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Ahaz - The Book of 2 Kings, 2 Chronicles · Bible in a Year with Jack Graham

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  Speaker 1: Let us pray. And in the time of his distress
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  Speaker 1: did he trespass yet more against the Lord. This is
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  Speaker 1: that King Ahaz. 2 Chronicles 28.22 Heavenly Father, I thank
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  Speaker 1: you that your story is a story of redemption through brokenness.
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  Speaker 1: I thank you that through Judah's kings you reveal that
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  Speaker 1: you can still use me through imperfection and shortcomings. I
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  Speaker 1: thank you that through the book of Kings you've shown
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  Speaker 1: me that, if I'm willing, you will work in me
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  Speaker 1: and through me. In the same breath, I praise you
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  Speaker 1: for revealing corrupt kings and their corrupted mindsets so that
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  Speaker 1: I can avoid the traps of the enemy, unlike Ahaz.
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  Speaker 1: I decree and declare that no false idol will get
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  Speaker 1: my attention and devotion. I decree and declare that I
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  Speaker 1: will be a tool in the hand of the Lord
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  Speaker 1: rather than a stumbling block to God's children. I declare
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  Speaker 1: that the anointing of the power of the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: is moving through me so that I am a strong
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  Speaker 1: representation of what God can do through the heart of
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  Speaker 1: a willing vessel. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for
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  Speaker 1: praying with us today. Continue your time with God by
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  Speaker 1: listening to today's Bible story. Brought to you by BibleInAYear.com.
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  Speaker 2: Ahaz. In our last story, we learned about the faithful
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  Speaker 2: reign of King Uzziah. Although he did not finish well,
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  Speaker 2: the majority of his life was spent under the wisdom
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  Speaker 2: and guidance of God. He fortified Judah and protected them
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  Speaker 2: from harm. Then his son Jotham followed by restoring Israel
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  Speaker 2: back to a loving relationship with God. He was a
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  Speaker 2: mighty warrior and a loving king. He finished his time
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  Speaker 2: as king faithfully. Now we learn about one of the
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  Speaker 2: darkest kings Judah has ever known. His evil ran as
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  Speaker 2: deep as the ocean. His idolatry was taken to the
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  Speaker 2: highest of heights in an act against his children. God,
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  Speaker 2: as a result, would not allow for such evil to
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  Speaker 2: go unpunished, inspired by the book of 2 Chronicles.
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  Speaker 3: Hello, I'm Pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
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  Speaker 3: Bible in a Year podcast. In the last episode, we
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  Speaker 3: learned about King Uzziah who, despite his faithfulness to God
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  Speaker 3: in his younger days, became proud and disobeyed God's commandments
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  Speaker 3: regarding the temple. As a result, he died alone and
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  Speaker 3: in shame, kept away from the house of the Lord
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  Speaker 3: because leprosy had consumed him. But we also heard about
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  Speaker 3: his son Jotham, who followed the Lord and led with
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  Speaker 3: honor and justice all of his days. He was perhaps
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  Speaker 3: the greatest king in Judah since the days of David
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  Speaker 3: and Solomon. Today we'll hear how his son Ahaz sadly
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  Speaker 3: did not share his father's love for the Lord. He
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  Speaker 3: would become one of the most wicked kings in Judah's history,
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  Speaker 3: and would commit sin so evil that God simply could
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  Speaker 3: not hold back His hand of judgment any longer. Let's
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  Speaker 3: listen to God's Word today.
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  Speaker 2: The story of God is a story of redemption through brokenness.
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  Speaker 2: Judah's kings revealed that God could work through imperfection. Some
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  Speaker 2: kings allowed for God to work in them and through them.
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  Speaker 2: Other kings kicked against the will of God only to
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  Speaker 2: be humbled later on. The story of King Jotham was
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  Speaker 2: a story of faithfulness from beginning to end. However, his
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  Speaker 2: son had an entirely different story. Jotham died after 16
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  Speaker 2: years of being king. He ruled well and continued to
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  Speaker 2: be faithful to the very end. Eventually, the son set
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  Speaker 2: on his successful rule, and it was time for Ahaz
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  Speaker 2: to take the throne. Ahaz did not share the humble
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  Speaker 2: heart of his father. nor did he have the wits
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  Speaker 2: or bravery of his grandfather Uzziah. Ahaz was a pathetic
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  Speaker 2: and evil man, whose heart was consumed with a great
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  Speaker 2: depth of wickedness. Influenced by the kings of Israel, Ahaz
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  Speaker 2: dabbled in the dark worship of exotic gods. He reveled
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  Speaker 2: in the mystic powers of evil. He tempted God by
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  Speaker 2: destroying life itself. One night in the forest beyond the hills,
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  Speaker 2: he lured his sons in for a sacrifice. They came
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  Speaker 2: under the impression that they were worshipping alongside their father.
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  Speaker 2: The children wandered through the forest without torches to light
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  Speaker 2: their way. The darkness covered the forest, and all they
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  Speaker 2: could hear was the wicked laughter of their twisted and
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  Speaker 2: demented father. Ahaz brought his sons in close and slit
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  Speaker 2: the children's throats as tribute to its pagan lords. Blood
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  Speaker 2: dripped over every tree in the forest that night. Innocent
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  Speaker 2: children were torn apart, by their wicked father. This was
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  Speaker 2: the evil God desired to shield his people from. He
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  Speaker 2: would not allow Ahaz to corrupt or kill more of
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  Speaker 2: his children. The Lord rose up an army from the east.
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  Speaker 2: The king of Syria was stirred up to go into
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  Speaker 2: battle with Judah for land and wealth. God bolstered the
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  Speaker 2: armies of Syria and used them as a gavel of
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  Speaker 2: justice upon Ahaz. He also rose up Israel to mount
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  Speaker 2: another attack and claim more of Judah's land. In a
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  Speaker 2: matter of days, Ahaz managed to lose every man of
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  Speaker 2: valor his father had trained. Israel took over 200,000 Judeans captive.
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  Speaker 2: Women and children were claimed as slaves, and the entire
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  Speaker 2: storehouse of the king was raided. Yet God's quarrel was
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  Speaker 2: not with women and children. It was with the king.
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  Speaker 2: He would not allow Israel to take slaves, so he
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  Speaker 2: sent a prophet to speak out against the commanders of Israel.
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  Speaker 2: He stopped them on their way back home and proclaimed liberty.
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  Speaker 2: It is because the Lord is angry against Judah that
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  Speaker 2: he allowed you to have victory, the prophet shouted. But
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  Speaker 2: that does not mean you are without sin yourselves. God
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  Speaker 2: will not tolerate you taking women and children captive. Turn
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  Speaker 2: back and return them, lest the fierce wrath of God
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  Speaker 2: come upon you. The commanders of Israel's armies responded with humility,
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  Speaker 2: in unexpected yet welcomed reaction. They clothed the captives, fed them,
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  Speaker 2: and led them safely back to Judah. Meanwhile, Ahaz panicked
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  Speaker 2: in his palace. He was not stable. He was irate
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  Speaker 2: and irrational. The Philistines attacked from the east. Ahaz desired
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  Speaker 2: to save his own skin, and therefore reached out to
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  Speaker 2: gain aid. He reached out to Tiglath-Pileser, the king of Assyria.
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  Speaker 2: He pleaded for aid. He wanted soldiers, money, and resources
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  Speaker 2: to restore his nation to stability. Yet he had nothing
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  Speaker 2: to offer Assyria. King Tiglath-Pileser saw Judah as weak and
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  Speaker 2: ripe for raiding. He led his armies to Judah under
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  Speaker 2: the ruse of aid, and then plundered Jerusalem for all
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  Speaker 2: its wealth. This defeat should have caused Ahaz to repent. Instead,
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  Speaker 2: it caused him to press deeper into darkness. He made
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  Speaker 2: sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, the very gods his
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  Speaker 2: enemies worshipped. In Ahaz's warped and twisted logic, he thought
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  Speaker 2: that since they helped his enemies, they would help him.
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  Speaker 2: He was painfully unaware that it was God who strengthened
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  Speaker 2: his enemies to capture his attention. Instead of providing comfort,
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  Speaker 2: they sent Ahaz into a deeper pit of despair. Ahaz
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  Speaker 2: tore up vessels from the house of God and shut
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  Speaker 2: up its doors. He made altars to false gods all
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  Speaker 2: throughout the streets of Jerusalem. He taught them how to
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  Speaker 2: bow to other gods. He led them astray. Yet God
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  Speaker 2: would not allow his people to suffer much longer under Ahaz.
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  Speaker 2: Every king must meet his end. And God would guide
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  Speaker 2: and love his people back into a relationship with him
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  Speaker 2: soon enough.
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  Speaker 3: As we begin today's passage, a new king sits on
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  Speaker 3: the throne in Judah. Jotham had ruled righteously, never turning
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  Speaker 3: from God in his 16 years as king. When he died,
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  Speaker 3: his son Ahaz became king. But rather than follow in
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  Speaker 3: his father's righteous footsteps, Ahaz turned down a very dark
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  Speaker 3: and evil path. His heart was filled with evil, and
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  Speaker 3: he turned to foreign gods, just as the kings in Israel,
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  Speaker 3: Judah's neighbor to the north, were doing in those days.
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  Speaker 3: How sad it is when a person overlooks or even
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  Speaker 3: rejects the godly example of a parent and follows the
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  Speaker 3: pattern of others who seek their own glory rather than
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  Speaker 3: the glory of God. And as Ahaz worshipped other gods,
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  Speaker 3: false gods, the darkness in his soul grew deeper and
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  Speaker 3: deeper and more wicked and immoral. This was not a
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  Speaker 3: man with a divided heart. He was a man fully
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  Speaker 3: given over to rebellion and sin. His wickedness reached its
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  Speaker 3: peak when he murdered his own children and burned them
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  Speaker 3: as an offering to pagan gods. It was a sin
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  Speaker 3: so egregious that God could not allow Ahaz to go
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  Speaker 3: unpunished any longer. We know God is a patient God
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  Speaker 3: and He is full of mercy. But we also know
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  Speaker 3: that He is a holy God and will judge sin
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  Speaker 3: and sin consequences in to all sin and rebellion against him.
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  Speaker 3: So God caused the Syrian king to go to war
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  Speaker 3: against Judah. He gave Ahaz and his army over into
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  Speaker 3: the hands of the enemy as a judgment for the
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  Speaker 3: evils Ahaz had done. This was not a case of
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  Speaker 3: God blessing the Syrians, who themselves were wicked and did
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  Speaker 3: not worship God. This was God in his supremacy and sovereignty,
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  Speaker 3: using an outside nation to break his people and their king.
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  Speaker 3: God also stirred up the army of Israel to attack
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  Speaker 3: and claim more of Judah's land. They decimated Ahaz's army
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  Speaker 3: and killed all the brave men who had served under
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  Speaker 3: King Jotham. They also took 200,000 captives. including women and children.
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  Speaker 3: But this was not God's plan, so the Lord sent
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  Speaker 3: a prophet to tell the commanders to release all of
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  Speaker 3: the captives. God reminded the Israelites that they too were
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  Speaker 3: living in sin and would only make matters worse by
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  Speaker 3: taking those innocent lives. Surprisingly, despite their wicked and wayward ways,
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  Speaker 3: the leaders of Israel responded with honor, saying in 2
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  Speaker 3: Chronicles 28, verse 13, You shall not bring the captives
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  Speaker 3: in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt
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  Speaker 3: against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt.
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  Speaker 3: For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce
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  Speaker 3: wrath against Israel. So they treated the captives kindly, clothing
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  Speaker 3: and feeding them before returning them home to freedom. It
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  Speaker 3: was an act of honor and humility, demonstrating that there
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  Speaker 3: were still some in Israel who feared the Lord and
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  Speaker 3: wanted to please Him. All of this should have humbled Ahaz,
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  Speaker 3: but instead it filled him with fear, desperation, and even
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  Speaker 3: more rebellion. When God disciplines or corrects us, or when
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  Speaker 3: situations seem desperate, do we turn to him in faith
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  Speaker 3: and humility, knowing that he can rescue us and save
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  Speaker 3: us from our own sins? Or do we seek security
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  Speaker 3: from the world for those who have no real power
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  Speaker 3: to help us and who may actually wish us harm?
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  Speaker 3: It is an important spiritual truth to learn, that we
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  Speaker 3: always believe and trust in the only God who can
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  Speaker 3: save us and never listen to the world who does
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  Speaker 3: not know him. Ahaz turned to a foreign nation, the Assyrians.
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  Speaker 3: He wanted their help, but the king of Assyria saw
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  Speaker 3: a weakened nation and foolish king and attacked, plundering Jerusalem
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  Speaker 3: and leaving Ahaz even worse off than before. Still, Ahaz
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  Speaker 3: refused to turn to God. He worshiped the idols of Damascus.
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  Speaker 3: hoping to find favor and success from these foreign gods.
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  Speaker 3: But all he found was more defeat and despair until
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  Speaker 3: he finally died, away from God and never tasting the
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  Speaker 3: goodness of fellowship with the Lord his God. He was
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  Speaker 3: not the only king that was evil, however, and the
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  Speaker 3: next time we'll hear of God's judgment of Judah's northern neighbors, Israel.
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  Speaker 3: Remind us always, Lord, that you are the source of
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  Speaker 3: our strength and the only source of our hope. We
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  Speaker 3: thank you for your love and your grace that seeks
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  Speaker 3: us and calls us to yourself, even when we are
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  Speaker 3: far away from you. May we always believe in you
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  Speaker 3: through your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Thank you
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  Speaker 3: for listening to today's Bible in a Year podcast. I'm
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  Speaker 3: Jack Graham from Dallas, Texas. Download the Pray.com app and
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: make sure that prayer and Bible reading is a priority
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  Speaker 3: in your life. If you enjoyed this podcast, let someone
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  Speaker 3: else know. Share it with someone you love, and let's
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  Speaker 3: get the Word of God out to many, many people.
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  Speaker 3: And if you want more resources as to how you
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  Speaker 3: can learn and live the Christian life, be sure to
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  Speaker 3: visit jackgraham.org. That's jackgraham.org.