Bible in a Year: 2 Kings

Monday - 2 Kings 1-8

The book of 2 Kings opens with the prophet Elijah being taken up to heaven. And it ends with the Hebrews being taken down into captivity in Babylon. In between, there is a constant back and forth about who has the most power, the king who rules the land or God who rules the world. We see this playing out in the first few chapters. The new king Ahaziah challenges Elijah. In the end, of course, God wins the war.

Elijah asks Ahaziah a question that will haunt all of Israel throughout the book of 2 Kings. In 2 Kings 1:16, he says, “Thus says the Lord: Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron,—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?”

When we forget that God has the answers to our questions about life and instead turn to the world, then our lives will soon spiral out of control.

Tuesday - 2 Kings 9-12

One of the many things they don’t teach you in seminary that they really need to teach is how to read a balance sheet. I’ve seen many pastors who once they get into a new church become consumed by finances. Whenever I ask them how they and their church is doing, they always start off with a statement about money. “Well we didn’t meet our second quarter giving goals, but we’re putting together a stewardship plan to make it up by the end of the year” they might say.

No stories of how the Holy Spirit saved a lost soul.

No stories of the grace of God working miracles at the altar rail.

No stories of celebration about a mission trip.

No stories of preaching the Gospel of the Good News.

Just money.

Now don’t get me wrong, money is important. The problem is though, money becomes the main driving force of their ministry instead of the blood of Jesus. The thing about money is, you can never have enough of it. The more you get, the more you want.

In our Chapters from 2 Kings today, we see a stark illustration of how the power of money can destroy someone’s ministry. King Joash was crowned when he was seven years old. But luckily, he had some powerful men and women of God to help guide him. His early years as king brought glory to God and helped to eliminate idol worship in the nation. But then, money got in the way.

The Temple needed to be restored, but he didn’t want to pay for it. So he took the donations from the people to pay for the costs. And then, when he was threatened by an invading general, he used the Temple’s money to pay him off.

Joash thought that money would solve all his problems. He forgot that God is the solution to life’s problems.

Even though he started off well as a king, he finished poorly. We’ll read more about him later in Chronicles, but in the end, it was ultimately his love of money that got him killed.

Wednesday - 2 Kings 13-17

Wow! The kings are coming one after another now. Like riding in a train and watching the telephone poles fly by. I think the most important thing to remember in this section is in Chapter 16 and the story of the northing King Ahaz. King Ahaz bows to the Syrian king and gives money to him that was from the temple. But the worst part comes when after a visit to the Syrian king in Damascus, he sees an altar built to a pagan god. Ahaz sends the plans of this altar back to his high priest and tells him to install it in the Temple. The priest does so and thus begins sacrifices to pagan gods in the Temple that was consecrated by God. This act of polytheism spreads to the people of the northern nation of Israel. This rejection of the Laws of God sent them spiralling down into a nation of sinfulness and appeasement. It all ends in Chapter 17 when the Assyrian nation takes over the land and destroys the northern kingdom. The ten tribes that made up the nation of Israel now become the lost ten tribes of history.

Thursday - 2 Kings 18-21

The only part of the original nation of Israel that is left is now the southern kingdom of Judah. Remember the Messiah would be born from the line of kings descended from King David. King Hezekiah, many thought, was that Messiah. He brought the nation back and led a revival of sorts. People loved him. But King Hezekiah proved that he was no Messiah when he demanded that God show a sign.

Hezekiah was deathly sick and prayed that God would heal him. The prophet Isaiah came and prescribed a medical treatment that God said would work and instead of dying Hezekiah would have another 15 years of life. The miracle of healing would take a couple of days to take effect. So Hezekiah, who was probably reaching for any hope he could, couldn’t wait. He asked Isaiah to perform a miraculous sign. Almost non-chantly, Isaiah asked if the king wanted time to go forward or back. God then worked a miracle.

Once when helping the survivors of a tornado, I had an elderly woman who used a walker insisted to me that God stopped time so that she could get to a tornado shelter 400 yards away. There was nothing left of the entire neighborhood except for that one lone shelter. God can work amazing miracles in our lives. Sometimes they are local events and sometimes they are big shows. But if we doubt that God can work something grand in our lives, then we pull down the Creator of the Universe to our level and make a great big God into something small.

If God can make time run backwards, then God surely can heal some boils for a king with doubts. Imagine what God can do for you.

Friday - 2 Kings 22-25

I once had the opportunity to visit the place where armageddon is prophesied to take place. It’s an old fortress in northern Israel called Megiddo. In Revelations 16:16, we’re told that the final battle between good and evil will be waged on the plains of Megiddo. But here’s something you may not know. That battle has already been fought once.

In the closing chapters of 2 Kings we read about a king named Josiah. Under Josiah, Israel experienced a real and authentic revival. All of the altars to idols were torn down. The pits where soothsayers summoned spirits (say that three times) have been filled in and the nation of Israel becomes united in worshipping God and once more they are a superpower in the ancient world. But then the Egyptians invaded. (They actually weren’t invading Israel, but were on their way to another war.) King Josiah didn’t like it and went out to battle. And he lost. And just like that, there are no more kings of Israel. The story has come full circle. What began in Egypt with the Exodus, ends on a lonely hilltop in the middle of nowhere. The Egyptian Pharaoh installs his own king and the line of David comes to an end and the people are enslaved by the Babylonians.

Megiddo was truly armageddon for the nation of Israel. But with God, there’s always hope. When humans and Satan place roadblocks to God’s plan of salvation, God always finds a way.