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2 Chronicles 32:24-33 - Veneration is for God Alone · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Hello and good morning, faithful listeners. Welcome to
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  Speaker 1: the Bible Explain Podcasts on this lovely Wednesday morning. Okay,
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  Speaker 1: faithful listeners, we are going to be in second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: thirty two today talking about Hezekiah's terminal illness and how
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  Speaker 1: God responds to him and what he ends up doing
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  Speaker 1: in response to God's response essentially, and this is a
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  Speaker 1: really good episode, I think for anybody who believes that
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  Speaker 1: the people in Scripture are holier than the average Christian,
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  Speaker 1: which a lot of people do think that. You know,
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  Speaker 1: there's so many churches that like venerate these people we
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  Speaker 1: read about in Scripture, and yet time and time again
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  Speaker 1: we see how bad they respond to things, how much
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  Speaker 1: sin they have in their life, and you know, over
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  Speaker 1: and over and over again. So today we're going to
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  Speaker 1: get into Hezekiah's bad response to God's kind kindness and
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  Speaker 1: also why we should not venerate any human being we
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  Speaker 1: read about in Scripture other than Jesus himself. Before we
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  Speaker 1: get into this topic today, here's a word from our
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  Speaker 1: first sponsor today. Okay, hopefully during that ad you were
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  Speaker 1: able to grab your delicious cup of coffee or a
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  Speaker 1: cup of tea for you crazy tea drinkers, because we're
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  Speaker 1: going to be reading Second Chronicles thirty two twenty four
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  Speaker 1: through thirty three. Together, grab your Bible out of the
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  Speaker 1: version that you prefer, and when you do that, let's
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  Speaker 1: go ahead and give reverence to God's word together. In
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  Speaker 1: those days, Hezekiah was terminally ill, and he prayed to Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: and he spoke to him and gave him a sign.
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  Speaker 1: But Hezekiah didn't reciprocate appropriate to the benefit done for
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  Speaker 1: him because his heart was lifted up. Therefore, there was
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  Speaker 1: wrath on him Judah and Jerusalem. However, Hezekiah humbled himself
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  Speaker 1: for the pride of his heart, both he and the
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  Speaker 1: inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that Yahweh's wrath didn't come on them.
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  Speaker 1: In the days of Hezekiah, Hezekiah Iyah had exceedingly great
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  Speaker 1: riches and honor. He provided himself with treasuries for silver,
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  Speaker 1: for gold, for precious stones, for spices, for shields, and
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  Speaker 1: for all kinds of valuable vessels. Also storehouses for the
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  Speaker 1: increase of grain, new wine, and oil, and stalls for
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  Speaker 1: all kinds of animals flocks in folds. Moreover, he provided
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  Speaker 1: for himself cities and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance,
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  Speaker 1: for God had given him abundant possessions. This same Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: also stopped the upper spring of the waters of Gihan
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  Speaker 1: and brought them straight down to the west side of
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  Speaker 1: David City. Hezekiah prospered in all his works. However, concerning
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  Speaker 1: the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to
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  Speaker 1: him to inquire of the wonder that was done in
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  Speaker 1: the land, God left him to test him that he
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  Speaker 1: might know all that was in his heart. Now the
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  Speaker 1: rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his good deeds behold,
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  Speaker 1: they are written in the vision of Isaiah, the Prophet,
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  Speaker 1: the son of Amas, in the book of the Kings
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  Speaker 1: of Judah and Israel. Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and
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  Speaker 1: they buried him in the ascent to the tombs of
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  Speaker 1: the sons of davids Udah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem
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  Speaker 1: honored him at his death. Manassa, his son, reigned in
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  Speaker 1: his place. It's important to note that in verse twenty
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  Speaker 1: four it says, in those days Hezekiah was terminally ill,
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  Speaker 1: and what days would those be? Well? Those were the
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  Speaker 1: days that Assyria was invading Judah. Remember we talked earlier
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  Speaker 1: this week and last week about how the king of
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  Speaker 1: Assyria was coming into Judah taking all of the fortified cities,
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  Speaker 1: and he was very successful in doing that actually, and
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  Speaker 1: not to mention, he was getting really big for his
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  Speaker 1: breeches and he was trying to target Jerusalem during all
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  Speaker 1: of this as well. So it kind of seems like
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  Speaker 1: during all of this happening, Hezekiah had become terminally ill.
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  Speaker 1: That means that he was so sick he was dying,
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  Speaker 1: And you can imagine that Hezekiah was absolutely devastated because
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  Speaker 1: not just about his death, but everything going on in
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  Speaker 1: Judah at this time as well. I'm sure he's probably
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  Speaker 1: thinking that God is done with Judah, done with him,
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  Speaker 1: done with the kings, done with everything, that this is
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  Speaker 1: God's retribution for all of the sins that Judah had committed.
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  Speaker 1: So it says in verse twenty four that in those days,
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah was terminally ill and he prayed to Yahweh. So
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  Speaker 1: let's turn to Second King's twenty and read this story
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  Speaker 1: more in depth, because the account in Second King's twenty
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  Speaker 1: actually gives a lot of details about what Hezekiah prayed
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  Speaker 1: and how God responded to Hezekiah's prayer. So, starting in
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  Speaker 1: verse one, it says, in those days Hezekiah was sick
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  Speaker 1: and dying, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, came
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  Speaker 1: to him and said to him, Yahweh says, set your
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  Speaker 1: house in order, for you will die and not live.
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  Speaker 1: Then he turned his face to the wall and prayed
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  Speaker 1: to Yahweh, saying, remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how
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  Speaker 1: I have walked before you in truth and with a
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  Speaker 1: perfect heart, and have done that which is good in
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  Speaker 1: your sight. And Hezekiah wept bitterly. So Hezekiah knew that
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  Speaker 1: he was going to die, because Isaiah actually came to
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  Speaker 1: him and said, you're going to die. That is what
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  Speaker 1: God says. So Hezekiah turns toward the wall, and that's
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  Speaker 1: symbolically saying that he did this prayer very privately. So
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  Speaker 1: he turned his face toward the wall in private, so
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  Speaker 1: that nobody could see him, and he prayed and wept
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  Speaker 1: bitterly to God. He basically is asking God, begging God
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  Speaker 1: to remember his kindness and how Hezekiah did his best
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  Speaker 1: to try to turn Judah back to him. That's what
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  Speaker 1: he says, Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I
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  Speaker 1: have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart,
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  Speaker 1: and have done that which is good in your sight.
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  Speaker 1: So Hezekiah prays that God will heal him. So Isaiah, though,
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  Speaker 1: is on his way back home, and it says before
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  Speaker 1: he had gone out into the middle part of the city,
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  Speaker 1: Yahwai's word came to him, saying, turn back and tell Hezekiah,
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  Speaker 1: the prince of my people. Yahweh, the God or your father, says,
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  Speaker 1: I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: I will heal you. On the third day, you will
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  Speaker 1: go up to Yawai's house. I will add to your
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  Speaker 1: days fifteen years, and I will deliver you in this
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  Speaker 1: city out of the hand of the King of Assyria.
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  Speaker 1: I will defend this city for my own sake and
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  Speaker 1: for my servant David's sake. So there you go. That's
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  Speaker 1: more confirmation right there that this was happening during the
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  Speaker 1: invasion of the King of Assyria. So Hezekiah is having
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  Speaker 1: a really nasty time of things just with his enemies
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  Speaker 1: on his doorstep, and also this terminal disease that he has.
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  Speaker 1: But Isaiah gets this prophecy minutes after Hezekiah prayed that
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  Speaker 1: private prayer, and Isaiah does indeed turn back and tell
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah what God had just relayed to him, and he
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  Speaker 1: might be like, well, jen did Isaiah give a false
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  Speaker 1: prophecy before? Because it says in verse one that Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: said that Hezekiah would in fact die and not live. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I would say no, Isaiah did not give a false prophecy,
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  Speaker 1: because obviously Hezekiah did die. He is not alive right now.
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  Speaker 1: We know that he is dead, and Isaiah didn't give
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  Speaker 1: any particular timeline when he told Hezekiah that he would die.
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  Speaker 1: But also, whenever a prophet goes to a person and
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  Speaker 1: tells them some sort of judgment God is going to
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  Speaker 1: do on them, it is always a call for repentance
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  Speaker 1: every single time. So when Isaiah came to Hezekiah and
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  Speaker 1: told him this prophecy, Hezekiah knew that this was a
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  Speaker 1: chance for him to repent and repair his relationship with God.
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  Speaker 1: So I don't know exactly what Hezekiah was doing that
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  Speaker 1: caused him to have a severed relationship with Yahweh. And
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that this terminal illness came on Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: because of this severed relationship with Yahweh. You know, sometimes
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  Speaker 1: sickness does happen, and it's not necessarily because God is
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  Speaker 1: angry with you or something like that. But we do
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  Speaker 1: know that during this time Hezekiah made some mistakes. You know,
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  Speaker 1: don't forget. He had actually gone into God's temple and
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  Speaker 1: taken all of the precious things out and stripped the doors.
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  Speaker 1: I believe it was of the gold, and sent all
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  Speaker 1: of that to the king of Assyria out of fear.
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  Speaker 1: There's also some evidence that King Hezekiah is trying to
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  Speaker 1: make an alliance with Egypt, which God specifically said in
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  Speaker 1: his law, never go back to Egypt again for anything
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  Speaker 1: for any reason. Rely on Me, not on the Egyptians.
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  Speaker 1: So Hezekiah was doing some things wrong during the days
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  Speaker 1: of the Assyrians, and so it could be that God
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  Speaker 1: was using this sickness Hezekiah had in order to spur
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah to have a relationship with him again instead of
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  Speaker 1: going off the path that Hezekiah was unfortunately going. But
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  Speaker 1: whenever a prophet comes to somebody with a prophecy like this,
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  Speaker 1: a prophecy of judgment of some sort, it is always
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  Speaker 1: a chance for the person to repent before God, and
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  Speaker 1: that is what Hezekiah actually does. So no, Isaiah was
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  Speaker 1: not a false prophet. In fact, he was doing exactly
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  Speaker 1: what a prophet was supposed to do. A true prophet
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  Speaker 1: is one that relays God's messages and does it in
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  Speaker 1: a way that encourages people to turn to Yahweh. So
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah did not give a false prophecy here at the
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  Speaker 1: very beginning. But regardless, God gives another prophecy to Isaiah
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  Speaker 1: and he says, Hezekiah will be healed. In verse five,
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  Speaker 1: it says, I have heard your prayer, I have seen
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  Speaker 1: your tears, and I will heal you. He says, in
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  Speaker 1: three days, you're gonna go up to Yahweh's house, and
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  Speaker 1: I will add to your days fifteen years, and I
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  Speaker 1: will deliver you and this city out of the hand
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  Speaker 1: of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city
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  Speaker 1: for my own sake and for my servant David's sake.
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  Speaker 1: So that's what ends up happening to Hezekiah. He does,
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  Speaker 1: in fact get healed. It mentions in verse seven that
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah had knowledge now of how to heal Hezekiah, and
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  Speaker 1: apparently Hezekiah had some really bad skin problem that was
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  Speaker 1: causing this terminal illness, and we have no clue what
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  Speaker 1: this is. Nobody knows. I speculated last time I talked
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  Speaker 1: about this that maybe it was a bite of some
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  Speaker 1: sort that Hezekiah might have had. But Isaiah mentions that
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  Speaker 1: a cake of figs was to be placed on the boil,
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  Speaker 1: so basically a paste of figs of some sort, and
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  Speaker 1: once that was placed on the boil, Hezekiah started to recover.
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  Speaker 1: And so Hezekiah says to Isaiah, what will be the
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  Speaker 1: sign that Yahweh will heal me? And that I will
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  Speaker 1: go up to Yahwa's house on the third day. Isaiah says,
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  Speaker 1: this will be the sign to you from Yahweh that
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh will do the thing that he has spoken. Should
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  Speaker 1: the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps? Now,
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  Speaker 1: what Isaiah's talking about there is the shadow on the
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  Speaker 1: what are those called those sun dials, you know, where
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  Speaker 1: each step represents an hour, And so Isaiah's basically like,
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  Speaker 1: God's giving you a choice, Hezekiah, do you want the
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  Speaker 1: sun to go forward ten hours or do you want
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  Speaker 1: it to go backward ten hours? And here's what Hezekiah says,
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  Speaker 1: which is a really weird thing to say. He says,
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  Speaker 1: it's a light thing for the shadow to go forward
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  Speaker 1: ten steps. No, let the shadow return backward ten steps.
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  Speaker 1: So He's like, no, no, you know, like going forward
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  Speaker 1: that's easy, because that's how the sun goes anyway. So
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  Speaker 1: I want it to jump backward ten steps. And to me,
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  Speaker 1: I think that's such a bizarre thing to think. It
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  Speaker 1: is just as impossible for the day to somehow jump
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  Speaker 1: forward ten hours as it is for the day to
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  Speaker 1: jump backward ten hours. It is impossible either way. And
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  Speaker 1: yet Hezekia was like, no, it's gonna be easy for
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  Speaker 1: God if he just jumps it forward. I would rather
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  Speaker 1: he jumped it backwards. And so God listens. God does.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, it says, bring the shadow backward ten steps,
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  Speaker 1: by which it had gone down on the sundial of
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  Speaker 1: a has is what it says. Now at this point
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  Speaker 1: in time, the rest of the world notices that something
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  Speaker 1: really bizarre had happened with the sun. Okay, because people
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  Speaker 1: worshiped the sun back in these days, and for the
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  Speaker 1: sun to suddenly start working backwards and disappear ten hours
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  Speaker 1: earlier for people that you know, watched the sky for
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  Speaker 1: signs and for time. You can imagine this was a
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  Speaker 1: really freaky thing that happened here. So the king of
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  Speaker 1: Babylon is especially interested in this. Now, Babylon at this
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  Speaker 1: time was a smaller power. It was not very big yet.
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  Speaker 1: Now later on it did become like one of the
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  Speaker 1: biggest uh superpowers in the world. But at this point
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  Speaker 1: in history, Babylon was not very big yet. It was growing,
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  Speaker 1: but it was not very big. And it says the
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  Speaker 1: king of Babylon was especially interested in what happened to
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  Speaker 1: the sun. So he sent letters and a present to Hezekiah,
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  Speaker 1: for he had heard that Hezekiah had become sick. And
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  Speaker 1: also these ambassadors from Babylon showed up as well. And
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah tells them nothing about the sun, tells them nothing. Instead,
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  Speaker 1: he showed them all around Judah. It says in verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah listened to them and showed them all the storehouses
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  Speaker 1: of his precious things, the silver, the gold, the spices,
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  Speaker 1: the oil, the house of his armor, and all that
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  Speaker 1: was found in his treasuries. There was nothing in his
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  Speaker 1: house or in all of his dominion that Hezekiah didn't
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  Speaker 1: show them. So that's how Hezekiah responds to these Babylonian ambassadors.
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  Speaker 1: And if we jump back to Second Chronicles thirty two,
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  Speaker 1: our passage for today, it mentions in verse thirty one
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  Speaker 1: concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent
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  Speaker 1: to him to inquire of the wonder that was done
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  Speaker 1: in the land. God left him to test him that
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  Speaker 1: he might know all that was in his heart. So
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  Speaker 1: this was a test specifically from God, these Babylonian ambassadors.
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  Speaker 1: God left these people to test what Hezekiah would do.
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  Speaker 1: And it also mentions here that the reason the ambassadors
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  Speaker 1: went to Judah was because they were inquiring specifically a
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  Speaker 1: out the thing that had happened with the Sun. They
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  Speaker 1: were absolutely shook over it, and they were probably inquiring
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  Speaker 1: from many different places seeing if any nation claimed that
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  Speaker 1: their God had done that to the Sun. And they
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  Speaker 1: eventually figure out that it's the land of Judah. So
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  Speaker 1: the princes of Babylon send the ambassadors to Judah to
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  Speaker 1: figure all of this out. Because the Babylonians, by the way,
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  Speaker 1: would have been especially interested in this miracle because they
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  Speaker 1: worshiped the Sun, that was their prime deity. I forget
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  Speaker 1: the name of the Sun God that they had, but
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  Speaker 1: that was their deity, it was like their God. So
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  Speaker 1: this was a perfect opportunity for Hezekiah to evangelize for Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: and Hezekiah fails the test dramatically. Hezekiah doesn't evangelize for Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: but he evangelizes for himself. He shows these ambassadors all
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  Speaker 1: the riches of Judah, all the wonderful things that Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: Yah has achieved during his time as king. Hezekiah became
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  Speaker 1: prideful because of this miracle that God did on his behalf. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: and this was to his detriment. It was also to
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  Speaker 1: the detriment of Judah, because now Babylon knows all of
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  Speaker 1: the good things that are happening in Judah, and Judah
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  Speaker 1: is going to become a prime target of Babylon in
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  Speaker 1: just a couple hundred years. This was a really, really
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  Speaker 1: bad decision that Hezekiah made. It endangered a lot of people, actually,
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  Speaker 1: and it was all because Hezekiah became prideful, and that's
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  Speaker 1: what it says in verse twenty five of Second Chronicles
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  Speaker 1: thirty two. But Hezekiah didn't reciprocate appropriate to the benefit
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  Speaker 1: done for him because his heart was lifted up. Therefore
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  Speaker 1: there was wrath on him, Judah and Jerusalem. However, verse
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  Speaker 1: twenty six, Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart,
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  Speaker 1: both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that Yahweh's
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  Speaker 1: wrath didn't come on them in the days of Hezekiah.
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  Speaker 1: So this was a bad thing Hezekiah did, but thankfully
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  Speaker 1: he did actually turn his heart back to God. And
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  Speaker 1: it also mentions that the inhabitants of Jerusalem did as
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  Speaker 1: well during those days, so God's wrath didn't come on
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  Speaker 1: them in the days of Hezekiah. Instead, God gave Hezekiah
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  Speaker 1: a different prophecy through Isaiah. So let's turn back to
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  Speaker 1: Second Kings twenty and start in verse fourteen. It says
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  Speaker 1: Isaiah a prophet came to King Hezekiah and said, what
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  Speaker 1: did these men say? And from where did they come
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  Speaker 1: to you? Hezekiah said, they came from a far country,
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  Speaker 1: even from Babylon. He said, what have they seen of
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  Speaker 1: your house? Hezekiah answered, They've seen all that is in
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  Speaker 1: my house. There is nothing among my treasures that I
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  Speaker 1: have not shown them. Isaiah said to Hezekiah hear Yahweh's word. Behold,
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  Speaker 1: the days come that all that is in your house
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  Speaker 1: and that which your fathers have laid up in store
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  Speaker 1: to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will
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  Speaker 1: be left, says Yahweh. They will take away some of
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  Speaker 1: your sons who will issue from you, whom you will father,
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  Speaker 1: and they will be eunuchs in the palace of the
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  Speaker 1: king of Babylon. He basically tells Hezekiah, because you did
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  Speaker 1: this because of the pride of your heart, not evangelizing
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  Speaker 1: to these Babylonians, but rather being arrogant and showing them
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  Speaker 1: all of these treasures that you have, all those things
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  Speaker 1: that you find so precious, They're going to be carried
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  Speaker 1: off to Babylon in just a short period of time.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, some of your sons that you have are
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  Speaker 1: also going to be carried off to Babylon as well.
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  Speaker 1: And here's how Hezekiah responds to that prophecy. In verse nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: it says Hezekiah says to Isaiah, Yahway's word which you've spoken,
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  Speaker 1: is good, he said, moreover, isn't it so? If peace
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  Speaker 1: and truth will be in my days? That is how
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  Speaker 1: arrogant Hezekiah had become that he's not even thinking about
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  Speaker 1: his children or his grandchildren. Oh, this is a great
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  Speaker 1: prophecy because it's not going to happen in my days.
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  Speaker 1: It's just gonna happen to my children. You know, they're
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  Speaker 1: going to be in complete misery because of what I did.
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  Speaker 1: But no, I mean, this is great. Yeah, not gonna
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  Speaker 1: happen to me, so I'm not worried about it. So
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  Speaker 1: Hezekiah had a terrible response to this prophecy. But the
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  Speaker 1: good news is Second Chronicles thirty two says that at
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  Speaker 1: some point in time he did, in fact humble himself
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: before Yahweh. So I don't know if he realized the
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: error of his ways shortly thereafter, but it does say
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: that he humbled himself. So that's a very good thing
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: and better than all of the other kings. Honestly, in
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: Judah's history, Hezekiah was the best of them all because
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: even though he sinned, and he did sin, he came
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: back to Yahweh every single time. So to conclude, in
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: Second Chronicles thirty two to thirty two, it says, the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: rest of the acts of Hezekiah and all his good
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: deeds behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: the prophet, the son of Amos. In the Book of
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: the Kings of Judah and Israel, Hezekiah slept with his
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: fathers and they buried him in the ascent to the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: tombs of the sons of David. All Judah and the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. Nassa, his son,
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: reigned in his place. So Hezekiah was a very good king,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: and the people did honor him in his death. There
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: were many times where the kings were hated by the people,
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: and so they did not give them a good burial.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Maybe didn't even bury them in the tombs of the kings,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: but just some like random tomb somewhere in Jerusalem. Didn't
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: give them any honor. But Hezekiah received a lot of
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: honor in his days, and he did live an additional
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: fifteen years after this sin that he made with the Babylonians.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: So God was merciful to Hezekiah. And I think this
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: goes to show us that even people we consider to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: be good still have flaws. They are still sinful. There
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: is no perfect person on the planet other than Jesus himself,
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: so there's no point in venerating human beings because they're
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: all flawed, which, by the way, veneration and worship are
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: one and the same. There will be people who tell
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: you that venerate just means to give respect to but
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: it actually is the same definition as the word worship.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: Veneration is defined as respect or awe directed towards someone
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: due to his or her value or greatness, and worship
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: is defined as showing respect, love, reverence, or adoration. So
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: veneration and worship are the exact same thing, But unfortunately
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of people will say, oh, no, they're two
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: different things. We only worship God. We don't worship human beings.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: We only venerate human beings. But a venerate and worship
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: have the exact same definition. Then essentially, when you say
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: that you're venerating a human being, then that actually does
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: mean you're worshiping a human being. So be very careful
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: if your church ever tells you we venerate so and
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: so for the good thing that they have done, because
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: worship and veneration are for God alone. That is what
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: scripture says, and not to mention the other reason we
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: shouldn't venerate human beings is because they are sinful and flawed,
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: and honestly, I think that's why their flaws are recorded
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: in scripture so that we don't get the idea that
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: these people deserve veneration or are more holy than the
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: average human being, because they are not. I mean, think
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: about some of the people we would consider the holiest
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: in the Old Testament. Think about Moses. He was a murderer.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: God almost killed him at one point in time because
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: of his rebellion. Actually, think about David. David was an
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: adulterer and a murderer and a terrible father. In the
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: New Testament, think about Mary, she tried to stop Jesus
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: from doing his public ministry. Think about the Apostle Paul.
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: He put men and women in prison without any care
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: for their families, for their children, for their homes. He
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: tried to put Christians to death. Think about Peter. He
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: denied you us three times and then later on sided
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: with the Judaizers so much that Paul had to publicly
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: confront him and tell him that he was wrong. Pretty
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: Much every single person that we read about in scripture
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: that we consider to be holy now has some major flaws.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: And that's because we are all human born with a
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: sin nature, and that shows us even more who we're
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: supposed to be revering, not these people talked about in scripture,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: but yahweh, the one that loves them, created them and
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: shows forgiveness and mercy time and time again. Well, thank
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: you so much for getting this far in the podcast episode,
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Faithful listeners. Here's a last word from a sponsor before
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I end today's episode. So the chapter we read today
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: is the end of Hezekiah's life, and it mentions at
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: the very end here that Manasa, his son, reigned in
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: his place. I'm definitely looking forward to talking about Manassa,
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: because if Hezekiah was the best king in Israel's history
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: so far, Manassa was probably one of the worst. Which
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: is funny because Hezekiah was sandwiched between two very very
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: bad kings. You know. A Has was Hezekiah's dad, and
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: he was easily the worst king in Judas history, and
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: the Manassa, Hezekiah's son, was the second worst king in
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Juda's history. I would say, though, Manassa and a Has
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: are pretty equal in terms of terribleness. So we'll get
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: into King Manassa on Monday, and I hope to see
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: all of you guys then. But tomorrow we are going
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: to be in the Hebrews. I'm very much looking forward
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: tomorrow's episode actually, because we're gonna talk about how to
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: know if you're really saved. Because the one thing we've
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: been discussing in Hebrews recently is that it's not enough
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: to believe that God exists. We mentioned James Chapter two
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: the other day in Hebrews and how James says even
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: the demons believe and shudder. So it's not just enough
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: to believe that God exists. There has to be a
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: true faith. And tomorrow we're gonna get to the bottom
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: of how do we know if we have that true
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: faith in Jesus or not? And I highly recommend that
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: everybody take a listen to it because I think it's
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: a really good thing for all of us who claim
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: to be Christians to think about and talk about. It's
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: the most important thing, honestly in our lives is our
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: spiritual health and our relationship with God. So that will
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: air tomorrow at six am or whenever you choose to
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: wake up and listen. So I hope to see all
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of you guys tomorrow. Until then, happy listening and God bless.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: the Bible Explain podcast. In fact, if you go to
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.