Teaching Notes

TH1063: II CHRONICLES

As we move into II Chronicles chapter 21, we are coming to the end of two generations of spiritual reform in the Southern Kingdom of Judah. Both Asa and his son Jehoshaphat both lead the nation in the true worship of God and removed the false worship that Rehoboam and his son Abijah had lead the nation in. And once again we are moving into a dark period for the Southern Kingdom of Judah. This time it will be at the leading of Jehoshaphat's son, Jehoram.

II CHRONICLES 21

VERSES 1-6

1. As I said last time, Jehoshaphat was a godly king who united himself with a wicked king, Ahab, who reigned in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And Jehoshaphat's reason for making this alliance was most likely to see the nation healed and brought together again. But you never sacrifice truth and righteousness for the sake of unity. Jehoshaphat did both. Now this strange alliance becomes even stranger when Jehoshaphat allows his son to marry Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. Thus, the wickedness that flowed from his in-laws touched not only his wife, but also Jehoram himself. That is why he is spoken of as walking in the way of the kings of Israel, because the Northern Kingdom only had wicked kings. Yes some were better than others, but they all were bad, not one truly served the Lord.

2. Yes Jehoshaphat seems to have been able to separated himself from the evil that permeated the Northern Kingdom of Israel. Maybe he was strong enough not to allow the pleasures of the flesh to overtake him. And understand that their religious activities in the north many times degenerated into nothing more than orgies as they worshipped their gods in the groves. Yes it did appeal to the flesh and Jehoshaphat's son was not strong enough to deal with that kind of influence in his life. It overtook him.

3. As parents we have a responsibility to protect our children from things that will stimulate their flesh, things that will be harmful to them. Maybe we can handle certain things, but our children may not be able to and they can succumb to their evil influence. Don't leave the wrong impressions on your children for as they grow old they may not be able to overcome them, just as Jehoram couldn't.

4. Also understand that the things you do will have an affect upon your own walk. We don't live in a vacuum and I don't care how strong you think you are, the flesh, carnality, will affect you. Remember the story of Lot living in the wicked city of Sodom. We are told in II Peter 2:7-8 that Lot "...who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)." Not only was his soul tormented but his witness was destroyed. Not even his family would believe his words of the coming judgment of God. Instead of filling yourself with the garbage of this world, which the flesh feeds on, fill yourself with the Lord. As Paul said in Ephesians 5:18-19 "And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord."

5. Not only was Jehoram leading the people into idolatry, but he was just as wicked as his in-laws and his wife. As soon as he is established on the throne he killed all his brothers with the sword, wiping out all the royal heirs to the throne, preventing anyone from usurping his kingdom from him. We as Christians many times are just as guilty as Jehoram, for we take our sword and destroy our brothers and sisters in the Lord with it. We come against their character and-so-on. Growing up we all heard that little saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me!" That is not exactly true. Bones can be set and will heal, but the words we use to cut people with, those scares many times last a life time. Be careful in the things you say, for out of your lips you praise God, and then with those same lips are you cursing man whom God created in His image? As James says, those things should not be so!

VERSE 7

1. God had every right to wipe out the house of David, to extinguish the lamp, because of Jehoram's wickedness. But because of the promise He made to David to establish his throne forever, he did not destroy the lamp. (II Samuel 7:13, I Kings 15:4-5, II Kings 8:19, I Chronicles 17:4-14). As Solomon said in Proverbs 13:9 "The light of the righteous rejoices, But the lamp of the wicked will be put out."

VERSES 8-11

1. The result of Jehoram's actions, that is leading the people away from the Lord, was that God brought judgment upon the nation. He did this by causing various nations to rise up against them and I don't believe it was because God was vindictive, but because He wanted to awaken them from their spiritual sleep and draw them back to Him. The sad thing here is Jehoram did not repent of his sins and turn to God, but continued down that road away from God and straight to hell. But he was not alone in his actions, for he is leading the nation down that same path. As Jesus said in Matthew 15:14 "...They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch."

VERSE 12a

1. Now some have difficulty with this because they say Elijah was taken up to be with the Lord prior to this event, so he could not have written this letter of coming judgment. First of all Elijah was a prophet of God and God could have had him write this letter in advance. There are many examples of this but one that sticks out in my mind is found in the book of Isaiah where we see hundreds of years before Cyrus, king of Persia was even born, God called him by name. He not only spoke of his name but explained how they were going to destroy the Babylonians and enter this fortified city through its gates. (Isaiah 45). So it can be simply explained for God knows the things that are coming to pass before they happen, and He used the prophets to speak to the people, not only speaking forth the words of God, but also speaking of future events that will come to pass.

VERSES 12b-15

1. Not a pretty picture but judgment is never pretty. We don't know what kind of affliction Jehoram was struck with, and maybe its best we don't know, but it was serious enough to cause him death, a slow death.

VERSES 16-20

1. God continues to bring judgment upon Judah and their king, Jehoram. They not only took his possessions but took all his sons except Jehoahaz, otherwise known as Ahaziah. And Jehoram only reigned for 8 short years, dying a slow death. Proverbs 10:27 says "The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened." And in his death, there was no great burning of incense like they would do for the other kings, the ones they loved. In fact the Scriptures say that the people could care less that he died, they had no sorrow in the death of this king.

2. Sin does take its toll on our bodies. A person living in sin is affected emotionally, spiritually, and even physically. And what comes radiating from their life is the ugliness of the world. You see, as they are in bondage to sin, all you can do is radiate that frustration to others. But to those who have been freed in Christ, His love is what radiates from their life. Now if you want to be a slave to sin, let it eat away at you, and be like the walking dead, then yield yourself to sin. But the death process will be slow and painful and even in death you will not escape the judgment. But if you yield yourself to Christ, become a bondslave to Him, then God will take your dead spiritual body and make it alive again in Christ. It is then that your life is filled with love, peace, joy and-so-on. And that will radiate from your life and touch the lives of others. As Paul said in Romans 6:23 "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

II CHRONICLES 22

VERSES 1-2

1. In II Kings 8:26 we are told that Ahaziah was 22 years old when he became king and not 42 years old as is stated here in II Chronicles. It seems we have a copyist error here in II Chronicles, which is easy to do with numbers.

2. Because of that many try and say that the Bible is not reliable and is filled with many discrepancies, especially the Old Testament. The earliest manuscripts of the Old Testament was from 916 AD until the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls which date around 125 BC. The Scroll of Isaiah is some 24 feet long and 10 inches high. In comparing it with the text of more than 1,000 years earlier, from 916 AD, we find that it is 95% accurate and the 5% variation consisted chiefly of variations in spelling and in not one case did it change the meaning or the intent of the Scripture. No doctrine was changed. William Green said "It may safely be said that no other work of antiquity has been so accurately transmitted." The original text of the Scriptures were without error and the entire Old Testament of today has only 1/2 of 1% error, that again does not change one doctrine. So the Scriptures are accurate, for they have been one of the most highly analyzed books of antiquity. In fact there is more evidence for the reliability of the New Testament than any 10 pieces of classical literature put together. In fact, if anyone says that the New Testament is not reliable, they will have to throw out all literature of antiquity. Today we have between 14 to 15,000 manuscripts to work from, the number 2 book is the Iliad and it only has 643 manuscripts.

VERSE 3

1. Athaliah was the power behind the throne. She influenced her son greatly, and not for the good. She counseled him to do wickedly. Mom's, if you would only see what kind of impact you can have on your children. The world is telling you that being a mom, watching over your children is worthless. Anyone can do that and maybe the government should, as Hillary Clinton implied in her book "It Takes a City". No, it does not take a city but loving parents who are willing to make sacrifices for their children. That is a great responsibility we as parents have, to raise our children to love the Lord. Let us not hand over that responsibility to the government, they can't even run the post office let alone train up our children!

VERSE 4

1. Don't tell me that we are not influenced by those we hang around with. Ahaziah saturated himself with evil counselors, and that is what came flowing from his life. Remember what Paul said in I Corinthians 15:33 "Do not be deceived: 'Evil company corrupts good habits.'"

VERSES 5-6

1. Joram was Israel's king in the north and he was wounded in a battle with the Syrians for the city of Ramoth Gilead. As he goes to Jezreel to recover from the wounds he received, his nephew, Ahaziah, king of the Southern Kingdom of Judah goes to visit him.

VERSES 7-9

1. While Ahaziah is visiting his uncle Joram, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, an Israelite military officer came to see them. Prior to this the Lord told Jehu by a prophet of God, that he will be the next king in Israel and that he would destroy the house of Ahab for their wickedness. Thus, Jehu kills Joram, king of Israel, and he finds 42 of Ahaziah's brothers and kills them and finally he kills Ahaziah. This now places Jehu on the throne in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and in the Southern Kingdom of Judah we have no one yet stepping up and being the next king after the death of Ahaziah. But that will quickly change!

VERSE 10

1. So much for a nice old grandmother. She gets word that her son is dead and instead of mourning over this, she kills all her grandsons, all the royal heirs, and she is now going to assume the role as king. As I said earlier, she was the power behind the throne while her son was king, and now she comes out from behind the scenes and steps into the spotlight. But Athaliah missed one of her grandsons, as we shall see.

VERSES 11-12

1. Jehoshabeath or Jehosheba, the sister of Ahaziah, hid away one remaining son by the name of Joash. During the time that Athaliah was murdering all the royal heirs, the sons of Ahaziah, Joash was only a year old. And he is taken by Jehosheba to the temple where he is hid for 6 years in one of the chambers that surrounded the temple. If you remember, Solomon's temple had a 3 story chamber that was used for storage and some for housing for the priests who would rotate through every 2 weeks, performing their services in the temple.

II CHRONICLES 23

VERSES 1-2

1. Jehoiada, husband of Jehosheba, was a priest that served in the temple. And for 6 years he has been raising Joash, being a godly influence in his life. And now it was time to bring back the Davidic dynasty and put a descendant of David back on the throne. It was time to reveal the true king, but with Athaliah's wicked influence, it had to be done very carefully, or she could destroy this coup attempt just as she had destroyed the sons of Ahaziah, her grandsons, so that she might sit on the throne.

VERSES 3-7

1. This kid had more body guards than our president. Wherever he went he was protected. And if anyone got to close to him, they were to be put to death. Extreme measures it seems to protect this young child.

2. Why would they use such extreme measures to protect Joash? Because Joash was the last remaining descendant of David who could be king. And if you remember, it was through the lineage of David that the Messiah was to come. Thus, if you destroyed the lineage of David you would prevent the Messiah from coming. Yes Athaliah was wicked and responsible for her actions, but behind the scenes you can see the demonic influence going on. Satan was trying to prevent the seed of the woman from being born, the Messiah, who would give him a mortal wound. Thus, in Genesis we see him go to work and influence Cain, who killed Abel. But the Messiah was not to come through Cain or Abel, but through another son, Seth. And every time the Messianic lineage is more defined, Satan comes after it. anti-Semitism has Demonic roots and you can trace this throughout the Old Testament, for every time you see mass murder, check and see if that is where the Messiah was to come from, chances are it was. And in the New Testament, we see Herod being used by Satan to destroy all the children from the age of 2 and under, why? Because the Messiah was born and he was trying to destroy Him. Herod did not want anyone to usurp his throne, and Satan did not want the Messiah to destroy him! Athaliah was following suit, and so Joash had to be protected.

VERSE 8

1. No longer did they rotate through, but all the divisions of the priests were present. And Jehoiada divided them into 3 groups that would rotate throughout the day and night on shifts, to protect the king, for he was never to be left alone, day or night.

VERSES 9-11

1. Jehoiada was a godly priest, and that may sound strange, but not all the priests loved the Lord. And Jehoiada influenced Joash in a positive manner. As he is proclaimed king, he is given a copy of the Law of God, the first 5 books of Moses, so that he can read and apply them to his life. He was doing what was spoken of in Deuteronomy 17:18-20. We read "Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his children in the midst of Israel."

2. As a pastor it is my responsibility to give to you the words of God that are found in the Bible. To encourage you to read it all the days of your life, and then apply what you have read, what you have learned to your life. In doing so we remain humble before the Lord, focused upon Him. And like both Jehoiada and Joash, we are called kings and priests through Christ. In Revelation 5:9-10 we read "And they sang a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll, And to open its seals; For You were slain, And have redeemed us to God by Your blood Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth.'" Thus we should apply what God has said in Deuteronomy 17 to our life, for we are called kings and priests by our Lord. Get into the Word of God and apply it to your life!

3. The other thing we need to understand is that Jehoiada was the power behind the throne, for Joash was only 7 years old at this time. But also understand that Jehoiada was not trying to usurp the throne from Joash, but to train him in the ways of God so that one day he could truly lead the nation.

VERSES 12-13

1. As Athaliah sees what has taken place, she yells out "Treason! Treason!" I find that interesting from a woman who killed all her grandchildren so that she could sit on the throne. Interesting how she responds when the shoe is on the other foot!

VERSES 14-15

1. So Athaliah and her evil influence was removed from the scene by her death.

VERSES 16-18

1. Jehoiada makes a covenant that they would be the Lord's people, that they would serve Him. In response to that the false worship places were destroyed and the true worship of God was brought back into the land. The re-institution of the sacrificial system was brought back as God was truly worshipped once again. Jehoiada was a positive influence on not only Joash, but the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

VERSE 19

1. Again we see the gatekeepers, and they were needed not only to prevent anything that was unclean from entering in and defiling the temple and destroying the worship of God, but also to allow those who belonged in the temple to freely enter in. God has also placed pastors, leaders in the church, to be spiritual gatekeepers, keeping out false doctrine that would destroy the true worship of God. That my friends is not happening much today, and the result of that is all kinds of false doctrine, things contrary to the Word of God, infiltrating the church!

VERSES 20-21

1. Athaliah, the usurper, murdered the sons of Jehoram and usurped the throne. And she reigned for 6 years but during that time, the true king, Joash, was hidden away. During her reign the land was filled with evil. Then, in the seventh year, the true king, Joash, was revealed. And the usurper, Athaliah was destroyed with the sword as Joash took the throne and peace filled the land.

2. In that I see an interesting comparison. Satan, the usurper, murdered God's children by causing them to sin. Thus, by his actions Satan usurped the throne, he is the king of this world right now. And during his 6,000 year reign as king, the true king, Jesus Christ, is hidden away in a sense. And as we look at the world we can see that this king, Satan, has filled the land with evil. But in the 7,000th year the true king, Jesus Christ, will be revealed. And when Jesus returns, the evil will be destroyed by the sword that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. And when Jesus comes and sits on the throne of David, to rule and reign forever, true peace will fill the land! As Daniel 7:13-14 says "I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed."