| |
11 Chronicles Chapter 15
Asa's Religious Reforms
- 2Chronicles 15:1 And
the Spirit of God came upon Azariah the son of Oded:
- 2 And he went out to
meet Asa, and said unto him, Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and
Benjamin; The LORD is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye
seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he
will forsake you.
One can't speak any plainer than that.
If we don't want anything to do with God, why would He stick around.
Without His hand of protection, there is no protection. Stop and
think. Why would anyone want to live without God? He brings through
faith in His Son Jesus, eternal life, no sickness, no pain, no
heartache. We may have some of that in the here and now but in
eternity with a new resurrected body, there is nothing but good. All
we see now: houses, lands, food, riches etc. will be gone. God is
going to make all things new but only for the faithful. Those that
believe and live for Him.
- 2Chronicles 15:3 Now
for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and
without a teaching priest, and without law.
- 4 But when they in
their trouble did turn unto the LORD God of Israel, and sought
him, he was found of them.
This shows us the mercy and grace of
God. He wants to save, heal and fix things. He wants good for all of
us. He gives us a free will to say yes or no, but He wants good not
evil. It is not His will that any should perish.
- 2Peter 3:8 But,
beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
- 9 The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness;
but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to repentance.
- 10 But the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that
are therein shall be burned up.
- 11 Seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
- 12 Looking for
and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat?
- 13 Nevertheless
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
The new heaven and earth will be at the final
end of all things. Jesus reigns for 1000 years first until the time
of the very last rebellion of Satan and those that follow him. After
their defeat, God comes to dwell among men. There is a new heaven
and earth where no evil will ever dwell again.
-
1Thessalonians 4:13 But I
would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them
which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.
-
14 For if we believe that
Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him.
-
15 For this we say unto you
by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto
the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
-
16 For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ
shall rise first:
-
17 Then we which are alive
and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.
-
18 Wherefore comfort one
another with these words.
Those that died in the Lord and are alive
when the Lord comes to gather His believers, will return with Him
when He comes to set up His earthly kingdom. We get our new bodies
then. There will be natural people on earth when Jesus reigns. After
1000 years is when all rebellion comes to an end we then will enter
the New Heaven and Earth which descends from above.
-
Jude 1:14 And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten
thousands of his saints,
-
15 To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that
are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have
ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly
sinners have spoken against him.
New Jerusalem
-
Revelation 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the
first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was
no more sea.
-
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from
God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
-
3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and
they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them,
and be their God.
-
4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away.
-
5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true
and faithful.
We must follow Jesus to be part of that
future kingdom of Christ. Now is the time to receive Him if we have
not.
- 2Chronicles 15:5 And
in those times there was no peace to him that went out, nor to
him that came in, but great vexations were upon all the
inhabitants of the countries.
- 6 And nation was
destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with
all adversity.
There is no peace without God within any
nation.
- 2Chronicles 15:7 Be
ye strong therefore, and let not your hands be weak: for your
work shall be rewarded.
- 8 And when Asa heard
these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took
courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land
of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken
from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was
before the porch of the LORD.
There still must have been some idols
left even after his father got rid of them. Asa was so determined to
obey this prophecy that he removed his own mother from being queen
because she was into idolatry.
-
2Chronicles 15:9 And he
gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out
of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him
out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the LORD his God
was with him.
God always has those that stay true to
Him even when everyone else seems to fall away into sin. They left
the nothern kingdom of Israel and went south into the nation of
Judah because God was with them.
- 2Chronicles 15:10 So
they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third
month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa.
- 11 And they offered
unto the LORD the same time, of the spoil which they had
brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep.
Probably the feast of Pentecost, around what
we know as June.
We who are not of Israel can have God
in our lives too. Now the covenant with Israel has changed and all
are saved by coming to Jesus. Faith in Jesus is for both Jews and
Gentiles. Because of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus,
eternal life is given to all who believe. We serve God with all our
heart and soul the same way they did at this time.
Through the law of God given through
Moses, they had the death
penalty for those that brought in idolatry. Idolatry was so evil and
dangerous that they had to impliment that to keep people safe from
the death and destruction that came with the worship of idols.
Innocent babies and children were sacrificed to those things.
Although we have laws against murder
now that have a death penalty with it, we have to leave the
religious type of judgment to the Lord when He returns. We live in a
secular society that does not have prophets of God under the law of
Moses. If we impose the death penalty for any reason, we are capable
to killing the wrong ones for the wrong reasons. Now we have to
leave someone's death in the hands of God. We
have no right to kill the innocent. The whole system has changed
though for another reason. Jesus came to fulfill the law and usher
in the time of mervy and grace. That all who receive Him can have
eternal life and be cleased from all sin.
Through Jesus Christ, we are given a choice. To enter eternal
life, we choose now who to believe. We can't have any religion that
is forced upon us. Being born again and filled with the Holy Spirit
comes by our free will to receive this. Forced religion cannot make
anyone a new creature in Christ.
- 2Chronicles 15:14
And they sware unto the LORD with a loud voice, and with
shouting, and with trumpets, and with cornets.
- 15 And all Judah
rejoiced at the oath: for they had sworn with all their heart,
and sought him with their whole desire; and he was found of
them: and the LORD gave them rest round about.
- 16 And also
concerning Maachah the mother of Asa the king, he removed her
from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove: and
Asa cut down her idol, and stamped it, and burnt it at the brook
Kidron.
- 17 But the high
places were not taken away out of Israel: nevertheless the heart
of Asa was perfect all his days.
- 18 And he brought
into the house of God the things that his father had dedicated,
and that he himself had dedicated, silver, and gold, and
vessels.
- 19 And there was no
more war unto the five and thirtieth year of the reign of Asa.
The first war was the Ethiopian invsion
then 35 years of peace until war with Baasha the king of Israel in
the northern kingdom.
11
Chronicles Chapter 16
|
|