and he would just
teach the Bible. There was nobody there. He just did these half-hour Bible broadcasts, right? And when he died, they said, what do we do with all of these Bible broadcasts? Because he had a five-year program where you could listen to the Bible with him on the radio for five years. And he says, play it till the money runs out, and then give it to whoever wants it. That's what he said,
thinking that it would probably last about a year. And now here we are, all these years later, and people are still being saved by the ministry of J. Vernon McGee. Because just like Elisha, it's a testimony that a life that is well-lived will have a far-lasting effect even after you're gone. What do you want your testimony to be? What do you want the effect of your life to be? How you live now, it's going to mean everything.
So, fascinating story. I have no idea how to explain it. That's what happened. And then we just jump into like nothing ever happened here. Verse 22, now Hazael, king of Aram, had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. But the Lord was gracious to them, and he had compassion on them. And he turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob. It would
not destroy them or cast them from his presence until now. And when Hazael, king of Aram, died, Ben-Hadad, his son, became king in his place. Then Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, took again from the hand of Ben-Hadad, the son of Hazael, the cities which he had taken in the war, from the hand of Jehoahaz, his father. Three times Jehoash defeated him, and recovered the cities of Israel. Once again, we see the graciousness of God
in the life of the nation of Israel. Well, now as we move to chapter 14, we return to the southern kingdom with a guy by the name of Amaziah. It says, in the second year of Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel, Amaziah, the son of Jehoash, king of Judah, everybody with me? He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Jehoiadan.
Of Jerusalem. And he did right in the sight of the Lord, yet not like his father David. He did according to all that Jehoash, his father, had done. Only the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and burned incense on them. So, this next guy, Amaziah, pretty good king. Not a perfect king, but a pretty good king, especially as compared to the ones that are
in the northern kingdom. Establishes himself as king, and I want you to notice what he did. But the sons, oh, excuse me, verse five. Now, it came about as soon as the kingdom, was firmly in his hand, that he killed his servants who had slain the king, his father. If you remember his father, there was a conspiracy against him, and they put him to death. Well,
he goes and he has justice on them. But the sons of the slayers, he did not put to death, according to what is written in the book of the law of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, the fathers shall not be put to death for the sons, nor the sons put to death for the fathers, but each shall be put to death for his own sins. And he killed, of Edom in the valley of salt, 10,000, and took Sela by war, and named it Joktiel to this day. So, so far, things are looking really good for Amaziah. He's considered a good king,
not as good as David. Interesting bar to be set, but not as good as David. He dealt with those. He took, he met justice on those who had killed his father, but he did it biblically, because he didn't put their sons to death, because the sons were not to be put to death for the sins of the father. And then he went and drove out the Edomites, and had victory over the Edomites. So far, if you're keeping score, Amaziah is a pretty good king.
So we come to this moment. It says in verse 8, then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash, the son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel. Everybody with me now? Southern kingdom, northern kingdom. Come, let us face each other in battle. And Jehoash, king of Israel, sent to Amaziah, king of Judah, and said, the thorn bush, which was in Lebanon, sent to the cedar,
which was in Lebanon, saying, give your daughter to my son in marriage. But there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trampled the thorn bush. You have indeed defeated Edom, and your heart has become proud. Enjoy your glory. Stay at home. Why should you provoke trouble so that you, even you, would fall, and Judah with you? But Amaziah would not listen,
so Jehoash, king of Israel, went up. He and Amaziah, king of Judah, would have faced each other at Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. And Judah was defeated by Israel. And they fled each to his tent. And Jehoash, king of Israel, captured Amaziah, king of Judah, at Beth Shemesh. And he came to Jerusalem, and tore down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate,
four hundred cubits. He took all the gold and silver, and all the utensils, which were found in the house of the Lord, and the treasury of the king's house, the hostages also. And he returned to Samaria. There's an interesting proverb. And most people misquote it. Most people say that pride goes before a fall. That's actually a misquoting of that proverb. It says a haughty spirit goes before a fall. Pride goes before destruction.
You see, Amaziah had found himself in a place where a lot of victory was happening. He had dealt with his father's murderers. He had had victory over the Edomites. And because of that, he began to be lifted up in pride. And as he began to be lifted up in pride, He was given the power of the faith. And he was given the power of the faith. And as he began to be lifted up in pride.
And as he began to be lifted up in pride, he was given the power of the faith. to be lifted up in pride, he thought, you know who else I can take out? I can take out the northern kingdom. And he picked a battle he couldn't fight. Actually, he picked a battle he couldn't win. And you know, sometimes in our lives, we can be a little bit like this. We get a little bit of
victory in our lives and we start to think, you know, I think I've kind of got this whole thing figured out. I think I'm doing pretty good right now. And we kind of let our guard down. We start to get a little bit lifted up in pride. And then that temptation comes in and takes us down. Whether it's the temptation of the pride itself to become arrogant in our spirit or the temptation that was
always sitting back there in the back of our minds that we thought, well, that can't bother me now. After all, look how good I'm doing. And pretty soon we find ourselves falling once again. And that's where Amaziah finds himself. And so Amaziah picks a battle that he can't win. And I love the way that Jehoash warns him. He says, listen, here's the thing. And he tells him
this story of basically like, you're kind of like a little thistle. I'm a great big cedar tree. An animal's going to crush you, right? And he picks the battle anyway. And not only does he get beat, but he gets captured. He gets imprisoned. The wall of Jerusalem, a portion of it gets torn down. The treasuries get taken away. And Amaziah is now just sitting in prison in the northern
kingdom. It says in verse 15, now the rest of the acts of Jehoash, which he did in his might, and how he fought with Amaziah, king of Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So he slept with his fathers and he was buried in Samaria and the kings of Israel. Jeroboam, his son, became king in his place. All through that little summary, guess where Amaziah
is? He's in prison. He's being held captive by the northern kingdom. Well, now, and we'll deal with him again in just a second. Now we come to two last kings, one from the north, one from the south, Jeroboam and Azariah. It says, Amaziah, the son of Jehoash, king of Judah, lived 15 years after the death of Jehoash, son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. And the rest of the acts of
Amaziah, are they not written in the books of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? After the death of Jehoash, they finally let him go. He lived another 15 years, but I want you to notice what happened to him. They conspired against him in Jerusalem and he fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and they killed him there. And they brought him on horses and he was buried
at Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. I bet you're asking yourself a question right now. I hope you are. What the heck happened to Amaziah? What led to all of this? He was a good king. Not as good as David, but he was a good king. Well, if you have something to write on, you might write in the margin of your Bible, 2 Chronicles 25. Because remember it said that the rest of his story is written in the book of
the chronicles of the kings of Judah. Well, in 2 Chronicles chapter 25, it tells the rest of the story of Amaziah. Now, if we were to rewind all the way to when he defeated the Edomites, what we're told in 2 Chronicles chapter 25 is this. We're told that after he, when he defeated the Edomites, he began to take all of their gods and he brought them back to Jerusalem. And he instituted the worship of the gods of the Edomites in Jerusalem. You see,
what caused him to be lifted up with pride? Well, he started feeling pretty good about himself and he saw some gods that looked really pretty and shiny. And so he started worshiping all of these idols, which he should have never done. And ultimately God had to judge him. Ultimately, God had to discipline him. And that's exactly what he did. So when he picks this fight with the northern kingdom,
an ungodly kingdom, God can't bless that because he's walking in sin. God can't bless that because he's walking in idolatry. And because of that, he found that ultimately he ended up being put to death by the people that were around him. I hate to beat the same drum, but it's not just how you start. It's also how you finish. Because if we learn anything in the book of the kings, it's that.
Well, there's another king that gets put in his place. It says in verse 21, all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was 16 years old, and they made him king in the place of his father, Amaziah. And he built Elath and restored it to Judah after the king slept with his father. In the 15th year of Amaziah, the son of Joash, king of Judah, Jeroboam, the son of Joash, king of Israel, became king.
King in Samaria, and he reigned for 41 years, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. He did not depart from all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, which he made Israel sin. Now, again, so this new guy comes into power in the south. His name is Azariah. We know him as Uzziah. And as a matter of fact, if you want to write over in the side of your Bible, Isaiah the prophet, because
it's during the time of Uzziah that Isaiah the prophet, that really big book of prophecy in the Old Testament, that's when that's written, or at least when it started. And in the south, there's this guy, or in the north, there's this guy by the name of Jeroboam II that comes to power, who's also very evil in the way that he rules things. Now, Uzziah is going to be a great king, probably one of the greatest kings Judah's going to have besides David. But in the north, this guy Jeroboam II comes to power. There's two prophets that prophesied during the time
of Jeroboam II, and their names are Amos and Hosea. So that prophecy takes place there, because Jeroboam II lived in great sin, but he was also a great military leader. Notice what it says in verse 25. He restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath, as far as the Sea of Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke through his servant Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was of Gath, Hathar. For the Lord saw the affliction of Israel,
which was very bitter. For there was neither bond, nor freed, nor was there any peace, nor was there any peace, nor was there any peace, nor was there any peace, nor was there any helper of Israel. And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, but he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam, the son of Joash. Do you notice that's the third time that in spite of an evil king, when God could have just absolutely wiped out the northern kingdom because of the sin that they were living in, it says that God showed grace and compassion to them because he did not want to utterly wipe them out. And because of that, he showed them kindness. I'll finish with
that point in just a moment. And so God allowed Jeroboam to take back some of the land of Israel so that they could have a little bit of rest from their enemies. It says, Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam and all that he did in his might, how he fought and how he recovered for Israel, Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? And he slept with his fathers, even with the kings of Israel. And Zechariah, his son, became king in his place. All afternoon,
as I was studying this, a song was going through my head. I want you to turn with me one place in scripture, because I want to close with this point. I want you to go over to Psalm 145. It was a worship song when I was in college. It's a fantastic song. It's based on these verses. And that song was running through my head all day as I was studying this, because I want to close with
this point. Oh yeah, we don't have any TVs, do we? Psalm 145 verses 8 and 9 says this, It just struck me that no matter how far Israel fell into sin, no matter how much idolatry they continued to walk in, God gave them chance after chance after chance. Because the Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all, and he has compassion on all that he has made. Later in the psalm, it says,
as far as the east is from the west. That's how far he's removed our transgression from us. And I know sometimes as we read through this Old Testament stuff, we see a lot of God's judgment, and we see a lot of God's discipline. And sometimes we can be fearful of God because of that. To what extent there's a healthy fear we should have of the Lord, the healthy fear of knowing that
he is a holy God that can't stand in the presence of sin. But in that knowledge, it is also balanced out with the truth that God is gracious and compassionate, and he is longing for people to return to him. He is longing to see people come back into right relationship with him. That's the entire reason he sent Jesus. That's the entire reason he continues to send Jesus. That's the
entire reason he continues to be patient with us. You ever wonder why we're all still here? You ever wonder why God has just kept this world around? It's because he's gracious and he's compassionate. And it's his desire that none should perish, but that all should come to eternal life. That doesn't mean everyone will do that, but it means it's his greatest desire. It's his greatest desire
to see sinners be saved. And if you're here this evening and you're living in sin, maybe even as a believer in Jesus Christ, and you're allowing that sin to dominate you, may I ask you to allow the goodness and the graciousness of God to lead you to repentance. Because while he hates the sin that you're living in, he longs to see you repent of it so that you can be set free. It's his greatest desire for you. Amen. Father, we come to you now,
and I just thank you that you are so gracious and compassionate. Lord, that you continue to show mercy to those who don't deserve it, that you continue to shower grace on those who are unworthy of it. And Lord, while you are a holy God, you are also a God of great kindness, love, and forgiveness. And so, Lord, do your work in our hearts, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.