Preached May 29, 2011
from
2 Kings 4:1-7
Theme: The life of King Ahaz teaches us that, when we turn away from an obedient trust in God, we become the slaves of what we trust in His place.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We continue our study this morning of the lives of the kings of Judah by turning to the story of King Ahaz in 2 Kings 16.
His story is quite a contrast to the story of his godly father, King Jotham. The Bible tells us that Jotham was a godly king who "did what was right in the sight of the LORD" (2 Kings 15:34)—a man who carefully "prepared his ways before the LORD his God" (2 Chronicles 27:6). He, like his great ancestor King David, had a heart after God. But it was not so for Jotham’s son Ahaz. In fact, Ahaz’ rebellion against God was profound.
The record of his story begins with these words:
In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem; and he did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his father David had done. But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel . . . (2 Kings 16:1-3a).
King Ahaz did what proved to be the downfall of some of his predecessors. He chose to imitate and walk according to the ungodly patterns of the kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Their ways were so wicked that—in Ahaz’ own lifetime—God allowed that northern kingdom to be conquered by the brutal Assyrian empire, carried away as captives, and scattered so as to never occupy their land again.
And so, it was certainly bad enough that Ahaz walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. But he even exceeded their ways in his own wicked practices. The Bible goes on to tell us;
. . . indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out from before the children of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree (vv. 3b-4).
Ahaz was so rebellious against God that he engaged in something that none of even the most wicked of his predecessors engaged in—human sacrifice. As 2 Chronicles 28:3 says, he actually "burned his children in the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD had cast out before the children of Israel".
So this is how King Ahaz’ story begins. As his story unfolds, we find that his was a life characterized by a persistent, hard-hearted refusal to turn to the God that his good father had trusted, and to trust in other things instead. And those ungodly things that he turned to began to demand more and more of him, gave less and less to him in return, and brought him down further and further into bondage.
And when we come to the end of his life, the only way to describe him is as a pathetic, beggarly spiritual slave with an earthly crown on his head—one who ran from one sinful expediency to another in a vain effort to meet his needs and solve his problems in ways that God never intended; but who only placed himself deeper and deeper into bondage to the things he trusted.
He was a living illustration of what our Lord Jesus once said: "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin" (John 8:34).
* * * * * * * * * *
I was thinking of King Ahaz the other day. That may not come as too terribly big a surprise, since I was planning to preach on him. But I happened to be thinking of him—not while sitting in my study—but while I was in the midst of running a lot of errands and doing a lot of chores.
My wife and I had just gotten back from a few days away at the coast. It was a great chance to get away and rest. But as often happens to most of us when we get back home from some time away, there were a lot of things to get caught-up on. At first, I felt a little frustrated by the fact that there was so much to do and that I had to hit the ground running. But I eventually repented of my attitude. Why should I complain about my chores? The many things I had to do were all from the Lord; and He’s the greatest and most wonderful Master anyone could ever serve.
As I was busily running around, I started thanking Him for that fact. And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; aren’t you thankful for it too? There are a lot of things that we don’t get done for Him that should get done, or that aren’t done by us as well as they ought to be done. Even at our best, we are poor servant of the Lord. But He never scolds us or rebukes us or ‘fires’ us from His service. The things He calls us to do may be many and hard at times. But don’t you agree that, even so, He’s still truly the most ‘non-pressure’ Master that imperfect servants like us could ever serve?
I have always thought it was wonderful that He doesn’t even call us His "servants". That is of course what we are. But He doesn’t speak of us that way. In John 15:15, He said, "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." In the passage I quoted from a little earlier—the one in which He said, "whoever commits sin is a slave to sin"—He also went on to say, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36). I sure don’t mind being busy in the service of the Lord—even if the work is, at times, hard to do. He is always there to help me and guide me. And being the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ—who loves me and calls me His "friend"—is more liberating than being the servant of anyone or anything else.
Now; being a servant isn’t an option for us. We have no choice over whether or not we will be a servant. We will be the servant of someone or something. But we can choose whose servant we will be. We can, on the one hand, choose to be the servant of the Lord. And in that case, we become the servant of One who sets us ‘free indeed’. On the other hand, we can reject His lordship over us and allow ourselves instead to be the servant of the passions and desires and lusts of our fallen nature—or of the passions and desires and lusts of others. And in that case, we become the slave of sin; because, as the Son of God Himself has said, "whoever commits sin is a slave of sin". Sin is a horrible master. It demands more and more of us, gives us less and less in return, and reduces us to the pathetic condition of running from one destructive thing to another in a vain effort to satisfy our needs.
Think, for example, of our need to have joy and peace. That’s not a wrong thing to want. It’s something that we all truly need. And we are meant to have that joy and peace as the fruit of the Holy Spirit through a relationship with Jesus Christ. But the pathway to the joy and peace He gives us isn’t always easy. It takes the hard work of trusting Him and obeying His word in the struggles and trials in which we need that joy and peace. And because of what He requires of us, some folks turn away from Him and try to get the joy and peace they need in other ways—ways that seem quicker and easier; but that are in the long run far more destructive and unsatisfying. So, they turn to chemicals such as drugs and alcohol for a quick and easy experience of false "joy and peace". I don’t have to tell you what slaves such things have made out of people, do I? Some of you already know.
Or think about our need for love and relationship and intimacy. Those things aren’t wrong. We were made for them. And the way to have those needs met always begins with a right relationship with the Lord Jesus. He who loved us so much that He would die on a cross for us offers a relationship of love and intimacy with us that is far deeper and more satisfying than anything this world can offer. And what’s more, He leads us into a pure and wholesome relationship of love and intimacy with others who also love Him. But the pathway to love and intimacy with Jesus Christ involves trust and obedience and submission to His will. And so, some folks turn away from Him and try to satisfy that legitimate need for love and relationship and intimacy in illegitimate and destructive ways—pornography, sexual immorality, marital unfaithfulness, and perversion. Those things lead to spiritual slavery; and the destructive consequences of such slavery are shown to us every day on the evening news.
Or think about our need for a sense of control and order. It’s certainly not wrong to want to have a sense of control and power over your life—to have a sense that you’re not just a helpless victim of the circumstances of this fallen world. In fact, a sense of control and of the power to meet the circumstances of life something we all need. And the place to find it is in a relationship with God the Father through Jesus His Son. What a wonderful thing it is to rest confidently in the providential control of the sovereign God of the universe; to pray to Him in times of trouble, and to know that He causes all things—even deep trials—to work together for our good. But once again, the pathway to such a sense God’s control and order and power in our lives is through trusting His Son and obeying His commands. And so, some folks turn from Him and try to obtain a sense of control and power through vain and destructive means—through false religions, human philosophies, the magic arts and the forms of the occult that put them into bondage to spiritual darkness. Others resort to the kinds of intimidation tactics and means of control over others that turns them into monsters.
And it was in thinking about all this that I began to think about what King Ahaz’ story has to teach us. It reminds us that to turn away from God is to become the slave of sin; and that slavery to sin is a horrible state of bondage. A slave of sin is exactly what King Ahaz was. He chose not to be the servant of God; and became the pathetic slave of the sinful things that he trusted instead.
His story is an unpleasant one to consider. But let’s do so. Perhaps, by God’s grace, we can avoid the downfall into the deep bondage to wickedness that he suffered—and learn instead to keep ourselves the liberated servants of the One who makes us free indeed!
* * * * * * * * * *
Now; Ahaz could have avoided all he suffered. He could have trusted God and walked according to His commands. He even had a godly father from whose example he could have learned. But as we’ve already seen, he chose instead—from the very start—to turn from God to the sins of the flesh.
And it was because of those sins that he and his people suffered severe discipline from the Lord. As verse five tells us,
Then Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war; and they besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him (v. 5).
King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of the northern kingdom of Israel were wicked, ungodly kings who sought to destroy King Ahaz and his people in Judah. But even though they came down upon his kingdom, as the Bible says, they "could not overcome him". And the reasons was because the sovereign, covenant-keeping God wouldn’t let them.
In 2 Chronicles 28, we’re told of God had delivered the armies King Ahaz into the hands of these two enemy forces because of Ahaz’ sin. In just one day, they killed 120,000 of Ahaz’ valiant soldiers. And then, they took King Ahaz captive—along with 200,000 women and children and a great deal of spoil. But God raised up a prophet to rebuke the king of Israel for his brutality, and to warn him to return the people of Judah immediately to their homeland. And so, the leaders of Israel clothed and fed the captives and returned them safely to their land.
What an amazing turn of events that was! You would have thought that Ahaz would have learned the lesson, would have repented of his rebellion, and would have trusted God as his great ancestor David had done. But he didn’t. He still would not trust God or become His servant; and thus he became the helpless slave of the things he trusted instead.
We see this clearly in his reaction to another crisis that occurred. Verse six tells us;
At that time Rezin king of Syria captured Elath for Syria, and drove the men of Judah from Elath. Then the Edomites went to Elath, and dwell there to this day (v. 6).
Even though God had demonstrated His power to him, Ahaz still trembled in fear over the kings of Syria and Israel. And did you know that, at this time, God even raised up a great prophet to confront Ahaz’ fears? None other than Isaiah was sent to tell him the things that God was going to do to take care of his people. Among the things that Isaiah spoke to him at that time were those great words in Isaiah 7 that we as Christians have grown to love—"Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel"; that is, "God With Us". What a great promise. God would never forsake His people; and He would never forget His promise to set up His King upon David’s throne. In telling him about these things, Isaiah had to warn Ahaz, "If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established" (Isaiah 7:9b). But Ahaz wouldn’t believe. He would not trust God, because the way of God’s help required faithfulness and obedience. He turned to ungodly expedients instead.
So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me" (v. 7).
The Assyrians were the most brutal and wicked people imaginable. Some Bible teachers have referred to them as the ‘Nazis of the Old Testament’. Their remarkable cruelty made them the dread of every other nation around them. And it was to them—instead of to God—that Ahaz turned.
What a costly decision that was! The Bible goes on to say,
And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the LORD, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria heeded him; for the king of Assyria went up against Damascus and took it, carried its people captive to Kir, and killed Rezin (vv. 8-9).
God permitted the dreaded Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser came down upon the northern kingdom of Israel and wipe the land clean. In the year 722 B.C., he took the entire northern kingdom captive, and scattered its people. It was never restored. But even though it can be said that the Assyrian king heeded Ahaz, it can’t really be said that he ‘helped’ him very much. In fact, 2 Chronicles 28:20-21 says that he came to Ahaz "and distressed him, and did not assist him. For Ahaz took part of the treasures from the house of the LORD, from the house of the king, and from the leaders, and he gave it to the king of Assyria; but he did not help him."
Ahaz turned from the Lord and trusted in the means of this fallen world instead. His heart grew harder and harder toward the only One who could offer him true help. And what he trusted instead of the Lord demanded more and more from him, gave him less and less in return, and turned him into a beggarly slave with a crown on his head.
"[W]hoever commits sin is a slave of sin". How true those words proved to be in the case of King Ahaz!
* * * * * * * * * *
And just look at the depths to which Ahaz descended in his slavery to his sin. First, he began to imitate the spiritual wickedness of the ones he turned to. The Bible tells us;
Now King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, and saw an altar that was at Damascus; and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest the design of the altar and its pattern, according to all its workmanship. Then Urijah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. So Urijah the priest made it before King Ahaz came back from Damascus. And when the king came back from Damascus, the king saw the altar; and the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. So he burned his burnt offering and his grain offering; and he poured his drink offering and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings on the altar (vv. 10-13).
Not only did he turn away from the bronze altar that God had commanded be established in His temple, but he even moved God’s altar out of the way so that he could put this pagan altar in its place; and turned the altar of God into something to be used as he pleased. As the Bible tells us,
He also brought the bronze altar which was before the LORD, from the front of the temple—from between the new altar and the house of the LORD—and put it on the north side of the new altar. Then King Ahaz commanded Urijah the priest, saying, “On the great new altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt sacrifice, and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their drink offerings; and sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice. And the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” Thus did Urijah the priest, according to all that King Ahaz commanded (vv. 14-16).
He may have "inquired" by it; but you can be sure our holy God never gave him an answer. What a wicked thing! He took the altar of God that He commanded to be set up in His temple through Moses—the altar by which the people were to make atonement for sin—and turn it into his own personal ‘good-luck charm’!
Now; we know that we have become the slave of sin when we become the imitator of its wicked ways. And we know that we’ve descended even further into slavery to sin when we move the things of God out of our way in order to more conveniently imitate those wicked ways. And we know that we have descended even further still when we dare to use the things of God for our own personal, sinful ends. But we’ve really descended to a deep level of bondage and slavery to sin when we actually begin to tear up the precious things that God has given us in order to pay sin what it demands of us. And that’s exactly what Ahaz did. The Bible says,
And King Ahaz cut off the panels of the carts, and removed the lavers from them; and he took down the Sea from the bronze oxen that were under it, and put it on a pavement of stones. Also he removed the Sabbath pavilion which they had built in the temple, and he removed the king’s outer entrance from the house of the LORD, on account of the king of Assyria (vv. 17-18).
This makes me think of how, when we’re at the deepest and most desperate levels of slavery to sin, we will tear up everything precious to us—our marriage, our children, our career, our home, our finances, our relationships with family and friends, and even the sacred things of God—in an effort to serve the demands of our slavery to sin. It takes more and more from us, gives us less and less in return, and makes us run vainly from one fruitless thing after in other to satisfy the longings of our rebellious heart.
How did Ahaz end up? I think that 2 Chronicles 28:22-27 tells us best:
Now in the time of his distress King Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the LORD. This is that King Ahaz. For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus which had defeated him, saying, “Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. So Ahaz gathered the articles of the house of God, cut in pieces the articles of the house of God, shut up the doors of the house of the LORD, and made for himself altars in every corner of Jerusalem. And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the LORD God of his fathers.
Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, indeed they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. So Ahaz rested with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem; but they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place (2 Chronicles 28:22-27).
* * * * * * * * * *
King Ahaz died without honor—a pathetic slave with a crown on his head.
And in considering his story, I wonder if the Holy Spirit has awakened the heart of someone here this morning with the horrible realization that they—just like him—have become a slave to sin. You have legitimate needs; but because God’s ways of meeting them demand trust and obedience from you, you’ve turned away from Him to the world’s sinful ways of meeting them instead. And as a result, you now find yourself a slave—deeply in bondage to the things that you trusted in place of God.
If that describes you, I have good news. You don’t have to be a slave to those things any longer. You can turn back to Him in trust and obedience. Jesus Christ—the greatest Master anyone can serve—invited you to do so. He said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light" (Matthew 11:28-30). He tells us, "Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed" (John 8:36).
All that you need to do is cry out to Him in your bondage and confess, "Lord Jesus; I have turned from Your good ways, and I’m suffering for it. I confess my rebellion against you. Wash me clean by Your blood. Forgive my sins. Help me, from this day forward, to make You my Master. Help me to trust You and obey You in all my ways. Set me free." And you have it on His own word that He will.
And if you are already a follower of Jesus, please consider from Ahaz’ story how dangerous it is to turn from service to God, and place someone or something else in His place as lord and master. Consider how dangerous it is when we turn away from God’s good ways of meeting our needs because they seem hard to us, and try to meet those needs in a way He tells us not to.
May we never turn from Him, and place ourselves under the bondage of what we trust instead of Him.