2 Chronicles 25-26 How to Ruin a Good King

you know it's not hard to figure out what the Bible has to say on the topic of pride if you have an old book style concordance don't know if anybody uses those anymore I remember getting one about 30-some years ago I got my first one as a gift they were enormous I mean they were high V to even carry around but you can look up any word you know like pride and you can find all the things that the Bible has to say of course concordance as have kind of with our digital age gotten a little out of date because anybody with a smartphone or a computer can get on the computer and even just Google Bible verses on pride boom they come up just like that proverbs 11 12 when pride comes then comes disgrace proverbs 16:18 pride goes before destruction you've heard that one I'm sure before James 4:6 he gives more grace therefore it says God opposes the proud proverbs 8:13 the fear of the Lord is hatred of evil pride and arrogance proverbs 16 5 everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the Lord that's pretty strong I like what Paul says in Galatians 6 3 if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing he deceives himself so there's you know an abundance of passages that we can look at in the scriptures related to the issue of pride but we don't have to go any further than frankly reading these accounts these chronicles of the many of the kings of Judah to find out exactly how pride affects their lives and how it it rushes in to someone's life who is otherwise doing well in the Lord and beginning to walk with God in integrity and and in genuine sincerity and it just cuts them off and brings things into their life and to their ministry which I'm certain God never intended we begin here in second chronicles chapter 5 with the life once again of one of the descendants of David this time his name is Amazon we're told he was 25 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 29 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was Jehovah Don of Jerusalem and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but with this one caveat at the end of that verse yet not with a whole heart those are very important words so he did what was right ish that's probably the way we would say it today he did what was right ish but there were things there were issues and we'll hopefully try to identify some of those it tells us here in verse 3 that as soon as the royal power was firmly his he killed his servants who had struck down the King his father now this is not a bad thing because you might remember that his father was joash and he was a good king during most of his life while he was under the influence of the high priest a man by the name of jehoiada and jehoiada was speaking into the life and the Ministry and the rulership of joash a mazayas father and as long as he was speaking into his life the king did well but we're told that after jehoiada passed away joash began to fall under the influence of other people younger Prince's those who are of the royal family but who had very different ideas and they convinced the king to - to worship pagan idols you might recall that and the Lord so look obviously the we know the Lord is not going to look kindly on that so whole deal and eventually God raised up the son of jehoiada the high priest who had been the king's mentor and influence for many years and this young man named Zechariah even prophesied against the king in the direction he was going and we found out just how evil the king could be when he essentially ordered that Zechariah be put to death by stoning and the people were appalled and eventually they assassinated the king the father of a messiah and then a messiah himself was installed King but once the the the the reign of Judah was firmly in his grasp a messiah felt the need to bring justice into the kingdom because the blood had been shed and so he put to death those who had assassinated his father but we're told here in verse 4 that he did so with restraint look what it says there but he did not put their children to death according to what is written in the law in the book of Moses where the LORD commanded father's shall not die because of their children nor children died because of their fathers but each one shall die for his own sin and that is a quote from Deuteronomy chapter 24 it's repeated elsewhere in the Old Testament so we're told here that a messiah obeyed the word of the Lord at least in this regard so it goes on I mean he's doing okay up to this point he goes on and tells his Amaziah assembled the men of Judah and set them by father's houses in other words according to their lineage under the commanders of thousands and of hundreds for all Judah and Benjamin he mustered those 20 years old and upward and found that there were three hundred thousand choice men fit for war able to hand her a handle spear and shield and that's all good there we're really not bothered by anything that a messiah has done up to this point but verse six introduces this rogue element into this whole thing by saying that he hired also one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel and that means the northern kingdom okay so these are mercenaries it says he hired basically won the a hundred thousand merchants Ares and he paid a hundred talents of silver now stop for just a moment and let's ask ourselves the simple question why would the King do that he's got three hundred thousand able men to go to war and yet he's obviously facing a situation for which he feels his army is insufficient now remember something his army is what is given by the Lord this is what the Lord has given him giving him three hundred thousand men now you and I know that you don't need three hundred thousand men to fight a battle Gideon learned that I mean he showed up with a horde of men to fight a battle against the Midianites and God paired him down to three hundred and basically said this if I allowed you to go into this battle with any more than three hundred you would take the glory for yourself and so we're gonna we're all we're gonna do this thing even though the hordes of the Midianites are without number we're gonna do this with just three hundred men well it's that you know it's easy this is God he can do anything he wants to do three hundred thousand meant 400 thousand meant three hundred men three men it doesn't matter as Jonathan said to his armor-bearer when they were going against the Philistines God can save by many or by few right that's the statement of faith that's a declaration of faith what our numbers to God did you hear me what our numbers to God and whether we're talking about many people or whether we're talking about many dollars what our numbers to God doesn't matter okay but you have to know that what's going on here with the king is that he is looking upon the provision of the Lord and he's saying it is insufficient it's not enough now there are obviously options that we have when we feel that what the Lord has given us is insufficient and you know we can do what Amaziah does we can turn and try to create a situation where there is a sufficiency which we do by our own power and that's what he's doing or we can turn to the Lord and we can say Lord there seems here to an insufficient means to deal with my issues to go against the enemies to go against the challenges and the problems that I face here in my life do you know and we had this reminder by the way up at the at the pastors and wives retreat one of the pastors brought a wonderful message on glorying in our weaknesses based on Paul's statements and second Corinthians related to the thorn in his flesh as you you well know that story and how the Lord spoke to Paul after he repeatedly asked to be delivered from that thorn and the Lord said to him now I'm not going to deliver you Paul from that thorn because it is needful that it remain it is there for a purpose it has a redemptive value first of all I've shown you incredible visions and insights and in order to keep your feet firmly planted on the ground so that you might not well up with pride right I have given you this thorn of the flesh to keep you from becoming conceited however I want you to know that along with this thorn comes something else and that is the grace to deal with it and what he said specifically to Paul was my grace is sufficient okay why because my power you see is actually perfected in your weakness so when you recognize the deficiency in your life rather than trying to do what you know the King King Amaziah does here and trying to get busy and work out some kind of a situation where you're trying to bolster this obvious you know insufficiency and make it better and make yourself feel better what we ought to be doing is turning to the Lord right and saying Lord you know this is this is the way I see it but I'm choosing to trust in you in the midst of this thing because what our numbers to you what are many enemies to you what is the difficulty of a of a marriage situation for which I feel greatly insufficient what is that to you you are able to make me sufficient you are able to make me sufficient for whatever I face now that's the reality of the situation the fact of the matter is we just don't always believe it the fact is we often do what Amaziah does here don't we I mean let's just confess it let's just admit it right now when we find ourselves in a position that we deem lacking which is what Amaziah does 300,000 warriors not enough we're lacking what we need well you know what I think what we need is another 100,000 men from Israel now remember where Israel is at right now they're in there steeped in paganism I mean there's nothing going on and good in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and you and I can liken it to the world if you will so it's by it's like you and I looking at a situation in our life for which we see as an insufficient means and we turn to the world what's the world tell me what's the you know what are my options tell me what my options are I need to get this thing under control I need to make this thing sufficient so that I can move forward and have victory over my enemies whatever they may be and we do exactly what King Amaziah does verse 7 goes on and tells us that the Lord intervened a man of God came to him came to the king and said O king do not let the army of Israel go with you for the Lord is not with Israel with all these Ephraim i'ts which is another name for those in the Northern Kingdom did you notice what the Lord is saying here through this prophetic man God is not with them so don't join with them don't make them part of your solution part of your sufficiency because God is not with them you could say the same thing about the world there is a worldly wisdom there is a worldly answer if you will that's out there for your problems but here's the deal God is not with the world and God is not with that and sir so don't join with that answer and join your life to their life because you're going to make yourself liable to all kinds of really nasty consequences if you do you will become eat unequally yoked with the ways of the world when you invite the world's solutions and opportunities for deliverance and so forth notice what he goes on to say but go act be strong for the battle why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy for God has power to help or to cast down ah ha ha ha ha now we're getting to the issues now we're getting to the reason behind the attempt to manipulate the circumstances into a place of sufficiency its unbelief it's a lack of faith in God notice what the Prophet says why should you suppose that you're going down in this thing or the God is going to you know he the way he specifically says it is that God will cast you down but that's another way of saying for you and I why should you suppose that God is going to let you fail in this thing why is that your thought process have you ever wondered why we're so negative in our anticipations of challenging and even fearful potentially fearful events of life it befuddled me I mean in my own life it befuddled me and I've asked sooo many times you know as we've talked about these things and prayed about him why do I think the way I do why do people so naturally default to a worst-case scenario you know I got a toothache and I think I got a tumor in my jaw and and I'll be dead in 30 days why is it that that's the default thought process you know or or any number of other things somebody somebody doesn't quite respond the way you would have anticipated when you made a statement instantly you think they hate me they hate me I'm probably never gonna you know have a friend like that ever again in my life it's just this instant fault to the worst case right why do we do that you know I think this is a really good question why do you suppose why do you think why are you entertaining the thought process that this is all going to go bad why aren't you trusting in the Lord that's the real question isn't it why aren't you instead putting your faith in God and supposing for a better result you know King David said day by day I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation right expectation of what was David waiting for the the sword of Damocles to fall and chop off his head no he was waiting for the deliverance of the Lord right that was his expectation I expect the Lord to deliver me I expect the Lord to see me through this situation you know so why do we suppose that it's not going to happen that way well here's the answer a lack of faith if Jesus were speaking to us and I believe he is obviously here through his word but but if he were here speaking directly to you about those tendencies that you and I have to look at the deepest darkest worst possible scenario you know what he would say to you and I same thing he said to his disciples oh you of little faith why do you doubt isn't that exactly what he said to his disciples and in situations where I'm even a little surprised he said it you know like for example when Peter got out of the boat and we started walking toward Jesus and then the wind and the waves and it says that Peter looked at the wind and the waves and he began to sink and Jesus reached out and grabbed him oh you have little faith why did you doubt you know it's like well probably because I spent my whole life on a boat and I watch what happens when people you know when wind and waves impact people you know and that sort of thing it's like I've got this learned process going on that that I've been doing all my life right and the older we get the longer we have to experientially begin to recognize a fearful situation when we see it and go you know instead of saying Jesus I trust you it's so difficult let's just confess right here and right now okay it is not natural to say Jesus I trust you what's natural is it become fearful and to run off with half-cocked and to do really dumb things like a messiah I think I'm gonna hire me some men you know to make this thing turn out better that's natural it is supernatural to trust the Lord but here's the cool part the supernatural element is available to us by faith through the spirit you know the word giving witness and testimony the supernatural is within our grasp and I have to remind myself of that every single time I face a situation for which my default thought process is I'm going down this is it I might as well say my good-byes right I have to say no no see I serve a supernatural God who has given me supernatural faith who can enable me to instead look at this situation by faith and say Lord you are my deliverance you are the power of my life you are my strength in time of difficulty and I'm going to trust in you that can be my destiny and yours too but we do need to admit essentially that were weak and that's the point of all of this you know it's okay when you and I recognize something that we think is insufficient in our lives even if it's our faith because we can cry out for more of that to know so Ziya responds to this word of the lord in verse nine and his response is a little disappointing because we're told that a messiah said to the man of god but what shall we do about the hundred talents that i've given to the army of israel as if it is any big deal to him I mean the king of Judah one hundred talents of silver are you joking I mean you know that's pocket change to a king one of the world as he care about that and the man of God just answered this I mean I this is obviously from the Lord because it was from the flesh you'd say you're an idiot but from the Lord the response is listen the Lord is able to give you much more than this you're you're counting coins to God is that really what you're gonna do a messiah in the presence of Almighty God who owns the the cattle on a Thousand Hills you're gonna you're gonna quibble over a hundred pieces of silver seriously what is that to God so whether it is whether it is men or whether it is money or whether what regardless of what it is what is that to God and that's kind of the point but a mazayas response here kind of sets off a little bit of a red alert you know in our hearts regarding here you know the things that he's concerned about it's kind of like it's kind of like okay I'll be obedient God told me to take these guys and send them back home okay I'll do it but I'm not really gonna like it in fact I'm a little bit bothered that you made me do that I'll do it but a little bit under protest you know verse 10 says that a messiah out of obedience discharged the army that had come to him from Ephraim to go home again and they became very angry with Judah and returned home and fierce anger keep that in mind we'll come back to that these are the mercenaries but Amaziah took courage and that's a good thing and he let out his people and went to the valley of salt and struck down 10,000 men of Seir the men of Judah captured another ten thousand alive and took them to the top of a rock and threw them down from the top of the rock and they were all dashed to pieces but the men of the army whom Amaziah sent back and these are the mercenaries from Israel not letting them go with him to battle raided the cities of Judah on their way home from Samaria to betherine and struck down 3,000 people in them and took much spoil so they killed people and looted on their way home they were mad and they were having a little hissy fit on the way home and actually killed people because they were so upset these are good guys to hire by the way right I mean they just showed their true colors so after a messiah came from striking down the he brought the gods of the men of seer and set them up as his gods and worship them making offerings to them alright we just took a real step lower here on the level of you know stupid because here you are and you conquer a people and then you bring home their gods and worship their gods so it's like their gods couldn't save them from you and now you're going to worship those gods so that's pretty crazy and that's exactly what the Lord confronts him with in verse 13 therefore the Lord was angry with a messiah and sent to him a prophet who said to him why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from their hand but as he was speaking the king said to him um have we made you a royal counsellor stop why should you be struck down in that make no mistake that means killed why should I have to kill you so the Prophet stopped but he said I know that God has determined to destroy you because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel so a messiah just took a huge step downward didn't he why am the world would you worship Kings that couldn't even save their own people then amaziah king of Judah took counsel so he's taking counsel for he's not taking it from the Lord and from his people but he's taking it from somebody and he sent to joash the son of Jehovah's son of Jehu king of Isreal saying come let us look one another in the face and that's a tough man way of saying let's meet and let's go to battle because you did me wrong so obviously the Council that King Amaziah received was this guy this guy's army who you hired and by the way it appears they walked away with a hundred pieces of silver right because the King was concerned about losing all of that money he didn't ask for it back I don't know what they're complaining about they got to you know have money they got paid off for not doing anything and I don't know maybe that's what some of his counselors said to him you know here you paid off these guys and what did they do to you they looted your land on the way home and they killed some of your people what are you gonna do about that king a messiah king a messiah sends a note to the king of israel and he says let's face off that's what he's essentially saying let's you and I face off verse 18 says the joash king of israel sent word to amaziah king of judah in the form of kind of a little parable he says a thistle in Lebanon sent to a cedar in Lebanon saying give your daughter to my son for a wife and a wild beast of Lebanon pass by and trample down the thistle I don't know why you couldn't just say no but he had to do it in a little story form because you see he's not just declining the offer to come and face off with their armies he can't resist the opportunity to give an insult can you relate again we're looking at something that is very common to human nature meaning the old nature of man and that is that when somebody irritates me or annoys me by something they say I can't just drop it right my flesh has to just throw in a barb along with my response I you know rather than just saying no thanks I have to say no thanks and by the way you have an IQ somewhere in the negatives or you know or something equally as daunting by the way you might want to write that down it works every time I'm just joking yeah there's just something in our nature you know that we just got to do that what is it what is it notice that in this little parable he likens a messiah to a puny thistle that gets trampled on by a animal that happens to be walking by and the message of the parable is you know pretty clear you know that he shouldn't mistake his earlier defeat of the to the ability now to take on the Northern Kingdom of Israel and succeed because the king of Israel is basically likening himself to an immovable cedar of Lebanon you know and and so forth and the message is pretty clear in fact he outlines it in verse 19 if you look with me there he says you say see I have struck down Edom and your heart has lifted you up in boastfulness that's pretty interesting isn't it when your enemy correctly identifies your problem and when your enemy is in fact a pagan who knows nothing and cares nothing for God and yet correctly identifies your problem that's really humbling well I guess if you won't listen to God's servants so he says your heart is lifted up but he says but now stay home why should you provoke trouble so that you fall you and Judah with you in other words he's basically saying you know that I'm gonna defeat you I know that I'm gonna defeat you so why are you even boast akyuu you know but look at verse 20 very important in fact these first five words are key to understanding the reign of a messiah but Amaziah would not listen and that's his issue and there's this point where pride does that to us I don't know pride stops up our ears it keeps us from hearing you know what we otherwise ought to hear we just don't listen I was sharing with some of the guys here a couple of days ago that I was I was reading again I went back to read again the book fresh faith by Jim Simba and he's the pastor of a church in downtown Brooklyn New York and and he was a basketball player actually played collegiate basketball very very good basketball player by the way but he remembers during his upper years of high school he loved to go out and play street ball with the guys that were out there and he said you know he says they were good I mean these guys were good they were talented but he said you know what not one of them ever played for any kind of a college and ever went anywhere beyond just playing street ball and he said and I knew why - because none of them could be coached their pride was such that nobody could tell them what to do or how to better themselves they had incredible talent but they couldn't learn their ears were literally stopped up from somebody coming along and coaching or leading or here's our connection disciple because they couldn't listen they wouldn't listen they refused to listen that's what's going on with Amaziah that's what pride does and don't think this can't happen to a born-again Christian because it can we can be filled with pride to the point where we stopped listening listen how many notorious falls from grace have you heard about from some televangelist who is doing wonderfully with their worldwide ministry and there was great fruit and there was great you know response and and and so and it just got so big and it got so popular and so successful that you know the the televangelists begins to believe what people are actually saying about him he forgets the fact that he's a sinner saved by grace he's filled with pride at the success of what's going on in his life he stops listening and he starts saying boastful things and and and things that you know eventually lead to his downfall it's the same thing that happened to Amaziah here he would not listen it goes on here in verse 20 to say for it was of God in order that he might give them into the hand of their enemies and that means basically so that they might be spanked because they had sought the gods of Edom so joash king of israel verse 21 went up and he and amaziah king of judah faced one another in battle at beth shemesh which belongs to judah so Israel came down into the area of Judah to engage them in battle and were told here that Judah was defeated by Israel and every man fled to his home so the whole army just literally freaked out and the guys ran home that's not a good situation and joash king of israel captured amaziah king of judah the son of joash the son of a isaiah at beth shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem his own capital and broke down the wall of Jerusalem for four hundred cubits and by the way that's a statement that's making a statement because you see the wall of any city is its defense and to break down four hundred cubits of that wall is essentially to say I have exposed you because of your weakness and now you are exposed and whatever strength that you were depending upon based upon this wall has now been obliterated and the enemy can just waltz in whenever it wants to because that's what I have done to you you can see the message it tells us from the Ephraim gate to the corner gate Wahl was just broken down and again all because of pride we're told also that the king of Israel seized all of the gold and silver and all the vessels that were found in the house of God in the care of obed-edom he seized also the Treasuries of the Kings house so he even went into it even the king's palace also hostages so he took people and then he returned to Samaria which of course was the capital city of the Northern Kingdom of Israel a messiah the son of joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of joash the son of Jehovah has king of Israel so a messiah did not die in over this situation in fact he lived for another fifteen years even after the king of Israel God gave him extra time to think about just how dumb this was and just how serious are the consequences of pride now verse 26 the rest of the deeds of Amaziah from first to last are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel from the time when he turned away from the Lord they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem obviously the king heard about it and we're totally here that he fled to Lakeisha now we don't know much about this conspiracy it's not given us as far as the information and either chronicles or Kings but apparently you know some of the people became very you know disenchanted with the king they considered him more of a liability to the kingdom than anything else and they conspired against him to assassinate him but the King either got word of it as some of his men got word of it and he ran off to the city of Lachish and it didn't matter they found him there and they ended up killing him in that city and then we're told here in fact that's what we're told here at the end of verse 27 they sent after him to location put him to death there and they brought him upon horses and he was buried with his father's in the City of David isn't that interesting first thing first thing that he did upon receiving the throne is he punished the men who assassinated his father and then ended up the same way and all because of pride all because of pride if he would have called out to the Lord if he would have cried out to the god of his father's he would have been delivered but he didn't he refused to and he ended up being assassinated it's really kind of sad when you look at this and all the people of Judah took Uzziah who was 16 years old and the medium king instead of his father a messiah just a note here that Isaiah is also known don't get confused if you go over to second Kings you're gonna find him named Azariah and it was often that the King did have variants of their names that were pronounced quite differently to you and I but Azariah also happened to be the name of the high priest who was serving during the reign of Uzziah and perhaps that's one of the reasons why here he is referred to as Uzziah to keep the you know confusion level down not that it is for you and I because most of us are pretty confused trying to keep all these guys together but just in case you're interested Azariah means yahweh has helped and Uzziah means yahweh is my strength well okay so you Zayas on the throne age 16 verse 2 he built ilat' and restored it to judah after the king slept with his father's so he won back some of the land that his father has lost Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem his mother's name was Jack Alya of Jerusalem and he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord according to all that his father a messiah had done it says in verse 5 that he set himself to seek the God excuse me to seek God in the days of Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God and as long as he sought the Lord God made him prosper once again you hear and you see this influence don't you the power of influence we see it both negatively we see it positively influence crazy verse six he went out and made war against the Philistines and broke through the wall of Gath and the wall of Jeb de and the wall of Ashdod and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines and God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Garba all and against the moon i'ts the ammonites paid tribute to use ayah and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt for he became very strong now that's you know sounds really good but you know you and I both know what happens when people become strong and popular moreover verse nine Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the angle and fortified them and he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns for he had large herds both in the shephelah which is to say the foothills and in the plain and he had farmers and vine dressers in the hills in the fertile lands because what his real love was was for the dirt he was a man of the soil he's loved planting things he should have been a gardener or something like that but he's King moreover Uzziah had an army of soldiers fit for war and divisions according to the numbers in the muster made by Jil the secretary and may Asiya the officer under the direction of Hananiah one of the king's commanders the whole number of the heads of fathers houses of mighty men of valor was 2600 under their command was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred who could make war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy and Uzziah prepared for all the armor for all the army shields spears and helmets of male bows and stones for slinging boy what a time of war huh let's get some rocks in Jerusalem he made machines now this is pretty interesting check this out invented by skillful men to beyond the towers and the corners to shoot arrows isn't that cool and also great stones so you got it you know I'm assuming kind of like we see in Lord of the Rings you know those big counterweighted sorts of things that you you know chuck these big rocks at the enemy as they're approaching and so forth and it says his fame spread far for he was Marvel II helped and then check this out till he was strong then what happens does anybody need to question look at the next verse but when he was strong he grew proud to his destruction for he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense stop there for just a moment the right of burning altar burning altar burning incense on the altar of incense was one that was reserved for the descendants of Aaron you might remember back in the Book of Numbers there's a very ugly incident where a man by the name of Korah grabbed a whole bunch of people and got them all lathered up about how Moses and Aaron were taking on too much upon themselves and you guys are exalting yourselves and we're just like you are we're Levites we may not be of the line of Aaron but we're Levites and you might you remember the story there was great and grave consequences that came upon them for presuming to do what they were not ordained to do and burning incense was something only the descendants of Aaron were ordained to do you know Uzziah and this is what happens when we are when we're king when our accountability is really to no one we start taking things on ourselves and he authorized himself to go in the temple and burn incense he didn't need anybody to tell him you can or can't do this he's the king who's gonna say anything against the king you better be pretty courageous to counter the king thankfully there was a priest who was just that courageous verse 17 his name was Azariah the priest went in after him and he took eighty of his fellow priests along I would have to in fact if I could muster a hundred all the better but he took 80 priests of the Lord who were were told men of valor and that means they were men of principle and understood the word of the Lord related to these things and they weren't afraid to stand up to the king and it tells us here in verse 18 that they withstood King Uzziah and said to him it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense or if you will set apart go out of the sanctuary for you have done wrong and it will bring you no honour from the Lord God now Uzziah as a man of pride remember what pride does to people keeps them from listening right then Uzziah was angry now he had a sensor in his hand to burn incense and when he became angry with the priests leprosy broke out on his forehead right there in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense now you have to understand something about this obviously this is a judgment from the Lord to have leprosy break out while you're railing against these priests who are you to tell me that I can't do this you know and pop-pop-pop that's bad enough and that's a sign of the Lord's judgment but you have to understand that anybody with leprosy could not be in the temple they are considered unclean with this sort of a skin issue and they are not allowed to be there so you've got a double issue going on here and what the Lord is declaring because he could have done anything to the king but by causing this leprosy to break out on his forehead where everybody can see it he is declaring that this is an unclean situation that this is an unacceptable situation in the presence of the Lord so and Amma Azariah the chief priests and all the priests looked at him and behold he was leprous in his forehead and they rushed him out quickly and he himself hurried to go out because the Lord had struck him now he was anxious to get out of there and King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death and being a leper lived in a separate house for he was excluded from the house of the Lord and Jotham his son was over the Kings household governing the people of the land and you know what that means that means they had a co-regency so Jotham took over governing while his father was excluded from the population because of the leprosy that he had contracted again as we've seen with other Kings no repentance no statement of remorse no crying out to the Lord no healing none at all it's just here's your consequences and he deals with it but no crying out to the Lord how incredibly sad verse 22 says now the rest of the acts of Uzziah from first to last Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos wrote and Uzziah slept with his fathers and they buried him with his father's in the burial field that belonged to the Kings for they said he is a leper and Jotham his son reigned in his place and there we have the reign of you Ziya that's where we're gonna stop for tonight I could go on but I want to get into Jotham and then the final well it's not the final king but his son a has who is very instrumental in Judah unfortunately in a bad way and deal with those two next week together so you

Channel: Calvary Chapel Ontario

Views: 12,891

Rating: 4.886179 out of 5

Keywords: Bible, Bible teaching, Thru-the-Bible, verse by verse, Calvary Chapel, Bible study, Christianity, New Testament, Old Testament, Pride

Id: g3YaRAciT0k

Length: 47min 13sec (2833 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 26 2018