2 Kings 16
Kingdom, Come • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Any Questions?
Wednesday Night, We Left Off with:
Hoshea Becoming King of Northern Israel…
(The Last King of Israel)…
And Ahaz Becoming King of Southern Judah
2 Kings 16 will Focus on King Ahaz
Judah has had Several Pretty Good Kings Lately…
But that’s All Going to Change with Ahaz
Even Though We’re Supposed to Be in 2 Kings 16…
We’re Going to Read about King Ahaz from 2 Chronicles 28…
Because it Gives More Details Than 2 Kings
2 Chronicles 28:1–4 (NIV)
1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem sixteen years. Unlike David his father, he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 2 He followed the ways of the kings of Israel and also made idols for worshiping the Baals. 3 He burned sacrifices in the Valley of Ben Hinnom and sacrificed his children in the fire, engaging in the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places, on the hilltops and under every spreading tree.
Ahaz Turned Completely Away from God:
He Brought Baal Worship Back
He Began Sacrificing in the Valley of Hinnom…
Even Sacrificing His Own Children There
Everywhere the Pagan’s Used to Worship, He Worshiped
2 Chronicles 28:5–7 (NIV)
5 Therefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hands of the king of Aram. The Arameans defeated him and took many of his people as prisoners and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hands of the king of Israel, who inflicted heavy casualties on him. 6 In one day Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand soldiers in Judah—because Judah had forsaken the Lord, the God of their ancestors. 7 Zikri, an Ephraimite warrior, killed Maaseiah the king’s son, Azrikam the officer in charge of the palace, and Elkanah, second to the king.
Because of Ahaz’s Unfaithfulness…
God Sent a Barrage of Attacks for All the Surrounding Nations:
1st, We See the Arameans Attack from the North…
And Take Captives Back to Damascus
2nd, We See Israel Also Attack from the North…
And Kill 120,000 Soldiers in Judah
But They Don’t Stop There
2 Chronicles 28:8 (NIV)
8 The men of Israel took captive from their fellow Israelites who were from Judah two hundred thousand wives, sons and daughters. They also took a great deal of plunder, which they carried back to Samaria.
But God isn’t Too Happy about That:
2 Chronicles 28:9–13 (NIV)
9 But a prophet of the Lord named Oded was there, and he went out to meet the army when it returned to Samaria. He said to them, “Because the Lord, the God of your ancestors, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have slaughtered them in a rage that reaches to heaven. 10 And now you intend to make the men and women of Judah and Jerusalem your slaves. But aren’t you also guilty of sins against the Lord your God? 11 Now listen to me! Send back your fellow Israelites you have taken as prisoners, for the Lord’s fierce anger rests on you.”
12 Then some of the leaders in Ephraim—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berekiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—confronted those who were arriving from the war. 13 “You must not bring those prisoners here,” they said, “or we will be guilty before the Lord. Do you intend to add to our sin and guilt? For our guilt is already great, and his fierce anger rests on Israel.”
God Sends Israel to Attack Judah…
For the Wicked Leadership of King Ahaz
But God Did Not Send Israel…
To Take Judah’s Women & Children Captive as Slaves
“You Need to Recognize Something Israel…”
“I Only Gave Judah into Your Hands Because I was Angry at Their Sins”
“But You have Sinned Against Me Just as Much, Even More So!”
“If You Don’t Send These Women & Children Back Home…”
“You’ll Be the Next Ones to Feel My Wrath”
These Israelites Forgot that God is the Judge
He Used Them as an Instrument of HIS Judgment
They have No Right to Execute Their Own Judgment
This Reminds Me of 2 Texts from the Ministry of Jesus
Matthew 7:1–5 (NET)
1 “Do not judge so that you will not be judged.2 For by the standard you judge you will be judged, and the measure you use will be the measure you receive.3 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to see the beam of wood in your own? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye,’ while there is a beam in your own? 5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Israel was Seeking to Execute More Judgment Against Judah
But, Like Jesus in His Teaching…
God Reminded Them that They are Worse Sinners than Israel
And They will Be Judged According to the Same Measure…
That They are Judging Judah
They were Taking Captives from Judah…
And in a Short Span of Time…
Assyria will Take Israel’s People Captive
The Other Passage from Jesus’ Ministry…
Is the Story of the Woman Caught in Adultery
The Jewish Leaders Caught a Woman in the Act of Adultery…
And They Broke Several Laws…
In Order to Trap Jesus with Her Sinful Circumstance
Jesus Told Them:
“Let Him Who is Without Sin Among You Be the First to Throw a Stone at Her”
They had Committed Several Sins in this Situation…
And Jesus Called Them Out for it…
And Showed Mercy to the Woman
In Jesus, We See the Very Character of God, Himself
A God that Teaches Us to Show More Mercy Than Judgment
James 2:13 (NASB95)
13 For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.
I Want Us All to Analyze Ourselves for a Minute:
In Our Relationships & Interactions with Others…
Are We More Merciful Than Judgmental?
Do We React with Mercy Before We React with Judgment?
Think of the Last Time You Judged Someone (In Any Way)
What would it have Looked Like if You’d Resorted to Mercy Instead?
What Benefits would have Come if You’d Been Merciful Instead of Judgmental?
Let’s Face it Folks, as Christians…
We’ve Been Known to Major in the Judgment Department…
And Minor in the Mercy Department
To Be Like Jesus, that has to Change
God Wants Us to Be Merciful…
And He Wanted Israel to Be Merciful to the Women & Children of Judah
And that’s Under the Guidance of Their Leadership…
That’s Exactly What They Did
2 Chronicles 28:14–15 (NIV)
14 So the soldiers gave up the prisoners and plunder in the presence of the officials and all the assembly. 15 The men designated by name took the prisoners, and from the plunder they clothed all who were naked. They provided them with clothes and sandals, food and drink, and healing balm. All those who were weak they put on donkeys. So they took them back to their fellow Israelites at Jericho, the City of Palms, and returned to Samaria.
They Didn’t Just Release Their Captives
They Went Out of Their Way to Show Compassion to Them
2 Chronicles 28:16–20 (NIV)
16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help. 17 The Edomites had again come and attacked Judah and carried away prisoners, 18 while the Philistines had raided towns in the foothills and in the Negev of Judah. They captured and occupied Beth Shemesh, Aijalon and Gederoth, as well as Soko, Timnah and Gimzo, with their surrounding villages. 19 The Lord had humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had promoted wickedness in Judah and had been most unfaithful to the Lord. 20 Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria came to him, but he gave him trouble instead of help.
Because of King Ahaz’s Extreme Wickedness…
Not Only were They Attacked from the North By Aram & Israel…
But Also from the South By Edomites…
And from the West By the Philistines
Then King Ahaz Asked for Help from Assyria…
And that Only Made Their Situation Worse
2 Chronicles 28:21–27 (NIV)
21 Ahaz took some of the things from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace and from the officials and presented them to the king of Assyria, but that did not help him.
2 Kings Tells Us that Assyria Did Capture Damascus…
The Capital City of Aram
But King Ahaz Started a Trend that He would Be Expected to Continue
Judah Became a Vassal to Assyria
He had to Keep Sending Money to Them for the Next 30 Years
22 In his time of trouble King Ahaz became even more unfaithful to the Lord. 23 He offered sacrifices to the gods of Damascus, who had defeated him; for he thought, “Since the gods of the kings of Aram have helped them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they were his downfall and the downfall of all Israel.
24 Ahaz gathered together the furnishings from the temple of God and cut them in pieces. He shut the doors of the Lord’s temple and set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem. 25 In every town in Judah he built high places to burn sacrifices to other gods and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of his ancestors.
26 The other events of his reign and all his ways, from beginning to end, are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of Jerusalem, but he was not placed in the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son succeeded him as king.
Ahaz was One of the Worst Kings in Judah’s History
He Single-Handedly:
Brought Worship to Various Gods into the Kingdom
Led Judah to Being Attack By Enemies on All Sides
Put Judah Under the Power of the Mighty Assyrians
Desecrated the Temple
Made Worship to False Gods Available on Every Corner…
But Shut the Doors of the Temple of God
It’s Extremely Important to have Faithful/Godly Leaders!
Of the Nation of America?
Sure, that would Be Great
But More Importantly, Over the Kingdom of Heaven
We have the Perfect King…
But We Need Faithful/Godly Leaders in Our Local Churches Too