Date: December 11, 2022
Preacher: Matthew Millen
Topic: Advent Series Part 3 – The Family Tree of Trial
Notes:
How many of you know that life is a roller coaster. Do you like roller coasters? The steady build, the crest, and then you get flung back down to earth. It’s also like a see-saw at times. You go up and down and you’re not really moving anywhere and if the person on the other side gets off and you drop, that really hurts. So my voice is a little froggy today. I went to the Army-Navy football game. It was one of the worst football games I’ve seen. The level and quality of play wasn’t much better than a high school team. Navy had 0 passing yards in the first four quarters and it wasn’t because Army’s defense was that great. It was a game with no star players, just teams with dutiful players in the grind. It was a slug fest of un-epic proportions, an up and down seesaw where they ended up tied at the end of the fourth quarter. It was the first overtime in 123 games and I’m there freezing!
Life is a grind and it’s hard and there are ups and downs. We’ve been looking at the family tree of Jesus and see that it is a tree of trust as the Lord found Abrah, Isaac, and Jacob and gave them promises that they put their trust in. Then we looked at the amazing five women in the line of Jesus and we saw in spite of the brutal things that they experienced and the scandals that they went through, that Jesus’ family tree is one of triumph and the Lord brings victory out of that scandal as we continue to look to him. Today we’re going to look at how this family tree is one of trial. It reminds us of the grind of life.
We’re going to look at one person today—one of the two kings who are referred to as the greatest kings ever. Apart from, of course, the King of kings and Lord of lords. The bible says the greatest kings of Israel are Hezekiah and his grandson, Josiah. Mannaseh, the king in between, is very wicked. It’s interesting how those family dynamics work. Josiah who took the throne at the age of eight, is called the greatest king after Hezekiah was called the greatest king.
There are three main texts for Hezekiah’s story: 2 Kings 18-20 where we will be reading from, the parallel text 2 Chronicles 29-32 which focuses on the reforms Hezekiah made to the temple worship, and finally Isaiah 36-39. It’s important that we understand what happens chronologically. We’ve been studying Joshua for a while now and after Joshua the Lord has judges who He raises up at certain points in Israelite history to save them from whatever calamity is going on. After the judges, the people of Israel demand a king and the Lord gives them over to what they want.
They get Saul and then David. David was great until he became king. Don’t seek power and position. If you do, you are already opening your heart to corruption. Let the Lord bring you power and position and remain humble. After David, there is Solomon who is super wise, but has too many wives. His sons are Jeroboam and Rehoboam and they can’t decide who is going to be king. This is the point when the people of God split into two kingdoms—Israel in the north and Judah in the south. Rehoboam is the king of the south and Jeroboam is the king of the north. There are ten tribes in the north and two in the south. Many of the Levites end up in the south. The northern kingdom has 19 different kings. Not a single one of them are called good in the word of God. Maybe an exception is Jehu, who kind of sort of, maybe did some good because he killed another king who was evil and then he did his own thing. Not a single one of the 19. They had their own form of faith/religion. Remember when we talked about Mounts of blessing and curse (Ebal and Gerizim) with Shechem in the middle where the Isrealites renewed the covenant. The Isrealite northern kingdom decided to build their temple on the mount of blessing. The Samaritans would later come in and co-opt one of their own. Later, the Romans built a temple to Jupiter there. Then the catholic church put a temple there. The reign of kings ends in 722 B.C. with the conquest of Samaria by the Assyrians when they take people into exile.
In the southern kingdom, there are 20 kings. Of the 20, 4 are okay: Joash, Amaziah, Azariah, and Jotham. The Lord recognizes them for some of the things they do. There are 4 good kings after the split: Asa, Jehosophat, Hezekiah, and Josiah. There are 12 evil kings in the south. Out of 39 there are 4 good. Not very good odds. They did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Hezekiah takes the throne at 25 years old when the northern kingdom is being pressured by Assyria. The last of what we know to be the Isrealite kings is on the throne. In the sixth year of his reign, Samaria falls to Assyria. Prior to the fall, the first thing Hezekiah does is clean the temple and has the priests consecrate themselves. Isaiah is the prophet on the scene and he has been warning the northern kingdom that they are about to fall and where there is not scriptural evidence of direct communication between Hezekiah and Isaiah regarding the cleansing of the temple, there are many people who believe that Hezekiah was responding to Isaiah. That’s speculation, let me be very, very clear. It’s not stated in scripture. All we know is that they were in history’s scene at the same time.
In cleaning the temple, Hezekiah does what no king does since Solomon—he holds a Passover. He invites the northern kingdom to participate in the southern kingdom’s Passover. This is what we’re supposed to do in the kingdom of God, obey God despite disunity. Maybe people laugh at him, but some responded and joined together in Jerusalem and it was a Passover like no other. It was 14 days and people are energized and they tear down the high places. A “high place” in scripture is usually built on a hill or place of prominence where an altar was built dedicated to some god. They were places of worship meant to be seen from all around so people could recognize and come worship. The Lord tells king after king to tear down the high places and no one does until Josiah. Hezekiah allows this worship to happen and the tearing down is attributed to him, but the Chronicles account tells us that the people do it, a grassroots movement. Hezekiah here is at the top of the roller coaster, the top of the seesaw.
Then the Lord strikes Hezekiah with terminal illness. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah and lets him know to get his affairs in order. Hezekiam immediately falls on the ground and calls out to God. As Isaiah is leaving, the Lord stops him and tells him to go back and tell Hezekiah that He heard his prayer and that he wouldn’t die yet. He would get 15 more years. How would you like to know that you would have 15 more years? What would you do? Hezekiah was told that.
About that time Assyria conquered the northern kingdom. Babylon is becoming a power in the east and sends envoys. The subtext is that Babylon was seeking an alliance with Judah. Hezekiah greets the envoys and shows them the great wealth of the kingdom. Hezekiah is very clear to say he showed the Babylonians all the wealth. Enter Isaiah who enquires what Hezekiah has just done. Isaiah prophesies that the Babylonians will carry off all the wealth, but during someone else’s future reign. Hezekiah says that this word of the Lord was good. Aren’t you glad that this example of selfishness can still be called a great king? This gives us hope. We can all be selfish. God in His grace and mercy uses us in spite of our selfishness.
The years go by and there is no indication that Judah made an alliance with Babylon and they are held at bay by the Assyrians. [Later, once the Babylonians overcame the Assyrians, they remembered that little king of Judah who was sitting in their way—between Babylon and Egypt—and they marched to take Judah.] In the present time of Hezekiah, King Sennacherib of Assyria marches a massive army Judah’s way and begins to take town after town. Hezekiah prepares for war by making the walls higher and cutting off the water supply so the army cannot get it. He builds a tunnel that you can still visit today in Jerusalem that ensures water supply to the city, but no one outside the walls (Assyria’s army) can have access.
Sennacherib sent an envoy to Jerusalem and promised wealth and riches to those who would come out. They speak against the Lord and Hezekiah and try to convince them all to forsake God and give up the city. Scripture says that the people of God did not respond and they listened to Hezekiah. Hezekiah and Isaiah took Sennacherib’s threatening and mocking letter before the Lord in the temple. At this point, Hezekiah has 3-5 years of life left. The Lord hears the earnest prayer of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 19. Verse 19 says, “So now, O Lord our God, save us, please, from [Sennacherib’s] hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” 2 Kings 19:35-37 describes what happens, “And that night the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and went home and lived at Nineveh. And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword and escaped into the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.”
Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh, is raised up in a house that is worshiping the God who delivered them. Despite the best example that we may give them, despite seeing a miracle with their own eyes, our children may turn from the Lord, which is what Mannasseh did and it did not end well for him.
Hezekiah died at the end of his 15 years. 2 Kings 18:5-7a says, “He trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord. He did not depart from following him, but kept the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses. 7 And the Lord was with him; wherever he went out, he prospered.”
A couple points of application:
Life is a grind. One of the key lessons and indicators of spiritual growth and maturity is that you are expecting difficulty. Not that you are looking for it or looking forward to it, but that when it comes, you are not surprised by it. Scripture is replete with examples of people going through trials. In John 16:32-33, Jesus encourages his disciples, “Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, for the Father is with me. I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” The enemy will speak to you and tell you to come out of that trial to easy street or a quick buck. The narrow gate and the hard way is a grind. All we can do is trust in the Lord. God is with us! That is something that the enemy cannot take Him from us.
We need to be aware of our self-talk and be aware of what we are saying. If it is not speaking the word of God, it is certainly calculated to draw you away. Be mindful of the people you are allowing to speak into your life. Is the wisdom from above or below? Even though the text introduces Hezekiah’s illness at the end of his life, it was clear that the Lord introduced the Assyrians in his life to remind him of his need for Him. Because the Lord loves us and doesn’t want us to stay in a place of pride, our trials and “armies” are sent to snap us out of it, bring us to repentance, and a place of humility. When the victories come, they are meant for us to point to the Lord, not for us to believe it was of our own doing.
Most importantly, recognize the power of prayer. It’s so easy for us to just become self-sufficient, continuing on in life, not giving much thought to the Lord, until things break down. Praise God He hears us then, but let’s be people that are constantly going to him, thanking Him for the good times. As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our King. Have you taken the time to thank our God for sending His son for us? It is easy to become an ingrate and we don’t do it on purpose, but the further we get from a good gift, we look for a new toy. We have God’s Spirit, His Word, and His family; we can never tire of that! It’s fine to pray for our preferences, but the key in the Lord answering our prayers in going to Him is seeking His glory first. Lord, not our will, but yours be done! Put your requests before Him incessantly, but have a heart that says I want You to be glorified. Change my heart and my perspective through my trials. Sometimes that takes time, like in the case of all the women in Jesus’s genealogy that we talked about last time, but ultimately God was glorified.
So in the 123rd Army/Navy game overtime, Army gets the ball first and they run the same triple option play they’ve run so many times. The Navy defender trips! Army scores! Then Navy gets a chance. They have passed a single yard in the entire game. The quarterback passes it and of course the receiver is wide open. Navy scores! What a roller coaster ride. The score is still tied 17-17. Navy gets the ball again and they are grinding their way through first downs and Army stops them at the 1 yard line on the 4th down. Navy fumbles the ball and Army recovers! Here comes the kicker for the win. All of the cadets are standing on their toes. The kick is good! All the army cadets storm the field.
Our God always wins, no matter how hard the grind is. Christ is coming again and he will slay all of his adversaries with a word from his mouth. We’re on his team and our God always wins.