Gary Gleans

The life of Hezekiah is a clear illustration that godliness does no always lead to health, wealth and peace.  God described Hezekiah as having been the best king of Judah and yet his reign was filled with war and then he became deathly ill.  We must constantly remind ourselves that the rewards of obedience to the Lord are securely stored for us in heaven but often will not be experienced on this earth.  We live on a planet cursed by sin so we must remember that there is every possibility that we will suffer for doing good as opposed to prospering for it. HEZEKIAH DEFIES DEATH: When Hezekiah becomes sick the prophet Isaiah comes and lets him know that he will not recover from the illness but that God had decided that he will die.  At this point he had only reigned for ten years.  Hezekiah did not want to die so young so be prayed to the Lord and asked God to spare his life.  God answered the prayer and Isaiah returned with the news that God had granted ...

Hope is a wonderful and powerful thing.  When Hezekiah and the city of Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians and the conditions in Judah were so bad that the people were starving, the people and Hezekiah desperately needed hope.  The Assyrians were a proud and barbaric people that were particularly cruel to their enemies.  They caused great fear to spread over the entire region.  Kingdom after kingdom had fallen before the Assyrian army and they became very proud.  They blasphemed the name of the Lord and they believed that they were invincible.  They were wrong.  There is no human power that can stand before the Lord and the power of God no matter how strong they think they are.  It is a great source of hope to know that our God is the one and only all-powerful sovereign of the universe.  No matter what circumstance we face, we can always place our faith in Him and trust in Him. ISAIAH ASSURES HEZEKIAH WITH HOPE: In the midst of all...

Just when it appears that all hope for the children of Israel is gone, God demonstrates that He is able to provide a godly leader that truly walks in the ways of the Lord.  Hezekiah’s father was a wicked king and the king of Israel was also wicked and was taken into captivity during the beginning of his reign.  However, Hezekiah seems to have learned from the mistakes of his father and the king of Israel.  In a sea of evil and mediocre kings that rebelled against God or only served Him halfheartedly, Hezekiah stands out like a beacon of hope.  Apparently he saw the consequences of disobedience and tolerance of sin and by God’s grace he decided that the price was too high to pay so he walked in obedience to the Lord and His Word.  God continues to look for leaders today who will follow His Word and be courageous enough to defy the tide of sinfulness in the culture around them. HEZEKIAH PRACTICED COMPLETE OBEDIENCE: We are so used to king after king that is d...

God is patient, loving and kind; but He is also holy and just and He must punish sin as He has promised to do.  The nation of Israel had been taught the Word of God but chose to ignore God’s instruction and warnings so they continued to live idolatrous and lives.  God had warned them of the consequences of disobedience and He had promised to judge them and God always keeps His promises.  We are often tempted to think that the delay of God’s judgment somehow means that He will not judge.  That is a mistake.  One day God will interrupt the course of history and step in to judge this world.  We must never mistake the patience of God with His unwillingness or inability to judge.  ISRAEL’S IDOLATRY LED TO CAPTIVITY: Israel continued to insist on worshiping idols and they refused to follow the Lord whole heartedly.  King after king led the nation further and further into sin and God was angry with them.  Finally, God sent the nation of Assyria...

Throughout history it is easy to observe that the saying: “what the parents tolerate in moderation the children will practice in excess” is true.  King after king in Judah has done what was right in the eyes of the Lord only they did not remove the high places.  While the kings themselves did not make sacrifices at the high places; they tolerated it in the people that they led.  Now Ahaz is king and decides that if his father and grandfather permitted their people to make sacrifices there that it must not be so bad so he went to extreme idolatry.  We must be very careful what we tolerate in our families as our children will very likely go beyond what we have permitted and that is how faithful families eventually become faithless families. AHAZ INSTIGATES IDOLATRY IN ISRAEL: The previous kings had failed to remove the high places so Ahaz feels free to use them and takes the worship of idols to extreme levels.  He is said to have worshiped under every green ...

Contrasts are very easy to see between the nation of Israel and the nation of Judah.  The primary contrast is seen in the kings that reign over these nations and their relationship before the Lord.  We can see the clear benefits of submitting to the Lord and the dangers of following after false gods.  Despite the contrasts and inconsistencies that we see in these kings; we see a very faithful God who is clearly in control of the leaders that are established.  As we look on from the outside it is clear that wickedness and idolatry lead to pain, suffering and death.  It seems strange that king after king failed to realize this and change.  This is a reminder to all of us that we are often blind to our own weaknesses and apart from the grace of God in our lives, we would all be trapped in this same viscous circle. THE TWO KINGS OF JUDAH WERE MARKED BY PARTIAL OBEDIENCE AND LONGEVITY: Uzziah reigned for fifty-two years and his son Jotham reigned for 25 ye...

There are times when we think that things should work out one way and we believe that this would be the just way for things to happen.  However, things do not always happen the way that we might think that they should.  The obedient do not always triumph over the disobedient.  When this happens our natural tendency is to question either God’s goodness or His power.  We must be careful not to allow this to happen in our lives.  There are circumstances that we may not understand but we must never doubt the ability of God or the character of God.  When we don’t understand; we do well to take our confusion to the Lord in prayer, leave our doubts with Him and simply trust that He knows exactly what He is doing. AMAZIAH IS DEFEATED BY JEHOASH: Amaziah was a relatively good king who obeyed God, followed the Law and feared the Lord.  He did not remove all idol worship from Israel, but did not worship these idols himself.  God gave him victory over t...