2 Chronicles 21-24 Good Evening Church, Thank You for Coming out Tonight, and Thank You to Those of You Watching Online
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Page 1 of 32 2 Chronicles 21-24 Good evening church, thank you for coming out tonight, and thank you to those of you watching online. Tonight, I know you will not be surprised, but we are going to continue on in our Study through the Old Testament. I will say, as we journey through the Bible as we are here at Calvary Chapel Victorville, it is interesting and sometimes surprising how timely the text is. Tonight we will be in 2 Chronicles 21-24, and we will see that there are some things happening in these verses that speak to the historic events of our own day. So let’s pray, and we will get into God’s Word. Now, our focus has primarily been the Southern Kingdom of Judah in our study through the Chronicles. We now pick up the historical narrative here at the death of King Jehoshaphat. Remember he was considered a good king, but as all men do he had some flaws. He made some very foolish alliances with the evil kings of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And evil alliances, this being spiritually unequally yoked, always comes with dire consequences, that sometimes last well beyond the initial incident. Page 2 of 32 That will be the case for Jehoshaphat’s folly, it will be felt even long after his death. Our kids will be the ones that ultimately pay for our lackadaisical attitude toward sin in our lives. So let’s get into it, Chapter 21 verse 1… Jehoram Reigns in Judah(1 Kings 22:50; 2 Kings 8:16- 24) 21:1 And Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Jehoram his son reigned in his place. 2 He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel. 3 Their father gave them great gifts of silver and gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah; but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram, because he was the firstborn. 4 Now when Jehoram was established over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of Israel. So, Jehoshaphat dies, leaving the kingdom to his oldest son, Jehoram. Now, remember from last time, this is the son that married the wicked king Ahab’s daughter in an evil alliance. Page 3 of 32 We see the compromise in Jehoshaphat is now playing out in a terrible way with his son. The daughter of Ahab and Jezebel obviously shared in their wickedness, and is influencing the new king. Jehoram begins his reign by killing all his brothers so they could not be a threat to his rule. He character is highly flawed. It shows the great insecurity of a leader to shut out all opposition, to silence those who might oppose them. It also is a sign of weakness and wickedness. If Jehoram trusted in his father’s God, he would have stability in his Kingdom, stability, and hope. But he has gotten off course from the direction of Israel’s God, and now wickedness is at the helm of the government. I wonder, if we can imagine a government that is so wicked that it would try to silence only certain voices? I wonder, if we can think of a government now, trying to rule through deceit and lies, who is desperately trying to cover up any Truth that might oppose them or invalidate them? Unfortunately, we don’t have to look to foreign lands any longer, there is an attempt now to silence opposition here in the US. Even our church services are getting dinged on YouTube right now, they are accusing us of producing Page 4 of 32 pornographic content, and they don’t give us any avenue to dispute it. There is a dark war happening right now in this country, trying to silence Truth. And look, this is for those online viewers, there very well can soon be coming a day where the only way to hear God’s Word from this pulpit is to come to church here. We will keep putting content out, as long as the tyrannical forces at work allow, but that avenue may soon be closed to us. We might have to have church the old fashion way, here among the Body of Christ. So Jehoram silences all opposition, he murders those who were a threat, and we read now. 5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab had done, for he had the daughter of Ahab as a wife; and he did evil in the sight of the Lord. 7 Yet the Lord would not destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever. Again this is the fruit of his father’s compromise and alliance with Ahab. Page 5 of 32 And it seems here that his wickedness was enough for God to destroy him, yet God had made a promise to David that his lineage would carry on, and that the Messiah would come from him. God held out for the sake of that promise. However, we will still see there were terrible consequences for his sinful ways… Verse 8 now… 8 In his days Edom revolted against Judah's authority, and made a king over themselves. 9 So Jehoram went out with his officers, and all his chariots with him. And he rose by night and attacked the Edomites who had surrounded him and the captains of the chariots. 10 Thus Edom has been in revolt against Judah's authority to this day. At that time Libnah revolted against his rule, because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers. 11 Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray. Edom and Libnah both revolted against this wicked tyrant. They were client kingdoms, and they would bring taxes or tribute to Israel. Yet, wickedness is weakness, and those under the wicked hand of Jehoram saw opportunity to free themselves from Judah’s rule. Page 6 of 32 The scriptures here tell us, that this was directly linked to the king leading the nation into sin and idolatry. Remember last time, there was a divine protection over Judah from the surrounding enemies as Jehoshaphat led the nation in godliness. But God has lifted that protection… I don’t know if you heard the prayer over the opening pf the United States 117th congress, but it is chilling, and it might be a tell, that we are no longer one nation under God. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, Missouri Democrat, ended his prayer “in the name of the monotheistic god,” then added what sounded like “Brahma,”(a demonic Hindu god, there creator god) before finishing with “and god known by many names by many different faiths. Amen and a-woman.” Amen is the Latin for so-be-it, so A-woman does not mean anything. I heard a pastor say this week, if you say A-woman instead of Amen, you are A-Moron. But clearly darkness is sweeping over this nation, as its leaders are leaving the God that this nation was established under. As we see here, war is a marker of a nation walking away from the will of God. Page 7 of 32 Interesting that there was no new wars fought in the last 4 years, you can do with that information what you want, but I wonder what is ahead for a nation that prays to Brahma instead of the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. Look now starting at verse 12… 12 And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus says the Lord God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of your father's household, who were better than yourself, 14 behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction — your children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day. Now, a prominent prophet from the Books of the Kings comes into the picture here. Now, this is all interesting, because Elijah was caught up to heaven during the reign of Jehoshaphat, and we are dealing with his son here. Page 8 of 32 You see the prophet was inspired to write a letter to the future king and pronounce a judgement before the events even transpired. This is pretty incredible, we are not told how the king received the letter, but it came non-the-less. Also, remember Elijah was a prophet for the Northern Kingdom of Israel, which makes this even more incredible. But he knew the king would depart from his father and grandfather’s example, perhaps made evident by whom he married.