2 Chronicles 32:24-33
Notes
Transcript
Song: Brother James Craig
Song: Brother James Craig
Prayer: Elder Roger Cooper
Prayer: Elder Roger Cooper
Scripture: Brother Darrell Hawkins
Scripture: Brother Darrell Hawkins
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 32:24-33
Give Scripture: 2 Chronicles 32:24-33
24 In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.
25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
26 Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
27 And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;
28 Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.
29 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
Give A Review
Give A Review
In the early parts of this chapter we have watched as the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, more or less tortured the people of Israel with wars and rumors of war. He went into the countryside of Judah and waged war on the outskirts of the Kingdom.
King Hezekiah paid tribute to him, hoping to get him to retreat and for a time he did just that. However, he doubled back and once again waged war against Judah. He sent threatening letters, sent messengers with negative words against them, he questioned the supremacy of the God of Abraham, and he struck fear in the hearts of the Judeans. Isaiah prophesied their salvation, but it was difficult to see because we have to remember that the King of Assyria was able to conquer the Northern Kingdom. However, what he did not realize was he only conquered it because God was frankly sick of dealing with them and their paganism.
That said, Sennacherib got full of himself and thought he could go ahead and take all of Israel. But God prevailed and in the later scriptures, God destroyed all the armies of Assyria and the King was assassinated by his own sons.
Three Key Takeaways
Maintain your own prayer life so you do not become dependent on someone else to bless you or pray for you.
Watch your enemies that you do not become confounded when they speak your same language.
God will make provision for you, even if it means destroying your enemies.
Allow for Questions?
Allow for Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Introduction
Introduction
It is important, once again, for us to understand the connection between 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles. These particular passages of scripture in 2 Chronicles correspond with 2 Kings 20:1-20 and Isaiah 38:1-22. The story then pours over into 2 Kings 21 and Isaiah 39, I encourage you to read these passages to help understand the connections in the Bible and increase your understanding of the scripture.
Again, we must recognize the difference in purpose of the two books, one of which as a royal history book and another as the story of the early portions of the Davidic lineage from David thru Zedekiah.
Scripture Study
Scripture Study
24 In those days Hezekiah was sick to the death, and prayed unto the Lord: and he spake unto him, and he gave him a sign.
His sickness falls not too long after his deliverance from the hand of Sennacherib...
Despite the separation we have between verse 23 and verse 24, we must connect the two to appreciate this passage… because we see the words “In those days.”
It reminds me of what my mother used to say when times got rough… it’s something all the time.
Sometimes your testimony can do more harm than good.
The Chronicler tells the story of Hezekiah’s healing quite briefly, with little reference to the actual story which is told in both, the Book of Isaiah and the book of 2 Kings.
If your story has already been told, it may not be necessary to tell it, especially if we can learn something new from it.
We also focus on Hezekiah’s healing from the perspective of LOOK WHAT THE LORD HAS DONE...
But this passage we read today clearly outlines areas that can be overlooked if you spend too much time on God’s blessings… because it can allow you to overlook man’s mess ups.
25 But Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
I want to also read this with verse 24 from the Message Bible translation...
24 Some time later Hezekiah became deathly sick. He prayed to God and was given a reassuring sign.
25 But the sign, instead of making Hezekiah grateful, made him arrogant. This made God angry, and his anger spilled over on Judah and Jerusalem.
We have to be aware that we do not allow God’s GIFTS to cause ARROGANCE and SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS to be PRESENT in us.
Hezekiah was healed and in his healing, he asked the prophet Isaiah to call for a sign from God of his provision/ or healing.
The sign was that the shadows of the Earth would move back 10 degrees and at the appropriate time, God did just what he said he would do.
Freely God has given to us but many of us boast in God’s gifts as though they come from us alone.
Be careful when you accept or receive the mantle of leadership that you do not cause undue hardship on the people serving you.
Too many people freely take on the responsibility of leadership without considering the weight associated with leadership.
Now we see that Hezekiah became prideful over an issue in his PERSONAL LIFE.
What did the people of Israel have to do with his sickness or even his healing?
What did they have to do with his arrogance, stupidity, or SELF (key word) SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS?
How many people have you caused pain, hardship, or problems simply because you were unwilling to do the will of God and give him his due for the blessings and things he has bestowed upon you.
Are your family members suffering from the choices of your youth?
Is your spouse dealing with the burden of your mistakes?
Do you have followers who are faced with problems you birthed?
Furthermore, we have to be careful that we do not look to the men and women of the Bible as though they are perfect, but we must recognize they are human.
It is possible (David) to be a Man after God’s own heart but to also be a man who sleeps around with Bathsheba.
It is possible (Solomon) to seek after wisdom without riches but to also allow the Kingdom to fall away because of your lust for women.
It is even possible to rebuild the House of God and worship God as he is due (Hezekiah) but also to become self-righteous and arrogant.
26 Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
26 But then Hezekiah, and Jerusalem with him, repented of his arrogance, and God withdrew his anger while Hezekiah lived.
The price of bad leadership often requires action on the part of more than just the leadership.
This verse makes clear that not only did Hezekiah repent for arrogance but it also lets us know that the people of God repented for HIS arrogance.
Can you lift up your leadership when they make mistakes… or do you abandon them to sole repentance?
We are so quick to cast people aside as though we have never made mistakes but what do you do if you bear some responsibility or burden for your leaders’ mistakes?
Then why not work in the vineyard towards their repentance?
And so the people of God met their leader in prayer, in intercession, in supplication and God gave Hezekiah and the people of God a reprieve.
God is merciful.
But watch those words… In the Days of Hezekiah?
Hezekiah… for all of his goodness and value… left a time bomb in Jerusalem because of his mistake of arrogance.
27 And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant jewels;
28 Storehouses also for the increase of corn, and wine, and oil; and stalls for all manner of beasts, and cotes for flocks.
You are bigger than even your greatest mistake
And so we now see the beginning of the end of Hezekiah’s life as the scripture writes the epitaph of his life.
Despite his mistake, the Bible lets us know that Hezekiah was still a blessed and well kept man that the Lord blessed.
If you are faithful over a few things… God will make you a ruler over many.
We have spent the last few weeks talking about Hezekiah’s faithfulness, his blessings over the people of Israel, his offerings to the Lord, his offerings to the Levites… but we never truly get an understanding of his PERSONAL wealth until now.
Keep in mind the scripture addresses his personal wealth only after talking about what he had done for God’s House.
You will never get rich if you abandon God’s work.
29 Moreover he provided him cities, and possessions of flocks and herds in abundance: for God had given him substance very much.
God’s blessings and wealth for you go far beyond giving you some money, cars, and houses because we are building up a Kingdom.
God wants to bless you such that CITIES become subject to you and through you him.
But many of us are not prepared for cities because we cannot handle our household, we cannot handle our Church, we cannot handle our jobs, but God is readying a prepared place for a prepared people.
I love that word SUBSTANCE because God is about substance.
You need substance in your life...
Substance includes the material blessings which God wants us to have for the Word says I wish above all things that you would prosper and be in health… EVEN AS YOUR SOUL PROSPERS.
30 This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works.
Your gifts from God go beyond the spiritual gifts that we like to tout in Church.
God did not call you simply to do amazing spiritual feats or to have only spiritual gifts.
But God called some of his people to be realtors, motivational speakers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, and all other manner of things.
And each of these things is a gift.
We see here that Hezekiah has been given gifts from the Father that allowed his Regency to oversee an amazing technological feat.
Make no mistake about it building a dam… in any generation or age… is expensive not just financially but also in lives.
Between 1933 and 1942, 45 people died during the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam
Between 1931 and 1935, 96 people died during the construction of the Hoover Dam.
Between 1960 and 1970, more than 500 people died building the Aswan Dam in Egypt.
And Between 1994 and 2003, more than 300 people died building the Three Gorges Dam in China.
So we have to think about the expense of building a dam reflected in today’s time, which would surely cause the catastrophic loss of human life.
And yet, despite the cost and the difficulty, God gave the Man of God the provisions and the knowledge to accomplish this feat in his time.
God will cause all of your works to prosper…
It is not all about money or material goods… but God can and will bring prosperity into your life when you handle his business.
31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.
This passage of scripture makes reference to what happens in 2 Kings 20, where Hezekiah has a run-in with the Babylonians that would eventually spell the doom of the children of Israel.
In 2 Kings 20, Hezekiah meets with the fledgling empire that would become the Babylonian Empire and when he meets with them he shows them everything that God had blessed him and the Kingdom with.
The Storehouses
The Gold, Silver, and Jewels
The Temple
The Finery
The Clothes
The Women
and everything.
Now, in no way does the Word indicate that he did so in a boastful way but it also does not indicate that he gave God credit for the great things he blessed him with.
And so, the Prophet Isaiah brings him Word from the Lord and tells him that because of his actions… the Lord would confer everything from his hands into the hands of the Babylonians.
Despite serving God in earnest, he still had a fascination with stuff as was exemplified by his actions in 2 Kings 20… and this passage lets us know that it was test by God to see the contents of Hezekiah’s heart.
God wants us to know that no matter how good we are… we were in desperate need of a Heavenly King.
You must understand that the children of Israel asked for a King because they were unsatisfied with God ruling the Kingdom from Heaven, as he had done.
God knew of the coming of Christ who came once to prepare the way for his Kingdom to be built in Earth and would come again to bring the capital and throne with him to the Earth.
But the people asked for the right thing… out of Season and so God used their request as an opportunity to teach them.
You can have good kings but none will be a God King.
David was a Man after God’s own heart but he was also after women.
Solomon was a Man who sought God’s wisdom but he also fell into idol worship.
Jehoshaphat was a Man who sought unification of God’s people but he also sought the unwise counsel of men.
Hezekiah was a Man who restored worship of God but he also worshipped the blessings of God to some degree.
He thereby proved our need of Christ the King to come.
32 Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his goodness, behold, they are written in the vision of Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, and in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel.
33 And Hezekiah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the chiefest of the sepulchres of the sons of David: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem did him honour at his death. And Manasseh his son reigned in his stead.
Here we see the power of one generation to overcome the struggles imposed on them by a previous generation.
Hezekiah overcame the image of his father to restore the Kingdom and was buried along with his father David.
Just think of how far they came in ONE generation...
How much more can we do in one generation with the help and grace of God in the dispensation of Grace and Power.
Provide Key Takeaways
Provide Key Takeaways
Do not let God’s gifts create arrogance and self-righteousness within you.
God’s gifts to you go beyond the spirit and are meant to give you power to build up A KINGDOM not just a Church.
God can and will give you power to overcome generational curses that you inherit as burden.
Allow for Final Questions?
Allow for Final Questions?
Write some of the questions down if possible.
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Roll Call & Prayer Requests
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led
Prayer: Do yourself unless otherwise led