Christ in the OT - Christ,..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. So welcome once again to our Wednesday night Bible study. This evening we'll be continuing our Bible study in the theme that we started last year, late last year, the theme of Jesus Christ in the Old Testament.

So we've been looking at key characters, events, or places in the Old Testament and seeing how they typify, or they foreshadow, or they prefigure our Lord and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Because we do know that all Scripture is breathed out by God, but also Jesus teaches us that all Scripture points to Him. He is the sum and the substance Scripture. So all Scripture in the Old Testament, as well as New, has its culmination, has its center, has its focus on Jesus Christ. So we've already been looking at some kings.

So the last three weeks we've gone through and had a look at the first king, King Saul, and then we examined King David, the king after God's own heart. And last week, our brother took us through and we meditated together and considered the life of King Solomon. Now, it's clear from our previous studies, because we've already done three kings, our study this week, we said last week, that we're going to be looking at the kings, but we're not going to look at those three in particular, but rather the other kings of the Old Testament, the kings of Israel in the Old So rather than looking at individual kings and seeing how they pre-shadow or how they foreshadow or prefigure our Lord, we're going to look at the role of the king in the Old Testament as a whole. So it's going to be a fairly broad historical study. And as we do that, I want to be able to examine together to see whether indeed there has been any kings in the Old Testament that fulfills the role of a righteous king.

Are there any kings in the Old Testament that actually fulfill the role of a righteous king to the people, giving what the people of God want or desire in their heart in a king? Or have they always, in the old, We've been looking forward to this King to come. Now we have the advantage of course being in the New Testament to be able to look back and because we have that hindsight we can answer that question. We know that all the Kings in the Old Testament were pointing to the true King of Kings, Jesus Christ our Lord. But we want to have a closer look at the Old Testament Kings and I think for us to understand To understand, or to be able to answer that question, are there any Old Testament righteous kings, or are they even looking forward to the king to come?

We need to first be able to understand how the monarchy was established. I know we mentioned it in a previous Bible study, but we need to know that the people of Israel wanted a king because of their heart and hearts, they were rejecting effectively, or essentially they were rejecting God. They were rejecting God. They called Samuel and they said to Samuel, Samuel, we want more than an invisible sovereign. We want a human king.

We want a man to rule over us. They looked over the fence at the nations and they could see that the nations had a man to rule over them. And they coveted what they did not have. And so they came to Samuel and they said, Samuel, give us one of those. We want one of those kings.

And we want a king to rule over us, as our neighbours have kings to rule over us. Now of course this wasn't so much an insult to Samuel, although he took it that way, it was more an insult to Yahweh. Because Yahweh is the sovereign king over his people, and for the people to ask for a human king, They're essentially saying, we reject our sovereign king. And so if they had slowed down and thought through and contemplated their words, they would have realized how insulting it is to ask for a human king when you have the sovereign of the universe as your king. But they didn't see that.

Anyway, after a series of warnings that the Lord had given to Samuel to give to the people, the people heard them. They acknowledged them, they understood the warnings, but then they said, Samuel, no, we want a king. Give us a king. And so God gives them a king. He gives them a human king according to their own heart.

And the first king that the Lord gives them is Saul. And he's a king that's very similar to the kings around them. He was tall, his head and shoulders above everyone else in Israel. So he was tall, he was rugged, he was handsome, he was very strong. And so he was exactly what they wanted in a king.

He's a king, and if we realize when we're looking at 1 Samuel 8, when they requested a king, one of the things they wanted, or the essential thing they wanted in a king, is a king to be able to fight their battles. They wanted a king, and they knew that they had battles from every corner. They knew that the nations were always in enmity with Israel, and they wanted a king to be able to stand up to the nations and fight their battles for them. And who better than this tall and rugged man, could be their champion, he could be their Goliath, in a sense. And so they thought, this is great.

And the first time they laid eyes on Samuel, they acknowledged him as their king. But we know that this king, although had the appearance of a king, he was blatantly rejected by God because he rejected God's word. On two occasions Samuel, and my apologies Saul, rejected the word of God. He did what he thought was right in his own understanding, and therefore, God said, you're rejected as the king. And then God then led Samuel to the house of Jesse and said, you go there and you'll find a king after my own heart, a king that I have chosen.

And this young little rugged shepherd boy comes in, the youngest of eight brothers, and the Lord says, you choose this one. Now it wasn't even Samuel's choice but the Lord said you choose this one because man looks at the appearance but I look at the at the heart and so after Saul dies or is killed Samuel assumes the kingdom And as the righteous king in the kingdom, he had a zeal for God. He had recaptured the Ark of the Covenant. He brought it back into Jerusalem. And now he had plans to build a house for God.

You remember the story. That's what he wanted to do. But the Lord said to him, you're not going to build me a house. Your son will build me a house. But David, I'm going to build your house.

That's the promise we get in 2 Samuel chapter 8, chapter 7, my apologies. It's called the Davidic covenant, where God promises that he will establish a Davidic descendant upon the throne forever. And so, we know that as the plan of God unfolds in human history, that we know that that speaks to the greatest of David's sons. We know that speaks to Jesus Christ, but it also speaks to, in a sense, that David also had a descendant on the throne in the people of Israel, in the southern kingdom in particular, and we'll get to that. So it was his lineage that became kings in Israel as well.

So after his reign of about 40 years, we know he reigned over the United Kingdom of Israel for 40 years, then his son, Samuel, my apologies, Solomon, comes into power. And when Solomon comes into power, we know, as our brother told us last week, that Solomon had been given the gift of wisdom by God Almighty to lead God's people as king. So there's no question he had wisdom that was unparalleled with anyone else, even before or after. However, we know something that's very, very important, and that is that Solomon failed. He failed in the sense that God had given him instructions to obey as a king, but he failed to obey those instructions.

because he allowed his heart to go astray. And we're going to have a look how Solomon allowed his heart to go astray in a few moments. But we want to have a look also that it wasn't as though he didn't have warning, because when Solomon was going to assume his kingdom and David was on the brink of death, he knew he was going to die. He called his son in and he gave him some very specific and very foundational instructions to follow and to make sure he follows, because David was far from perfect. But David was a man after God's own heart, and although we have a book that is very candid in the Bible, and we see his sins, we see the sin of adultery, we see the sin of him putting Uriah in the front line and essentially killing the man, but we know also David was a man who knew true repentance.

David was a man who knew true worship, and so he calls his son in and says, Solomon, I have some advice to give you, and let's open our Bibles to listen to that advice. It's found in 1 Kings chapter 2, and we're going to be reading from verses 1 through 4. 1 Kings chapter 2 from verses 1 through 4. Verse 1, When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying, I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man and keep the charge of the Lord your God walking in his ways and keeping his statutes.

His commandments, His rules, and His testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do, and wherever you turn, that the Lord may establish His word that He spoke concerning me, saying, If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness, with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel." Verse 3 again, keep the charge of the Lord your God walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies as it is written in the law of Moses. You see, it's really important that we understand what is the fundamental function and obligation of an earthly king. And you see, David is hinting at it here when he speaks to his son Solomon. Because David understands enough to be able to say to Solomon, you need to observe these things, Solomon.

You need to keep God's rules and precepts and walk in his ways because it's not only going to affect you, my son, It's going to affect the whole kingdom. Your conduct will affect the kingdom. See, David's aware of this. He knows the impact of the king in the kingdom. And as we know, as we read the Old Testament, we know that the judgments of God in particular come towards evil kings because of their conduct and their conduct seeps into the people's actions and their conducts as well.

You see, the faithfulness of the king as well as the faithfulness of the people is essential because this is the old covenant. And as we read in the book of Exodus, there is a big if in the book of Exodus. If you keep my laws, if you keep my commands, if you keep my precepts, then I will be your God and you'll be my people. And God's blessings will be flooded upon his people if they keep his covenant. Like David has just told Solomon, if you keep God's laws and decrees, if you walk in His way, if you're faithful before the Lord.

The covenant of God in the Old Covenant was predicated upon if you keep these things. That's important, because if you didn't keep these things, if you didn't keep the precepts of God, then what will come upon you is not just a withholding of the covenant blessings, but the opposite. You will receive the covenant curses and God will then give you over to the nations. We've heard and we've read of the prophecies and we've seen what has happened on many occasions in the history of the people of Israel. So the health of the nation really is dependent upon the king's conduct.

Is he faithful? Is he walking according to the precepts of God? See, David says you need to walk with Yahweh, Solomon. You need to make this an essential part of your heart, of your life. And so, even though 400 years earlier, David's not sort of bringing this out from his own mind.

David knows. He said, according to the writings of Moses. Because David knows that these precepts are actually in the Word of God. Because 400 years earlier, in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses actually writes about what a king ought to be, and what and how he should conduct himself. once he takes his throne, because God knows that the people reject him as king.

It is even 400 years earlier. He says, once you enter into the land, you will say, we need a king. And when you do put a king in there, the Lord says, you can put one in there, but there are things that you need to observe. Because it's not as though that the people have now put a king, a human king, like the nations, that they've done away with the sovereign king. Because God is still sovereign over his people.

He's still sovereign over the whole universe. And the king they put in will not be the sovereign. God is sovereign. The king they put in will be God's vice-regent. He'll be a king under God.

God is the great king, and he will be the small king, the little king under the great king. So confidential fidelity is essential that they observe the fidelity according to the rules and the precepts and the laws of the great king, the great sovereign over the universe in order for them to receive those blessings, namely for God to be their God and they to be his people, and essentially what the people really want in a king is they want a king to give them true and lasting peace. Ultimately they want rest. This is what people need. They want rest.

And so now we know that the king is under God and the people need rest. And I think that's what's most likely the reason that David brings Solomon in and gives him these instructions is because David knows. He knows that if Solomon doesn't observe the book of the covenant or the law of God, if he doesn't walk in his precepts, then there's no way his people will see that rest. Because God's curses will be poured out and then you'll have a broken people, a disunited people, a people who will be the recipient of God's curses and David wants God's blessings. And if we understand If we understand this, we'll be able to actually look back in the Old Testament, we're able to look at all the kings individually, and we'll be able to know that, are these kings indeed righteous?

Are they actually walking according to the precepts of God? But we can't know these things unless we know what God's expectations are for the king, right? We need to know that, okay, what does God expect from a king to lead his people? And so we find that in Deuteronomy chapter 17. Let's open our Bibles and go there, and this will give us instruction to see how we can identify.

The earlier question that I made is, are the kings of the Old Testament, have there been any that are righteous? Have there been any that will fulfill really the great ingrained desire of God's people? Or are they always looking forward to someone greater to come? Deuteronomy chapter 17, and we'll be reading from verse 14. from verse 14.

This is Moses speaking to the people. When you come to the land that your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me, you may indeed set a king over you, hear this, whom the Lord your God will choose. one from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you who is not your brother. Only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses.

Since the Lord has said to you, you shall never return that way again. 17. And he shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold. 18. And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of his law, of this law approved by the Levitical priests.

and it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children in Israel." So what is it in this text that we need to keep in the back of our minds? First of all, we're told that when they do enter into Israel and they want to choose a king or they want to appoint a king, he must be God's choice. that he must be a king of God's own choosing and we know already that in the in the Davidic covenant that God has said that there will be a king from the line of David who will be God's choice who will be the perpetual king so we need to remember this The second thing that is written here is that they are not to acquire much horses or go back to Egypt to acquire much horses. And essentially what's been spoken of here is don't place your trust in your military power.

Because the horses and the carriages or the chariots are the force of a military. God's saying, No, don't for a moment think that if you're going to win any battles that you're going to win them because of your military power, or because of how many soldiers you have, or the strength of your army. That's not the case. The battles you win is because the mighty hand of God is with you. The God of the universe says, you will be my God, you'll be my people, I will be your God, and I will protect you from your enemies.

Your hope, your trust ought to be in me. And also he goes on to say that they must not acquire many wives for themselves. And he gives a reason. lest his heart be turned away a hope that's turning up some lights in our minds already and then number four riches he says must not require or must not acquire much riches which is their The silver and gold that he speaks of. Why?

Because the king's heart must not be captivated by the things of this world, by the wealth of this world. They ought to know that their true treasure is not how much wealth they accumulate. Their true treasure ought to be God himself. The longing of their soul not to be in how much they have or how big their kingdom is. The longing of their soul is to dwell and to have themselves fully immersed in God who is their true treasure.

But then we go to verses 18 through 20 where here we have some foundational and essential important truths that must be held by a man or a king who rules. You see, his rule, it says here, must be completely centered upon the law of God. The king is to write the law of God in his own handwriting when he becomes king. And that is to say, he needs to be really, really familiar with the book of the covenant, with the law of God, with the precepts of God. He's to read them, he says, and meditate upon them all the days of his life.

This is a daily experience. King, you need to be really well aware of God's law, of God's word. You need to live it. You need to breathe it. It needs to rule your heart.

It needs to guide your ways. It needs to direct your steps. God's word needs to be central. God's word needs to be in and through everything. you do, and it's only then, and as David tells us in Psalm 119, he brings out that beautiful psalm that speaks of the importance of God's Word, but it's only then when God's Word has captivated every part of you, King, when it rules your life and your heart and your affections are in and through His Word, and it guides your every step, it's only at that point are you able to rule God's people according to the guiding principles that are found in God's law.

And that's essential, that the king needs to be an example to his people. God's word has to have done an effect, has to have done a work on him first, in order for him to overflow as an example to the people, and if it has, then he will not see himself above his brothers, like Moses says, but he'll humble himself knowing that he is only a vice-regent under God, but the true king is God. The true rules, the true precepts, the true kingdom belongs to God alone. So now with these principles that we have before us, let's continue to where we were at the point that we left off last week. King Solomon.

No one will dispute that he was, as I said earlier, that he was blessed with incredible blessing, unparalleled. And our brother, so beautifully last week, explained to us that the typology or the thing that wisdom pointed to is the one, because Solomon had great wisdom, but is one who has greater wisdom, the one who is perfect in his wisdom. And then he took us to Matthew chapter 12, And Matthew 12 says that Solomon had great wisdom, but there is one who is greater than Solomon still, speaking about Jesus Christ. And it is also Solomon who built the temple, and that's a great thing. He built the temple for the Lord.

And when you read the dedication prayer in 1st Kings chapter 8, it's extraordinary because he says some beautiful words. Among them he says, heaven, even the highest heaven cannot contain Yahweh. Solomon, it seems by what he's saying, it seems that he's completely captivated. by Yahweh. He's completely given over and in love with God and when you go on reading in that text you'll see he sacrifices tens of thousands of animals in the temple to God because it seems like this man really knows who God is and the value of being in walking in in obedience to God.

But he's human. and his humanity sets in, and despite God appearing to him and warning him, Solomon, he actually does this in the vision, and he says, do not serve other gods. Refrain from serving other gods. There is no other god but me, Solomon. And despite God giving him that warnings and telling him, that wonderful temple, the house that you built me, if you do serve other gods, that will become ruins.

In other words, my judgment will pour out on you and your kingdom if you serve other gods and violate the covenant. Solomon yet allows his heart to be taken over. And it all begins with breaking a command so clearly given in Deuteronomy chapter 17, the same command that we just read earlier. Let's read 1 Kings 11 from verses 1 through 8. And in this record, it clearly shows us why Solomon went downhill and how it is he allowed his heart to go astray.

And I think we, I trust we all know the story of Solomon, but we'll read it anyway to remind ourselves once again, so we get a clear picture of what we're talking about this evening. So 1 Kings chapter 11, verses one through eight. Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh, Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidion, and Hittite women from the nations concerning which the Lord has said to the people of Israel, you shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, but surely they will turn your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives who were his princesses and 300 concubines.

And his wives, hear this, turned away his heart. That's the exact reason in Deuteronomy chapter 17, the king is commanded, don't gather many wives for yourself, lest they turn away your heart. And then he goes on to say in verse four, when and for when Solomon was old, his wives turned away his heart after other gods and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God and was the heart as was the heart of David, his father. For Solomon went after Ashtaroth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milkon, the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.

Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab. and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites on the mount east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods." Solomon, what were you thinking, right? You allowed your heart to go astray.

You gave your heart in to the worldly passions. And what you were forbidden to do, you did. You did not adhere, Solomon, to God's word. And this is how it ends up. You allow the filth of the pagan worship, the abomination, that which is so detestable in the eyes of God, to enter into and among the people of God.

Solomon, your actions now have violated the first and most important commandment. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Solomon, you've just brought them in to God's kingdom. It's incredible. It's incredible what can happen when one allows their heart to be drawn by the desires, the sinful desires of the flesh.

So how does this end? Well, Solomon will reign for 40 years in total, but the Bible tells us that the Lord gives him that reign only because or for the sake of his father, David. But after this, or because of Solomon's rule, the kingdom is fractured. You can't bring that abomination into the people of God. You can't bring the foreign pagan worship in and not expect repercussions.

And there are, because when Solomon dies, the once united kingdom of Israel is now split into two. Solomon's son, Rehoboam, takes the southern kingdom, and the southern kingdom is comprised of two tribes, the tribe of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, and he'll come to be known as Judah. And then the 10 northern tribes are the ones that are given to one of Solomon's royal servants named Jeroboam, or Jeroboam, sounds like Rioboam, they're not related in any way. But he takes the northern tribe, and the northern tribe will now be known as Israel. Israel.

Beloved, can you see how that which God was intended to be united, God's people are meant to be united. One God, One people. One God, one people. But when sin enters in, then what happens is you get fractures. And now you have two kingdoms.

And it's not just simply the kingdom is split. It's actually beyond only the kingdom being split. Because from that point on, those kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom, are in enmity with one another. They begin to fight with one another, even to the point where the Northern Kingdom will ally or partner with one of the nations in order to attack her brother in the South. That's what happens when sin enters in.

And now there's deep, deep hostility between the two. In the Northern Kingdom, we'll start there. King after king, actually every king that hits the throne would prove to be evil and you'd be hard-pressed. You won't find any of the northern kingdom kings that were righteous in any way. One after the other, after the other, as you read the description, as you go through 1st and 2nd Kings, or 1st and 2nd Chronicles, then you'll see this is the description that's given to them.

And he, that is that king, did evil in the sight of the Lord. In fact, in the Southern Kingdom, there were some good kings, but in the Southern Kingdom, when there was an evil king, and this evil king was described, he's described as a king that walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. So in other words, when you say, as the king of Israel, remember Israel is the northern kingdom, and the southern kingdom is Judah, and when you say the kings of the northern kingdom, which is the king of Israel, the kings of Israel, automatically what should come to your mind is an evil, wicked king. And that's how they were described. And so these kings allowed the Northern Kingdom, they just kept allowing the pagan idolatrous worship, the pagan gods of the nations were allowed in, they built shrines, they built altars, they built worship centers, and God was neglected, Yahweh was neglected, and they allowed the people, and the kings in particular were evil, and they're the ones who opened the door to detestable things that are forbidden before God.

So it wasn't long It wasn't long after this that the Lord God would allow them to be overtaken. He's gracious, and he sent prophets, and he warned them on many occasions. And you may remember Elijah and Ahab. You remember the story? God sent many prophets and many prophecies and said, Be warned.

You're going down the wrong path. Get rid of these detestable things before the Lord." But they didn't hear. They continued in their rebellion. And so when you get to King Hoshea in 722 BC, the Lord gives them over to the Assyrian Empire, which was a superpower in those days, and they virtually destroy the northern kingdom of Israel.

Their philosophy was to to come in and the many people were killed but then what they did is they grabbed a whole quite a large number of people they took them out into exile and they brought some foreigners in so they would intermingle with the northern kingdom so that you would lose your identity as a people you would lose that culture and so the northern kingdom never ever returned to its former glory. It was destroyed that day, because king after king after king of unrighteousness, evilness and wickedness was allowed into that nation. And in the South, Beloved, in the South, it wasn't much better. Yahweh allows the Babylonians to come in and completely overtake the southern kingdom of Judah also. But it took another 140 odd years.

The final destruction of the Jerusalem temple was in 586 BC. South had many evil kings, just like in the North. They had good kings, but they also had many evil kings who allowed the same idolatrous practices in as their counterparts in the North. They built high places. Remember last week our brother explained most times when we go through the Bible and you read that terminology, high places, normally it means that those places are established to worship to worship foreign gods.

Now there are like a handful of times it doesn't mean that but the context would suggest otherwise but that's what it means and and they created all sorts of worship shrines and altars for gods like Baal and and Ashtaroth poles and and Molech which is another pagan god and they brought them all into the the nation. Now it's possible that they weren't destroyed as soon as the northern kingdom, because they had some good kings, and because they had some good kings who followed after the Lord, there was times of true repentance. Those times of true restoration, or true reformation, I should say. That's probably why the Lord God withheld his judgment. But there was also times of very evil kings.

And we remember one of them, King Manasseh. That's probably the one that should come to your mind if you think of a southern king, the really evil king. And the odd thing is that he was the son of a righteous king, King Hezekiah. And those of us who know the story would know that Hezekiah had an illness and he was going to die, pleaded with the Lord, and the Lord gave him an extra 15 years of life. He could have died, the Lord gave him an extra 15 years of life.

It's during that 15 years that Manasseh is born, and he would become one of the worst kings in the southern kingdom, had he have died. Manasseh would not have been born. But that shows you that God is sovereign, even over the evil kings of Israel. This king was so evil. The Bible describes his evil.

It's incredible. Because his father, Hezekiah, had done so many good things for the kingdom. He was noted as a righteous king. He destroyed all the high places and the pagan worship. There was a lot of peace that was in the region, in the southern kingdom, under his rule.

But then his son comes along and ruins it all. Let's have a read of what happens with Manasseh in 2 Kings chapter 21. If you have your Bibles and you want to follow along, 2 Kings chapter 21 verses 3 to 6. Manasseh was quite young when he came into power. In fact, he was only 12 years of age.

And this is how the Bible, this is how the Bible describes. this evil king. He says from verse 3, 2 Kings 21 from verse 3, this is for he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. And he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, an Ahab king of Israel, as Ahab king of Israel had done. And he worshipped all the hosts of heaven and served them.

And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, In Jerusalem will I put my name. And he built altars for all the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. And he burnt his son as an offering and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. See the level of evil that this king had adopted.

The fundamental responsibility, as I said earlier, of a king was to walk in the ways of Yahweh. Was to walk according to the precepts and the laws and the commandments. Was to have the book of the covenant before him, memorized in his mind, in his heart. It would have ruled his heart and ruled his mind. That's not what you get here in Manasseh.

That's not the example that you get from the king that had the longest reign out of all the kings. 55 years in fact. And all the good work that his father Hezekiah, as the passages just told us, all the good work that his father Hezekiah had done was undone because of this evil king Manasseh. However, The Lord allowed for the Assyrians to come and capture this king and then take him into exile. And while he was in exile, the Lord did grant him true repentance.

And then he brought him back into the kingdom and he assumed his throne. And he did from that point try to restore the things of God, try to get rid of the evil practices and so forth. But beloved, it was too little. too late. The damage was undone.

It's the damage that He caused and He could not even undo. Even in His long reign, He couldn't undo it because He allowed the sinfulness of His heart to capture the idolatry of the world and He brought it in to among the people of God. But as I said earlier, there has been a lot of good kings in Judah. But the thing is, and this is what I want us to see, no matter how good they are, they are insufficient to give what the people of God truly, truly desire. Even the greatest earthly kings, and I want you to hear this, even the greatest earthly kings, and as we look in the Old Testament we need to see this, they have their limitations because they're human beings.

And human beings have their limitations because their hearts are evil. They have the flesh that they're dealing with. And the problem is that when they fall, they fall not only for themselves as kings, but they affect the whole kingdom. But let's look at one of those righteous kings, the king Uzziah in the south. He was deemed as a righteous king.

He came into the kingdom at the age of 17 and he reigned for 52 years, second longest to the king Manasseh. Now personally, I think King Uzziah, that's with a U, Uzziah, King Uzziah probably did more for the people of Judah to advance them as a nation than probably any other king in the Old Testament. Now let's open our Bibles and just have a quick look at what he did. In 2 Chronicles 26 from verse 3. 2 Chronicles 26 from verse 3.

I know we're doing a bit of reading today, but I think it's best that we go in there and we just have a listen or read to what they actually did, how the Bible describes it, because he can describe it, the Lord describes it far better than I can. So 2 Chronicles from 26, this is chapter 26 from verse 3. And I want you to see the human limitation, and no matter how righteous a king is, he's still a human being susceptible to human weaknesses and human sin. So from verse 3, Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 52 years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah, and of Jerusalem.

And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper." And when you see that, as long as, alarm bells need a ring, because he says, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. And in verse 6, he went out and made war against the Philistines, and he broke through the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jadneth, and the wall of Ashdod, and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.

God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gurbal, and against the Munites. The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread even to the border of Egypt, for he became very strong. Moreover, and he became very strong because God was behind him. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the angle, and fortified them. And he built towers in the wilderness and cut out many cisterns, for he had large herds both in Shepeleah, and in the plain and he had farmers and wine and vine dresses in the hills and in the fertile lands for he loved the soil now let's run our eyes down a little to verse 15b run our eyes down for the sake of time verse 15b and his fame spread far for he was marvelous marvelously helped till yeah till till he was strong But when he was strong, what happened?

He grew proud. This is humanity coming in. This is his humanity, his limitations, his earthliness coming in. He grew proud to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord, his God, and he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Now we remember whose function, whose role and responsibility is it to burn incense. and only the priests brother yes right priests and only priests but he goes in because he thinks i'm a king i can do that which is only allowable for the priest but azaria which is the the priest went in after him with his 80 other priests of the Lord who were men of valor and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him it is not for you Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord but for the priests the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense go out of the sanctuary you have done wrong and it will bring you no honor it will bring you no honor from the Lord your God these men know what they're talking about verse 19 then Uzziah was angry and Now he has a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priest in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense. 20. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead. And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to get out.

Because the Lord had struck him and the king, this is the most sad thing, and the king Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death. Beloved, from that point on he was kicked out, he lived in another place, he was buried in another place. This king, this king felt the full brunt. of offending God in that way, of transgressing God's law. God had spoken and his laws were clear and his king became proud.

But God was with you, Uzziah. He'd been with you from the age of 16 and you'd been growing in stature, in wisdom, and he'd been empowering. He says, you were very strong because he blessed you marvelously. But then his heart was inflamed and he became proud. Now, when he lost his kingship, his son, Jotham, took over for 16 years.

His son, by the way, was a good king. So was Isaiah. This is the point of his downfall. He was a good king as well. Jotham was a king, his son, for about 16 years and then another king rises up and his name is Ahaz.

All the good things that Uzziah and Jotham had done for Judah through their obedience to Yahweh all the good things they had done to bring forth the favor of God upon this people, to bring forth the security and the safety of God, and thereby giving these people rest from their neighbors, because God was with them and God was protecting them, now is undone once again with Ahaz, this evil king, because he reinstates the pagan worship, again, violating the first and the second commandment of God, And he built statues. He built statues to Baal. In 2nd Chronicles 28, it tells us even beyond this. He says there that he built pagan places of worship to false gods. Hear this.

This is what it says in 2nd Chronicles 28. In every city in Judah, and he built altars in every corner in Jerusalem. Beloved, that is incredible, because previously there was the righteous king's effort to get rid of these things, to bring forth the favour of God, because they're walking according to covenant faithfulness, and now this guy goes in, Ahaz, and builds all these shrines and all these temples, offending God, brings the abomination from the outside into even every corner of Jerusalem. 68 years, 68 years worth of righteous leadership from two righteous kings undone with one wicked king. All that work is unraveled.

Beloved, even the peace that Judah experienced is now gone, because now Ahaz is in, and God is no longer blessing them, He allows. Remember how I said earlier that the Northern Kingdom would then go to partner with one of their allies, which is Syria in this case. and they would both now come against their southern brother and they will attack and tens of thousands of people were killed in that battle. Tens of thousands of people were killed in that battle and the peace was gone. Because a human king can never bring true and lasting peace to God's people.

And beloved, that same statement can be said even of, apart from David, the greatest king that the Bible speaks to is King Josiah. And beloved, you'd be hard-pressed to find something wrong that this young man did, although there probably is towards the end of his life, and it's the very thing that killed him. At eight years of age, he came into becoming a king. At the age of 16, he truly, with all his heart, desired to walk after God. He was seeking God with all his heart.

And at the age of 20, he began to destroy all the high places in the whole of Judah. And he destroyed any pagan worship centers, any shrines. any places that were offending God. This young king at the age of 20 was responsible to destroy these things. The language the Bible uses in his attitude to destroy these places is not one of just simply pulling it apart or disassembling them, but it's an attitude of a zealous violence.

It's breaking to pieces, it says. It's grinding to dust. That's the language the Bible uses because he has a holy zeal for God and by the age of 26 he had completely ridded the land of Judah from all these high places and pagan worship and pagan worship practices and the abominations that would be found in God's eyes. Josiah was a righteous king. He was a righteous king and then once he's done this he gets he asks and commands some people to go into the temple and to restore the temple because of some evil priests who had previously previously served in the temple they were defiling the temple so Josiah gets people to go in and to start restoring and then the priest in that day his name is Hilkiah He finds something that hasn't been used in a very long time to the shame of some of these kings.

He finds the Book of the Covenant. He finds the book of the covenant, the book of the covenant of Moses. Remember, every king that comes into power should have a copy for himself. Every king should meditate day and night, every day of his life, on the precepts of God in this book. Now they find it, and so they bring it back to Josiah, and he gets someone to read this book.

And you know what his reaction was? His reaction was one of total outrage. Listen to what the Bible says. He tore off his clothes. And then he says these words, great is the wrath of the Lord that is poured out on us because our fathers have not kept the word of the Lord to do according to all that is written in this book.

He knew he had enough presence of mind to know that God's wrath is going to be upon us because of disobedience. So he calls all the priests, he calls all the Levites, he calls all the elders. The Bible tells us the elders even in the small towns and the large towns and he brings them all to him and then he tells them all, Sit down and I'm going to read this book. And he reads the book of the covenant to all these people. And then when he reads, he then makes a covenant before them and says, I am going to obey.

I'm going to walk according to these precepts. I'm going to obey Yahweh and all his rules, his commands, and everything he's instructed in this book. And he tells everyone before him to do the same. That's incredible. That is so wonderful.

It's a beautiful story of reformation that happens in that land. And Josiah is really depicted in the Bible as a real righteous king. But beloved, remember what I said before. He's human. And what does that mean?

That means that his kingship will come to an end, whether it's a fault of his own or not. And even though the Bible says, before him, of Josiah, before him there was no king like him who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might according to all the law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him. This is incredible, a wonderful testimony to this young king. And his reign was about 31 years. Isaiah, or Josiah, when he was killed, He was killed by the Egyptians who were going up into battle, and he had no business to get into this war.

But he did. He went and approached the Egyptian king, although the Egyptian king had told him, stay away. This is not your battle, Josiah. I have nothing with you. They're walking across the sea, and he said, I want nothing.

But Josiah comes, and then he gets shot by an arrow by one of the Egyptians, and he does end up dying. He was a righteous king. He brought peace into the land. He destroyed all the high places. God's favor was now upon the people of Judah.

But because he's human, he dies. And the next four kings in succession are evil, evil, evil, evil. God's patience is over. He sends warning after warning after warning. And at the end of the fourth king, who's King Zedekiah, we'll speak a bit more about him next week when we talk about the exiles.

Yahweh sends the Babylonians in to destroy the southern kingdom of Judah. The temple is completely flattened. He was a king, not the god's own hunk. but he's a king with human limitations. Because as we've seen all too often in Israel's history, even if the king remains righteous in his reign, all the benefits of his blessings, or the blessings that come with the righteous reign, all too often come to an end when that king dies.

Because the next king comes in, if he's not a righteous king, If he's a rebel against God, the blessings, the safety, the security, and the thing that people really desire, deep down, more than anything else, is that rest and peace from all their enemies, it's gone. Because they're a human king. Beloved, there must be a longing in people's hearts for something greater than a human king. There must be someone greater than this. And that is the promised King that is promised in 2 Samuel chapter 7.

The Davidic King who has a throne that lasts into all eternity. Beloved, that King is King Jesus. The first word of the New Testament labors to make that point. It says, this is the first word, the first word of the New Testament, Matthew chapter 1, verse 1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. He's saying, listen, this is the Davidic king that has been promised.

This is the hope of Israel. This is the hope of all the world. This is the king whose kingdom will reign forever. The one whose blessings will be perpetual, will be ongoing because he has life ongoing. The long awaited righteous David, Davidic King, is Jesus Christ.

He's the one who is sinless. 2 Corinthians 5.21. He's the perfectly righteous. 1 John 2.

11. He's the one who has obeyed perfectly the law of God. Romans 5.19. In Him alone are all the spiritual blessings for the people of God.

Ephesians 1 chapter 1 verse 3. And in Him alone who is the Davidic King, whose reign is eternal. Luke 1.32, listen to what he says. He will be, and this is the angel speaking to Mary.

He will be, speaking of Christ, he will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be No end. The hope must be in this Jesus. And it's this Jesus who is able to give what kingdom citizens really, really need. They need a king who can conquer their greatest enemies. A king who will be able to make peace, in terms of peace, with their greatest foe.

And beloved, Paul tells us so clearly that the greatest enemy of the unbeliever is not a pagan nation. The greatest enemy of unbelievers is God himself because his wrath abides on them. And so you need a king who can take care of the wrath of God on unrighteousness. You need a king who can take care of every enemy, including sin. flesh, Satan, and death.

Beloved, there is no other king that can take care of all God's peoples or all one's enemies except for Jesus Christ. And there is no other king who has a perpetual everlasting kingdom that those who are trusting in Him, if He is King over your life, if you're trusting in Him and in Him alone, the benefits of this King will never come to an end. Beloved, every King in the Old Testament, righteous or not, they were meant to be what Jesus is, appointing to Christ, and only Christ can fulfill all that a King ought to be. and give his people everlasting peace because he is not only the King of Kings, but he is the Prince of Peace. Amen.