II Kings 15:38 And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father; and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead
Some people think that the Bible is old and irrelevant. They think it has no bearing at all with where we are and what we experience today, yet nothing could possibly be further from the truth. In II Kings we read of a long string of kings in the divided kingdom, both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel, and all the infighting, conspiracy, death, destruction, ambition, and misery that went along with it. When you think about, that is exactly what you see when you look at the news today. Really, the history of Israel is the history of the world in that regard, and the history of the world is the news you may have looked at today. That may be very discouraging sometimes, except to say that there is not chaos because there is no God; there is chaos because we do not submit to God.
In II Kings 15, the very last verse is somewhat of a summary of the chapter. It says, “And Jotham slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.” So, Jotham was buried with his fathers and his son reigned in his place. All these kings in both kingdoms knocked themselves out to control, to rule, to reign, to have power, but, as I have often said, people who must control everything are controlled by everything.
As you look as this chapter, you see three common themes. One is conspiracy. Someone is assassinated or killed in order that the one who killed him can be king. You find bribery. One king of God’s people basically paying off the king of Assyria. You also find attacks on enemies both foreign and domestic. Why was all this conspiracy, bribery, and attacking happening? It was because God was not ruling in the hearts of His people. What you find over and again in these verses is that a king will be named, a brief summary given of his life and reign, and then it says something like, “He continued in the sins of Jeroboam.” The long and short of that is that he continued doing the same ignorant sins and living in the same ignorant rebellion that his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had.
At the very best the Bible mentions in this chapter a couple of good kings who did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, but then as a caveat it might say, “Save that the high places were not removed.” So, you have thoroughly bad kings and you have good kings who had just a little bit over which God did not have control. In short, all of this was because of ambition, which came of selfishness, and resulted in hatred.
James 4 talks about this kind of problem where it says, “From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? We so often think, “Oh, if we could just be like the children, we would be so happy in this world.” People who say that either have forgotten or do not have their own kids. If you go to a nursery and have two kids, fifty toys, and five minutes, you will have two kids fighting over the fifty toys. Why? It is because we are born with a selfish nature.
So, James 4:1 says that the wars and fightings come from people’s lusts in their own selves. James 4:2 says, “Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.” That was the picture of Israel. They were fighting, yet they didn’t have because they did not ask. They didn’t ask because God was not sovereign or king. Many years ago, Matthew Henry said, “Nothing does more toward the making of a nation as an easy prey to a common enemy than contests for the sovereignty. Happy the land where that is settled.” In other words, if there is a question of who will be in control among different people, they are going to fight and war among themselves for supremacy. The answer is not the sovereignty of any king, but the sovereignty of God the King.
Yesterday I was driving through an area that has a lot of amusement parks. One of the signs said, “Follow your heart.” That is precisely why we are in the place we are in this world today. Everyone is following that which is right in his own eyes. Everyone is following his own heart. That sounds good for a cartoon, but it is so false. It is the falsehood that is thousands of years old. The question is not, “Who is in control in Israel, in Hollywood, in Washington, DC, or on the world stage or economic forum?” The question is, “Who reigns in your heart today?” Chaos reigns where God does not. Today, ask yourself who reigns and make the decision to allow God the Creator of the universe to be in control and guide your life today.