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2 Chronicles 34-36: The Temple Defiled and Destroyed

The greatest treasure you have is not money but the Word of God, which too often is “lost” amid the “rubbish” you can easily accumulate. Do you treasure God’s Word? (See Ps. 119:14 , 72 , 127 , 162) Is it “buried” somewhere?

God’s Word is not a relic to admire in a religious museum. They did not put the Book back in its niche in the temple. Rather, they read it publicly and honored it as the living Word of God. The king trembled at God’s Word (Isa. 66:2) and immediately sent for God’s message. There is always a fresh word from the Lord as you read the Bible and seek His will.

2 Chronicles 31-33: The Evidences of the New Life

When you come back to walk with the Lord, the evidences of the new life are there to see. Cleansing. For too long, the worship of Jehovah had taken place alongside the worship of the heathen gods; that would now end. The people assisted the king in destroying the obscene images and pagan altars. After all, the nation had just celebrated Passover, and the week following Passover was to be a time of “housecleaning” (Exodus 12:15–20).

Serving. It is not enough to get rid of the bad; we must also establish and strengthen the good. The king made certain the priests obeyed God’s law and ministered at the temple. Had the priests been ministering faithfully to begin with, the nation would not have gone into apostasy.

Giving. If the priests are to serve, the people must support them. One of the first signs of spiritual awakening is the generosity of those whose hearts God has touched. Nobody had to plead or urge; the giving came from the hearts of people who were right with God.

Testings usually come after times of great blessing, and Hezekiah faced three of them. (1) War. After other times of awakening, the nation was given protection and rest from enemies (2 Chronicles 15:15; 20:29–30), but this time, God allowed the enemy to come in. God was testing the faith of the king and the people to see how deep it really was. It is one thing to participate in a huge religious meeting, but quite something else to have your land invaded and your capital city threatened.

(2) Sickness. Hezekiah’s illness was both a national and a personal crisis, for he did not have any sons to take the throne. God had promised that David’s family would never lack for a man on the throne, so Hezekiah prayed that he might be able to live and have a son.

(3) Honor. Hezekiah weathered the invasion and the illness, but he capitulated to pride. It began when he failed to thank God for sparing his life, and apparently even God’s chastening did not cure him. The extent of his wealth and the praises of the visiting dignitaries made Hezekiah proud, and God had to deal with him.

We have learned that if Satan cannot conquer us when he comes as the lion (1 Peter 5:8), he will come again as the serpent (2 Corinthians 11:1–3). You may be in greater danger when things are going well than when you are fighting a battle, so keep alert.

MANASSEH
Manasseh rebuilt what his father had torn down and then tore it down again so he could rebuild. (Compare Genesis 26:18.) He did not learn from the past or listen to the prophets, so he had to live with the punishment God sent him. Some people only learn the hard way.

How gracious of God to see Manasseh’s repentance, hear his prayer, and restore him to Jerusalem. But even God’s forgiveness could not automatically nullify the king’s bad example or undo the terrible damage he had done in the land. Sin has consequences long after sinners are forgiven (2 Kings 23:26; 24:3).

God is ready and willing to forgive, and we should seek that forgiveness early. The longer we wait, the more damage we do; the more damage we do, the more we and others will suffer because of our sins.

2 Chronicles 28-30: Ahaz & Hezekiah

AHAZ
The spiritual leadership that began with Uzziah and continued with Jotham disappeared with Ahaz. We wonder why the godly examples of his father and grandfather did Ahaz no good. Historians tell us that Ahaz was coregent with his father for four years, which means he started when he was sixteen. Did Ahaz become proud? Did he listen to wrong counsel?

The Ammonite god Molech was worshiped in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. The king even put his children on the heathen altar. When a father is disobedient to God, often the children suffer most. King Josiah defiled the place (2 Kings 23:10) and made it a garbage dump. The word gehenna came to refer to the place of eternal judgment, hell.

Judah experienced a humiliating defeat from Israel, but God mercifully overruled and rescued the people. It was a prophet, not a king or general, who saved the day.

Instead of repenting and returning to the God of his father and grandfather, Ahaz adopted the gods of the victorious enemy. It seemed logical to him because the enemy was winning! Instead of going by the Word of God, he took the pragmatic approach (Proverbs 3:5–6). Have you ever done that? It is dangerous!

HEZEKIAH
When Hezekiah became king, the situation at the temple was not unlike the condition of some churches today (2 Chronicles 29:7). Closed doors speak of no access to God and no service for God. He has set before us an open door (Revelation 3:8), and we close it.

The lamps were out, which indicates no witness (Matthew 5:16), and the incense altar was cold, which signifies that no prayer was going up to God (Psalm 141:2). There were no sacrifices on the altar (Romans 12:1–2), but there was plenty of rubbish in the temple. No wonder the nation was experiencing the wrath of God instead of the blessing of God.

Hezekiah’s formula for revival was simple: sanctification, sacrifice, and song. He started with the priests and Levites, for if God’s servants are not clean, God cannot bless their work. Then the priests sanctified the temple, offered the sacrifices, and sang the song of the Lord.

It all happened suddenly (2 Chronicles 29:36), but what happened was not new or novel. It was simply a return to the ways of the Lord (Jeremiah 6:16).

When God’s Spirit is at work, Jesus Christ will be glorified, and God’s people will be unified. Hezekiah called the whole nation back to the celebration of the Passover, the feast that depicts Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, and many participated with oneness of heart (2 Chronicles 30:12). What an occasion of blessing it was!

How tragic that the spiritual leaders were to blame for delaying the event (2 Chronicles 30: 3). How tragic that some of the people laughed at the invitation (2 Chronicles 30:10; Matthew 22:1–14). But how wonderful that God blessed abundantly, healed the people and sent them home rejoicing (2 Chronicles 30: 21, 23, 25, 26). The people who turned down the invitation missed a special opportunity.

God looks at the heart and does not permit ceremonial matters to get in the way of His grace (1 Samuel 15:22; Psalm 50:7–15; 51:16–17; Hosea 6:6). Hezekiah saw to it that the people were taught the Word (2 Chronicles 30: 22) because the Word nourishes the heart and cleanses the life, long after the memories of great events have faded away. The people experienced great joy as a result of sharing in the Passover feast (2 Chronicles 30:26). The Jews would have great joy at the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:43). Other people who experienced great joy from the Lord are the wise men (Matthew 2:10), the apostles (Luke 24:52), and the new believers in Samaria (Acts 8:8). The message of the gospel is good news of great joy (Luke 2:10). Are you sharing it with others?

2 Chronicles 21-24: Jehoram & Joash

God kept His promise to maintain David’s descendants on the throne of Judah, but He also kept His promise to chasten them if they disobeyed Him (2 Samuel 7:12–17). He disciplined Jehoram in several ways.

To begin with, Jehoram’s rule began to disintegrate as the Edomites revolted and the Philistines invaded. Even the Levitical city of Libnah revolted (2 Chronicles 21:10; Joshua 21:13). Life starts to fall apart when you stop obeying the Lord.

Elijah’s letter warned the king and gave him opportunity to repent, but Jehoram went his own way. What a privilege to get a letter from a famous prophet! And what a tragedy to treat it with disdain. The king died in severe pain, and nobody regretted it. Yet he was the son of the great Jehoshaphat.

If you received a loving letter of warning today, how would you respond to it?

The British poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge called mothers “the holiest thing alive,” but you could not apply those words to Athaliah. Imagine a mother teaching her son how to sin! She was the Old Testament version of Herodias (Matthew 14:1–12), just the opposite of godly Hannah (1 Samuel 1–2). But what else would you expect from the daughter of Jezebel and Ahab? Athaliah was the only woman to rule over the kingdom of Judah, and it was a rule of evil.

But God had another woman on the scene, the godly wife of the high priest, and she did the will of God in saving the infant Joash. At the right time, her husband orchestrated the coronation of Joash and the condemnation of Athaliah. Note the three covenants involved: with the army (2 Chronicles 23:1), with the king (2 Chronicles 23:3), and with the Lord (2 Chronicles 23:16).

We cannot escape David! He provided the king (2 Chronicles 23:3), the weapons (2 Chronicles 23:9), and the temple organization and music (2 Chronicles 23:18). But how long can Judah live on the dividends of the spiritual investments made by godly men and women of previous generations? How long can God’s church today?

Joash did many fine things, but he was a “leaner.” As long as godly Jehoiada was on the scene, the king obeyed the Lord, and the temple prospered. But after the high priest died, the king began listening to other counselors; soon he led the nation into sin.

When you truly obey God’s Word, you do it regardless of the messenger. If you lean on others and fail to develop spiritual depth, your spiritual life will be gone when those people are gone. Joash would not listen to the prophets and he even killed one of them (2 Chronicles 24: 19–21). God abandoned the people, the army was defeated (2 Chronicles 24:24; see also Deuteronomy 32:30), and the king was assassinated. The godly priest was buried with the kings (2 Chronicles 24:16), but the ungodly king was not (2 Chronicles 24:25). Joash was untrue to his friends and treated them like enemies (Proverbs 27:6, 10, 17). He refused to listen to God and became another example of a man who made a good beginning but came to a tragic ending. Henry Ford commented, “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.”

2 Chronicles 14-17: Asa, splendid beginning, tragic ending

Asa is another sad example of a man who made a splendid beginning but had a tragic ending. Early in his reign, he relied on the Lord, and God gave him a great victory. Then he believed the prophet’s message and removed the idols from the land and called the people to reaffirm their allegiance to the Lord. He even deposed the queen mother for her idolatry!

But when he had been king thirty-six years, he stopped relying on the Lord. He took the Lord’s treasures and bought protection from a heathen king! The prophet Hanani told the king what was wrong: his heart was not loyal to the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:9). Instead of humbling himself and obeying, as he had done before, in anger Asa resisted the Word and God’s servant (James 1:19). When we are wrong, we should admit it instead of trying to resist God. God is much stronger than our stubbornness.

God is with us—seek Him (2 Chronicles 15:2). God answers prayer—trust Him (2 Chronicles 15:4). God rewards faithfulness—obey Him (2 Chronicles 15:7). You never outgrow the ability to sin. Noah was a mature man when he got drunk (Genesis 9:20–23), and so was Abraham when he lied about his wife (Genesis 12:10). Moses was a seasoned leader when he lost his temper (Numbers 20), and so was David when he committed adultery and murder. Asa’s corpse lay on a bed of fragrant spices, but his name was not as fragrant as it had been. Ponder Proverbs 10:7 , Ecclesiastes 7:1 and 1 Corinthians 10:12.