“Those who are intimate with God will never be intimidated by man.”
David Ravenhill
Strengthening The Kingdom:
There is an interesting account in the eleventh chapter of Second Chronicles that caught my eye today. I was reading through the account of Rehoboam’s reign in Jerusalem in the face of Israel’s revolt under Jeroboam the first king of Israel following Solomon’s reign of the ‘united kingdom’ (both Judah and Israel).
Jeroboam wanted to muster the troops of Judah and Benjamin to go out and fight what he saw as the rebellious Israelites under Jeroboam. But the word of the Lord came and told them not to go out to battle; and they obeyed the directive of God. In that instant the ‘united kingdom’ became divided into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel.
When Jeroboam came into power in Israel and he began to make sweeping spiritual changes.
14b …Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them (the Levites)
from serving as priests to the LORD.
15He set up priests of his own for the high places,
for the goat and for the calves which he had made.
2 Chronicles 11:14b-15 NIV
Jeroboam allowed for the worship of Baal and many false gods of the people… any god was welcomed but the God of Jerusalem. He erected two types of high places, one for Baal and another where he placated the people who worshipped the true God but under his own appointed priests (not the Levites).
The Levites and true believers who were in Israel abandoned everything including their possessions, and came to Jerusalem to serve under Rehoboam, where they could worship the true God.
14 The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD. 15 And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made. 16 Those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 11:14-16 NIV
“They set they hearts on seeking the LORD.”
It would seem that the enemy is still seeking to divide the people of God in the same way. The world system is teeming with the ‘spirit of Rehoboam’… any path the god, except the true path though Jesus Christ. 'If you want to stay here we expect you to be “politically correct” and accept the blood of goats and calves to be as acceptable as the blood of the Lamb of God.'
Many in the land knuckled under and went with the flow. But then there were those who refused to follow, and at great personal cost, they followed after the truth and sought after the Lord. There are those today following the same narrow path.
Notice what it says in verse 17.
They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, walking in the ways of David and Solomon during this time.
2 Chronicles 11:17 NIV
They strengthened the kingdom of Judah by their physically presence... yes. I believe, however, that the greatest strength they offered the kingdom was their integrity to follow after God in His prescribed manner. They were determined to seek God with all their hearts, despite the cost.
God is still seeking men and women who will do the same.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
Psalm 33:12 NIV
30
fkj
David Ravenhill
Strengthening The Kingdom:
There is an interesting account in the eleventh chapter of Second Chronicles that caught my eye today. I was reading through the account of Rehoboam’s reign in Jerusalem in the face of Israel’s revolt under Jeroboam the first king of Israel following Solomon’s reign of the ‘united kingdom’ (both Judah and Israel).
Jeroboam wanted to muster the troops of Judah and Benjamin to go out and fight what he saw as the rebellious Israelites under Jeroboam. But the word of the Lord came and told them not to go out to battle; and they obeyed the directive of God. In that instant the ‘united kingdom’ became divided into the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel.
When Jeroboam came into power in Israel and he began to make sweeping spiritual changes.
14b …Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them (the Levites)
from serving as priests to the LORD.
15He set up priests of his own for the high places,
for the goat and for the calves which he had made.
2 Chronicles 11:14b-15 NIV
Jeroboam allowed for the worship of Baal and many false gods of the people… any god was welcomed but the God of Jerusalem. He erected two types of high places, one for Baal and another where he placated the people who worshipped the true God but under his own appointed priests (not the Levites).
The Levites and true believers who were in Israel abandoned everything including their possessions, and came to Jerusalem to serve under Rehoboam, where they could worship the true God.
14 The Levites even abandoned their pasturelands and property, and came to Judah and Jerusalem because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them as priests of the LORD. 15 And he appointed his own priests for the high places and for the goat and calf idols he had made. 16 Those from every tribe of Israel who set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of Israel, followed the Levites to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
2 Chronicles 11:14-16 NIV
“They set they hearts on seeking the LORD.”
It would seem that the enemy is still seeking to divide the people of God in the same way. The world system is teeming with the ‘spirit of Rehoboam’… any path the god, except the true path though Jesus Christ. 'If you want to stay here we expect you to be “politically correct” and accept the blood of goats and calves to be as acceptable as the blood of the Lamb of God.'
Many in the land knuckled under and went with the flow. But then there were those who refused to follow, and at great personal cost, they followed after the truth and sought after the Lord. There are those today following the same narrow path.
Notice what it says in verse 17.
They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon three years, walking in the ways of David and Solomon during this time.
2 Chronicles 11:17 NIV
They strengthened the kingdom of Judah by their physically presence... yes. I believe, however, that the greatest strength they offered the kingdom was their integrity to follow after God in His prescribed manner. They were determined to seek God with all their hearts, despite the cost.
God is still seeking men and women who will do the same.
Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD,
the people he chose for his inheritance.
Psalm 33:12 NIV
30
fkj
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