The Beginning of the End
January 30, 2011 - The Story - 16
Did you know that the colonialists wanted to make George Washington a king. But he refused. Because George and many of the colonists believed that there was only one king, and it was not King George III.
On April 22, 1774, before the Revolutionary War, a report was sent to King George III of England, and in it the governor of Boston exclaimed “if you ask an American who is his master, he will tell you, he has none, nor any governor but Jesus Christ.”
In April of 1775, when a British major called the colonialists, villains and told them ‘lay down your arms, in the name of George, the sovereign king of England,’ the immediate response was “We recognize no Sovereign but God and no King but Jesus.”
This became the battle cry and motto of the revolutionary war. No king but king Jesus.
With that in mind, let’s dive into chapter 16, or begin by looking at 2 Kings 17 in the Story. Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen how the strong, vibrant and united nation of Israel, had been divided into 2 separate nations by God. Ten tribes were part of the northern kingdom, called Israel; and 2 tribes were part of the southern kingdom, called Judah.
I’ve already mentioned that there were 38 kings who ruled over Israel and Judah, and only 5 were considered good kings, who followed the Lord. We’re told over and over, the other 33 kings “did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”
We also saw last week, that God raised up prophets. The prophets would hear from God, and then proclaim that message to the king and to the people. Usually they were warning the people to turn away from their sinfulness and return to God. But nothing seemed to work.
If we look at today’s message in 2 Kings 17, we find that 209 years have now passed, and we read the following . . .
13 The LORD warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: “Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees,
in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”
14 But they would not listen and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God.
15 They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the LORD had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”
20 Therefore the LORD rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.
23 So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.
God raised up a pagan nation called Assyria, to overtake and destroy the northen kingdom, Israel, and to send them into exile. Now, pull out your maps and make an arrow, going from the northern kingdom of Israel moving NE to Assyria, because that’s where the Israelites were sent. And on that line, write down 722 BC, because that was the year it occurred. They would never return to their homeland. In 722 BC, these people who started out with so much promise, lost their distinction of being followers of Yahweh. They did this of their own choosing as they adapted to the pagan culture around them.
In 2 Kings 17:18, we read, So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Can you imagine hearing those words? Only the tribe of Judah was left. The Story makes a sudden shift south, and the story, at least for a moment gets better.
The king in the southern kingdom of Judah was King Hezekiah, who was one of the 5 good kings. He did right in the eyes of the Lord; and was successful in everything he did. Since they had destroyed Israel, the king of Assyria decided to come against Judah and destroy that nation as well.
But king Hezekiah decided to stand up against him. It was courageous and silly. He was outnumbered, he was surrounded; and it was silly. Yet, Hezekiah was courageous because he knew and trusted in God’s protection in that very moment. The king of Assyria heard that Hezekiah was going to stand up against his mighty nation, and in 2 Kings 18:19, he asked Hezekiah – On what are you basing this confidence of yours?
That’s a great question, isn’t it? It’s a great question, even for us today. For those of you who are confident people, if someone were to ask you on what basis do you have this confidence, what would your answer be?
The king of Assyria tried to intimidate and scare Hezekiah. He tried to undermine him in the presence of the people of Judah, saying – 29 Do not let Hezekiah deceive you. He cannot deliver you from my hand.
30 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you to trust in the LORD when he says, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.
Does Hezekiah back down? No. Does he sharpen his sword and get ready to go into battle? No. The Story tells us he gets out his knee pads and falls to the ground and prayed and asked God to give them success. God responded to Hezekiah through a prophet, named Isaiah. Isaiah was considered one of the major prophets in the OT and he came to Hezekiah and told him . . . God’s got your back.
Isaiah told Hezekiah,
32 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria:
“‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here. He will not come
before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.
33 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
34 I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’”
35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
36 So Sennacherib, king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.
How cool is that?! He returned to Nineveh, and stayed there! He didn’t come back. But king Hezekiah eventually died. He led the nation for 29 years.
When he died, the kingdom was passed on to his son, Manasseh. And Manasseh continued in the ways of his father. Not!! Nope, he didn’t follow the witness of his father. Instead, Manasseh is considered one of the cruelest and evil kings. God came to Isaiah and gave him a message to proclaim to the nation of Judah. It’s found in Isaiah 3.
We’ve been in 2 Kings, but remember we’re looking at this chronologically, so that the pieces of the puzzle fit together for us. In Isaiah 3, God told the people of Judah that another pagan nation would come against them. The Babylonians would destroy them and deport them to Babylon. Now this presents a real problem. It’s one thing for this to happen to the northern tribes, but it’s a whole different thing when it happens to Judah. Why?
Because God made a promise to king David, 400 years earlier. God promised David that the Messiah would come out of his family. David was from the tribe of Judah, and if God takes out the nation of Judah, and deports them to Babylon, where they blend in and lose their distinction. We end up with 2 big problems.
Firstly, we don’t get a Messiah; and secondly, we have a God who breaks His promises. Well, Isaiah comes back to Judah and in Isaiah 14, says,
God is not going to have you stay in Babylon, like He did the northern kingdom. After 70 years, God is going to bring you back home to Jerusalem. Not because you deserve it, because you do evil all the time, but God will do it because He made a promise to David and He will continue to reveal His plan so that all nations will have an opportunity to come back to Him.
The rest of the story of the OT, from this point on deals only with the southern kingdom of Judah. The northen kingdom has been assimilated into the Assyrian culture, never to really be heard from again. And only during the time of Jesus’ ministry do we read a little about those from the northern kingdom, also called Samaritans.
Remember, nothing can thwart the upper story of God and His passion to get us back, like He promised in chapter 1.
In Isaiah 49:23, God gives the purpose for this.
23 Then you will know that I am the LORD;
those who hope in me will not be disappointed.”
26 Then the whole human race will know
that I, the LORD, am your Savior,
your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Do you see how the language is beginning to shift. The clock is ticking and we’re getting closer to the coming of the NT. And little by little, God is revealing His plan in more intense ways. He said, when all of this is said and done, you will not only know that I am the Lord your God, the mighty one of Jacob, but you will also see that I am your Redeemer and Savior.
You see where this is going, don’t you? 700 years before the event actually takes place, Isaiah speaks a word and puts it into a scroll that this is the kind of Messiah you should be looking for. Let me tell you what He will be like . . . let me describe Him to you. We find that description at the end of this chapter or in Isaiah 53. Listen carefully and see if you can hear a description of Jesus.
1 Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3 He was despised and rejected by others,
a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
7 He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
11 After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
12 For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.
This wasn’t the Messiah they thought they would be looking for.
Isaiah gave them direct words from God. He was telling them this is the kind of Messiah you should be looking for. Look for Him. But most of them missed Him. What a great story.
OKAY . . . So, what does this story have to do with you and your life? How does this apply to my life? Close your Bibles. There are a number of applications, but I want to finish where we started. There is only one king and that is . . . King Jesus.
We see it over and over again in the Bible, whether it’s the NT or the OT. When we put God on the throne of our lives, we put ourselves in the best possible position for success. Jesus said it in Matthew 6:33, Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all these other things will be given unto you as well.
But you see, in America we have a tendency of turning this upside down. We say, “I want all of these things, therefore I’m going to Jesus, not as king, but as my servant and I’ll ask Him to give me all the things I want.” And if He doesn’t then I might be upset with Him and not come to church anymore.
Jesus said, turn that around. Our first course of business is to seek first His kingdom and to align our lives with His upper story and if you do that, then He will give you all these other things as well. If you still want them. Because if we really follow His ways, we might not want what we always thought we wanted.
You put Jesus first and follow Him, with your whole heart, whole spirit, whole mind and whole body, and you’ll find out that at the end of the day, everything works out. In the end, we declare, there’s No king but King Jesus.
We need to ask ourselves how does that apply to my personal life. No king but King Jesus. How does that apply to our church family at FBC? No king but King Jesus.
We need to become the kind of church which says
NO KING BUT KING JESUS
We need to be the husbands and wives, the fathers and mothers, the children the aunts, uncles, and grandparents who proclaim
NO KING BUT KING JESUS
We need to become the type of neighbors who speak the message of power and love, grace and passion; hope and energy, which says,
NO KING BUT KING JESUS
At FBC we need to unashamedly say NO KING BUT KING JESUS
We need to say to our community NO KING BUT KING JESUS
We can only do that when we seek first His kingdom!
