by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 32-33
We get the Sennacherib attack from a different perspective.
The Assyrian army has overtaken several nations in the area, and they surround Judah. The first thing Hezekiah does is cut off water to the surrounding troops. He has some natural options in place for the defense of his country. But his primary hope is in God, as he proclaims to the people.
Gathered around the square, the citizens hear the king’s message. “Be strong and courageous, do not fear or be dismayed because of the king of Assyria, not because of all the multitude which is with him; for the one with us is greater than the one with him.
With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God to help us and to fight our battles.”(32:7-8).
As we saw in II Kings 18, Sennacherib’s men try to turn Hezekiah’s people against him by shouting taunts in Hebrew. But the Jews stand firm, and God sends an angel to wipe out the armies. Then upon his shameful return to his land, Sennacherib is killed by his own children.
So Hezekiah’s reign finishes with great pomp, riches , and success.
Now his son Manasseh is another story. Manasseh starts out rebuilding all of the altars, and worshiping other gods. He “passes his sons through the fire,” engages in witchcraft and sorcery, and generally “does mush evil” in the sight of the Lord. “Thus Manasseh misled the sons of Judah to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the sons of Israel.” (33:9) They paid no attention to the Lord.
The king of Assyria threatens again, and Manasseh is carried off to Babylon. But Manasseh prays to the One true God and is delivered back to Judah.
Manasseh has a turnaround. He now believes in God, and starts turning his people back to him. We have seen kings turning away from God in their old age, but this is different. We see someone turning to Him. And we see that God forgives and blesses this king. The nation is saved from destruction because of God’s forgiveness.
This forgiveness is one of the attributes of our Father which has always been there. It was there for Jacob, for David, for Manasseh, and for you. Whatever you have done, whatever you have said, whatever you have been a part of, the Lord is ready to forgive you and set you on a new path.
Your humility is the key. You have to repent and turn around. But if you do that, God is always ready to forgive you and restore you.
John 18:19-40
God’s perfect Lamb is on trial. The Romans can find nothing wrong with Him. (Of course not, since he is a perfect Man).
Because of their ambition, greed, and jealousy, the priests want Him killed, but they have to manipulate to have their job done. They don’t have the authority to put Him to death.
The Romans have a custom of releasing one prisoner from execution in honor of the Jewish Passover. So the priests induce the crowds to ask for Barabbas to be released in the place of Jesus.
These Jewish leaders (and Satan who is stirring them up) think that they are winning, but God is the One who wins. He has planned from the beginning to have His Lamb slain by the High Priest at Passover time. Through the centuries, as the priests have slain the Passover lambs, they have been pointing to this day: the day when the final, perfect Lamb would be slain.
Make no mistake about it, when God has a plan, He wins – every time. Now you and I have the right given to us by Him not to be in on the plan, but if we won’t be a part of it, He will find someone who will.
God’s overall plan will be done. It was true on this Passover, and it’s true today.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 30-31
Hezekiah had a proclamation written up (the cell phone of the day), and sent word throughout the land. Judah – and anyone from Israel who wanted to participate – was to gather at Jerusalem in two months to celebrate the Passover.
“O Sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that He may return to those of you who escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. And do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord God of your fathers, so that He made them a horror, as you see…For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and sons will find compassion before those who led them captive, and will return to the land. For the Lord your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”(30:6-9)
When Israel and Judah had strayed so far from the Lord, it must have seemed radical to many for Hezekiah to want to put out this proclamation. The people – including the kings and priests – were deriving their vision from those around them. The present culture, and not the true God, had established the patterns of thought.
Doesn’t that seem like today? Many leaders – even ministers – use the surrounding culture to establish how they want to live. Sometimes people begin to believe that they are too smart for our Christian God. (Boy are they wrong)!
Hezekiah turned to the ancient writings to remind himself of the way it was supposed to be. And he followed the course prescribed. This was huge, since this feast had not been celebrated for many years.
The priests and Levites were ashamed of themselves, because they had been unfaithful to God’s principles of worship.
When the celebration got underway, there was tremendous rejoicing. The people didn’t know what they were missing until they experienced it.
Then they all went about destroying the idols and altars to the foreign gods.
“So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel.” (30:26)
There is great joy when we return to the truths of the Bible. Of course, there are certain things which are cultural. But there are certain truths which are constant whether you are living in New York City in a high-rise overlooking Central Park or a remote village of Africa. Or whether you lived two centuries ago or today. Certain truths prevail.
Oh, Lord, let us find the truth of your Word, and let us live it out the way you want us to!
John 18:1-18
There was certainly power in the words of Jesus! And power in His breath.
When the Roman soldiers came to arrest Jesus, He said’ “Whom do you seek?” They answered, “Jesus, the Nazarene.” When Jesus replied “I am He,” the soldiers drew back and fell to the ground. (V. 4-5)
Now think about that for a minute. These Roman soldiers were not wimps. The Roman Empire was known for having a strong, disciplined army. They conquered all of the neighboring territories and brought them under subjection.
Don’t you think that they themselves were surprised when they fell down? Such power came out of the mouth of Jesus that they couldn’t withstand the force.
Now that’s what I call “power in your words!”
No one could take Jesus’ life until He was ready to lay it down. This was His time, so he submitted to the arrest and the coming trial.
“The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?”(V. 11)
Thank you, Lord, for doing that for us.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 28-29
Remember : the temple represents God’s presence – which also means His involvement.
Ahaz had turned to such evil that not only did he worship other gods, but this king destroyed the utensils of the temple and closed its doors. We’ve never seen this in Judah before. Horrible times in God’s promised Land.
Thankfully, however, Hezekiah becomes king and begins to restore things. He opens the doors of the temple and begins the repairs. He also re-institutes the sacrifices with the priests and Levites.
Interestingly, the people are ready for this good change, because when Hezekiah calls for the burnt offerings, more are brought than the priests can handle. They have to have the Levites pitch in with the work.
Now we get a hint as to how Ahaz could have gotten so far off course. When Hezekiah calls for the priests and Levites to consecrate themselves, the “Levites were more conscientious to consecrate themselves than the priests.” (29:34)
The priests had lost their zeal for God and had allowed Ahaz to run amok. God’s men, who should have been upholding His purposes – even when evil kings were on the scene – had stepped down from their post. They had allowed the temple to be ransacked and closed.
Today, if you look around you can see some of God’s men who are more faithful to the current trends of thought than they are to God. It is sad when this happens. God’s leaders are the keepers of the flame. Without those keepers doing their jobs, the flame can go out – or become very dimly lit.
It’s interesting in Hezekiah’s day, however, that the regular people and the Levites are more eager to get back with God’s program than the priests.
If the leaders won’t do it, God will raise up others who will.
I pray that the Christian leaders of today will rise to the occasion as our Father is calling for restoration. Many of them will.
But where leaders won’t, God will go to the next level and raise up other believers to stand up for Him.
Our God needs a voice in our present day, pleasure-driven society.
John 17
This chapter is what I call the “real Lord’s Prayer.” I know that we recite another one together, but this chapter is the real deal.
When you understand about prayer, you understand that God wants His people to ask Him for His purposes.That’s one of our privileges as a believer. It all goes back to the beginning (Genesis 1-3),when He put man into the earth to “have dominion,” and “rule over” everything. Man has been given a certain amount of authority on the earth, which includes free will and the charge to ask for what we want from God. (His will).
I think that this prayer we see here is one of Jesus’ primary missions in coming to the earth.
If there was ever anyone who was in God’s perfect will and who could count on God’s will being done in His life it would be Jesus. Right? Well, isn’t it interesting that He tells God that the time had come? “Glorify Thy Son.” (V.1) Why? A man needed to pray that.
Then He goes on to pray for us. He prays that God will keep us from the evil one, and He says some shocking things.
“As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.”(V.18). We are to represent Him when He has gone.
Just in case you may be thinking that this prayer was for the disciples of that day, look at verse 20. “I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word.” That’s us!
The next part of the prayer is one that the Lord is really working on today. He prays that we will be one – with Him and with each other, so that people will know that He had been sent by God. And that God loves us – just as much as He loves Jesus. (V. 23) Wow!! And again I say, wow!!
As soon as the church was instituted after Jesus ascended to Heaven, the church started dividing up. One group thought this; the next group thought that. Look at the many denominations and doctrines out there now, and we see where this division has taken us. A house divided.
Now I’m not endorsing Universalism, I am endorsing all Christian churches which believe that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, He paid the price for our sins on the cross, and He has sent his Holy Spirit back to earth to live within our hearts. If we believe that, then we need to honor each other and reach out for the common purpose of affecting our communities.
I think that when we get to Heaven, we are going to find that none of us was completely right or wrong. We all know in part and see in part, and we can learn from each other.
My husband, Mickey, does a lot of teaching along these lines. He says that we are twelve tribes, but one nation. As the tribes of Israel each had their own banner, customs, and leadership, so do our Christian “tribes.” But when they went to war, they went as a nation.
When our different Bible-believing denominations come together for His purposes – to bring His plans into the earth – we need to come together in humility, appreciating each other, loving each other, and affecting our communities as one.
Remember when we have seen all of the barbaric things happening in the early chapters of the Bible? Remember that God’s plan all through that was to raise up a nation which could introduce His plan of redemption into the world? And a nation that could bring forth a Savior? All of God’s dealings with the Jews under the Old Covenant were to introduce the necessity for a blood sacrifice and a true walk with God.
Well, look at verse 24. Jesus says that God had loved Him before the foundation of the world. Before any of what we see was even here, God’s plan of redemption had been established.
Does this make your head tilt? It should,because none of us are really walking in all that has been provided for us. There is always more to learn and more to reach out for as we journey with the Lord.
I hope you will read this chapter several times. This is the prayer that Jesus prayed for you! Think about it and meditate on it.
Are you living up to what Jesus did for you? Let’s keep moving forward – pressing toward the mark.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 25-27
The torch is passed to Joash’s son, Amaziah, who starts out by trying to “do right in the sight of God.” He listens when a man of God warns him not to go to battle with the troops of Israel. And he wins the battle as he follows directions.
Yet he brings back the gods of the sons of Seir, sets them up, and begins to worship them. (It’s hard to figure some people out). Not only that, but no longer will he listen to the prophets.
So Amaziah challenges the king of Israel to war, and loses. Then all of the treasures are taken from the temple and carried off to Samaria.
Let’s see if Uzziah can get it right. This son of Amaziah replaces him when he is only 16 years old. Yay, it looks like he’s going to do well.
Uzziah reigns for 52 years. “And he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding through the vision of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him.” (26:5).
This king is industrious and innovative, building towers, cisterns, and establishing strong armies. “His fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.” (V.26:15).
Then immediately Uzziah becomes proud in his heart and falls into sin. So the end of his life is tragic: he dies as a leper.
How many times do we have to go through this routine before we get the message? Over and over, the kings start out determined that they are going to follow God. Then by the time they end their reign, they have turned away. Pride has brought them down.
So Jotham reigns for 16 years, and he follows the Lord. However, the roots of rebellion have already been sown, and the people “continue acting corruptly.”(27:2)
We could certainly learn some lessons from these historical accounts. It’s not how we start our walk as much as how we finish it. It’s easy to start out with lots of zeal, but we are in this walk with our God for the long haul.
I want to finish strong!
John 16
Jesus elaborates more on the Holy Spirit, and His mission when Jesus leaves. The words He shares with His disciples couldn’t possibly be understood by them at this moment. They don’t really know what is about to happen.
Remember, Jesus said earlier that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance the Words which He had spoken. For right now, their heads have to be spinning.
What? Where are you going? Why can’t we go?
Yet He offers comfort to them – and to us. “When He comes, the Spirit of Truth, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak ; and He will disclose to you what is to come.”(V.13)
Today, if we are Christians, we have this wonderful Holy Spirit of God living inside of us. He does indeed guide us into the truth. He explains to us the Word, and He shows us what we need to do. “It has been to our advantage for Jesus to have left” (V.7), because now we have the Holy Spirit for ourselves.
Now God loves us, just as He loves Jesus. The new dispensation of grace has been born into the world.
“If we ask the Father for anything, He will give it to us in Jesus’ name.” (V.23). “Ask, and you will receive that your joy may be made full.”(V. 24).
Do you believe those two verses? Do you believe that your prayers will be answered?
I believe that everything Jesus said was absolutely true! I believe that as we are in Jesus – and He in us – that what we ask will be according to His will. We won’t ask for evil; we will only ask for good. And those things will be given to us so that our joy may be made full.
Yes, Lord, I believe.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
II Chronicles 23-24
God always has a remnant.
For Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, to be queen of Judah was like Satan himself taking over God’s country. The temple was trampled, many of the holy things of the house were transferred for use by the priests of the Baals.( Baal was her God, just as he was her parents’). Hard times in Israel.
Yet God’s righteous man arose with a plan. Jehoiada, the priest, rallied some faithful leaders and they surrounded Joash, took him out of hiding, and crowned him king. Then they seized Athaliah and put her to death.
Joash was only seven years old when he was crowned king, but he had a wonderful mentor in Jehoiada. The priest led some people to destroy all of the altars and items of Baal, and they set out to restore the temple. Joash followed his lead and began raising money to restore the temple.
“Joash did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”(24:2)
It’s interesting to note here that as soon as a leader arose, there were many who followed. That’s something for us to consider today. When we look at our nation and see the immorality, the seeming apathy of believers, and the general trends of thought, we might think that there is no hope for us. But that’s not true.
There are many who want God’s purposes to be done, but they don’t have the drive or the gift to take charge. God is looking for some who will step up to the challenge.
When leaders step forth, there are those who will follow. You can see that in some of the grass-roots movements which are rising up in our nation today. There are many – looking for a leader to challenge them.
People with vision and determination to affect change will always be in high demand. By God and by men.
Leaders, however, can take people in either direction – up or down. So it’s important to take care just whom you are aligned with.
After Jehoiada’s death, Joash listened to others and forsook the true God, going after the Asherim and other idols. When Zechariah, Jehoiada’s son, tried to bring them back to the Lord, Joash had him killed.
The child king, who had helped lead his people back to the Lord, forsook his God at the end of his life. (Reminds you of Solomon, doesn’t it)?
I never want to turn away from my God , or to get lukewarm. I want to bear fruit all the days of my life.
John 15
This chapter is the key to a true life in Christ. Jesus gives us the imagery of a vine with many branches. He’s the vine and we are the branches.
So how are we connected? We are connected by the life flow of the Holy Spirit. We don’t each have our own root systems; our roots are in Jesus. As the sap flows from the roots of the vine and gives life to the branches, so does God’s anointing – His Holy Spirit – flow from Jesus and give us life.
When a vine grows, every healthy branch will bear fruit. Every branch which has the flow of sap coming in fullness will produce the purpose. In the same way, if there is a steady flow of God’s anointing, the Holy Spirit through us from Jesus, we will be producing fruit. The only way we don’t produce the fruit is if we disconnect ourselves from the vine.
Branches which don’t produce fruit are not connected – they are fake branches. Those branches will be cut off and thrown away. And if we, as a branch do produce fruit, we will be pruned so that we will be more fruitful. Through His Word and correction He will keep us vital.
I love this image. This shows how Christianity is so different from all other religions. Every other religion has a list of rules which people are to follow. These rules are to make one holy, with sometimes promises of a hereafter.
Christianity is totally different. It’s not a set of rules; it’s a life. It’s God’s life within us.
We have literally a new birth within our spirits so that we have God’s very life – the sap of the vine – leading us, guiding us, giving us wisdom, and even empowering us to live this new life.
For those who have never tasted of this life, it sounds like science fiction, but for those who have tasted of it, this is very real. As we read these passages we begin to understand why we feel so different and look at life so differently after we become born again. We are changed; we are different.
This reminds me of the story about Augustine, who wrote the City of God, and other works in the early centuries of Christianity. Augustine had been an atheist, living an extremely worldly lifestyle up until the time he met his Savior. During that time, he lived with a mistress for many years.
About ten years after his salvation, Augustine happened to meet his old lover on the street. She ran up to speak to him, but he walked by her, seeming not to notice her. She said, “Augustine, look at me. It is I!” He turned and looked at her and said, “But it is not I.”
Augustine was referring to the fact that he had been totally changed. He was not the old man, Augustine, but a new man, God’s man. A new creature in Christ.
Augustine was now living – not a life of the flesh, but a life of the spirit – with the source of his life being from his Savior.
This is so important. As children of God, we are no longer who we were before we got saved, but now we are His people. Our sins have been forgiven and we have the privilege of walking in the newness of life He has given us.
Oh, I hope we can get this!
