While 2 Kings ended on a rather sad note, with Jehoiachin king of Judah in the court of Babylon, 2 Chronicles ends on a high note. Being written later than Kings, Chronicles has more information, and flashes forward about 70 years to the time of the return from the Babylonian Captivity. God had prophesied specifically about this return through both Isaiah and Jeremiah (Jeremiah 25:12, 29:10; Isaiah 44:24-45:13). As usual, God kept His word. He swayed the heart of king Cyrus (Proverbs 21:1)to send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple, even decreeing that the costs should be covered by the royal treasury (Ezra 6).
There is a neat connection made between Chronicles and Ezra. If you notice, the last words of Chronicles and the first words of Ezra are identical. There is a definite seam or joint here. The writers of both had a point they were trying to make – Judah was removed from the land because of sin, and restored because of God’s faithfulness. It was not that Judah was full of great people, or that they did some marvelous thing while in Babylon and Persia. God had prophesied in advance that a king named would send His people back into the land. He receives all the glory for the return!
This hasn’t changed over time, and into the New Covenant. Despite our failures, even as believers, God’s faithful love for His people endures forever (1 Chronicles 16:34, etc.). Paul scolded the Galatians for thinking that they could keep themselves saved and make themselves holier, even though they had only been saved by the working of the Spirit (Galatians 3). We do the same thing today. We come to Jesus with nothing in our hands, we throw ourselves on His mercy and grace, and receive forgiveness and salvation through no work of our own but by the sacrifice of Jesus and the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Then, we pick ourselves up, dust off a bit, and think we can carry it from there. But it is not our goodness that prompts God to action.
It’s His love.
Let’s live in light of this. Let’s not think that we can make ourselves holier on our own power. We need the guidance and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, the mercy of Jesus, and the forgiveness of the Father. Since we began in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-17).
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked.” (Galatians 6:7)
The story of Sennacherib has always fascinated me (2 Chronicles 32). I’ve often wondered how a man could be so arrogant, so spiteful, and so blind. While trying to intimidate the king and the people of Judah, he spews out blasphemy like few people recorded in the Bible. He has the audacity to compare the God of the Jews to the false gods of the other nations he has conquered. Of course, in his sin-warped mind, he probably saw no difference. He probably thought of Yahweh as just another inferior god whose people would be easily enough subdued. He says in v. 17, “As the gods of the nations of the lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”
I would not say such things if I were you!
The Chronicler tells us that Sennacherib was directly trying to insult the Lord and to speak against Him! What boldness! What arrogance! If you read the account of this event in Isaiah 36-37, especially 37:21-38, you discover that God has a direct answer. He informs Sennacherib that all his mighty exploits and conquests were the result of His doing, not the king. God then lets him know that he will not enter the city, or even fire an arrow into it. The battle belongs to the Lord, and He already knows the outcome! As expected, the word of the Lord comes true when Sennacherib’s army is wiped out by an angel, he goes home, and is eventually killed by his own sons while worshiping his false god.
When Paul wrote in Galatians that God cannot be mocked, he meant more than just words. Certainly, anyone bold enough to openly mock God, such as Sennacherib and his servant Rabshakeh did, will face His judgment. But do we mock God with our lives, while claiming to honor Him with our lips (Isaiah 29:13)? We may not stand before the people of God and openly blaspheme His character, but do we deny Him with our actions?
God cannot be mocked.
Paul goes on to tell us that we will reap whatever we sow (Galatians 6:7-10). That is to say, whatever we plant in our lives, we will harvest later. I have a garden in my backyard. This season, my wife planted all kinds of seeds – cantalope, tomatoes, green beans, corn, squash, and peas. Guess what we collected for the next few months? Yep – cantalope, tomatoes, green beans, corn, squash, and peas.
If you plant watermelon seeds, in a few months you will be eating watermelon. If you plant corn, you will eat corn. If you plant sin, you will harvest destruction. If you plant to please the Spirit, you will harvest eternal life. And here’s the thing, all those seeds didn’t really look like much to start with. We put a little tiny white thing in some dirt, and for a few weeks, it didn’t do a thing! But after a little more time passed, we knew what were the green beans and what were the squash. It might not seem like there’s consequences for sin in this worlds sometimes, but give it some time. If the consequences don’t come here on earth, they’ll come later.
Let’s not plant sin in our lives. Let us plant that which pleases the Spirit of the Holy God. He wants what’s best for us, and so we are best to heed His commands and warnings. Let’s not mock God, in word, or in deed. Let’s not profess the name of Jesus with one breath, and curse our brother with the next. Let’s not claim to be children of God in the morning, and live like children of Satan that night. Let’s let our actions match our passions and so not deceive ourselves, God cannot be mocked.
After many failed attempts to get into the courtyard of the Jade Palace, kung fu-geek Po finally succeeds by rocketing himself over the wall on a chair loaded with fireworks. He manages to land right in the path of master Oogway’s pointing finger as he chooses the Dragon Warrior. Oogway declares, “The universe has sent us the Dragon Warrior!” and celebration ensues. Master Shifu, understandably, insists that this fat panda can’t possibly be the Dragon Warrior- that it’s all an accident. “There are no accidents,” the old sage replies.
While the Eastern mysticism is a poor foundation, and terrible theology, Oogway’s declaration is nevertheless true. As biblical Christians, we believe that there are no accidents. God’s sovereign hand is at work in the world today, He is not a distant, uninterested God.
And so we saw today, illustrated in the story of the death of Ahab in 2 Chronicles 18. This being the second time we’ve encountered this story (1 Kings 22), we should be familiar with it. Micaiah prophesied that Ahab would die in battle. Ahab decides to try and cheat death (and God!) by going into battle in disguise. What’s worse, he tells Jehoshaphat to dress in his best royal clothes, which makes him a better target. The plan almost worked, because the king of Aram had all his men gunning for the Ahab, king of Israel. Then, the Scripture makes an almost humorous statement.
Can you picture it?
I like to picture stories as I hear or read them. I always see this battle like a good war movie. The fighting is intense. There goes Jehoshaphat, almost defeated. Suddenly, the enemy realizes they’ve been duped and it’s not Ahab. They whirl around, trying to find their real target. The camera pans about wildly, settles on an archer, and zooms in. Dazed by the battle, he draws his bow and shoots it aimlessly. The camera jumps onto the arrow, arcing over the chaos of the battle below, then screaming toward the ground. The tip slides in between two pieces of armor on a random soldier. Right at the moment of impact, everything slows down, the camera pulls back as the soldier reals in pain, and looks into the camera. It’s Ahab!
Dun dun duuuuuuhhh!
Try as he may, Ahab could not cheat death on the battle field that day. All his cunning and trickery was aimed at making himself a less valuable target on the field. What he didn’t realize was that God never misses. He used the seemingly random shot of an arrow to fulfill His Word through Micaiah. What seemed like an accident in battle, was the perfectly timed and aimed arrow of the Lord.
There are no accidents.
Do we live like this? Do we realize that everyday, God is at work around us, working everything together for our good and for His good purpose (Romans 8:28; Philippians 2:13)? Seemingly random events are all part of God’s design. Fractals, chaos theory, random chance – these are all God’s tools. What should this do for our attitude when things don’t go according to our plan? We should rest assured that God’s plan is better. Paul wanted to go into Asia, and Mysia to preach the gospel, but the Spirit would not let them (Acts 16:6-10). God had a better plan. Perhaps you didn’t get the job you wanted, the job you thought God wanted you to have. God has a better plan. My best friend, Daniel, was all set to go for training to go overseas as a missionary, when suddenly he received a phone call that funds had dropped and they weren’t sending him after all. He spent the next three years waiting on God to send him to Romania, and while he waited he became the interim youth pastor at my church, invited my wife (then girlfriend) and I to help in the youth department, and gave me my first taste of youth ministry. I’m a youth pastor today, and Daniel is in his fourth year of ministering to the Roma people.
God had a better plan!
Let’s remember that there are no accidents. God is at work in the world today, and he loves us. Let us take every situation in stride, knowing that God is still on His throne, He is the King of the universe.
Almost 40 years ago, Jerry Falwell had a dream. He dreamed of a school that would be the Notre Dame of the evangelical world. He dreamed of a school, right there in his hometown of Lynchburg, that would have the highest Christian moral standards while still offering excellent academics and competing in NCAA sports. The news reporters at his first press conference laughed aloud. Undaunted, he continued to explain that this university would one day soar to 25,000 students. Despite the nay-sayers, he started that school in 1971. When I enrolled, some 4-5,000 students were on campus and Jerry preached at convocation on a regular basis. Today, over 11,000 students are on campus, and Jerry Jr. is the new Chancellor. The school is well on the way of realizing that original goal of 25,000 students on campus, and already offers a wide array of excellent programs, has competitive sports teams, and still upholds a high moral standard. On May 15, 2007 Jerry died suddenly, in his office, before seeing his full dream come to fruition.
Several hundred years ago, King David had a dream (1 Chronicles 28-29). He dreamed of building a magnificent Temple to house the Ark of God. God gave him detailed plans right down to the blueprints and materials list. Yet, at some point, God told him it wasn’t for him to build. I can’t discern whether the detailed plans came after this revelation that David would not build the Temple, or before. Either way, God placed a specific vision in David’s mind about how the Temple would look and even what it was to be made of.
David made ample provision. He stockpiled the gold, sliver, bronze, iron, and wood that would be necessary to accomplish the task. He gathered the elders of Israel and told them of the plans for the Temple, and instructed them to support young Solomon in this great task. He told them about his vision for the construction, the plans God had given him by His Spirit’s instruction, and about all the provisions being laid aside for the right time.
He was faithful in the waiting.
David could have reacted differently. He could have gotten upset that God had not chosen him for this great task. He could have been very upset that his son was going to do it instead. But David agreed with the word of the Lord spoken through Nathan, and submitted himself to God’s plan. Then he went one further. He did just about everything but build the Temple. Instead of growing bitter against his son, Solomon, he helped him on his way. He shared the vision with Solomon, passing it on to the next generation and preparing them for the task he knew he would never do.
How do we react when things don’t move as fast as we’d like? Are we faithful in the waiting? I hear about guys in my seminary all the time who aren’t serving in, or sometimes even attending a local church! (By the way, this is against the seminary’s policy.) They are too busy “preparing for the ministry!” How absurd! What better way to prepare for the ministry than to serve a local church while studying to lead a local church? While I was in a period of waiting before I came to the church I currently serve, I got involved in an AWANA program at the church we were temporarily attending so that I could learn all I could about the program because I knew it would probably be a big part of my next ministry. I got to meet some great kids, and some great leaders! I know a pastor who is in a time of waiting right now and let me tell you, there’s no moss gathering on that guy! Not only is he preaching everywhere he can, he and his family decided to set up a booth and do face painting and tell people about Jesus at a local community event.
Faithful in the waiting.
I recently got a call from the youth pastor who came after me at my previous church. He wanted to tell me that a guy I had shared the gospel with relentlessly for my last nine months at that church had just accepted Christ. This was more than a year and a half after I’d left. I worked so hard to share Jesus with him, I prayed for him, we got to know each other pretty well. He actually stopped coming to church just a few months before I left. I never got to see him become a Christian, well not directly. Sometimes, it’s not about that.
Sometimes we must be the ones to stock-pile the gold, silver, and bronze. Sometimes we’re the one that gets all the nails together, and finds all the marble. We might not get to see the Temple in all its glory, but we’ve read the floor plans. We may never see it with our physical eyes, but we can see it by faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). Let’s be faithful in the waiting. Let’s trust God to finish whatever plans He may have begun in our lives. Perhaps we’ll get to see the end result. Perhaps we’ll never see it even begun. But God is faithful to complete everything He starts (Philippians 1:6).
Words of Reason 