Just
One Generation
One of the great events recorded in
the OT was the dedication of Solomon’s Temple, a building that God did
not allow David to build. Before his death, however, God did enable
David to provide his son all the resources he needed to build it. In
the midst of the dedication described in 2 Chronicles 7, God filled the
Temple with his glory, so much so that even his priests were unable to
bear it. There was not a day like it in the history of Israel until
Jesus manifested that same glory to his disciples on the Mount of
Transfiguration.
The WONDER of the glory God displayed
that day could ONLY be extinguished through Israel's WICKEDNESS in
departing from their God. So the Lord by night gave Solomon this
promise in the event of apostasy:
“If my people, which are called
by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and TURN
FROM their WICKED ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive
their sin, and will heal their land” (7:14).
It took JUST ONE GENERATION for
Israel to TURN TO wicked ways. In 2 Chronicles 12:1, we read: “And it came to pass, when
Rehoboam [Solomon’s son] had established the kingdom, and had
strengthened himself, HE FORSOOK the law of the LORD, and ALL ISRAEL
with him.”
As a result of their transgressions,
the Lord sent Shishak King of Egypt up against Jerusalem with a
formidable army (12:2) He also sent his prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam
and his princes with this message: “Ye
have FORSAKEN ME, and therefore have I also left you in the hand of
Shishak” (12:5).
Rehoboam and his princes ACKNOWLEDGED
that God’s prophet HAD IT rIGHT in his assessment with this
confession: “The LORD is
righteous” (12:6). It is interesting to note that their
CONFESSION did not result in a change of CONDUCT. Two
observations are in order. First, upon hearing the prophet's message,
Rehoboam and his princes "humbled themselves" (12:6). The
recipe for restoration, however, went beyond HUMILITY to
include PRAYER, SEEKING the face of God and TURNING FROM
wickedness. Rehoboam took the first step, but never got beyond
humility. Secondly, Israel's leadership did not
always ackowledge God's prophet HAD IT RIGHT. The
prophet Jeremiah delivered essentially the same message to the
leadership of his day. They told Jeremiah he HAD IT WRONG and threw him
in prison. The Jews of Jesus' day told him he HAD IT WRONG
and crucified him outside the gates of Jerusalem.
Nevertheless the Lord, who is
predisposed toward MERCY rather than JUDGMENT, chose to grant his
people “SOME DELIVERANCE” (12:7) on the basis of humility alone. Instead of allowing the
total destruction of Jerusalem, he limited his wrath to Shishak
ransacking
the house of the Lord and its treasures (12:9).
Is that not one of the most
intriguing statements in scripture? God granted “some deliverance” to
his people and spared them utter destruction upon the mere
ACKNOWLEDGMENT of their sin without a corresponding corrective ACTION.
Rehoboam and Israel KEPT ON doing evil (12:14).
The question in my mind is: “Are we
as a nation now in the midst of SOME DELIEVERANCE under President Trump
while the forces of godless Liberalism are in the process of ransacking
the American culture of any and all vestiges of
righteousness?”
In any event, the saga of Rehoboam
instructs us that any nation that experiences God’s goodness is
JUST ONE GENERATION away from losing it all by forsaking the
God who got them there! Is America one of those nations?
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