Gooding, David: 4 - Second Kings

Kings chapter six. Ready in a moment to continue our study of the two historical books, First and Second Kings. Just let me remind you briefly of what we found yesterday evening. We found yesterday that the books of Kings deal with the provision that God made for the maintenance of his people after the death of King David, at that high peak of spiritual blessing and prosperity that they had reached. God's provision for his people then turned out to be the building of the house of the Lord at Jerusalem. The house of the Lord where God himself deigned to come and dwell, so that he should be with his people constantly and all the time and in every circumstance there among them to guide them and to bless them and to be the answer to their difficulties. We drew the parallel with our own Christian experience that God's provision for us, the holy nation, is still the same nowadays. He has constituted those who trust Christ, the house of God, a superior house indeed to that ancient one built at Jerusalem. For that ancient house was built of ordinary stone, and the people of God in general had to abide outside it. Whereas the house of God today is built of living stones, and the people of God are those living stones that constitute the house of God. Similarly, in the ancient time, the ordinary Israelite did not have immediate access into that house, but nowadays every believer has access to the very presence of God by dint of the fact that he forms the house himself. Then we started last night to study the detailed provision made by God for the house, and we considered its structure. We found that there was to be only one house. While there was one house, there were many side chambers where the different servants of God did their different kinds of work. Many side chambers, but all of them with equal and immediate contact with that house. So whichever servant it was, in whatever side chamber he was, whatever task he was doing, every servant had equal contact and immediate contact with the one house of the Lord. Can we draw the parallel with ourselves today? For the sake of the work of the Lord, we are scattered hither and thither abroad upon the face of the earth. In many places, individuals and small groups and separate assemblies, but wherever we may be, each one of us as individuals, each one of us as individual churches has immediate contact with the Lord himself and direct access to him, immediate contact with the living Lord who dwells among his people. They form not a physical house tied to one geographical spot, they form a spiritual house, one house throughout all the generations since Pentecost to the Lord's coming. One house, some of the living stones already in heaven, multitudes of them still on earth, yet one house, and every believer and every individual church immediately in contact with that one living Lord dwelling in that one house. Now let's move on. We read one Kings chapter six. We can only stay over some of the more outstanding details. But from the external structure of the house, let us proceed, verse fourteen of chapter six. So Solomon built the house and finished it, and he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house unto the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of fir. And he built twenty cubits on the hind part of the house with boards of cedar from the floor unto the walls. He built them for it within for an oracle, even for the most holy place, and a house, that is the temple before the oracle, was forty cubits long. And there was cedar on the house within, carved with knobs and open flowers. All was cedar, there was no stone seen. And he prepared an oracle in the midst of the house within, in order to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Verse twenty two: and the whole house he overlaid with gold until all the house was finished. Also the whole altar that belonged to the oracle he overlaid with gold, and in the oracle he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. Verse twenty eight: and he overlaid these cherubim with gold, and he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers within and without. So now, for a moment, we turn from the structure of the house to the internal installations and decorations. And first of all, the inside of the house was divided into two parts. The more important of the two parts is called the oracle. It was at the rear of the house. It was an oracle built so that they might there put the ark of the covenant of the Lord. It was called the oracle also because it was the place where men might come and hear the voice of the living God speaking to them. It was the place, then, of the Ark of the Covenant. For that holy covenant, based upon the law of Moses, was the terms and conditions upon which God, who was Israel's king, should govern his people. Let me recite in your ears the first of those very commandments. Thou shalt have no other god but me. There, in the Ark of the Covenant, was enshrined the condition of his government of his people. He was to be their lord. He was to be their absolute sovereign. They were to have no other lord but God. But in addition to those laws, that covenant written on tables of stone, there was the place at his throne where, according to the ancient promise given in the book of Exodus, God would meet with his people and God would commune with his people. There Israel's priests might come and hear the very voice of the living God speaking to his people and making his will known. Here was no dumb idol that had no voice. Here was no deaf idol that couldn't hear the cry of his people, but a living God who could speak and make his presence known. Then just outside the oracle, but belonging to the oracle, was the golden altar of incense. This was the altar of prayer. At this altar, from time to time, the priest would come. He would burn the incense before God, and as he burned it, he would pray towards the divine present presence situated upon the ark, the throne of God's glory. So then it was a two-way conversation. There was a living God dwelling in that oracle who spoke to his people. There was an altar of incense where his people might come and speak to him. Oh, what a glorious privilege that was, that God gave to Israel. Just you imagine it, to have the God of heaven come down and dwelling in your midst, creator of the universe, moral governor of the universe, and just you imagine it, being allowed to come and stand before his presence and talk to his almighty majesty and ask the divine Majesty to do things for you. And just you imagine the superb grace of that Almighty Divine King, that he was prepared to bend his ear and say, hello, Elijah, is that you? What do you want me to do? Very good, I will do it. A God that would listen to his people's prayers and was living enough to speak to them, to comfort their hearts, and to give them the guidance that they needed. That was the kind of provision God made in that ancient house for the governing of his people. Then notice one other thing, and you who are experts in the Mosaic tabernacle, you notice it in particular. For if you would understand the house of the Lord as presented in the Book of Kings, you must not suppose it is merely a repetition of the tabernacle. It presupposes all the tabernacle was designed to teach, but it is a somewhat different thing. It is an instrument of government, and therefore the House of the Lord concentrates in its descriptions on the things that were different from the tabernacle. In the House of the Lord, then, in the oracle, there was, of course, the ark, and it had the cherubim above the mercy seat. So had the tabernacle of Moses. It was, in fact, the same ark. But in the House of the Lord there were two other cherubim, colossal cherubim, standing with their wings outstretched and therefore spanning the whole breadth of the house. Standing there before the throne of God, their wings outstretched, as though they were ready to fly to do his bidding and see that his commands were carried out. These cherubim in symbol the executive powers of the government. You know, there have been some governments in the world, haven't there, that have passed all sorts of laws and then haven't had the means of getting them carried out. Ha. But the divine government, it not only made laws and issued commands, it had powers available, executive powers available, to see that those commands were carried out. In those early days, of course, the full purposes of God were not yet revealed, and in those days God had himself to be content with things and institutions that were more symbols of coming events than they were representations of present realities. Patiently observe the symbols for a moment in that house of the Lord. There was the throne of God ready to issue the commands based on the covenant. There were the great cherubim. What a cherubim, you say? Shall I, when I get home to heaven, see things are flying about with six wings and four heads on each one of them? No, I think not. You won't find anything so grotesque. Cherubim are not a kind of angels. They are symbols. Symbols of what, you say? They are symbols of life. In all its varied kinds, they had the head of an ox, a man, an eagle, and a calf. Life of all sorts of kinds. You know how God gets his commands done in the physical world? Suppose God wants a tree to grow apples. How does God get a tree to grow apples? Have you ever pondered the thing? Do you suppose that God says, now I should like that tree to grow some apples? Let's send down a government white paper and say, tree, grow some apples. No, God doesn't do it quite that way round. If God wants a tree to grow apples, he gives the tree apple tree life. Ha. And hey presto, the tree, because it's got apple tree life, sprouts apples. Men have been a little bit more difficult, haven't they? Because they have sinned against God. And even in Israel's time, God's redemption of humankind was not yet complete. And as I say, in those days, he had to be content with symbols that prophesied what one day should be. But look at the symbols. Here, I say, was the cher- the two cherubim, symbols of life of every conceivable kind. And when they looked out from the divine presence, all around the walls of the house, what do you think they saw? Well, hosts of other cherubim carved upon the walls of the house all the way round, and trees, palm trees, and open flowers. It must have been a beautiful thing to go inside that house, and once you were inside, presently the impression that would overwhelm you were that you were in a presence of life, teeming life, life, vigorous, beautiful, palm trees, open flowers, cherubim. Yes, that was the secret of God's government, as the executive cherubim in his presence looked out to see that his commands were done. Their gaze was met by life all around the walls that answered to their life. We live in a day when God has at last arrived, not merely at symbols, but at the reality. God made man upon this earth, you know, and gave him physical life, but man fell and rebelled against God. God then redeemed his people Israel, and he put them under the old covenant, but that didn't work too well. Because, you see, when Israel got the law, the law was very good, but Israel hadn't the strength to carry it out. And the law was weak because of the flesh. Men hadn't got the puff and the ability to carry out those exalted commandments of the Lord. And what has God done? How does he now in this age get his people to do his will? Oh, the secret is out long since. He doesn't just give us the law of Moses and say, do that. But he gives us his own very divine life by putting his spirit within us, giving us the very life of God, so that we find that his commandments are not grievous. Why not grievous? Because as his Holy Spirit expounds the divinely inspired word in our ears, then the Holy Spirit within our hearts bears his witness to that word and gives us the power to do the commandment that the Holy Spirit himself has given. This is the glorious secret of being a Christian. To find one has the power to do God's will, a power given us by the divine nature and the divine life that we receive from the blessed Lord Jesus when we trusted him. So much for a few of the details of the internal, internal installations and decorations. And we must pass over the first paragraph of chapter seven. It deals with the house of the law, the house of the king. Interesting and important as that is, we haven't the time to consider it. So let's come on to the final division of the plans, the arrangements and the furniture for the court of the house of the Lord. Here again, you will notice two major differences from the Jewish tabernacle. The first is, verse fifteen: Solomon fashioned two pillars. Mighty great pillars they were. Freestanding pillars, ornamental pillars, if you like. Mighty great pillars, and on the top of each pillar there was a beautiful carved, or a molten, a molded capital. On the capital, there were made pomegranates and lilies. Oh, they were superbly beautiful, meant to be beautiful, of course. Standing right in front of the porch, so that when anybody came to the house of the Lord, he would be greeted outside by these two delightful capitals, lily work, beautiful flowers, and pomegranates that, uh, fruit so full of seed. And the task of the two pillars was to hold up those delightful capitals to the gaze of all and sundry as they came towards the house of the Lord. They were more than for decorative purposes, of course. They carried spiritual significance inscribed on each pillar was a name. On one pillar was the name Jakin, Yakin in Hebrew, meaning God will establish it. And on the other pillar was the name Boaz, Boaz in Hebrew, meaning in it is strength. So there were two pillars in the court of the house of the Lord. And you will say, that's very interesting because, uh, when we come to the New Testament and read the famous passage that describes the house of the Lord, we shall find that the modern house of the Lord has a pillar or two around it. Let me just remind you by reading the passage. It is the first epistle of Paul to Timothy, and it is chapter three of that first epistle. One Timothy chapter three, verse fourteen. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly, but if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how men ought to behave themselves in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, whether you think my typology is fanciful or not, I couldn't really mind all that much, because here I have a solid, plain, straightforward New Testament verse, which tells us that the present house of the Lord has as one of its spiritual functions this precise thing, to act as the pillar and ground of the truth. Now, please notice what the verse says and what it doesn't say. It doesn't say that the church is the truth. That is a gross mistake that some people have made, nonetheless a mistake. The church isn't the truth, alas, no. But the church does have the task of holding up that truth, just like those two pillars had the task of holding up the delightfully beautified capitals. That's our task as members of the House of God still. To be pillars, base and column, firmly planted, standing full square, immovable, rooted and grounded, that we might hold up before the gaze of the world God's beautiful and attractive truth. I hope you agree with me that God's truth is beautiful and attractive. The gospel of the glory of our blessed, our happy God. Nothing to be ashamed of, says Paul. I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation. What a delightful, beautiful, fruitful thing is the sacred gospel of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Our job to stand firm as pillars and hold up that truth before the I. There is nothing else that can save them. There's salvation in none else. What a privilege to hold it up before the eyes of the world. I whisper in your ears that sometimes Christian pillars get a bit wobbly, but then, you know, it can happen, can't it? Paul, at one stage, he went up to Jerusalem because some of the early Christians were getting a little bit wobbly as to what the gospel really was. Did you, after all, have to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses to be saved, or didn't you? Was it simply by faith through grace, or did you have to add the works of the law to merit salvation? And there were some of the early Christians that were decidedly wobbly. And Paul went up to Jerusalem, and he said, you know, I went up to Jerusalem, and I met Peter and James and John. They were reputed to be pillars. So he said, I just pushed them a little bit here and pushed them a little bit there to see whether they would stand firm or whether they were a bit wobbly as well. Thank God, he said, I found that those three pillars stood firm in the truth of the gospel, justification by grace through faith without the works of the law. That is our job too. Oh God, save us from becoming, uh, wobbly when it comes to the question of God's truth. God forbid we should ever become ashamed of it. Let's hold it up. Not for nothing did those ancient pillars have lilies carved on them. It is God's truth that can beautify a life. Not for nothing did those pillars have pomegranates on them with their countless seeds. For it is God's truth that can make us fruitful unto every good work. Our job to hold it up. God's objective truth. Then secondly, in the court of the house of the Lord, uh, we read, uh, verse twenty three that he made the molten sea, S-E-A, sea. Now it was called a sea. Actually, it was a tremendously large basin filled with water. It was so big they called it a sea, and it was placed on the back of oxen. I fancy that the water came out through pipes and out through the bellies of the oxen and down through their bellies and out through their mouths, you know, and it was, uh, drawn off by taps or pickets in their mouths. Be that as it may, it was a tremendous affair. Moses' tabernacle had had a laver with water in it, but never, never such a thing as this, a mighty great bowl set on the backs of the oxen. And then not content with that, Solomon had to, uh, have constructed ten subsidiary labors. These were smaller bowls on a framework that had wheels so that they could be wheeled around the court of the house of the Lord wherever water was needed for cleansing. Interestingly enough, in this particular passage, you will not read about that other vessel that you might have expected, namely the altar of sacrifice. They did have one, of course. But as far as the Book of Kings is concerned, it places the emphasis not on the altar and its shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sin. It places its emphasis on the labor and the ten subsidiary labors. What for do you suppose? Well, perhaps the quickest way to understand it is to come to the spiritual reality in our own day. The laver in Israel was full of water to cleanse people. Of course, it did only cleanse their skins. Nowadays, Christ cleanses us, and how does he do it? Not by water, sprinkling tap water on you, however holy, but, uh, by his Holy Spirit. Let me read you a passage relevant to this part of our study. It is found in Titus chapter three, And Paul is speaking to his fellow missionary Titus, talking about the Christians in Crete. Now, in those early days, the Cretans were a very difficult race. I must bear testimony to them that modern Christian, Christians in Crete are delightful people. Don't you go off with the impression that they're the same as the ancient Cretans were. They are delightful, but, uh, between you and me, ancient Cretans were a difficult crowd. Chapter one says they were idle, and they were liars, and they were slow bellies. You know, they'd promise you the moon one day, but they wouldn't fulfill it. They'd promise you to be at the prayer meeting, but they didn't turn up. They'd promised to take a Sunday school class, but then they were too lazy to leave their dinner and come and take it. Difficult folks they were. And, uh, though some of them got converted, some of their national characteristics clung to them a little bit. And it was trifle difficult in the church in Crete. So Paul has to write to Titus to give him some advice as what to do in this ancient church. And he says, Titus, old boy, don't be too hard on them. You know, we ourselves were once time disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice, hateful, hating one another. We were gnarled old characters, weren't we, Titus, old boy, ourselves before we got converted. What changed us? Well, now notice, he doesn't mention here the blood of Christ. All the blood of Christ is necessary to obtain forgiveness of sin. But Paul is thinking of something more than forgiveness. He's thinking of a power that can not only forgive, but change a person's character and turn a lazy man into an energetic man, can turn a liar of a man into a truthful man, can turn a glutton into a man of self-discipline and the service of others. What is that power that can turn an ungovernable rebel into a saint of God? And Paul gives us the answer. But after that the loving kindness of God toward man appeared, not by works done in righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing, the laver, if you will, the laver of regeneration. Not literal water, of course not, but the powerful water of the Holy Spirit and his word, the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, which he poured out on us abundantly. There it is. God's spirit and God's truth, and God's truth applied to the heart of man in the power of the spirit, bringing repentance, bringing faith, bringing new life, and changing the man's character and turning him into an obedient servant of God. Put those two things together, will you? God's objective truth, the pillars holding up the capitals, and then the labor with the water, God's Holy Spirit applying that truth subjectively to the heart and producing the miracle of the new birth and the daily cleansing of water by the word. You know, old Solomon was faced with a difficult task, wasn't he, of governing Israel for God. I'd no wonder the man said, here, we'll have as many labors about this place as we can get. What else? And if we would bring ourselves to behave as we should behave, let us remember to preach not merely the blood of Christ that cleanses us from the guilt of sin, but the necessity of the new birth, the regeneration of the Holy Spirit that places the life of God within us and turns rebels into obedient servants. Thus, then, was the provision that God made in that ancient day in the house of the Lord for the governing of his people. What did they do with the provision? Oh, oh, that's a mixed story. I'll make it as painless as I can. Time demands I shall. So let me concentrate first on the bad bits, and we'll end up with the good bits. What did they do with the provision? Let's start first of all with the structure. There was to be one house, only one house, and every single side room had to have direct access to that house. Well, in course of time, the nation divided, split into two parts, the two tribes and the ten. It came about because old Solomon, you know, he began to get soft in the head towards the end of his days. And instead of being keen on the work of the Lord as he used to be, he wanted still to be king, but he didn't want to do the work, see. And he went and married a lot of strange women and got busy spending his money on building them idolatrous shrines to keep them happy. Well, in that circumstance, there was a young man called Jeroboam, and he was certainly very keen on the Lord's work, and he got on with it, and of course he attracted the young folks to him. And God in the end said, righto, okay, Jeroboam, old chap, you can have the ten tribes and lead them. Old Solomon is fooling about. You lead the ten tribes in their work for God. So Jeroboam was put by God over the ten tribes, and all would have been well. But Jeroboam, foolish man. I suppose it was fear that did it. Do you know what he went and did? Whereas God had said there shall be one house, Jeroboam went and set up another one. In fact, another two. Whatever for, you say? Well, he said like this to himself. He said, you know, now I've got the control and the organization of the ten tribes, but if I let the ten tribes go up to the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, you know, ha, you never know what might happen. They might get it into their head and return back and serve Rehoboam, king of Judah, and I should lose control of them, and what would become of my position? Well, no, he said, that won't do. That's not advisable to let all those folks go directly to the house of the Lord. So he spent, he he he he told them a yarn. He said, look, that's too much bother, really, for you to go all up to the house of the Lord yourself. We'll come to a more convenient organizational arrangement. I'll build you another house here, and you go to that one, see? And then I shall have you under my eye, and uh, uh, well, he didn't tell them that, but he meant I'll get my thumb on you, see. He couldn't trust God to control the people if the people went direct to God. And so he invented an organization where the people had to come to his headquarters and not directly to God. From that dire mistake, Israel never recovered. And have, uh, Christians been guiltless in the matter? It is a very funny thing, isn't it? You would think people that had the right of immediate access to God would cling whole to it. But you all know as well as I what happened in medieval Christendom. There arose men, popes, prelates, cardinals, bishops, archbishops, and the like, who said to the people, what? You come direct to God. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You can't come direct to God. What? You come direct to his word. Oh, no, no, no, you mustn't do that. God isn't available to everybody just like that. You have to come to us, please. And we'll tell you what the true interpretation is. Centuries upon centuries, the whole thing went unchallenged and was thought to be genuine Christianity. Oh, we did it in England, didn't we? Of course, we're ashamed of it now. One of the great classics of Christian literature, Pilgrim's Progress, written by old John Bunyan. Bless God for the memory of the man. But you know what happened to him? He wanted to preach the gospel. Oh, but the bishop hadn't given him permission. I say. So he got shoved into prison. By men who took it upon themselves to stand between John Bunyan and God and tell Bon- John Bunyan what he may and may not do. Oh God, save us. We are to have godly elders, and we the young, if I might group myself for a moment there, are to respect and obey our elders in the Lord. But as all elders know who are spiritual men, the way to govern is not to stand between God and his people, but to encourage his people really to seek God and the power of his Holy Spirit and the enlightening of his word, that the Lord who lives in our midst may govern us. God save us from making the mistake of interposing all sorts of human things between ourselves and God that have no authority in his holy word. What other shall I talk about? These are sad things, mustn't depress you too much. Oh, there was that man Ahaz. You'll read of him in Second Kings. Ahaz, King Ahaz, he was a bright boy, and he went on holiday at one stage up to Damascus. And when he was up in Damascus, he visited a heathen temple, and he saw an altar. My, he said, that's a spanking fine altar, that is. You know, our altar in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem's getting a bit old, you know, and you know, we've got tired of it. We've seen it so many times. So he sent a postcard home to the high priest. He said, look, I've seen a marvelous altar up here. Please change the altar in the house of the Lord and make one like this. And he sent a thumbnail sketch of it on the postcard. Interesting man, Ahaz. And when he got back home, he had to look at the big sea that was standing there. He said, you know, this is an old-fashioned looking affair on the tops of these oxen. You must move with the time. So he got his hacksaws out and he cut the sea off the backs of the oxen and put it down on the ground. Made a change, didn't it? Now you imagine the impertinence of five foot six of human clay to alter what God has said and tamper with God's provision. And lessen the force of that water, so instead of come tumbling out in torrents through the mouths and bellies of those oxen, it now just trickled out without any power down there on the ground. You've no wonder, have you, that after that one day old Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and he got the labours and he smashed them to pieces, and he got those lovely pillars, and he did likewise with them and smashed them to smithereens. And Israel ended up in Babylon, Israel and Judah. For their folly, in us debasing the provision that God has made. Now we mustn't talk too much about ancient Judahites and Israelites, may we? What about modern Christ- Christendom? That has taken the inspired word of the apostles and said, uh, oh, but you don't need to go by that. That's only what Paul said. Oh, really? And what shall we say about the latest apostles? Who not only encourage people to disobey scripture, but tell us that what we have always regarded as God's inspired objective truth isn't truth, but merely myth. And in the name of Christ, deny the deity of Christ, and deny his resurrection, and deny his second coming, and deny the inspiration of Of scripture. scripture. We have lived to see it done in the name of Christianity, done in the name of God, the denial of God's objective truth and the brushing aside of the power of that word as applied to the human life. Christendom will end up as Judah ended up. Christendom that does that kind of thing will end up in Babylon, as sure as eggs are eggs and Ahaz was Ahaz. I'd better tell you a bit about the brighter side, hadn't I? Israel got herself into many pickles and troubles because of this kind of foolish abuse and defiance of God. But there were, from time to time, movements of revival and brighter days. There was a man called Josiah, and he was a godly young man, and he said, now look here, this is terrible, neglecting the house of the Lord like this. Let's go through it and clean it. So they started to clean it. And hey presto, they were in process of cleaning it when they found a book. So they got this book out and they brought it to the king, and he consulted a prophetess, and lo and behold, do you know what it was? It was a copy of Holy Scripture. They hadn't read it for years upon years. Scarcely knew what it said or whether it existed, but copy of Holy Scripture it was. So they began to read it, and to their consternation and dismay, they found all sorts of things in this Bible that they didn't know were in the Bible. All sorts of things they were commanded to do that they hadn't done for centuries, and all sorts of things that they were told not to do, which they'd been doing every Tuesday and Thursday for years. And they said to themselves, what on earth should we do? Is this really God's word? Well, if it is, we better start obeying the thing. And that's precisely what they did. They started obeying the newly found word of God. And do you know what it led to? It led to such a cleansing of that house of the Lord as you never did see in all your life. Talk about a spring clean. Old idols came out here, and cobwebs came out there. Spiders and pork and goodness knows what came out, and all sorts of godless and idolatrous things went swoosh outside the door, and they scrubbed the place clean. Yes, God's word always has that effect, doesn't it? Like the labor of olden times. You get God's holy word, and you take it seriously, and you do what it says. It leads to a tremendous cleanup. Why dare to preach God's word, and folks get converted, who before were merely church members and not converted. They get born again, and they get a new power in their life, and then they start reading the word, and uh, it begins to clean up the way they behave. Oh God, give us more Josias in our day and generation to discover the living word of God and determine to obey it. It will lead to a mighty cleansing and a powerful reviving. Finally, there was a man called Hezekiah, and he was king of Judah, and he was attacked by the Assyrians. An old Rab Sheker came up to Jerusalem and shouted around the walls, strutting there, chief command- commander of the Assyrian hosts. And he cried to the king and the people, and he said, look here, it's no good you're standing inside Jerusalem city there and telling yourself, Jehovah will protect us. Who do you imagine Jehovah is? Your Jehovah, he's no better than the gods of Samaria and Carchemish and all the other gods that I've been beating up progressively as I have moved west. Your Jehovah is only another one of these little tin pot gods. You'd better leave off faith in him. Give up this old hoary notion that Moses told you. That's a lot of myth, you know. You ought to give up those old fashioned ideas and submit to us, the great Assyrians. Well, here was Hezekiah, and you know, to look at the Assyrian army outside Jerusalem was enough to make your knees wobble any day of the week. What should he do? Here he was, king of a people that were, had committed to themselves the great revelation of Almighty God. I am the Lord, beside me there is none else. They stood among the nations for this cardinal truth of the uniqueness of Jehovah, as against all idolatry. And here was the king of Assyria saying, that's a lot of nonsense, that's a lot of mythology. Why do you make those exclusive claims? Who do you think you are anyway, you Jews? Aren't our religions as good as your religion? Who are you to think that your God is the unique sole God of heaven? God be praised, all Hezekiah, though his knees knocked, formed an alliance with the prophet Isaiah and the godly in Jerusalem, and they stood, unbudgeable, for the truth that Jehovah is unique. And as they stood like pillars for the truth of God's self-revelation, God himself proved his reality and turned the Assyrians back. It was at that stage that, uh, Isaiah coined a, a, a nice little bit of poetry. He said, the remnant of Israel shall yet take root downward and bear fruit upward, because they have dared to stand firm like pillars for God's objective truth. God help us who are born again to do likewise. We live in days that get ever nearer to the final apostasy, when the church herself shall go apostate and deny the Lord who bought her and deny his objective truth, they are already doing it in many places in the name of Christ. God give us who know the Lord to determine to be pillars, to stand firm for the faith once for all delivered to the saints and fearlessly hold it, unbudgingly hold it up to the eyes of men as no myths, but God's self-revealed truth, the only gospel that is able to make men wise unto salvation. And more and more and more there is beside in First and Second Kings, but not more minutes on the clock, and there we must leave our studies of those ancient historical books. Shall we pray? O Lord, we thank thee for the provision that thou hast made for us, even more glorious than that thou didst make for Israel in the past. Help us to understand thy provision, Lord, and give us that we- that wisdom and humbleness of heart that we may avail thyself of what thou hast given us, using it, be strong in our day to stand for thee and to hold thy truth up manfully before the eyes of the world, that thy blessing may be upon us and thy power be evident in the preaching of thy word to the salvation of souls and to the glory of thy name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.