II Chronicles 10-12
Rehoboam acts foolishly. During Solomon’s reign Jeroboam had shown signs of rebellion, and when he was thwarted, he fled to Egypt.
Jeroboam approaches Rehoboam in an effort to ease the load of his followers. “If you lighten our load, we will serve you.” Rehoboam ignores the advice of the wise elders and heeds the word of his foolish younger companions.
“Whereas my father loaded you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” (10:11)
Wrong answer. “So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David until this day.”(10:19)
The twelve tribes which had been the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob are now broken up. Instead of one kingdom, there are two. Israel, with Jeroboam as its king, consists of 10 tribes, and Judah with Rehoboam consists of only two.
God had promised that he would bless the kingdom as long as they would follow Him and be faithful to Him. However, as we saw yesterday, even Solomon, who started off as a wise man, turned from God . Now his son is doing the same.
“And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the Lord.”(12:14)
Today, I want to “set my heart” to seek the Lord. I want to pray, spend time with Him, and listen to what He is telling me. Then I want to obey his Word and His voice.
It’s not an emotion; it’s something we do. We set our hearts toward Him.
John 11:45-57
“If we let Him go on like this, all men will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.” (V.48)
This last sign Jesus did, as He raised Lazarus from the dead, was just too much. From now on the Pharisees would openly seek to kill Jesus. Up until this time they persecuted Him verbally, but now the time has come for them to persecute Him openly.
So orders are sent out from the leaders that “if anyone knew where He was, he should report it, so that they might seize Him.”(57)
Jesus, on the other hand, goes away to the country near the wilderness and stays with His disciples. He can’t go out openly anymore because of these leaders. He will be killed for our sins, but in God’s time – at Passover time. He is the Passover lamb sent by God for us.
In the meantime, He is watchful of the leaders who want to kill Him before the time.
This is a perfect example of what “political correctness” can get you. There are times when what is right in men’s eyes is an abomination to God.
That’s what we have here. The Savior, who has come into the world to take away the sin of man, is sought by these arrogant, misguided men who esteem themselves so highly.
You can see the same things happening today. Sometimes the ones who are right and just are being intimidated and persecuted by those who aren’t.
Yet God was on the side of Jesus, and He will be on the side of the righteous today. I want to have the courage to stand for what is right – even though there is persecution that goes with it.
I want to be on God’s side!
