King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Monday, July 08, 2019
Chapters: II Kings 15, II Chronicles 26
Message: All In The Name of Jesus
Hello My Friend,
I do not do it as often as I need to, but at least once a week I sit down with God and talk to Him one on one, I do not ask Him for things, I just talk to Him, thank Him, praise Him, tell Him what is going on with me, and why I messed up with something. It is not as though He does not know all this, but it is my acknowledgment of all this that actually excites Him, and He talks back to me too. Of all my prayer time with God, none are more personal and effective than my one on one time with Him. We tend to think of God as this earthly king that we cannot get close to, judging us, with strict rules to follow, and if we do not it will be the death of us. While He is KING of kings, and let me tell you, He does judge us for our wrongs, especially if we do not repent of them, His rules are not grievous, and if we come to Him through Jesus Christ we can get close to Him, in fact, He encourages it. “While he thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.” – Luke 9:34-35.
“This is my beloved Son: hear him.” So, how do we hear Jesus? First, we must believe in Him, and accept Him as our Saviour. This enables us to be able to stand before the Father. The second thing we must do is learn His ways and follow them, we are not going to know everything all at once, and He does not expect us to, what He does expect is faithfulness. After Amaziah lost the throne due to his idolatry Uzziah reigned in his steed, and he started our just like Amaziah did. Uzziah (Azariah), was the longest running king of all of Judah, he had done more to restore the kingdom than any king since David. What was his success? He sought God.
“Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.” – II Chronicles 26:3-8.
“And he sought God in the days of Zechariah,” Uzziah had a man of God helping him to keep him in check with God. As strong as we think we are in our faith we cannot surround ourselves with those of the world without keeping in check with God, and that is very hard to do if we do not have a church we attend. Salvation does not lift us up so high that we think we are invincible, Christ is our strength, and it is our faithfulness to Him that He prospers us in the things that we do in the world. “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” – I Corinthians 3:11-15.
“Now if any man build upon this foundation gold,” You see, Jesus is that foundation that in whatever we do in the world we can prosper. If we do not build it or jump off thinking we can do it on our own we will lose it all. Why? It becomes your god, and God will have no other gods before Him. Now, while Judah was prospering under the hand of Uzziah, we come to the beginning of the end of Israel as a nation. When God had Jehu anointed as king he said it would only be for four generations, and now that time had come to pass.
“In the thirty and eighth year of Azariah king of Judah did Zachariah the son of Jeroboam reign over Israel in Samaria six months. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, as his fathers had done: he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. And Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him, and smote him before the people, and slew him, and reigned in his stead. And the rest of the acts of Zachariah, behold, they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel. This was the word of the LORD which he spake unto Jehu, saying, Thy sons shall sit on the throne of Israel unto the fourth generation. And so it came to pass. Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the nine and thirtieth year of Uzziah king of Judah; and he reigned a full month in Samaria. For Menahem the son of Gadi went up from Tirzah, and came to Samaria, and smote Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria, and slew him, and reigned in his stead.” – II Kings 15:8-14.
“and slew him, and reigned in his stead.” I imagine that it really was a very scary job to be king in Israel as it was not uncommon for someone to just kill the king and take the throne for themselves. Of course, all this was under the hand of God who was judging Israel. It is really quite astounding to realize that even though God is not prominent in so many countries He is still in control of them. And if they want to kill themselves in their pride and worship of false gods than so be it. “What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?” – Romans 9:22-24.
“and to make his power known,” God handles Israel a little differently than He does the rest of us because He made a covenant with Abraham, and then with David, but He also makes a covenant with His believers. If we are so strong in our faith that we are willing to let go of our pride, admit that we have sinned, and that Christ is our only way to salvation then we have fought half the battle. The rest comes through our faithfulness to Him, the more we learn about, and walk with Him the more we prosper. We have to be careful when we start to become strong in our prosperity, pride can kick in. As long as Uzziah sought God through Zechariah, He prospered, but the second he became strong he thought he could go over the priests to reach God and lost everything.
“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.” – II Chronicles 26:16-21.
“and while he was wroth with the priests,” You see, besides the fact that only a priest was allowed to burn incense upon the altar, they had to be consecrated, meaning cleansed from their sin. While Uzziah did not lose his life as the other kings did when they turned away from God, he did become leprous, and could no longer go near the temple or rule the kingdom. While Jesus does cleanse our soul from all our sins so we can stand before God clean, it is essential that we allow Him to clean our flesh as well. Jesus is the example that we are to follow at all times if we are to remain prosperous. He is our intercessor and mediator to God, even if we are saved we still need to go to Jesus for a cleansing of our feet (flesh) because the filth of the world tends to cover us the longer we are in it. “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” – John 13:10,14-15.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men:” – II Chronicles 26:17
Today’s Prayer: Jesus, Thank You for sacrificing Your life so that I can stand before the Father, blameless and cleansed from all my sin. The second I received You as my Saviour I knew I was a part of Your family. Everything we go through in this life is meant to grow, strengthen, discipline, and guide us to be a reflection of You. Just like a parent or teacher pushes us a little bit harder to excel, so do You, Your laws are not meant to keep us from living life, but to give us the best life we can live in this wicked and corrupt world. And as long as we build our lives upon Your foundation, we can even become prosperous in the things awesome things You have to offer us through our faithfulness in You. Lord, lead us and guide us, help us to watch, pray, and listen for You in everything that we do, let us never forget that You are our strength and power, and that apart from You we are nothing. Fill us with Your mercy and grace to keep us humble, and remind us of the need to confess our sins daily, and let You wash our feet so we can be a reflection of You. I ask this in Your name Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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