King James Bible Study – [Mark 8:34 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.]
Date: Monday, August 02, 2021
Chapters: II Chronicles 32, II Kings 20-21
Message: Observe, Do Not Do
Hello My Friend,
As I was praying this morning I started thinking about how God works everything out for good, His protections on His faithful, and how His hand really is in everything that we do. Then I started to think about those who are saved, but do not follow God with all their heart. They love Him just enough to get saved, but do not give Him their whole heart, even though He gives them just as much mercy, if not more than His faithful. Did you know that God will separate His faithful from His unfaithful just as He does them from the world? It really is quite overwhelming when you realize just how much God does intervene and protect His faithful. Oh, we trip and fall sometimes, but He allows the falls for the purpose of keeping us humble and faithful, [Matthew 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.]
[Abased; Reduced to a low state, humbled, degraded. Humble; In a low state or condition; without elevation; with modest submissiveness; with humility.] The word degrade in this case refers to reducing ones self from a higher degree to a lower one. In other words, there is not one soul more valuable than the other, we are all equal in the eyes of God. We are also all sinners bound for hell unless we received Christ as our Saviour. God is no respecter of persons, He does not respond to proud hearts, He responds to humble hearts. Now, we read about Sennacherib coming into Judah and trying to siege it prior to our finishing up the Book of Isaiah, II Chronicles goes into more detail of why they were trying to intimidate Judah.
[2 Chronicles 32:1-3,6-8 After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself. 2 And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, 3 He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him. 6 And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying, 7 Be strong and courageous, be not afraid nor dismayed for the king of Assyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him: 8 With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the LORD our God to help us, and to fight our battles. And the people rested themselves upon the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.]
[for there be more with us than with him:] It does not matter if there is one or one million up against us, we still have more with us because we have the Lord, Jesus Christ standing before us. Amen! [Matthew 10:28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.]
Of course, we know that God did deliver Judah from Assyria, but we need to be very careful when God starts blessing us, pride can kick in and f we get too proud, He will start taking them away. After Judah’s victory, Hezekiah had gotten deathly sick, that was when he prayed to God and through Isaiah, He had told him that He had heard his prayers and would add fifteen years to his life. After his recovery, people came from all over, bringing gifts, including Babylon, and he began boasting about all that he had. Well, that did not go over to well.
[2 Chronicles 32:22-26,31 Thus the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side. 23 And many brought gifts unto the LORD to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah: so that he was magnified in the sight of all nations from thenceforth. 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. 31 Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire 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.]
[Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart,] Hezekiah’s fall was his pride, but unlike the other kings who rebelled against God after He had made their sin known to them, he did let go of his pride and humbled himself to God, [2 Kings 20:4-6 And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 5 Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the LORD. 6 And I will add unto thy days fifteen years; and I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for mine own sake, and for my servant David’s sake.]
[and for my servant David’s sake.] Keep in mind that since we are all sinners and pretty much stay that way until God brings us home, we are not given eternal life for our own sake, it is for God’s and Jesus Christ. His promise to us is that our faith in Him alone is what saves us, not our works or obedience other than asking Him to save us, [John 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.]
As Christians, sometimes it does feel like we are in a never ending battle, if it is not the devil tempting us to do evil, God is using that temptation to see if we are going to follow through with it or trust Him to deliver us out of it. After God healed Hezekiah, news got out of his miraculous recovery, it was then that the king of Babylon came to visit with him and Hezekiah made the very unwise decision to show him all the treasures and weapons in the kingdom as well as the temple. God sent Isaiah to warn him of what was to come for doing that.
[2 Kings 20:12-13,16-17,19 At that time Berodachbaladan, the son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a present unto Hezekiah: for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick. 13 And Hezekiah hearkened unto them, and shewed them all the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiah shewed them not. 16 And Isaiah said unto Hezekiah, Hear the word of the LORD. 17 Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD. 19 Then said Hezekiah unto Isaiah, Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken. And he said, Is it not good, if peace and truth be in my days?]
[Good is the word of the LORD which thou hast spoken.] Do you see how God will allow us to fall, but just a little bit? It humbles us. I will be honest and say that there have been times when I was dangling on the cliff with my fingers slipping one by one, but by the grace of God I never let go and was able to get back up. And it was not me that never let go, it was actually Jesus who never let go of me. This is why I believe that no true, saved, born again Christian can call completely away from their faith. When Jesus said that nothing or no one can pluck us from His hand, He is serious about that because when we belong to Jesus that means we belong to God, [John 10:29-30 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand. 30 I and my Father are one.]
Hezekiah was the first king in centuries to accept judgment from God, and not turn on Him when it was given. One of the major issues that my country falters is that it wants to tell the world our secrets. You know, transparency is a good thing, when it comes to being upfront in how the government handles our finances, protects our country, and our well being as a nation. However, exposing our strengths and weaknesses to the world is only ammunition for them to attack, and when they do, we would not be able to fight them. And let me tell you, all it takes is one wicked person to be in office to turn the entire country into something as wicked as the devil himself. Now, you would think that with Hezekiah’s success as a Godly king that his son, Manasseh would follow in his footsteps, but sadly he was did more to provoke God than even the heathen nations that He drove out. In the fifty-five years that he reigned he managed to turn Jerusalem completely upside down.
[2 Kings 21:1,6,12-13,18,20,23 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and reigned fifty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hephzibah. 6 And he made his son pass through the fire, and observed times, and used enchantments, and dealt with familiar spirits and wizards: he wrought much wickedness in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger. 12 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Behold, I am bringing such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down. 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers, and was buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza: and Amon his son reigned in his stead. 19 Amon was twenty and two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Meshullemeth, the daughter of Haruz of Jotbah. 23 And the servants of Amon conspired against him, and slew the king in his own house.]
[and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations] When the heathen nations are more moral than the ones that God has instituted, then there is a huge problem. As you can tell with Manasseh’s mother being mentioned, she was the influence, and apparently, Manasseh did not have much communication with Hezekiah. This goes to show you why it is imperative that believers be not yoked together with unbelievers, we must also understand that this includes those of different denominations. Not every denomination bases its authority on the Word of God, many are lax or stricter than God, which by the way, even He is against our being aligned with them, [Matthew 23:3-4 All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not. 4 For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.]
Jesus sends us out into the world and even among other denominations for one reason only and that is to lead lost souls to Him. We actually are to observe what they do for one reason and that is to be able to discern whether or not they are true. We must remain separated from those who live their lives outside of our own personal preferences. Trust me, if they are living in sin and you align yourself with them with the intent that you can get them to live the way you do, it does not work, they will entice you to do evil, [Romans 12:16-21 Be of the same mind one toward another. Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate. Be not wise in your own conceits. 17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [2 Chronicles 32:21 And the LORD sent an angel, which cut off all the mighty men of valour, and the leaders and captains in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned with shame of face to his own land. And when he was come into the house of his god, they that came forth of his own bowels slew him there with the sword.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for your faith in us, and for Your faithfulness to us, even when we are not always obedient. I know that the Bible is not some ordinary book, it is Your Word, holy, pure, alive, and it gives life to all who want You in their lives. Reading Your Word, studying it, and following it will never return void as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide us to what truly is and is not acceptable to You. It keeps us humble and separated from the world and those who are not likeminded as well. Lord, as our nations face judgment because they choose to live by the very things that are an abomination to You, give us Your hedge of protection from all its evil, fill us with Your power, strength, wisdom, and guidance to stand by Your Word, even if we get persecuted for it. We have nothing to fear, when we keep our faith and trust in You. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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