David Guzik - Enduring Word

After the reforming reign of King Josiah, a succession of bad kings brings the Kingdom of Judah to ruin after repeated attacks from the Babylonian Empire. Despite the deep tragedy of it all, the Book of 2 Kings ends with a glimmer of hope.

Judah sees three kings: Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. Manasseh was a bad king who nevertheless had a late experience of repentance; Amon was just plain bad; and God begins to do a great work through the young king Josiah.

With the Northern Kingdom of Israel conquered by Assyria, King Hezekiah of Judah faces the same threat - and sees God grant a miraculous deliverance. Despite such great victories, Hezekiah's life ends on a sad note, with the sometime great king not finishing well.

The tragic fall of the northern kingdom, the ten tribes organized as the Kingdom of Israel. Because of their great evil and rejection of God, they sadly and too quickly fall before the brutal Assyrian Empire.

In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Paul gives three historical events that are the foundation for the gospel: the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. This message looks at the second of these three. Delivered at Newport Coast Christian Lighthouse Church in June 2008. With gratitude to a much better message on the topic delivered by Pastor Joe Focht.

In Judah we see the reign of Azzariah - also known as Uzziah, who was a great king over Judah who had a disappointing end, followed by Jotham and the compromising Ahaz. In Israel there are a succession of kings that just keep getting worse.

The Prophet Elisha dies, but before he passes he gives a great opportunity to King Joash of Judah - an opportunity that Joash didn't take advantage of as he should have. After Joash comes the mixed success of Amaziah and the reign of Jeroboam II in the northern kingdom.

Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, becomes the only queen to rule over Judah or Israel. He reign was brief, but wicked. She was succeeded by Jehoash (Joash) the boy-king of Judah who led the southern kingdom into a time of great renewal and revival - until he himself had a disappointing end.

Jehu obeys God and brings judgment upon the evil dynasty of Omri and he starts many reforms - but stopping short, he is *almost* the one good king the northern kingdom of Israel had in the days of the divided monarchy.

God proves both His word and His faithfulness by providing for the besieged and starving city of Samaria, and doing it through some unlikely people.

In the declining days of the northern kingdom of Israel, God kept His work very much alive through the ministry of the Prophet Elisha. These chapters document several remarkable miracles in Elisha's ministry.

These two wonderful chapters from 2 Kings are rich with the remarkable ministry of the Prophet Elisha, the successor of the Prophet of Elijah. Through Elisha's work, God demonstrated that He was still active in Israel and Judah even through an era of general spiritual decline.

After the disaster of Ahab's reign over Israel, God builds His work once again through an old prophet (Elijah) and his younger protoge (Elisha). In these chapters Elijah finishes his earthly work with a blaze of glory and passes the mantle of his ministry on to Elisha, who receives it with strong faith.

Probably the worst king to ever reign over the tribes of Israel was Ahab, who ruled the 10 northern tribes as the King of Israel. His reign was a spiritual disaster for God's people, and these chapters document the flood of God's judgment that brought the dramatic end of Ahab's dynasty.

God used two unnamed prophets to help the kingdom of the northern tribes - the Kingdom of Israel - to defeat the rival Syrians twice. It was a surprising work of God's help to a kingdom that didn't deserve it.