MINISTER, Rev. Thomas
Scarborough.
King Abijah. II
Chronicles 13.
We
have begun a series
of sermons on the book of 2 Chronicles
-- a book which traces the spiritual history of Israel.
Sometimes,
in these chapters, just a single incident is highlighted from the
reign of a king, or from a span of time in history -- just that
incident that encapsulates
what happened from a spiritual point of view during that time.
And
that is what we find this morning, in 2 Chronicles chapter 13.
Chapter
13 covers the entire reign of King Abijah -- and yet it deals with
just a single incident of his reign. And then we read in chapter 13
verse 22: "The other events of Abijah's reign, what he did, and
what he said, are written in the annotations of the prophet Iddo."
And if you happen to
find those annotations, signed "Iddo" at the bottom, you
will be a very rich person.
The
annotations of Iddo are long gone -- but the reason why 2 Chronicles
survives is that this is the spiritual history of Israel -- that is,
the history of what God
did in Israel -- and this
was the history, I said last week, that the Israelites treasured, and
faithfully handed down from generation to generation.
* * * * * * * * *
But
before
I turn to Chapter 13
this morning, and look at that one great incident in the reign of
king Abijah,
I’d like to look at one last incident from the reign of King
Rehoboam,
whom we looked at two weeks ago.
Rehoboam
was incidentally the father
of Abijah.
* * * * * * * * *
Let
us go back for a moment to 2 Chronicles chapter 11,
to the reign of King Rehoboam.
In chapter 11, Israel
has just been divided into north and south. The great kingdom of
Solomon has been split into two parts. The great Israelite empire
has come to an end.
The
southern kingdom is now called Judah -- and in
this kingdom is the city of Jerusalem, and the temple of Solomon.
And in the north is the kingdom of Israel.
Now an important thing
to understand about this rift -- this division into north and south
-- is that the whole of the north now lost its access to the temple.
And
therefore the king of the north -- and the people
of the north -- decided to appoint their own priesthood.
They also set up their own gods
-- which were goat and calf idols.
Let’s
look at 2 Chronicles Chapter 11 verse 15: "And the king of the
north appointed his own priests for the high places, and for the goat
and calf idols he had made."
Now
there were two
things wrong with this -- firstly, it was a serious offence against
the law of God -- the law of Moses -- to worship idols."
(Exodus 20:3).
* * * * * * * * * *
But
also, you couldn’t just appoint your own priests.
God
had appointed the men who were to be the priests in Israel.
They were the tribe of the Levites,
who were descended from Aaron.
According
to the law of God, they
were set aside for the task of the priesthood.
Nobody else could take their job, and they were not allowed to do
anything else
-- because
they had been set aside as God’s priests.
So
now the kingdom in the north appointed its own priesthood
-- and all the true
priests of God were dismissed.
And
remember, it was not as though they could stop being a priest and
simply do something else instead. It was their sacred calling from
God
to minister to the Lord their God.
Let’s
remember incidentally that, as Christians, we are also
called priests.
The Bible says, “You are a chosen people,
a royal priesthood.”
(1 Peter 2:9).
We
also
can’t just give up what God has called us to
-- we have been set aside for Him,
and for Him alone
-- and I’ll return to this in a moment.
* * * * * * * * *
So
what were these priests to do
-- now that the king of the north had gone and set up his own
priesthood?
Let’s
look at chapter 11 verse 14: "The Levites -- that is the priests
-- even abandoned their pasturelands and property, and came to Judah
and Jerusalem because Jeroboam -- that is the king of the north --
and his sons had rejected them as priests of the Lord."
These
priests could no longer serve the Lord in the kingdom of the north --
and so they abandoned all that they had
to go and serve the Lord in the south. All their fields and cattle
and beautiful houses, they just abandoned -- they left them to the
winds and the weather, and arrived with nothing in Jerusalem.
And
the reason again -- was that they had
to serve the Lord as the Lord had called
them to do.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now let us apply this to
ourselves this morning.
The
basic core
of this story is about giving up pasturelands and property -- giving
up worldly wealth, and worldly advantages -- for
God.
Now
you might say, “Fortunately we don’t have to make such choices
today.”
But I think we do.
I think that if you are called to be one of God’s chosen people,
one of His royal priesthood, you do
need to make such choices.
We have a calling from
God -- just as those Old Testament priests had a calling. The Bible
says we have been "called with a holy calling" -- to
minister to the Lord in all that we do. (2 Timothy 1:9).
Now
this means that you and I -- just like those Old Testament priests --
should be ready to give up anything that interferes with our calling
-- just as the Levitical priests gave up their pasturelands and their
property so that they could serve the Lord as He had called them to
serve Him.
The underlying principle
is the same -- you and I are called to serve the Lord. If anything
stops us from doing that, then we should abandon it so as to still
carry out our calling.
* * * * * * * * * *
I’ll
give you a personal example.
My financial adviser said to me, “I can make your personal
finances a lot better if I reconstitute
them.” I said to him, “What does ‘reconstitute’ mean?” He
said, “Fabricate.
I can fabricate
them.”
I
couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
And he
looked as though he
couldn’t believe what he was hearing when I said, “No. Don’t
fabricate anything
-- even if I lose.”
The
same applies to all
of us. If you lose a deal at work because you choose to serve the
Lord -- if you lose a few thousand more to the Receiver of Revenue
-- if you have to sell your house or your car to do what is right --
you are doing what those priests did during the reign of King
Rehoboam.
In
our society today, you have plenty
of choices to do the wrong
thing -- but as Christians we are called to be priests to God
-- even if it means losing pasturelands and properties.
* * * * * * * * * *
There
are two reasons, I think, why we can do
this.
Firstly,
the Lord commands
it in His Word,
and we respect the Lord, and we respect His Word.
But
secondly, we know who is in charge
of our wealth and our blessing.
God is a sovereign
God. He is all-powerful.
What He takes away, He can just as easily give us back as a reward.
Whether we gain or whether we lose,
it is of the Lord.
* * * * * * * * *
I’ll give one more
example of losing for the Lord, and then I’ll move on.
When
we think of our earthly wealth, what is our obligation to God?
One
big part of being priests to God as Christians is of course to give a
tithe
to the work of the Lord. Are you ready to abandon material
advantages
for that -- so that you can serve the Lord as He has called you to
serve Him?
Are
you willing, as were the priests, to abandon
something to serve the Lord faithfully?
* * * * * * * * *
Let
us move on, then, to the reign of king Abijah
-- in 2 Chronicles chapter 13. The second major part of my sermon
this morning -- King Abijah.
Now
we have here -- in chapter 13 -- just one great incident from the
reign of king Abijah. Abijah was the king of the south -- the king
of Judah -- and this takes place some years after
the incident with the priests.
Now
during the time of Abijah's reign, the king of the north declared war
on king Abijah. We read in Chapter 13 verse 3
that the king of the north drew up against Abijah with an army of
800,000 able
troops -- that is, not just men who were quickly conscripted for
battle -- but well-trained
troops
-- and almost a million of them.
And
King Abijah, on the other hand, could muster only four hundred
thousand men. In other words, he was outnumbered 2 to 1. And the
Bible suggests that his
men had not been trained as troops -- they had only been trained
individually as warriors.
They didn’t know about warfare.
* * * * * * * * * *
Now King Abijah was
clearly in very serious trouble here.
And the story begins
with King Abijah climbing onto a mountain -- in verse 4 -- he climbs
onto Mount Zemaraim, and he launches forth into a speech against the
troops of the north.
Now
this is a very interesting speech -- it is one of the more famous
speeches of the Bible -- for the simple reason that it is one of the
most misguided
speeches of the Bible.
King Abijah basically
said three things from that mountaintop -- and two of them were badly
beside the point -- we might even say that King Abijah said some
pretty brainless things.
But let's first look at
what Abijah got right.
* * * * * * * * * *
In
the first place, king Abijah -- from verse 9 -- rightly says that the
king of the north has abandoned the Lord God of Israel -- he has
driven out the priests of the Lord -- he has appointed his own
priests, who are not
priests -- and he has made gods that are not gods.
And therefore, says
Abijah, the Lord God will not prosper him.
And
on this point, King Abijah is quite right. In the long run, the Lord
will not prosper a person who does not honour Him. At some stage
they are going to fall flat, and the power of the Lord will not be
there
to raise them up again.
That applies today just
as much as it applied then.
And
we read in verse 20 that the Lord eventually
struck down the king of the north. We don't know just what happened
-- but this does mean that he met a disastrous end.
* * * * * * * * * *
Then -- secondly -- king
Abijah explains in his speech just why he is going to win this
battle, and not Jeroboam -- the king of the north.
And
incidentally, while King Abijah is giving this famous speech -- the
king of the north
is shuffling his troops
around. If you look down to verse 13,
you’ll see that the king of the north was sending his troops behind
Abijah as he was giving his magnificent speech.
So
Abijah continues with his speech.
And
he says, firstly, that he is going to win
because he is descended from David.
And in verse 8 he says that his government officials are not just
any old officials, but they
trace their family tree back to David.
And
then he says that he will win the battle because the ancestry of his
priests
traces back to Aaron -- that is verse 9.
But
what exactly does a genealogy
matter? Paul said, “Avoid
foolish controversies and genealogies.”
(Titus 3:9). Your genealogy
-- your family tree
-- gives no clues about where you stand with the Lord.
You
might be born in Paris
-- or you might be born in a chief’s kraal
-- but that gives no clue as to where you stand with the Lord.
And then Abijah goes
into great detail as to how his priests and officials have kept all
sorts of minute religious observances.
In verse 6, he says that
his priests have not forgotten to mix salt into the offerings. In
verse 11, he tells the enemy how he has kept the table in the temple
ceremonially clean -- remember that he is facing 800,000 troops --
and he tells them how the priests light the lamps in the evening, and
so on.
Now
we know from the Bible that what really
pleases the Lord is a heart that loves Him
-- in fact Jesus
condemned the scribes and the pharisees because they kept all these
kinds of details,
but they forgot what He called "the weightier matters".
(Matthew 23:23). We shall return to this in a moment.
And
the Lord God said through the prophet Isaiah: "The multitude of
your sacrifices, what are they to Me?" (Isaiah 1).
Of
course we would love to get even the details
right -- but that is not, at the end of the day, what brings us the
approval of God.
* * * * * * * * * *
And
then Abijah told the army of the north just what a scoundrel
their own king was.
The
only problem is that most of what king Abijah said in his speech is
not in fact true.
At least it is only half-true -- and often half-truths are the worst
kinds of lies, because they fool people so much more easily.
In
verse 6, Abijah says that the king of the north -- rebelled
against king Rehoboam. In fact, if we go back to chapter 10, we read
that Jeroboam came to him saying: "We will serve
you."
In
verse 7, Abijah says that the king of the north had rebelled because
of some "worthless scoundrels" who had surrounded him.
But
actually, if we look at chapter 10, we read that it was -- quote --
"all Israel"
who surrounded him.
And
he makes other mistakes, too.
King
Abijah made a mistake that many people make -- he changes history
-- he doesn't tell it like it really was.
As
the months and years go by, people have a tendency to make things
look worse than they really were
-- or the opposite
of that -- they make them look more rosy
than they really were. And above all, they think, like Abijah, that
they
have the moral high
ground.
* * * * * * * * * *
So
what is the Lord
going to do with Abijah?
Let us look at verse 13.
"Now Jeroboam --
the king of the north -- had sent troops around to the rear, so that
while he was in front of Judah, the ambush was behind them. Judah
turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear."
And
then come the decisive words -- verse 14 is crucial.
Suddenly Abijah and his men realised that they were surrounded -- by
an army twice the size. What was their reaction? "Then they --
that is Abijah and his men -- cried out to the Lord."
In
that moment where it really really mattered,
they showed where their true heart was. They showed that they truly
relied on the Lord.
And
the Lord answered.
The army of Jeroboam was routed, with 500,000 casualties -- in verse
17 -- half a million of his men were killed in the battle.
* * * * * * * * * *
So
what do we learn from this? Why has this story been put
into the Word of God?
Firstly,
this story shows us clearly
that God can love us and be on our side even if we are not perfect.
This
is what the Bible makes clear. We are justified by faith in Jesus
Christ. God loves
us through His Son Jesus
-- even if we have not yet made it to where we should be.
King
Abijah
had a false
confidence in his pedigree.
King Abijah had a false
confidence in keeping all sorts of detail laws like lighting the
lamps, and cleaning the table.
And King Abijah didn’t know his facts
-- or he misrepresented
the facts.
And
yet God was with
him -- because when it came to the crunch, we see that King Abijah
really trusted in God.
But
let us notice that the opposite can also
be true. When it comes to the crunch, might not
trust in God.
You might be a Christian faith that is oh so correct.
You might be like Abijah,
and have all the right pedigree -- and every detail in place.
But
what really matters is -- are you trusting in God?
Is your heart
with God? Only then will the Lord give you power, and only then
will the Lord be with you, and deliver you in every situation.
* * * * * * * * * *
And
then lastly, there is also another, far wider truth to this story of
King Abijah. This story gives us a picture
of salvation.
King
Abijah was a man at the end of his rope -- there was very little hope
for him -- and He was saved.
He was saved by the grace of God.
God didn't save him at
the end of the day because of his ancestry, or the details of his
religious observances. It is clear that God saved him because in the
crucial moment, he cried out to the Lord, and said: "Lord, save
me!"
The prophet Joel says:
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
(Joel 2:32).
So
here we have a picture
of what salvation
is all about.
You
are not saved from God's judgement because you were brought up in the
right family. You are not saved because you keep a long list of
religious observances. You are not saved because you are on the
moral high ground -- as King Abijah thought he was.
You
are saved when you realise you are absolutely lost before a holy God
-- all is lost
-- as it was with King Abijah -- and you say: "Lord, save me
through the blood of Your Son Jesus Christ. I trust only in You
now." That is what salvation is all about.
* * * * * * * * *
If you would like to
take with you some simple steps to follow to give your life to the
Lord -- and a prayer to pray -- do ask me for a booklet as you leave
at the door -- these are with the compliments of our Church.
AMEN.
