Heedless Kings (Part C)

Now, Judah did evil in the sight of Yahweh and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins which they committed more than all their fathers had done. And so now, of course, the story turns towards the south and the Judean kings pointing out their spiritual discrepancies. This jealousy, provoking God to jealousy, well, protective jealousy is not the same as the jealousy born out of envy.

Jealousy in this sense, it belongs to God. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the Book of 1 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick in the Book of 2 Kings chapter 22 as he continues his message, Heedless Kings. He is not seeing the violence of the kingdom stripped away. Josiah is not.

So we'll get to that when we get to 2 Kings. But anyway, he says, In your eyes shall not see all the calamities. See, there's the context, which I will bring on this place. That's the prophecy that was issued to Josiah that he would be spared seeing the judgments and that's what's really happening to this unnamed crown prince of Jeroboam. He says, Because in him is found something good toward Yahweh, God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. So he's the exception in the evil house and God is very sure to be careful to point this out and preserve it over the centuries, the millennium. We tend to think that premature, by our standards, premature death, death of the young, is a great loss and it is to us in this life.

There's no question about that. But God has different views about things because he's got a greater view, of course, of everything and eternity. And here, in evil times, death is a reward to the righteous, more of an evacuation of the soul than the loss of the soul. Isaiah 57, The righteous perishes and no one takes it to heart.

These are the evil times that he was addressing. Merciful men are taken away while no one considers that the righteous is taken away from evil. So he kind of just ties it all in together to the eternal because eternity has been put in our hearts. And without that eternal view, you're lost. With the eternal view, there is God, ideally. So if heaven is the most fitting place for anyone, God is simply saying, I'm taking him to the most fitting place, child or adult, either way, the world is not worthy of them. God is not intimidated by death. We are because death is our enemy.

It is our last enemy, the Bible says, and it will not be finalized until, of course, the return of Christ. Well, of course, if we go home to heaven, but on earth, and God always has eternity in view, always. I mean, how else could he allow his son to go to the cross? Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Well, Jesus wasn't just throwing that in to fill up his sermon.

It's one of the biggest parts of the Beatitudes. I like, you know, blessed are the merciful. They shall obtain mercy. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They shall be full.

Yeah, they will, but they're going to take a lot of hits. So you should know that unless you become disillusioned. He says, because in him there is found something good toward Yahweh God of Israel in the house of Jeroboam. God is not overly concerned with those who are going to heaven. They're saved, and that means something with him.

Again, he's bigger than death, and he's going to improve not only their life, but their lifestyle, and he knows it. This is the case with Uzzah, who touched the ark when he should not have, Uriah, who David had killed, the Bethlehem innocents, who Herod had killed, Antipas, as God said, my faithful servant. They're in heaven. They went right to heaven. Well, the Old Testament ones, they had a carryover, like you do at a flight, a stopover. Anyway, no direct flight for them, but for the New Testament believer, it is a direct flight. One pastor from long ago said this about God, he is never touched with the pity of those who die. It is for those who live. And of course, in its context, that is very accurate. Verse 14, moreover, Yahweh will rise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam. This is the day.

This is the day. What, even now? So you've got some personality there. These guys weren't boring, like me. No, wait, I said that wrong. Like me, they weren't boring.

The other way sounds like they weren't boring as I am boring. We know that would be. Anyhow, so, well, verse 14, moreover, Yahweh will rise up for himself a king. Oh, there's plenty of choices. Nadab, Jeroboam's son, will reign for two years, but he will be assassinated by Baasha, and Baasha is a foul character, too.

They all are. All the bloody kings of the north remind us of the bloody seizures of Rome. Verse 15, and Yahweh will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the river because they have made their wooden images provoking Yahweh to anger.

Well, this was big to them, for us. You know, how many times have you heard a Christian say, boy, where's America in the prophecies of the Bible? Why is America owed a place in the Bible? Who says, I mean, there are a lot of places.

Why should America get one? What about, you know, Mozambique or Tappan Zee, New Jersey? I mean, it just was New York, anyway. Just, you know, we would like to know things. Well, in those days, they were knowing those things, and they weren't good. So now the prophecy shifts from Jeroboam's house to all the northern in that region. Shaken to reed, a metaphor for destabilization. The prophet sees 200 years in advance.

It would be about that much time before these things happen. They will be scattered in exile, as he references here, to the Euphrates, east to the Euphrates River, and we'll see this in 2 Kings 17 fulfilled. Verse 16, and he will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned, who made Israel sin. Well, God is saying, you know, they have no intention of obeying him. They keep provoking him, which is an interesting study all by itself. Well, if you have no intention of obeying me, God says, I have no intention of protecting you.

He's still talking to the wife. The sandcastle religion just cannot withstand the tide of truth, and unfortunately, people find out too late. He made Jeroboam Israel sin not by filling the northern kingdom with saloons, but with idols.

That's how he did it. Lies about the only true God. Verse 17, then Jeroboam's wife arose and departed and came to Terzah. When she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. He went to heaven. Verse 18, we know that because God said he found good in him.

Verse 18, and they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him according to the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet. So again, God's saying, this was not a random death. I called it, and there's why I called it, and with all this evidence, they're going to just deny the Lord nonetheless. They just have this inability to connect dots. It's like, we don't like where number 26 takes us, so we're going to connect number 25 with number 9, and they have this Picasso they end up with that they're boasting about as they go to hell.

That is a picture of what irreverent man does. It just will not connect the dots. You know, a scientist is so true to science, you know, or even math, mathematics. Two plus two is always four.

There's no exception. You can travel to Mars with Hubble, and it's still going to be two plus two is four. And yet, they're going to tell you all about evolution as being science when there's no proof, and it just takes your breath away that, man, these guys are really smart in a lot of areas. They even invent stuff we all benefit from, but when it comes to God, they're morons. They are spiritual morons because there's a real devilish influence, and they won't get away from it. Anyhow, you know, I'm sitting in Starbucks, many of them, right now. I'm not saying Starbucks is evil, and I'm not saying it's not evil.

Okay. Verse 19. Now, the rest of the Acts of Jeroboam, how he made war and how he reigned, indeed, they are written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. Throughout the books of the kings, God refers to Jeroboam as the standard of the evil king in the north.

As David was elevated as the righteous king, he is elevated as the king that led Israel, the northern kingdom, into sin. Now, again, back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel 16, he slams Jerusalem. I mean, he gets everybody, but he really says, you know, man, what Judah did with Jerusalem.

So, nobody can go, there's no backslapping going on here about who got it right. They were all a mess. No less than 22 direct reminders about Jeroboam leading the north into sin. In other words, God, not only was he paying attention, he's got a grudge, spiritually speaking. He's a rap sheet on this king, and it is significant. And if you do a study just on the name of Jeroboam, son of Nabat, you astounded how the writers just keep saying, he led Israel into sin. It was this guy, and this is the son of the guy, which is very, like, Judas Iscariot, you know, son of Simon. They're very, man, brought the dad down with them.

Serious business. Well, why should a soul be taken into heaven when they're given every chance to submit to God and they refuse? I mean, this is reason. This is reasoning with a person that thinks, I'm a good person, I'm going to heaven, or, you know, there's stupid sayings like, you know, heaven doesn't want me and hell's afraid, I'll take over. Again, you could tell yourself whatever you want, but it's not going to tone down the temperature of the flames. It is serious stuff, it is not a joke, and if you think mocking with irreverence, religion, and God is somehow going to insulate you from what's coming, you're a bigger fool than you look like. Anyway, well, I can have some sarcasm too. Of course, we're not encouraged to be sarcastic like the prophets because it can get away from you very quickly, for you. Anyhow, does not a God, if he is God, does he not have the right to dictate terms?

I mean, what is so complicated about that? The man who made Israel sin, that's what it says, 2 Kings 17, 21, Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh and made them commit a great sin. Man, that's pretty strong. This is his legacy. This is what he left behind. Compared to, you know, Barnabas or Ruth, this is what Jeroboam left behind.

It's a good question to ask somebody that's irreverent like this. 2 Kings 13, 11, all the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, who made Israel sin. And we just read it again and again and again. It's like we're not going to let you forget this one. Anyway, the father of ruining the northern kingdoms, that's his legacy. Verse 20, period that Jeroboam reign was 22 years. Man, we're having a hard time getting past these four that we're faced with. I mean, where is Laurel and Hardy when you need them?

That would be an improvement. Anyhow, the period that Jeroboam reign 22 years, so he rested with his fathers, and Nabat his son reigned in his place. Proverbs 3, verse 35, the wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools.

And that is it. His father is associated with him 13 times and all of it negative. Verse 21, and Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king. He reigned 17 years in Jerusalem, the city which Yahweh had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put his name there.

His mother's name was Naamah and Ammonitis. Now, there's a lot here, but we don't have time to open it all. Not a lot of interesting things here. His son will reign for three years, a relatively short time will get him next chapter. There's nothing to really point out, just wasting time looking for something to point out. Verse 22, well, I can say this, he tells us he's 41 when he became king. That's when he ruined the nation, so he couldn't say, well, I was too young to make a right decision. Verse 22, now Judah did evil in the sight of Yahweh and they provoked him to jealousy with their sins, which they committed more than all their fathers had done. And so now, of course, the story turns towards the south, the Judean kings pointing out their spiritual discrepancies. This jealousy, provoking God to jealousy, well, protective jealousy is not the same as the jealousy born out of envy. Jealousy, in this sense, belongs to God. If I have something that belongs to me, then I am protective of that, and that's the type of jealousy being spoken of here. Whereas envy is, well, it doesn't belong to me, and I want it, I'm going to do whatever I can to keep it, to take it, or to get whatever. So we should understand, when the Bible says God is a jealous God, that is an honorable thing, he is saying, I am going to protect what is mine, what is rightfully mine. That is what is in the Hebrew, and that's what it is in context, and that's what it means.

Not this jealous lover that, if I can't have you, nobody's going to have you. That's just sin. Anyway, more than all their fathers had done, they grew worse and worse through the centuries.

Again, if you can get through Ezekiel 16, it's a very long chapter, it's pretty hard hitting. Verse 23, for they also built for themselves high places, sacred pillars, wooden images on every high hill and under every green tree. So, they were invested in disgraceful things.

They were disgraceful because they were lies, and they didn't care that they were lies. They are doing what God forbade in broad daylight, bold-faced sinners, people of the chosen people, chosen to produce Messiah, shameless, brazen, idle infestation everywhere. Verse 24, and there were also perverted persons in the land. Oh, now he's talking about America.

This, and everywhere else. They did according to all the abominations of the nations which Yahweh had cast out before the children of Israel. These are consecrated, these perverted persons are consecrated males mostly, sexually impure part of their rights. The reason why we know that is because they make distinctions between the harlots and these perverted persons is one of the reasons. There are other twos, but essentially that's a, the false gods bring perversity, and we're seeing that today.

Satan is always at it. They embraced this idolatry, it was widespread, and there's no remedy at this point. Second Chronicles 36, but they mocked the messengers of God, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of Yahweh arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Second Chronicles 36, verse 16. That can happen, it does happen, it did happen, and it's going to still happen. They learned fake religion from the kingdoms they defeated.

I said, I never got that. I mean, you would think that if you're the conqueror, your God must be the side to be on unless there's a reason. So, I just, anyway, verse 25, it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak, king of Egypt, came up against Jerusalem. Well, God gave Rehoboam three years.

For three years, he was relatively stable, but the brew was there, and he's going to turn away. Egypt knew that the kingdom was divided and that the northern half, well, Jeroboam was there, and Jeroboam had been in exile in Egypt, so he knew that wasn't going to be a problem, so he just came in and took what he wanted. Rehoboam was notorious in scripture for being weak. His son Asa, when he comes to power, he's going to say to Jeroboam, yeah, my dad was weak, but I'm not, and he's going to put a whooping on Jeroboam for that.

Anyway, and we'll be coming to that in the story. Second Chronicles, chapter 12. Then Shemaiah, the prophet, came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, Thus says Yahweh, you have forsaken me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak by the seashore.

You can't help it. Anyway, verse 26, he took away the treasures of the house of Yahweh and the treasures of the king's house. He took away everything. He also took away all the gold shields which Solomon had made, and the two candelabras. No, no, he didn't. He takes the gold shields that Solomon had, you know, we talked about, these shields that were beautiful, they were solid gold, and the enemy has made off with the gold of devotion.

Man, there's a lesson in that. And so he makes brass shields to replace them. You know what the New Testament says about brass and the negative sounding brass, clanging angels.

That's the way Paul described the Christian who does their duty without love. They're just this annoying thing. They're not gold, they're brass. The enemy has made off with the gold.

Anyway, verse 27, Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who guarded the doorway of the king's house. Now this is the stuff you make topical sermons on. There's a lot here. Here he is settling for less.

And in this case, it is a shameful less. They tried to keep up appearances with, you know, this make-believe. They were still successful. Someone told me years ago, I don't know if it's so true of Banks now, when I was a kid, you went into a bank and man, the floors were marbled, everything was like, it was like a palace in here. And Banks wanted to give, and they probably still do, this impression that we have a lot of money, we make money. And if you have money, we'll make you more money. This is the impression that the banks were to give.

I've been to a few banks and chipped up furniture and you know what, you guys are not keeping up with the Joneses down the, you're going to be the second national bank to keep this up. Anyway, and whenever the king, verse 28, entered the house of Yahweh, the guards carried them and brought them back into the guard room. So the color guard, boy, you should have been here in the old days. We had gold shields. Now we've got brass. The special treasures of the previous generations, there's a pattern that emerges in the Bible, and maybe in real life too.

These cheap substitutes, it's like life was going on with them and nobody knew the difference. Forget about the gold shields, we've got these nice bronze ones now. The glory has departed. So if you look around, you'll see first it's not gold, it's not silver, it's number three.

It's bronze. The first generation fights for the faith, builds a church, starts a church from the ground up. The second generation assumes that church in faith and continues it. The pattern that begins to emerge is that the third generation abandons the faith. Well, you can say, well that's just a clinical view.

That's an observation you have. Can you show me anything in scripture that warns us that this pattern exists? Well, Rehoboam represents the third generation of the divinic dynasty. David, Solomon, Rehoboam. And if you look in the book of Judges in chapter two, I'm not going to turn it, we're just out of time, but chapter two verses seven through ten, it comes right out and said the generation stayed true. Joshua was on the throne and the men that were under Joshua, that second generation, but that third one is when they began to tear down what the others had worked on so hard.

This is something to watch out for. We know we want to give our children the best, but sometimes we make it too easy to the point where they don't appreciate. It's a fine line, it's a tightrope, but with God's help it's doable. So I don't say that the Bible says this is a fact always. I do say there is this pattern that does exist and we do well to steer clear. Verse 29, now the rest of the Acts of Jeroboam and all that he did, they are not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah.

Rhetorical question of course. This is not the Chronicles that we have in our Bible, because it's a reference to that one too elsewhere and this one is distinct. So that's just other materials that were in existence then. Verse 30, and there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days. As I mentioned, Asa the son of Rehoboam, grandson, he'll get the upper hand. Verse 31, so Rehoboam rested with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. His mother's name was Naamah and Ammonitis, then Abijam, his son reigned in his place.

He's going to switch the tongue up going from Naamah to Amoritis to Abijam, I mean it's just all over the place. This weak king Rehoboam easily influenced to the negative. Once to the positive, with the rest he was to the negative. We read this about him in Chronicles, this is his epitaph in the scripture.

2 Chronicles 12 verse 14, and he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek Yahweh. Let's pray. Now Father, once again, real life stories, real examples, lessons there for us to either scoop up or neglect. In Jesus' name, Amen. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

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