Lessons from the Kings

The Creator of the universe, you, and I, desires a relationship with you. A relationship that is ever growing and never ending. 

There are deeper depths to our walk with God. If you are not a follower of Christ or if you have been living for Jesus for a while, I hope that something in this will encourage you to go deeper.

Do we love Him like we say we do? 

Do we love Him enough to be obedient to His Word?

Do we love Him enough to destroy every idol in our life?

Do we love Him enough to stand for Him, despite all the pressure to cave?

Do we love Him with our heart, soul, and mind?

Let’s look at some kings in the Bible, there may just be a lesson or two.

King Amaziah

2 Chronicles 25

Amaziah did the right thing with the wrong heart. We can have the right actions, right persona, right everything, but does it matter if we have a wrong heart? In the end of Amaziah’s reign we see that he turned away from following the Lord. The right thing wasn't truly in his heart.

King Uzziah

2 Chronicles 26

Uzziah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. As long as he sought God, God made him to prosper. Uzziah gets lifted up and tries to do things that he was not to do. When confronted, instead of choosing repentance, he chose anger. 

King Josiah

2 Kings 22 

Josiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. During his reign the book of the law of Moses was rediscovered. What was lost or done away with had been found again. 

Josiah seeks God, destroys idols, and breaks down altars. 

When the book of the covenant was found, Josiah realized just how far they were from God’s plan. He humbles himself before the Lord, and seeks a word from the Lord. 

Then Josiah renews the covenant of the book that was found, and leads the people to do the same. Any country that pertained to the children of Israel, he took away all abominations. 

With the renewing of this covenant they kept a Passover and offered burnt offerings unto the Lord. 

There is growth in Josiah’s life and in his understanding of God. From first seeking the Lord, to entering into covenant, and the Passover. Throughout all of his reign there are changes happening and he is going to deeper depths in his dedication. 

And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the Lord with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. 2 Kings 23:25

Heart, Soul, and Might. With all of himself, Josiah turned to the Lord. 

In the Old Testament, we read in the book of Deuteronomy 

4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: 5 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Deuteronomy 6:4-5

The God of these kings that we have discussed so far, is the God of the Old Testament who has not changed, for there is one God that never changes, but we are in a new covenant.

Jesus was on earth to fulfill the law and establish a new covenant with us, and when asked what the greatest commandment was he answered…

29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. Mark 12:29-30

The first commandment is showing us the identification of God. You cannot first seek Him without knowing He exists. 

We cannot fully love God with all of ourselves if we are holding onto idols, old altars, and things not of the Lord. We must repent (turn away) from things not of Him and turn toward Him with all of us. 

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I want to point out that in the Old Testament the wording is heart, soul, and might. However in the New testament it is heart, soul, and mind. 

The wars that were waged in the flesh of the Old Testament, are now in the spirit in the New Testament. The battleground tends to be our minds. The battles that were fought in the flesh in the Old Testament are now waged in our minds. 

You have to love Him with your mind. The battles that come and fight you in your mind. The things that come to prove us. We can take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ.

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With Josiah we then see the Passover. In the New Testament we see Jesus is the Passover lamb. The shedding of His blood was for the remission of sins. The blood of the New Testament is the blood of Jesus. (Matthew 26:26)

After the blood of Jesus was shed bringing in the new covenant, and the people came to the realization that they killed Jesus, who was both Lord and Christ. They asked, “what shall we do?”

38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Acts 2:38

Repentance, Baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ, and the infilling of the Holy Ghost is how we enter into covenant with Jesus!

Baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is for the remission of sins!

No matter where you are in your relationship or walk with the Lord, I hope that there is something in this that encourages you to go deeper, even if it is loving Jesus just a little bit more. If there is something that is pulling at you and you are wondering, is this of the Lord? We can compare it to His Word and ask ourselves if it leads me towards Jesus or away from Him. 

There are many lessons we can learn from the kings in the Bible from how they served and surrendered fully or partially. The most important lesson we can learn is from the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. He lived the example for us to model. He is love. He is Lord. He came and set a pathway for us to enter into a covenant that the people of the OT never had the opportunity to. 

We have the gift of salvation with the remission of sins. 

If you have never repented - you can do that right now as you read this. 

If you have never been baptized in the Name of Jesus Christ, reach out and you can be baptized in the only saving name of Jesus!

If you have never received the gift of the Holy Ghost with the evidence of speaking in tongues. It is for you. (If you have any questions feel free to message me any time. )

With the sacrifice that Jesus has given, let’s love Him with all our heart, soul, and mind.