CbC July 19-25

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July 19, Sunday

Reading B200 — 2 Chron. 28 — Ahaz’s Terrible Reign (A)        Audio: 2 Chron. 28 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Standing Up — Ahaz was Judah’s worst king yet, and his sins are listed throughout this chapter.  He worshiped the northern kingdom’s Baal idols (v. 2) and the gods of the Syrians, who had defeated Judah (v. 23).  As a result, God punished Judah from all sides: Israel, Syria, and Assyria from the north and east, Edom from the southeast (v. 17), and the Philistines from the west (v. 18).  Although Israel had invaded Judah and captured 200,000 people as slaves (v. 8), it was surprisingly gracious of some of their strong leaders to refuse to accept the captives and to return them to Judah after clothing them and returning all their spoil (vv. 12, 15).  This shows that there were still godly people in Israel after so many years after breaking away from Judah.  They were also much more righteous than Ahaz, the king of Judah.  These leaders represented the condition that many of us Christians live in today.  We are in the vast minority, genuinely following God in the midst of people who serve the gods of selfishness, pride, lust, and greed.  Will we stand up against the majority for what is right?  Will we copy the prophet Oded’s courage, who demanded, “send back the captives” (v. 11)?  Will we speak out against abortion and corruption in our world today?  Collectively, we can make a difference.

July 20, Monday

Reading B201 — 2 Kings 16 — Ahaz’s Terrible Reign (B)             Audio: 2 Kings 16 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Blind Obedience — The story in today’s chapter is essentially the same as what we read yesterday.  What we learn today, however, is about the impressive heathen altar that Judah’s King Ahaz saw in Damascus when he went to meet the king of Assyria (vv. 10-11).  Sacrifices were being offered on the altar in Damascus to their god Hadad.  There are two parts of this substory that are very wrong.  First, Ahaz’s action constituted absolute and blatant disobedience to God regarding the worship of false gods.  Ahaz didn’t just accommodate this foreign worship, he promoted it.  He even moved Yahweh’s altar to another place and replaced it with this new altar (v. 14).  The second wrong part of this story was that the high priest, Uriah, agreed to this drastic change ordered by the king: “Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded” (v. 16).  He performed the God-ordained sacrifices on this heathen altar as if it were God’s altar.  He was obeying Ahaz but not obeying God.  This should be a lesson to all Christians in a position of responsibility and authority: our primary obedience is to be to the divine King of kings and Lord of lords.  This upward, divine obedience should be every Christian’s foremost response toward those in civil authority.  We are to serve God above man in every situation, even if it would cost us our lives.

July 21, Tuesday

Reading B202 — 2 Kings 17 — Israel Falls                    Audio: 2 Kings 17 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

God’s Gracious Patience — God was tired of Israel, and they were finally punished for their continued refusal to follow God exclusively, so they were dispersed to places as far away as 800 miles (1,287 km; see map).  How long did God put up with them?  It was 208 years from the time that Israel parted from their brothers in Judah and Benjamin to begin their partial worship of Yahweh through the two golden calves, plus worshiping the gods of Canaan and surrounding countries.  That long time demonstrates the amazing patience of God.  It is grace in the face of defiance.  His people refused to worship and serve Him wholly.  How about us Christians?  Some abuse the grace of God by sampling and remaining in sin because they are confident that He will forgive them.  Paul asked, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?  By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?” (Rom. 6:1-2).  To the Corinthian Christians he wrote, “when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32).  The writer of Hebrews tells us, “do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord” (Heb. 12:5), and Jesus told the Christians in Laodicea, “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent” (Rev. 3:19).  God’s grace is amazingly and undeservedly patient, but we must not take advantage of it or discipline will overtake us as well.

XXX

July 22, Wednesday

Reading B203 — Isaiah 13 — Oracle Against Babylon              Audio: Isaiah 13 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Both Tool and Victim — This is the first of a string of five oracles, or messages from God, regarding significant nations of Isaiah’s day.  This oracle concerns Babylon, the nation that God said He would “consecrate … to execute my anger” (v. 3) on Judah in the future.  These oracles strongly emphasize the ability of God to direct history to fulfill His purposes.  Babylon was not just a powerful nation, it was also a tool of Yahweh to bring judgment “to destroy … sinners … and the wicked for their iniquity” (vv. 9, 11).  Babylon was not without its own sin, however, so God said, “I am stirring up the Medes against them” (v. 17).  Glorious Babylon would fall “like Sodom and Gomorrah … It will never be inhabited or lived in for all generations” (vv. 19-20).  This attack came in a single night, as we will read later in Daniel 5:30-31.  Although Saddam Hussain attempted to rebuild the city of Babylon in 1980, it has been described as now looking like “an abandoned theme park.”

July 23, Thursday

Reading B204 — Isaiah 14 — Promised Future for Judah              Audio: Isaiah 14 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Babylon Will Fall — This chapter was written during the time of Judah’s King Ahaz (v. 28), and it is focused on Judah, not Israel.  Judah’s oppressor at that time was Assyria (v. 25), and its future conqueror would be Babylon (vv. 4, 22).  This prophecy looks even beyond Judah’s exile to the destruction of Babylon and the return of God’s people to the Promised Land.  The certainty of God’s gracious promise is emphasized here: “For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel, and will set them in their own land” (v. 1).  Here, “Israel” refers generally to the descendants of Jacob, not the northern kingdom.  In the context of describing the future fall of the pompous king of Babylon, this debated statement is made: “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!” (v. 12; better translated without the capitals in the NIV: “…morning star, son of the dawn!”).  The 4^th century Latin Vulgate Bible started the difficulty by translating the Hebrew word, heylél, as an English name, “Lucifer,” by combining the Latin words, “lux” (“light”) with “ferre” (“to carry”).  From this, some early Bible commentators interpreted “Lucifer” to be a name for Satan, but this passage is talking about the king of Babylon, not Satan (cf. Bible Hub: “Lucifer”).  We will read later about the pride of Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar in Dan. 4:29-33.  He was an example of Solomon’s warning: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov. 16:18).

July 24, Friday

Reading B205 — Isaiah 15 — The Fall of Moab                          Audio: Isaiah 15 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

July 25, Saturday

Reading B206 — Isaiah 16 — The Pride of Rejection                     Audio: Isaiah 16 (ESV)

An audio recording of the following comments is available below:

Rejecting the Call — The oracle against Moab continues in this chapter where the remnant of their people is urged to flee to Jerusalem to worship Yahweh: “Send the lamb … to the mount of the daughter of Zion” (v. 1).  There they would find “counsel … justice … shelter … [and] a throne … [of] steadfast love … justice and … righteousness” (vv. 3-5).  Would they do it?  Apparently not.  Because of “the pride of Moab” (v. 6), everyone will “wail for Moab” (v. 7), even the divine Judge, who punishes them: “I weep … I drench you with my tears” (v. 9).  Instead of submitting to God, however, the Moabite continued his futile worship at his own high places and sanctuary, but “he will not prevail” (v. 12), i.e., it will be useless.  His doom would come in “three years” (v. 14).  The offer of salvation is also presented today to lost people we know, but they refuse to come to the Savior and continue with their pride to cling to their own ways, even though it will lead to destruction.  We proclaim the truth to them and then pray with hope that they will respond to God’s softening of their hearts toward Him.