Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- 2 Kings 18, Isa 10-12, Proverbs 25-29
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. Welcome to our Journey Through Scripture podcast. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. And today we're going to be continuing our chronological ⁓ walk through the Bible. So we're going to read 2 Kings 18, Isaiah 10 through 12, and then Proverbs 25 through 29. Okay. So if you remember, we kind of talked about how the kingdom of Israel, the Northern Kingdom, has now been ⁓ completely overtaken by Assyria. They had partnered with Syria. They had attacked the Southern Kingdom with King Ahaz. Remember the Southern Kingdom of Judah, King Ahaz was one of their worst kings, ⁓ had lots of problems there. So ⁓ he actually kind of made a deal with Assyria and then Assyria ends up wiping out the Northern Kingdom. ⁓ And so 2 Kings chapter 18 begins with introducing us to ⁓ King Ahaz's successor, ⁓ which is King Hezekiah. Hezekiah is actually a very good king. So chapter 18 says, and he did what was right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father David had done. Says he trusted in the Lord the God of Israel so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him, for he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him. but kept commandments which the Lord had commanded Moses. The Lord was with him and he prospered wherever he went. ⁓ And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. He subdued the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory from the watchtower to fortified city. ⁓ It also talks about ⁓ back in verse four, he removed the high places, broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden images and broke it in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made. for until those days the children of Israel had burned incense to it. So he basically took all of the things that the people had turned in to idols and got rid of them. And so he tried to do the best he could to clear the land, clear the nation of all pagan worship. ⁓ And he was very successful in that. ⁓ And he definitely, know, one of the things King Ahaz had kind of made a deal with Assyria, he breaks ties with Assyria. So that brings us to where we want to look at Isaiah chapter 10 through 12. So the first part of Isaiah was dealing with the Northern Kingdom, that they are about to experience the punishment of God because of what they have done. And Assyria was going to be part of that punishment. And you may say, well, why would God use a godless nation, a nation that is against Him to do that? Well, they were a tool. God was using them. But that didn't mean that they would not be held accountable to God as well. And so that's what Isaiah chapter 10 through 12 are talking about that, as well as the fact that there will be a remnant that And this is going to be a lot of kind of looking forward to the future, that the nation would be rebuilt. There's always this idea within the Old Testament and even within the New Testament that there will be a remnant that remain, that there will be difficult times that people go through. ⁓ Sometimes it feels like evil has won, but there will be a remnant and God will continue to work and continue to bring about prosperity and ⁓ bring prosperity back to his people. So Isaiah chapter 10 starts off as, it woe to Assyria, the rod of my anger and the staff in whose hand is my indignation. So he's acknowledging that God is using them, but also saying woe to Assyria. In verse 12, therefore it shall come to pass when the Lord has performed all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem that he will say, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the glory of his haughty looks." Love that. It says, by the strength of my hand, I have done it and by my wisdom, for I am prudent and also have removed the boundaries of the people and have robbed their treasuries. ⁓ That's what Assyria will do, but God is allowing that. ⁓ And then as you continue to read, it starts talking about the returning remnant of Israel. Verse 21, "'The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob to the mighty God. For though your people, O Israel, be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of them will return. The destruction decreed shall overflow with righteousness, for the Lord God of hosts will make a determined end in the midst of all the land.' Says therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, "'O my people who dwell in Zion, do not be afraid of the Assyrian. He shall strike you with a rod and lift up his staff against you in the manner of Egypt.'" for yet a very little while and their indignation will cease and my will and will my anger in their destruction. And the Lord of hosts will stir up a scourge for him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb and his rod was on the sea so he will lift it up in the manner of Egypt." So basically the tables will be turned on Assyria and that there will be a remnant still remaining. So Assyria is not going to completely wipe the people out. Chapter 11, I want to read some of this. I believe this is definitely used by the New Testament as a prophecy of looking at ⁓ Christ and of ⁓ bringing back the people of Israel and through the Messiah and how the Messiah would reunite the people. It says, ⁓ I shall rest upon him the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and he shall not judge by the sight of his eyes, nor deceit by the hearing of his ears. But with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his loins, and faithfulness the belt of his waist." The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion with the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. as the waters cover the sea. What a great description, right? All those things that we complain about that are wrong in the world, injustice, pain, and suffering, all of those things will be made right. And so this is definitely looking into the future when the Messiah will return and make everything and bring everything back the way that God desired for it to be from the beginning. I just, I really encourage you to kind of read slowly through that. It's very, very powerful. So, and then chapter 12 is just a hymn of praise. And this is important. So Isaiah has just been talking about how horrible things are going to get, right? That Assyria is going to do lots of damage, but yes, they will receive theirs, but the people are going to be enduring lots of hardship and that one day there will be a remnant. But for the people that are listening to this, it's never going to get really any better. But yet, Isaiah 12 has a hymn of praise starting in verse four. And in that day you will say, praise the Lord, call upon His name, declare His deeds among the peoples, make mention of His name as exalted, sing to the Lord, for He has done excellent things. This is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout. ⁓ inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst." ⁓ So this recognition that, things may get difficult. It may sometimes feel that God has abandoned us, and maybe sometimes it's because God is punishing, because we have rebelled against Him. ⁓ But we can still praise Him because of who He is, because of His faithfulness to us, even as we go through difficult times and even as we go through strife, we know that God is still present with us and that He walks with us through those moments. The last four chapters, I encourage you to read, chapters 25 through 29 of Proverbs. The reason why this is put in this place is Proverbs 25 says, King of Judah copied. So we don't know exactly what this is. Were these found by the men of Hezekiah? ⁓ Or did Hezekiah stress these proverbs that were from Solomon? We don't know for sure, but it appears that it probably points to this time. And there is quite a bit ⁓ in these proverbs about ⁓ leadership and ⁓ government. And so as you read through, remember what Proverbs are. They are short little snippets of wise sayings of how we should strive to live our life. And so as you read through there, there's a few that jump out to me. Verse 21 of chapter 25 says, if your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink. For so you will heap coals of fire on his head and the Lord will reward you. Reach out to your enemy, know, try to be kind to your enemy if at all possible. says in verse 27, it is not good to eat much honey. So to seek one's own glory is not glory. So glory in itself is not bad, but to seek it and to strive for it, that's like eating too much honey. Whoever has no rule over his own spirit, is like a city broken down without walls. If you don't have control over your own self, over your own desire, you will eventually be overrun. You are open for attack, if you will. Verse 11 of chapter 26, as a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly. Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There's more hope for a fool than for him. It's just said a lot of bad things about a fool that a fool just continues to do the same thing thinking he's going to get different results, right? Even if it's bad results, he just keeps doing the same thing over and over again and wonders why he keeps getting the same results. And then a person who is wise in their own eyes is actually worse than that fool. Pretty powerful proverb there. Verse 24, he who hates... disguises it with his lips and lays up deceit within himself. When he speaks kindly, do not believe him. For there are seven abominations in his heart, though his hatred is covered by deceit. His wickedness will be revealed before the assembly." So those who hate, and so if we hate, it will bring deceit within us and it will poison us from the inside out. Chapter 27, verse 1, do not boast about tomorrow. For you do not know what a day may bring forth. Good advice. Be careful. Let another man praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger not your own lips. Do not go about self-promotion. Do not go about boasting. And so many of these simple Psalms, excuse me, simple Proverbs and wisdom saying, just kind of go directly against what our culture encourages us to do. A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself. So in other words, you pay attention to what's going on and you see evil and you prepare for that evil. The simple pass on and they perish and are punished. So if you're not paying attention, you may get overrun by the evil that is around us. Verse 17 is, iron sharpens iron. So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. work together, part of being within the family of God, within the body of Christ, is that we sharpen each other, right? Because we should be looking out for the best for each other. ⁓ Chapter 28, ⁓ verse 5, evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand all. 16, a ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, but he who hates covetousness will prolong his days. Right? Hating covetousness, that inherent human desire to want what other people have. That's a dangerous kind of value to hold onto. And some people, that's all they think about. They just think about what other people have and what they don't have. And I thought that's interesting that that's connected to a ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor. Right? If you don't understand human nature, you, you can easily become an oppressor, ⁓ and recognizing the sinfulness that we have and the desire that everyone has to want more and to want what other people have. And so as a ruler, you have to be, be very careful, but especially if you are covetous and you want what other people have, you will take from everyone and not give back. ⁓ and as a ruler that you then become an oppressor. You you force people to either give you or to give others. Both of that is being an oppressor that may be based on this idea of coveting, of this human desire that we have always to want what we don't have. Chapter 29, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. Leadership is always important, right? And that may be behind some of the philosophies that people don't want a huge government. It's it's impacted so much by whether it's a righteous or a wicked person at the helm. ⁓ Verse four, the king establishes the land by justice, but he who receives bribes overthrows it. And that's an ⁓ interesting ⁓ one that definitely... you see within the political realm. Verse 7, the righteous considers the cause of the poor, but the wicked does not understand such knowledge. Verse 15, the rod and rebuke give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother. Right? So it's important we should raise a child the way they should go. Right? It's important to mold our children, to teach them right and wrong. Verse 20, do you see a man hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him. Verse 26, many seek the ruler's favor, but justice for man comes from the Lord. Where do we ultimately seek justice? It's from the Lord. So I encourage you to read through those Proverbs. I think they're so important and they just give basic truths of how we should strive to live our life. ⁓ specifically were connected to King Hezekiah, who was a very good king in Judah. All right, let's...we're going to be strictly in Isaiah, but quite a few different chapters. So here we go. Isaiah chapter 18 through 20, 15 and 16, 22, and then 30 through 32. All so that's Isaiah 18 through 20, 15 and 16, chapter 22, Isaiah 30 through 32. So remember, Isaiah kind of covers quite a few different chronological eras. And so we will pick that up on Tuesday. Hope that you have a wonderful weekend and thank you for joining us for our journey through scripture. All right, see you.