Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture 2 Chr 29-32, Isa 22-27
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: Hey, it's good to see you today. My name is Philip Thomas, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, Texas. This is our journey through scripture and we're going to continue our chronological walk through the Bible. We talked about Hezekiah and looked at kind of the political aspect of what he did, of how he did kind of make a deal with ⁓ Babylon. He was trying to protect from Assyria. But he did eventually, ⁓ well, God came in and defeated Assyria and pushed Assyria out of Judah. ⁓ However, there was lots of damage that was done. And remember, this is kind of a foreshadowing of what will come in the days ahead. But Hezekiah did a lot of good. The thing that Isaiah kind of ⁓ encouraged was don't rely on your own political skill, rely on God. And Hezekiah tried to do that, didn't do it perfectly like anyone. And we do see some flaws. Today we're gonna be looking at Hezekiah from the perspective of Chronicles. So today we're gonna be reading 2 Chronicles 29 through 32, 2 Chronicles 29 to 32. And then we're going to read Isaiah 22 through 27. Okay, so Isaiah 22 through 27. That is kind of the period probably after Assyria has been pushed out of Judah. And so we'll read a little bit there, but our main focus will be in 2 Chronicles, chapters 29 through 32. All right. So after you've read those, come back and join us. ⁓ 2 Chronicles, chapter 29 is the Chronicle perspective of Hezekiah. The Chronicle or... does not focus so much on the political dealings that Hezekiah participated in, or even how he stood up against Assyria and how God pushed Assyria out. It does mention that in chapter 32, but the main focus in Chronicles is Hezekiah's spiritual reforms, what he did for the nation. We saw in Kings and in Isaiah that ⁓ Hezekiah was a good king and was faithful to God. The chroniclers go into much more in depth of how he was faithful to God and the changes that he made. So if you look in ⁓ chapter 29, talks about him being a good king. It says, the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. And so remember King Ahaz was before Hezekiah, was a horrible king and had destroyed a lot of the sacred things. And so now Hezekiah is going back and repairing. says in verse five, it said, hear me Levites, now sanctify yourself, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers and carry out the rubbish from the holy place. For our fathers has trespassed and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. have forsaken him, have turned their faces away from him. from the dwelling place of the Lord and turn their backs on Him. They have also shut up the doors of the vestibule, put up the lamps and have not burned incense or offered lamps and have not burnt offerings in the holy place to the Lord God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem and He has given them over to trouble, to desolation, to jeering as you have seen with your own eyes. For indeed because of our fathers we have fallen by the sword and our sons, our daughters and our wives are in captivity." Now it is my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel that His fierce wrath may turn away from us. My sons do not be negligent now for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him, and that you should minister to Him and burn incense." So this is Hezekiah basically saying, we're going in a 180. We are changing everything. acknowledge what Ahaz had done. and that it has led to calamity in the society, it has led to suffering, and we need to start getting spiritually right. Hezekiah was very strong on that. And so all of the Levites and the priests, and there weren't many priests, there weren't enough priests, but they started sanctifying themselves and sanctifying the temple. In verse 18, it says, we have cleansed all the house of the Lord. the altar of burnt offerings with all its articles, the table of the showbread with all its articles. Moreover, the articles which King Ahaz in his reign had cast aside in his transgression, we have prepared and sanctified." And there they are before the altar of the Lord. So here they are, they're making things right. You continue to read, ⁓ it talks about the different offerings that were done and the continued sanctification. of the priest and the Levites, and also just ⁓ offering up sacrifices of atonement. You see the prophet Nathan is involved in this. Hezekiah is doing this the right way. He's not taking any chances. He's not skipping any steps. It's very obvious that he's doing this because, not just because he thinks it's going to be good politically. ⁓ because he recognizes how far the people have fallen ⁓ from God. In verse 34, says, but the priests were too few so that they could not skin all the burnt offerings. Therefore the brethren, the Levites, helped them until the work was ended, until the other priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were more diligent in sanctifying themselves than the priests. Also the burnt offerings were in abundance, and the fad of the peace officer and with the drink offering for every burnt offering. So the service of the house of the Lord was set in order. Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people since the events took place so suddenly." So this was a quick thing. It nearly took the people off guard. It was something that Hezekiah was passionate about getting done, and he made drastic changes very quickly. Chapter 30 talks about, 2 Chronicles chapter 30 talks about Hezekiah. and that he ordered the Passover to be celebrated. It said, also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh that they should come to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. For the king and his leaders and all the assembly in Jerusalem had agreed to keep the Passover in the second month, for they could not keep it at the regular time. Let's see, and the matter pleased the king and assembly, so they resolved to make it a proclamation throughout the land. ⁓ that they should keep to the Passover the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem since they had not done it for a long time and in the prescribed manner." So what this to me says and what it's showing is that the leadership, the kings and the leadership of Judah ⁓ had quit following those, what I'm sure they considered antiquated traditions and rituals. However, I'm sure there were people that were still following that. We're still trying to be faithful to God by following the Passover. What Hezekiah is doing is saying, okay, this is not something that just some of the people are going to do. This is something that the whole nation of Judah, the whole land, the people group that God has called us, that we are now going to be faithful to God again. And we're going to be celebrating the Passover. And again, the Passover is an extremely key celebration. It unites the people, it unites the tribes together. It reminds them of what God has done, of how God called them to be a special people. And the fact that they had not been celebrating it is evidence ⁓ of their rebellion against God, ⁓ because this was a vital celebration to the people. to the Jewish people and the Northern Kingdom had clearly stopped celebrating it. And now they've already been wiped out by Assyria. Now Judah is being threatened by Assyria and Hezekiah says, know what, we need to get back to our roots, get back to our founding. so he, verse six, I love this, he sent runners throughout the land. How'd you like to volunteer for that job? All right, I want you to run through the land of Judah. Now do not be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and enter His sanctuary, which He has sanctified forever, and serve the Lord your God, with the fierceness of His wrath may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brethren, with your children, will be treated with compassion by those who led them captive, so that they may come back to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him." Right? So even in the Old Testament where, you know, we kind of sometimes view God's grace as something that happens in the New Testament with Jesus. No, God will not turn his back on you if you seek him out. And that is what the King is sending these runners all throughout the land to invite the people to turn back and to come back to God. Continue reading, it talks about that, it talks about the people assembling, ⁓ offering sacrifices for atonement. says, verse 18, may the good Lord provide atonement for everyone who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord of God, his Father, though he is not cleansed according to the purification of the sanctuary. And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people. So God is offering His atonement. As the people are returning to Him, God is continuing to be faithful to the people. Verse 25, the whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, also the priests and Levites, all the assembly that came from Egypt, the sojourners who had come from the land of Israel, right? They've already been wiped out by Assyria, but now they are returning to those who dwelt in Judah. So there was great joy in Jerusalem for since the time of Solomon, The son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priest, Levites, arose, blessed the people and their voice was heard and the prayer came up to the holy dwelling place to heaven." All right, so this is ⁓ just a celebration of the people returning to God. Chapter 31 talks about the different reforms that Hezekiah went through, what he did with the Levites and the priest and the temples and the sacrifices. It just goes through all of those. and talks about how he reinstated that the people need to be faithful in giving to support the priest and the Levites. And I love this. says, since the people began to bring the offerings into the house of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and have plenty left, for the Lord has blessed His people and what is left is this great abundance. So the people, whenever they were being faithful, there was great abundance in the temple, in the sanctuaries, for the... the priests and the Levites, they had more than enough. Where before they were just going to ruin. But as soon as the people began to be faithful, there was always plenty in abundance. You know, that's how it is with many of God's works. When people are faithful and passionate, there will be an abundance. There will be plenty to accomplish God's work. Verse 20 ⁓ kind of sums up what Hezekiah did on the spiritual side, religious side, says, Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah. He did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began in the service of the house of God, in the law and in the commandment to seek his God, he did it with all his heart. So he prospered. So everything he did, he was trying to serve God. chapter 32, you can read chapter 32. That talks about, again, what he did with Assyria was pressuring him. They tried to confuse the people, turn the people against Hezekiah. But remember, Hezekiah was faithful. The people remained faithful to God, and then God pushed out the Assyrians. And that end leads to the death of Hezekiah at the end of chapter 32. Now, I do encourage you to read Isaiah 22 through 27. This is kind of, not sure exactly when these chapters were written. It appears that it was probably during this timeframe after Assyria has now been pushed out, but Assyria did a lot of damage. There's a lot of damage to Jerusalem, a lot of damage to many of the places. And so it was a tough... place that the people were in. And some of that was a result in them relying on their own political choices rather than relying on God. You see that in Isaiah chapter 22 verse 8, says, He removed the protection of Judah. You looked in that day to the armor of the house of the forest. So talking about you looked to somewhere else for armor, for defense. You also saw the damage of the city of David that it was great. You gathered together the waters of the lower pool. You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, the houses you broke into to fortify or broken down to fortify the wall. You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. Now, this is kind of cool. It's talking about what Hezekiah did to get water into Jerusalem so that when Assyria attacked, they couldn't cut off the water supply. So this was not a bad thing that they did, but... It's ⁓ what Isaiah is saying, he says, but you did not look to its master. That's in verse 11. Nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago. So they were putting too much effort into trying to fix the problem themselves, then relying on God. ⁓ now again, Hezekiah, both things can be true. He was passionate trying to turn to God. but he also was trying to politically run the country and he made some mistakes politically. That doesn't mean that he wasn't faithful to God and wasn't striving to do what was right, but he did make some mistakes. says, and in that day, the Lord God of hosts called for weeping and for mourning, for baldness, for girding with the sackcloth, but instead joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine. Let us eat and drink for tomorrow we die. kind of rather than looking at the future and preparing for the difficulties that were to come, they thought they could fix it themselves. Let's just continue to eat and drink and you know what, we'll worry about tomorrow when it gets here. So there's again, things are getting better, but Assyria has done some major damage to Judah just as it did to Israel. Chapter 23 is a kind of Isaiah. speaking against Tyre and how God will bring justice to that group of people. ⁓ 24 is a bigger picture. It's talking about the judgment on the earth. This could be seen as kind of a prophecy of how the temple will be destroyed by Babylon in the years to come. It also could be seen whenever God is going to come again for the final time. There are some truths in there that are important. It says, Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its service and scatters abroad its inhabitants. And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest, as with the servant, so with his master, as with the maid, so with their mistress, as with the buyer, so with the seller, as with the lender, so with the borrower, as with the creditor, so with the debtor. The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the Lord has spoken this word." In other words, everyone eventually will receive. judgment. No one will escape it. And it says, earth is also defiled under its inhabitants because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. So when a society breaks the ⁓ natural law of God, eventually there will be consequences. Verse 21, it shall come to pass in that day that the Lord will punish on high the host of the exalted ones and on the earth the kings of the earth. will be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit. So even the kings will be held to account. God is making sure that everyone will be received justice. Chapter 25 is praising God, praising God for what He has done. It says, Oh Lord, you are my God, I will exalt you, will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things. Your counsels are of old, of old are faithfulness and true. It says, for you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat. That is who God is. That's who he wants to be, but the people have to be faithful as well. It says, this just continues in chapter 25, the praise to God. says, And it will be said in that day, behold, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." So again, remember the people have just gone through a very difficult time with Assyria and they're in the aftermath of that and things are not great right now, but they are looking forward to what God is going to do and making sure they are praising Him. Verse… Chapter 26 is a song of salvation, of being thankful for the salvation that comes from God and how God will bring salvation. says ⁓ verse 10… well, verse 9, for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly. and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when your hand is lifted up, they will not see, but they will see and be ashamed for their envy of people. Yes, the fire of your enemy shall devour them." So that people will be given the chance to turn to God, but many will choose to turn the other way and not choose to follow God. But ultimately, God will make everything right. Chapter 27 talks about a restoration of of Israel, verse 13 says, so it shall be in that day the great trumpet will be blown. They will come who are about to perish in the land of Assyria and they who are outcast in the land of Egypt and shall worship the Lord in the Holy Mount at Jerusalem. So that God will restore things to the way that He intended. All right. So that brings us to an end for today. I encourage you for Thursday to read 2 Kings. 21 to 22 and the book of Zephaniah. So 21 and 22 of 2 Kings and the book of Zephaniah chapters one through three. All right, so we will see you on Thursday. Hope you have a good week.