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Advent Productions

The Kings

Benjamin Ng

The Kings: Jehoshaphat

Father in heaven, Lord, you are such a great and wonderful God.

Your mercies run deeper than any of our sins.

And we're so thankful that we can come and worship and to study together this morning.

Lord, as we're about to open the Bible now, we just ask once more for your Holy Spirit to guide us, to illumine our hearts and minds, to transform us with your Word that you'd speak directly to each of us, Lord, and give us a message from heaven this morning, we pray in Jesus' name we pray and ask.

Well we're doing a series on the kings and this is the kings that reigned after the kingdoms were split, northern and the southern kingdoms and we are focusing on the southern kingdom which only has 2 tribes and it's the kingdom of what the tribes are known as Judah or tribe known as Judah so the southern kingdom where Jerusalem was located and you know I mentioned this in last times sermon which is that the Northern kingdoms really had no good kings whatsoever.

And we are focusing just on the good kings here.

We're not focusing on some of the bad kings of Judah, but we are looking today at King Jehoshaphat.

And so his story is found primarily in 2 Chronicles 17.

And so he is also 1 of the good kings, mostly of the kings of Judah.

Let's start here in 2 Chronicles 17 verses 1-6.

This is what The Bible says, cities of Ephraim which Asa his father had taken.

And the Lord was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Balaam, but sought the Lord God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

Therefore the Lord established the kingdom in his hand and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presence and he had riches and honor in abundance.

And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the Lord.

Moreover, he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.

So Jehoshaphat, he becomes king and he is a good king.

The Bible says that he walked in the ways of his father David which was not his literal father but of course his ancestors and he sought not unto Balaam which many people were worshipping in those days and he also walked in the commandments of God and took away the high places which was the places where people would worship Baal.

So Jehoshaphat, good king, much good to say about him.

But let's continue reading here in 2 Chronicles 17, now verses 7-9.

Also, in the third year of his reign, He sent to his princes, even to Ben-Hel and to Obadiah and to Zechariah and to Nethaniel and to Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah and with them he sent Levites even Shammaiah and Nethaniah and Zebediah and Esahel and Shemiram Ramoth and Jehonathan and Adonijah and Tobijah and Tobadonijah, Levites and with them Elishma and Jehoram, priests.

And they taught in Judah and had the book of the law of the Lord with them and went about throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.

Don't mind all the names, difficult names to recite there in the Old Testament, But what we see here is that he took the book of the law, he had the book of the law, and with the priests and the Levites he went out and taught the people.

He magnified the law of God amongst the people.

He uplifted the law of God high amongst this nation and as a result the word of God was magnified.

God was lifted up not just in knowledge but especially in the hearts of the people.

You know, friends, this helps us to realize the importance of teaching and preaching.

There will always be a need for teaching and preaching the people the word of God.

If we want to see people come up higher in their morality, come up higher in their walk with God, if we want to see revival throughout the land, the teaching and the preaching of the word of God, the law of God must always take place throughout the work that we do.

This is 1 of the fundamental things that Jehoshaphat started with and we see the result here in verses 10 to 11.

And the fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat.

Also, some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat presents and tributes, silver, and the Arabians brought him flocks, 7, 700 rams and 7, 700 he goats.

So we don't only see revival taking place throughout the land of Judah and wherever the law of God was lifted up.

But the Bible also says that the fear of the Lord also fell on all the kingdoms around them.

All of this because the law of God was lifted up and as a result, Judah had peace.

The Philistines and the Arabians, which were not the people of God, they even brought gifts and presents.

God was in a sense fighting for them and prospering them and bringing fear upon all the nations all around them.

People were coming to know about God because the knowledge of God and His law was being uplifted in the land.

They weren't going uplifting the law of God to the Philistines and to the Arabians.

No, the law of God was being lifted up in the land of Judah again, in the hearts of God's people.

And as a result, God could work for them.

As a result, God would do wonderful miracles and works amongst them, as we'll see in a minute.

So, you know, sometimes we think, oh, we got to go do evangelism.

We got to go and minister and witness to the people.

But friends, there is such a great importance of still uplifting the law of God amongst God's people.

There is still a great importance of uplifting the law of God amongst the Christians within the church.

There's much work to do within the church before sometimes we even think about stepping out to witness to the Philistine or to the Arabian.

So revival, the work within the church is still really important.

And God was blessing the nation of Judah or the 2 tribes that composed of Judah.

But yet Jehoshaphat would not sit around idle, doing nothing because God was blessing him.

Whilst the fear of God was upon all the nations around about, and whilst he had peace, look at what he did.

2 Chronicles 17 verses 12 and 13 And Jehoshaphat waxed great exceedingly, and he built in Judah castles and cities of store.

And he had much business in the cities of Judah, and the men of war, mighty men of valor were in Jerusalem.

The Bible says that he would go and build the castles and the storehouses.

He was still preparing for battle even in times of peace.

He did not take for granted the fact that God was with him and that he just didn't have to do anything.

He continued to to do his part in in building up his army in case 1 day some other surrounding nations would come and attack him.

However, we come to 2nd Chronicles chapter 18 and we find that Jehoshaphat, He joins himself to King Ahab and King Ahab is the king of the northern kingdom, the king of Israel at this time and they were you know Brothers and sisters they were cousins, right?

Ahab is 1 of the most wicked kings in the history of all the kings.

His wife, Jezebel, would turn him away from the worship of the true Jehovah God and he would turn him to worship Baal.

And so while he reigns, of course the prophet Elijah is alive at this time and he is 1 of the most famous prophets in all the Bible.

But anyways, in 2 Chronicles 18, we read about this story.

And we're not gonna go through chapter 18.

Please take the time to go and read the story there.

It's quite an interesting story about Jehoshaphat and Ahab but Jehoshaphat, he makes an unwise decision to ally himself with Ahab and go to war with him against his armies.

However, before going to war, Jehoshaphat, he has the good sense to ask, hey, is there not a prophet in our midst that we can ask some counsel?

Because you see, Ahab had gotten all his false prophets to come in and say, yes, God is with you, he's gonna prosper you, he's gonna bless you, he's gonna do whatever you want Ahab.

But Jehoshaphat, even though he had made this unwise decision to ally himself with Ahab, he says, look, we need to hear from a true prophet here.

He didn't trust all these false prophets, obviously.

And Micaiah, he gives a prophecy that, look, the kingdom of Israel is going to be scattered as sheep without a shepherd.

Basically, foretelling that Ahab would die in battle.

But somehow, after Jehoshaphat finds this true prophet of God and he gives this such a startling warning, yet Jehoshaphat still goes ahead, goes to war and Ahab dies in battle and by the grace of God Jehoshaphat's life is spared.

So you know that is really the crux, the main thing of 2nd Chronicles 18 and it's not all about Jehoshaphat.

Jehoshaphat is there, but we don't read much about him.

The Kings: Hezekiah

Hope you've had a wonderful morning thus far and hope that you've been enjoying the series that we've been studying in the Kings.

We have today's study and 1 more King after this to study.

And for those that are joining us for the first time in this Kings series, you will remember that all the Kings that we've been looking at are from the southern kingdom, the kingdom of Judah.

There were no good kings in the kingdom of Israel unfortunately, the 10 tribes.

And so we have been looking really specifically at the kingdom of Judah, but we have been focusing in on the good kings that God has been working through for the children of Israel.

But friends before we get into the study, before we start looking at the Word, please do share your praises.

Please just type it in the comment section below.

Let's share our praises about how God has been good to us in this past week.

Well I'm going to invite all of you to bow your heads with me for a word of prayer as we're about to start.

Well before let me share my praise actually.

But my praise is that SALT is starting soon for this year.

So we're starting, I believe it is April 10, April 11.

But I praise God for providing for us, for accommodation, for the students that are coming.

And usually they trickle in last minute, but you know, it's just nice to see how God is still sending young people who want to be trained in the work and in the Word especially.

And so please do keep us in prayers as it is always a big effort as we are dealing with the hearts and the minds of young people and even some adults that come and join us as well.

Well, please do share your praise, but for now, let's bow our heads as we seek the Lord in prayer.

Father in heaven, thank you so much again for this opportunity, for this blessed Sabbath day, that we can come and spend time in your word.

As we study together Lord, we just ask that you would please be with us, that you would guide us and lead us with your Holy Spirit, and that your word would be that double-edged sword that would give us understanding, that would cut away sin, but also convict us and help us to come up higher as well.

So lead us now, O Lord, we pray, in Jesus' name.

Well, the king that we are studying today is good king Hezekiah.

Probably the best king of all the kings of Israel and Judah.

But let's get into our first text here for this morning.

Let's turn our Bibles to 2 Chronicles 29 verses 1 and 2.

Hezekiah began to reign when he was 5 and 20 years old.

And he reigned 9 and 20 years in Jerusalem.

And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah.

And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done.

And so we see here that he was a good king.

He reigned 29 years and he started at the ripe old or young age of 25.

Let's read about him real quick, shall we?

2 Chronicles 28, 22-25 And in the time of his distress did he trespass yet more against the Lord.

This is that king Ahaz, for he sacrificed unto the gods of Damascus, which smote him.

And he said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, therefore I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.

But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel.

And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God, and cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem, and in every several city of Judah.

He made high places to burn incense unto other gods and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.

The father of King Hezekiah was a wicked king.

He's the 1 that reintroduced idolatry all the way back into Jerusalem and into Israel all over again, made all the people to sacrifice to these foreign gods.

And then we read this about him in verse 27, and Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, even in Jerusalem.

But they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.

He was not even buried in the sepulchre of the kings.

This is how the people looked down upon him.

And you know friends, if there's ever any person that could say, hey I have an excuse, It could have been Hezekiah.

But out of this wicked king came a good and great king, King Hezekiah.

Now, what did Hezekiah do when he started his reign?

When he came to the throne, What did Hezekiah begin to do?

Well, let's go back to chapter 29 of 2 Chronicles and verse 3.

It says here, he in the first year of his reign, you see he held not, he didn't hold back.

In the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired it.

So he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired it.

So he opened the doors of the house of God, he restored worship back to the children of Israel.

Or really we should say the kingdom of Judah there in the south.

This was the very first thing that he did.

It went against all that his father did, you see.

If there was anybody that could have had that excuse to go down and follow the parents' path, it could have been Hezekiah.

But no, he did that which was good, he did that which was right, he did that which was opposite to his father.

Verse 4 and 5, and he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together in the east street and said unto them, Hear me ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.

So he restored back spiritual leadership.

He brought the Levites back in and he said carry out all the filth that has been gathered into this holy place, into the place of worship.

He cleansed the temple, he cleansed the worship places, he brought back in spiritual leadership.

A king, you know, he wasn't just focused on governing the political affairs.

No, the first thing he did was come back to God.

Verse 6, For our fathers have trespassed and done that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God, and have forsaken him, and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord, and turned their backs." He had a true understanding of the condition of the country.

When there was no physical and material prosperity, He realized that it was because God was not with them.

He didn't work harder to cut more trees and dig more gold and build bigger fortresses and houses.

He had a true understanding how the children of Israel, the fathers, even his father, had transgressed the law of the Lord and had gone against him.

Verse 7 to 9, also they have shut up the doors of the porch, put out the lamps, have not burned incense, not offered burnt offerings in the holy place unto the God of Israel.

And then in verse 8, wherefore the wrath of the Lord was upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He hath delivered them to trouble, to astonishment, and to hissing, as ye see with your eyes.

For lo, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this." It is true, friends.

Sometimes we have trials and troubles and tribulations because we ourselves as God's people have brought it upon our own self.

We've rebelled against God after receiving great light and blessings.

The first step was to repent, to recommit, to come back to the Lord, to come back to true worship.

The Levites began to cleanse the sanctuary.

The Kings: Joash

Father in heaven, thank you once again for this opportunity that we have to come and study Especially as we're looking at the history of the kings the good kings and how you worked through them Lord, we ask that you would please give us lessons that are important to our lives today that we can apply to our lives that we might be able to see your hand working and speaking directly to us as well.

So lead us now oh lord with your spirit we pray in jesus name we pray and ask amen.

Well as I said we're going to be studying continuing the study on the kings and today we are going to be looking at King Joash.

Before we do that let's just recap real quick.

Jehoshaphat is who we studied last week and he was a good king and after he passed away his son Jehoram would come to reign and he would come into power but he would reign for about 8 years and when he became king what did Jehoram do?

Let us look at our first text found there in 2nd Chronicles 21 verse 4 and verse 6.

The Bible says, Now when Jehoram was risen up to the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and slew all his brethren with a sword, and diverse also of the princes of Israel.

And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel like as did the house of Ahab, for he had the daughter of Ahab to wife.

And he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.

When Jehoram came into power, What do we read here that he actually did?

The Bible says that he killed all his brothers and married Athaliah.

That was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel and we know that Ahab and Jezebel was a bad king And this was a bad union from the beginning.

We know this because that union would make him to do evil.

The ways of the kings of Israel was not a good way at all.

It was not something that you wanted to be mentioned alongside the way that you were going.

And remember, there is basically not 1 good king at all in the kingdom of Israel.

So Jehoram was a wicked king, and that's why we're not looking at the son of Jehoshaphat.

We're not focusing on any of these wicked kings at all.

We are looking at the good kings of Israel.

His name would be Ahaziah and he would reign and he would only reign for 1 year and obviously he was a wicked king as well but after he died his mother Athaliah the wife of Jehoram she would come to reign look at what she did after the son Ahaziah died 2nd Chronicles 22 verses 10 through 12 But when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah.

But Jehoshabiath, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber.

So Jehoshabiath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, for she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she slew him not.

And he was with them hid in the house of God 6 years, and Athaliah reigned over the land.

So after King Ahaziah died, his mother Athaliah would go and kill all her grandchildren, all the sons of Ahaziah.

She wanted to reign as queen and you know in Revelation we see a Jezebel mentioned.

She is called Babylon in Revelation chapter 17 and Jezebel is married to King Ahab and he commits fornication with the kings or she rather commits fornication with the kings of the earth so we see this unholy union unholy woman that was not of the Jewish faith marrying this King Ahab right who was of the king of Israel.

And we see that Athaliah would then be regarded as the daughter of Jezebel or what we see there in Revelation 17, the daughters of Babylon.

And then Athaliah, she goes about killing the remaining seed of King David and that's likened to the daughters of Babylon causing persecution at the end of time.

But there would be a remnant that would remain.

You know there are end time lessons that we see here as we're studying the history of the kings even though they are real life characters back then there is much that pertains and relates to us today as well and so we see a very very clear parallel.

So coming back to the story there about Athaliah, she would reign for about 6 years after her son Ahaziah died and she thinks she's killed everybody, all her grandchildren, there's no more seed left, she reigns for 6 years.

And I just wanna show you this real quick.

Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram would reign, he was wicked.

And then we see that Ahaziah, pardon me, I skipped somebody there, Ahaziah would come in and he only reigned for 1 year so it was of not much significance but Athaliah was Jehoram's mother and I also got that wrong Athaliah was actually Ahaziah's mother that was Jehoram's wife.

Jehoram and Athaliah were husband and wife and Joash is the 1 that would be saved.

He is the 1 that would be hidden for 7 years that we're about to read about and so it was the auntie of, pardon me, the grandmother of Joash that would come to reign and the auntie would be the 1 that would save Joash from the wrath of the grandmother.

Pardon me, this slide is absolutely wrong.

I'm not sure what I was thinking here but I see it while I'm preaching but we see Jehoshaphat then Jehoram and then Ahaziah and then Joash so Athaliah and Jehoram are husband and wife and so look before we continue though it's important to look at and understand that there are actually 2 king Joash's in history.

There are 2 of them And we've got to be careful that we don't just do a word search and look up the word Joash in wanting to study about this.

Look, Israel and Judah both had a king Joash each.

Joash in Israel was a wicked king because we know all the kings were wicked there in Israel.

But Joash in Judah was mostly a good king.

Ellen White doesn't say much about either of them.

The Bible has a little bit of both, but we've got to be careful that we don't just mix these 2 characters together.

The famous instance of King Joash from the Kingdom of Israel is found in his encounter actually with Elisha the prophet.

In 2 Kings 13 14 to 20, it's quite a long passage but it's 1 that is quite familiar and famous actually.

And Joash the king of Israel, he came unto him, wept over his face and said, Oh my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof.

And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows.

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