Yahweh wanted to be King of His people and make a place for them. They rejected Him, and He warned them. He gave them what they wanted, and they became enslaved like everyone else. In 1 & 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, people are faced with choices. Would they continue to reject the Lord and create their own high places of worship, or return to the Lord and His rightful place of worship? Would they do what was right IN THE LORD'S SIGHT as written in His word, or what was evil IN THE LORD'S SIGHT that seemed to work in the world? We face the same choices today...IN THE LORD'S SIGHT. #1kings #2kings #2chronicles #2023
Lord we thank You that You see all things. Help us to trust your plan for this world now, the world that you are currently building, and the new world you will bring when You return. As we look at the Kings of Your people and your people’s response from ages past, help us to see you and see ourselves. May we strive to understand our standing in Your sight as our King. May we long for the day when we will stand with all your people In the Lord’s Sight. Thank you that by grace, through faith in Yahweh who saves, we can been consecrated. Help us Jesus to understand that as your followers we have been set apart by the Spirit for obedience. May grace and peace be multiplied to us as we continue to obey your call to “Consecrate Yourselves.” Amen.
(Ephesians 2:8-10, 1 Peter 1:2)
God had made a people of His own from Abraham. He had delivered them from slavery, subdued their enemies, and had brought them into the land that he promised them. However, because of their unwillingness to listen to God, his prophets, and his judges they asked for a king. God wanted to be their King. However, they rejected The Lord as King because they wanted an earthly King and earthly benefits now like all the other people of the earth seemed to have.
They thought an earthly king could do for them and provide for them what only God could. For 430 years, God allowed his people to experience the reality of rejecting Him as King and pursuing what they wanted in an earthly King. Thankfully in our King Jesus, the gift of His word, the power of His Holy Spirit, and the encouragement of His body the church, we can be confident in our consecration. We can tell others, “Consecrate Yourselves.”
The northern Kingdom of Israel, who refused to heed God’s loving patient warnings and continued in the “sins of Jeroboam” for 200 years, has now been wiped out and carried off into slavery by the brutal Assyrian empire. The southern kingdom of Judah has a decision to make about their response. Likely through the upbringing of a faithful mother queen Abijah, King Hezekiah turns from the sins of his fathers and leads one of the greatest spiritual renewals in the whole Bible. He consecrates himself and tells the priests, leaders, people, and nation, “Consecrate Yourselves.”
The word consecrate means to be sanctified to be set apart for a special reason and purpose. God does the consecration through the sacrifice. That is what Jesus did for us. He continues that sanctification/consecration process in us as we respond in obedience to His love and purpose.
Abijah means Abba Yahweh or my dad/father is God. Abijah’s marriage was an arranged marriage. It was likely her child or children used by Ahaz for human sacrifice. Yet, she raised one of the most faithful Kings in the history of Israel in the midst of the terrible circumstances of Assyrian dominance and persecution, a wicked husband and father, and a nation in rebellion to God. She likely gave Hezekiah his name which means Yahweh strengthens.