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2 Chronicles--Tell Me AgainThat You Love Me

CONNIE: Do we always get what we deserve in life? It's a question that's troubled prophets and preachers for millennia, and today we look for answers in the biblical book of 2 Chronicles.Giving God's trumpet a Certain Sound for more than 70 years, this is the Voice of Prophecy.

CONNIE: Hello, I'm Connie Jeffery,

LONNIE: and I'm Lonnie Melashenko. Our subject today is getting what you deserve.

CONNIE: Well, have you always gotten what you deserved in life
Lonnie?

LONNIE: No I haven't. Sometimes we do wish we would get what we deserve.

CONNIE: Well you know when we're talking about good things, we often want a positive, good response for the good things we do. But we also want; yet we don't want to reap immediate bad results for the kind of bad things we do.

LONNIE: That's correct.

CONNIE: Have you ever had a speeding ticket that you like got off of?

LONNIE: You know I actually did Connie, and I really deserved that ticket too. It was late at night, and I was driving home from a Voice of Prophecy appointment and not a soul on the road for a hundred miles, and I must confess I was going a little bit over the speed limit, and nobody around. There it was, Red, White, And Blue lights in the rear view mirror, and the gentleman pulled me over. But you know what? This fellow happened to be my neighbor, a California highway patrol man, and he recognized me of course, and he said just slow it down around this section please.

CONNIE: So you didn't have to reap instant justice for what you did wrong.

LONNIE: No I didn't. He should have thrown the book at me.

LONNIE: One woman I know who's glad she didn't always reap instant justice when she "blew it," is Pastor Hyveth Williams, pastor of the 1400 member Campus Hill Church in Loma Linda, California. I have her on the line with me now…

LONNIE: Hello Hyveth.

HYVETH: Hi, good morning Lonnie. How are you?

LONNIE: Well it is so neat to be talking with you, cause last time we were together we were floating across the blue seas of the Aegean there.

HYVETH: Yes it was wonderful, wonderful cruise.

LONNIE: Hyveth, you've had an amazing experience, and in your book "Will I Ever Learn"; you really did go through a Gethsemanie didn't you.

HYVETH: Yes I really did.

LONNIE: Tell us a little about it.

HYVETH: Well I was originally an atheist. I grew up in a family in Jamaica where we just did not go to church, except Easter Sunday, and Christmas. And mostly we did that cause that was the common thing to do, but we did not embrace God in any form. So I did not have a relationship with God, and didn't grow up thinking about God. If there was a God He has nothing to do with me. So I was an Atheist, and then I had this incredible encounter. I was running for political office against my boss, and in the middle of all this trying to do the political game, I began to hear voices, and it was God calling me, and I gave my life to the Lord, through a series of incredible events that had happened.

LONNIE: Beautiful and you describe that in your book

HYVETH: Yes.

LONNIE: But that was a major, major turn around for people who have a chance to read this, for ten years you say you were a career driven, self-educated, alcohol swizziling, cigar and three pak a day smoking workaholic, feminist, who wore pants and an equal rights amendment bracelet.

HYVETH: Yes.

LONNIE: You literally had a Jacob experience of wrestling. But God wasn't punishing you through those years, how did you determine He was actually leading you.

HYVETH: Well I didn't really think He was leading me through those years. Its only after I became converted in retrospect I see that He was leading me. For example, I am now senior pastor of one of the larger churches in the Adventist church, and all of those years in the political world where I learned how to be an administrator, how I learned to relate to people, how I learned to handle problems, and defuse crisis, and listened and learned, have been the best lessons for me in doing the job that I doing now.

LONNIE: So you could say that even though you went through some bad stuff, God can take those factors, and can somehow miraculously, mysteriously, and wonderfully use them to lead you, and prepare you for something greater

HYVETH: Yes, let me give you an example. I try not to talk about this, but I'm the survivor of sexual abuse as a child. That has been a big plus in my ministry. Because there are so many men and women who need somebody who has been there, who can understand. You know I'm counseling someone right now through a very serious marital crisis, and I've been through a serious marital crisis, and it gives me compassion that even though someone without these experiences could become passionate, they do not have the connecting experience.

LONNIE: That's right. When I went through my cancer, big time Melanoma fourth level, I can now say to people, I understand what you're going through.

HYVETH: Yes, yes. You cannot feel what they are feeling, but you understand what they are going through in a different way.

LONNIEP: So God may be leading in the lives of people today, out there listening to Hyveth who say, "yeah but she doesn't know about my life".

HYVETH: Yeah, because you know I used to say; people would say I love Jesus, and I would call them Jesus freaks, and I would not trust them, and I could not understand this Jesus thing. It was just so far out, and yet now I can understand people who feel like that. And I can relate to them, and I am not insulted when they push me away, and reject the words that I have to share with them about Jesus Christ, because I've been there. Know the pain, I know the kind of pain that people feel, and the numbness, and the and the distrust, and the uncertainty that people feel on that side, and I can say I'll be there, I'll wait.

LONNIE: Oh that's beautiful. Hyveth thank you for challenging us to be eagle thinkers, and not just chicken people as we say.

HYVETH: Yes.
LONNIE: Glad to have you on our broadcast today.

CONNIE: What an incredible life that woman has had--and to think that after all the lessons she's learned in the "school of hard knocks" she's turned out to be a pastor.

LONNIE: And not just that--she's the senior pastor of one of the largest churches in our Seventh-day Adventist denomination, located there in Loma Linda right on the campus of Loma Linda University.

CONNIE: She has a great ministry to the students, faculty, and the community there, and I think her testimony is well summed up in this song sung by Del Delker:

CONNIE: That was Del Delker, singing one of her favorite songs, "Through It All." It's a good song to go with today's topic, as we look at the book of 2 Chronicles, because the book covers so much history, and deals with both the triumphs and tragedies that God's people went through, as Ken Wade shares with us now.

KEN: The book of 2 Chronicles covers the longest time-period of any of the historical books in the Bible after Genesis. Beginning just after Solomon acceded to the throne of Israel in about 970 BC, it carries us forward to the end of the Babylonian captivity in the time of Cyrus, King of Persia, who issued a decree allowing the captive Jews to return to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple in 537 BC.

That's a total of 433 years of history in 36 chapters. It covers all of the territory of both 1 Kings and 2 Kings, but focuses almost exclusively on events in the kingdom of Judah, mentioning what was going on in Israel only when it had an impact on Judah.

The two kingdoms split apart shortly after Solomon died in about 930 BC. The northern kingdom of Israel was larger, but not as stable as Judah. A king from the line of David sat on Judah's throne for all but six years of its 3½-century history. The kingdom of Israel lasted only about two centuries, but during that time, there were 8 major coups in which one dynasty was overthrown and replaced by another.

2 Chronicles was likely written by the scribe Ezra, who chose to review the history of Judah in order to encourage the exiles who returned from Babylon to be faithful to the Lord so He would bless them.

The Bible is a very honest book. It tells history as it happened, without apologies to those who wish it had happened differently. And while the historian Ezra, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, sees an overall pattern to the history he recounts, he also reveals that things didn't always fit into a neat pattern.

So, what is the thesis--the theme behind the stories told in 2 Chronicles? Basically this: That Judah's history reveals that when the people have been faithful to God, He has blessed them, but when they've been unfaithful, God has allowed tragedy and tribulation to dog their steps.
It's a view that's summed up in the account of King Rehoboam in chapters 11 and 12:

So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years. . . .
but then a few verses later:

Now it came to pass, when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel along with him. And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the LORD (2 Chr 11:17; 12:1-2, NKJV).

Second Chronicles reveals many instances when faithfulness to God led to triumph and unfaithfulness led to tragedy. But it also reveals the other side of the coin, as in this example from Chapter 32. After reading about all the good and faithful things King Hezekiah did, we find this:

After [Hezekiah's] deeds of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and entered Judah; he encamped against the fortified cities, thinking to win them over to himself (2 Chron. 32:1, NKJV).

Hezekiah did many wonderful things that demonstrated his faith in God. But despite all that, the Assyrians attacked and destroyed every fortified city in Judah except for Jerusalem.

The times of 2 Chronicles were filled with both triumphs and tragedies. And it has important things to teach us, as we face the challenges of our daily lives, as Lonnie points out in today's message, "Tell Me Again That You Love Me."

Tell Me Again That You Love Me

We're going to wrestle with Scripture a bit today, as we look at the book of 2 Chronicles. Because it is a book that wrestles with God.

Do you remember the story from Genesis of the patriarch Jacob wrestling with God? Well, much of the Bible, much of Israel's and Judah's history, is the story of Jacob's descendants wrestling with God. Jacob proclaimed to God "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" Throughout that long night of wrestling, Jacob clung to God, and finally in abject desperation and pain, with his hip thrown out of joint, He continued clinging, seeking God's blessing.

That story sums up, metaphorically, the stories in the book of 2 Chronicles. All through the book we find the people wrestling, trying to get a firm hold on God, so that they will be blessed.

Sometimes they turn away from God, then turn back to Him again, and in their wrestling with the Lord, they end up like Jacob--severely injured, wounded deeply, barely able to walk. At the end of the book, the kingdom of Judah goes into captivity to Babylon. Her capital city Jerusalem, all the fine mansions and palaces, and even the temple of the Lord, are consigned to the flames of a fire set by a conquering army. All that is left is a smoking hillside, covered with ashes, broken pottery, skulls, skeletons--human carrion. All the survivors are carried away to slavery in Babylon.

As we look at 2 Chronicles, I'd like to focus in on one rather obscure story. It's a story you may not remember well. But it captures the essence of the book--both the spiritual and secular struggles that it records. The story is found in chapter 28. It occurred during the reign of King Ahaz, one of the least faithful kings of Judah. He turned away from the Lord and served other gods, even placing a foreign god's altar in the temple of the Lord.

Ahaz faced attacks on every side--from the Syrians, the Edomites, the

Philistines, and even from his sister nation, Israel. And he lost every battle he fought.

Here's the story of the war with Israel:

Pekah the [king of Israel] killed one hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day . . . because they had forsaken the LORD God of their fathers. . . . And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand women, sons, and daughters; and they also took away much spoil from them, and brought the spoil to Samaria (2 Chronicles 28:6, 8).
It was a day of infamy in Judah--a horrible defeat, leading to terrible loss of life, and enslavement for many of the survivors.

But there's a fascinating twist to the story. The people of Israel don't get much mention in most of Chronicles. They're just that "other clan" of Abraham's descendants who turned away from the Lord and refused to worship Him at the temple in Jerusalem.

But notice what happened next. And remember, this happened in Israel, not in Judah:

But a prophet of the LORD was there, whose name was Oded; and he went out before the army that came to Samaria, and said to them: "Look, because the LORD God of your fathers was angry with Judah, He has delivered them into your hand. . . . And now you propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the LORD your God? Now hear me, therefore, and return the captives, whom you have taken captive from your brethren, for the fierce wrath of the LORD is upon you." (verses 9-11)

And how did the people of Israel respond?

Then some of the heads of the children of Ephraim . . . stood up against those who came from the war, and said to them, "You shall not bring the captives here, for we already have offended the LORD. You intend to add to our sins and to our guilt; for our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel."

So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the leaders and all the assembly. Then the men who were designated by name rose up and took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them and gave them sandals, gave them food and drink, and anointed them; and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys. So they brought them to their brethren at Jericho, the city of palm trees (verses 12-15).
There's a real role reversal here--the opposite of what you might expect from the rest of the book of 2 Chronicles. Now it's Judah that's rebelling against the Lord, and it's Israel that listens carefully and obeys the words of the prophet of the Lord.

What brought about this transition? If you know the history behind these events, it becomes clear.

The war between Israel and Judah is really just a minor skirmish set against the backdrop of a much larger conflict. Israel and Judah at this time are like a couple of second-graders punching and kicking each other out behind the school. But the eighth-grade bully is on his way to settle the score. Soon they're both running scared from Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria.
You notice that the people of Israel confess that "our guilt is great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel." That wrath is being delivered by Assyria. The fiercest, most powerful empire ever to rape and pillage its way across the face of the planet up to that time.

Israel's kindness to the captives from Judah is nothing less than an attempt to avert the wrath that is coming against them in the form of Assyrian armies.
It's a last-minute, last-gasp effort to turn back to the Lord for deliverance, despite their two centuries of rebellion against Him.

But it turns out to be too little, too late. Within a dozen years, the Assyrian army wiped the kingdom Israel off the map. And the survivors were left to wonder why.

All these great battles, these great strivings after God and His righteousness, come down to us today, and they leave us still wrestling with hard questions.
If Israel repented and listened to the voice of God through His prophet, why didn't that lead to deliverance from Assyria? Why didn't God save them and give them a second chance in response to their good deed?

We wish life would be that way, don't we? We wish that one good turn always deserved (and received) another. We wish that we could see instant results for good behavior [a touch of humor/irony here:] (but perhaps delayed results for our own bad behavior--even though we might wish certain other people would get instant results for their bad behavior!)

But that's just not the way it happens. We're often affected by something beyond our individual behavior. We don't always get what we deserve. As Jesus put it, our "Father in heaven . . . makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45).
There will always be injustice in the world. Prophet after prophet during the time of the Chronicles cried out to the Lord, "Why do the wicked prosper while the righteous suffer?"

But let me let you in on the most important lesson found in the book of 2 Chronicles: Even when everything seems to be going wrong. Even if everything you've worked and striven and prayed for is going up in flames, it doesn't mean that God has abandoned you. It doesn't mean He's turned His back on you, or that He's punishing you for some minor or major infraction.
Israel sinned and was defeated by Assyria. But what happened next? The territory of Israel came under Judah's influence, and Judah's good king Hezekiah gave the remaining residents the opportunity to return to faithful worship of the Lord.

Later, Judah went into captivity to Babylon. But the direct result of that was the ministry of the prophet Daniel in Babylon. If it weren't for what seemed bad happening, we might never have had Daniel's prophecies.

And in the end of 2 Chronicles, we learn that the Lord brought a remnant of His people back to the promised land.

We're wrestling with the Lord here, as we strive to understand His workings and His plan for our lives. But through it all, remember this. These words penned by the prophet Jeremiah just when it seemed all was lost:

I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back from your captivity (Jer 29:11-14).

Do you see it? That's God's message: My son, My daughter, I love you--in spite of all that's happened, I still love you.

God has a plan--a good plan--for you, and for me. He wants us to learn to walk with Him, to trust Him. Sure there may be times of hardship along the way. But His plan--His final plan for us--is to bless us. To redeem us from the captivity of this world, and to take us to the real Promised Land, heaven.
Don't you want to be there with Him? Let's plan to all be there, together!

CONNIE: I want to be there Lonnie! As we think about God's promise of a bright future, let's listen to some cheery music, "The Unclouded Day, from our Family Reunion album A New Name in Glory.