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[0:00] and have entered into the book of 2 Kings. I'm fairly excited about this because this is the first time I've ever preached through the book of 2 Kings. Actually, in 18 years of ministry, as far as I have recorded, tonight's message will be only the third message I've ever preached out of the book of 2 Kings.

[0:21] So, it's good. I'm excited about it. I love when the Lord leads me to move into new preaching. There he is. Even though I've read it and studied it a number of times, now we get to look at it from the pulpit, which is exciting.

[0:36] So, let's open up with a word of prayer, and then we'll get right into our text. Lord, we thank you so much for this day. God's so thankful for the opportunity we have of gathering.

[0:49] We thank you for the grand blessing it is of church fellowship, of the building you've provided for us, and the opportunity we have opening up the word of God. So, Lord, we pray as we open it up that you would speak to our hearts and minds.

[1:02] We pray that the truth of Scripture would resonate within us, that we would understand it not only in its historical setting, but, Lord, we would also understand it in its daily application. We pray for every aspect of what's going on in this building tonight, those working with the youth, those working with the children.

[1:22] Lord, from the oldest to the youngest, we ask your blessing and your leading in their lives, and we pray, God, that you'd be magnified and glorified. And we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, let's put ourselves in context really quick before we get into it.

[1:35] We typically do this when we transition books, when we're moving out of one book into another. In particular, we do it in the Old Testament because we are just making our way through Scripture.

[1:46] So, eight years ago, roughly around eight years ago, we started in the book of Genesis, Genesis 1, and we've gotten to this point. So, in particular in the Old Testament, when we change books, I like to kind of set it in its context.

[1:59] We're not so compelled to do it tonight because we're really in what was originally in the Hebrew Scriptures one book, 1 and 2 Kings, or the Kings there.

[2:09] But for our sake, it's 2 Kings. So, there's not a lot of transition that we need to really put in context. But I do want to kind of set it in this context in that we'll immediately go into 1 and 2 Chronicles after our study of 1 and 2 Kings because that's where it falls in our English Bibles.

[2:28] In the Hebrew Bibles, 1 and 2 Chronicles are later on, actually around the prophetic books. So, they're not in this historical setting as we find them in ours.

[2:39] And the reason is this, and this is something we need to keep in context, and I know, hey, you're the Wednesday night crowd, so we can do this, right? We want to have it like this. 1 and 2 Kings, remember, are written immediately prior to and even during the Babylonian captivity period.

[2:57] So, as they went into captivity. So, the whole theme of 1 and 2 Kings is this is why we are in captivity. This is how we sinned. This is how we fell.

[3:08] Well, this is how we got here, right? So, it is a record. Some people believe it was written by Jeremiah. We don't really know, but a lot of Bible scholars believe Jeremiah because there seems to be this lament, this mourning over these matters.

[3:25] And it is really painting the picture. Now, it is the Word of God. We don't want to discount that, but we also want to take it in its context for what it is. It is, these are the sins of our people, both Northern Kingdom, Southern Kingdom, the nation of Israel, the nation of Judah, or, you know, Israel and Judah, respectively.

[3:42] This is what led to our downfall, the falling of the Northern Kingdom, first to the Assyrians, the falling of the Southern Kingdom, a couple hundred years later to the Babylonians. But this is what happened.

[3:54] Now, a lot happens in history during all those wars and battles. And we're not really looking at all these battles, but we're looking at how God's people failed, what led to their captivity.

[4:06] First and second. Chronicles, on the other hand, are written as they are coming out of Babylonian captivity. So it's only a time period of roughly 70 years. But it's written in the context of coming out of Babylonian captivity.

[4:20] God has disciplined us. If you want to know why God disciplined us, read 1 and 2 Kings. The chronicler of 1 and 2 Chronicles, which a lot of people think is Ezra, think Ezra and Nehemiah, or some of the scribes of Ezra, was writing so that the nation of Israel would know who they were, God's faithfulness to the Davidic dynasty, or to the Davidic promise, God's faithfulness in raising up his people.

[4:46] Sure, it speaks of their failures, but it doesn't focus so much on the Northern Kingdom because God's promise flows through the family lineage of David. So it's there that we see really the full context of God remaining faithful.

[4:59] Even though we've come out of captivity, God is still faithful. And it just establishes, it is there in 1 and 2 Chronicles that we get the order of the priests, the order of all the officials that are around the temple, and the Levitical order, and the singers, and the musicians, and all of that.

[5:16] Why? Now, so that they would know coming out, this is what worship should look like. This is how we genuinely, truly worship. We know where we messed up, 1 and 2 Kings. Now let's know who we should be, 1 and 2 Chronicles.

[5:30] So that's just a really quick overview, right? So, a reminder, when we're looking at, tonight, 2 Kings, we're still focusing on how they got to Babylonian captivity.

[5:44] How they got to this period of judgment. Because, what is the Babylonian captivity? It is God's disciplinary judgment for the failures, and the disobedience of his people.

[5:56] That's what it is. God said, I will punish you for disobedience. They did. Moses foresaw it, all the way back in the book of Deuteronomy.

[6:07] And here we see it being lived out in front of us. So that's where we're at. Okay. 2 Kings chapter 1. Let's just, we're going to focus on the first chapter, in its entirety tonight, because we need to read it in that context, but it's only 18 verses.

[6:20] Now, I want you to pay very close attention, even to the first few phrases, and I'll show you why. Now, Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber, which was in Samaria, and became ill.

[6:36] So he sent messengers, and said to them, Go inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness. But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron?

[6:55] Now, therefore, thus saith the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die. Then Elijah departed. When the messengers returned to him, he said to them, Why have you returned?

[7:07] And they said to him, A man came up to meet us, and said to us, Go return to the king who sent you, and say to him, Thus saith the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron?

[7:20] Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die. He said to them, What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?

[7:31] They answered him, He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the Tishbite. Then the king said to him, A captain of fifty with his fifty, and he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill.

[7:46] And he said to him, O man of God, the king says, Come down. Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.

[7:57] Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent to him another captain of fifty with his fifty. And he said to him, O man of God, thus says the king, Come down quickly.

[8:09] Elijah replied to him, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty. Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty. So he again sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty.

[8:24] And when the third captain of fifty went up, he came and bowed down on his knees before Elijah and begged him and said to him, O man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.

[8:37] Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifties. But now let my life be precious in your sight. The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, Go down with him.

[8:48] Do not be afraid of him. So he arose and went down with him to the king. Then he said to him, Thus saith the Lord, Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no god in Israel to inquire of his word?

[9:03] Therefore, you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die. So Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken.

[9:15] And because he had no son, Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram, the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Yes, there are two Jehorams, right?

[9:26] Reigning at the same time. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah, which he did, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? Second Kings chapter one.

[9:39] I want you to see this evening pathways to rebellion against the king. Pathways to rebellion against the king. How do we get to that place of rebellion?

[9:51] And we see this, I believe, in that first statement that we have. It says, Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. If you remember, Ahab fought the Moabites.

[10:06] He won that battle. And in that battle, he spared the king. Remember, we go back in 1 Kings and we can read that. He had taken the king up in his chariot. He made a covenant with him. This is where he was going to get the city that they went to fight at the end, which eventually cost Ahab his life because a certain man drew his bow at random and shot it and it went into the chink of his armor.

[10:26] But after the death of Ahab, the Bible tells us, Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. Now this historical reality, which will be picked up again in the third chapter, that is, we will read that very same sentence in the third chapter, but we will diverge and go a little bit further into it or we will go deeper into what that means and the implication that it had for the nation of Israel.

[10:52] But what is different in chapter 3 is that when we read of Moab's rebellion after the death of Ahab, we're not talking about Ahaziah, rather we're talking about Jehoram.

[11:03] And we're talking about what he does in response to that rebellion. So this historical mentioning of something that happens during the early stages of Ahaziah's reign is really setting the scene for what's going on in the chapter.

[11:16] That is, their rebellion on the political scene is a picture of his rebellion on the spiritual realm. Their rebellion in the physical world is exactly what is going on with his rebellion in the spiritual realm.

[11:32] Now he reigned, we are told, for two years. Probably not the fullness of those two calendar years, but he reigned a portion of at least two years. And if he died in any portion of the second year, then we would say he reigned two years.

[11:46] Much like there will be confusion by the time we get to the next chapter and we will read that Jehoram, his brother, became king during the reign of Jehoram, the king of Judah. But we will also read that Jehoram, his brother, became king during the reign of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.

[12:01] And we will try to figure out what is going on. I'll go ahead and let you know that Jehoram of Judah was the son of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat noticed, Jehoshaphat appointed him co-regent king with him for the last two years of his reign.

[12:13] So there's no confusion. The Bible does not contradict itself. So it is both the 18th year of Jehoshaphat's reign and the first year of Jehoram's reign in Judah.

[12:24] That's why we get to that. You say, well, pastor, that's not even in this passage. No, but you're going to do your studious work and you're going to be like the Bereans and you're going to read ahead and say, well, this doesn't make sense. But it does.

[12:35] So we'll continue to go on here. So we see here with this mentioning of Moab's rebellion against Israel, we also see in our text Ahaziah's rebellion against the true king of kings and lord of lords.

[12:49] So what are the pathways to this rebellion? How does man come to the point where he rebels against the king? The same way that we see the rebellion of the Moabites is the same way in which we see the rebellion of the nation of Israel here being the northern kingdom.

[13:06] There are three great truths, I think, that man grabs a hold of that leads them to a point of rebellion and we see each of these three being played out or fleshed out in our text.

[13:16] The first thing is rebellion comes when there is a diminished presence of the king. When there is a diminished presence of the king. What does it say?

[13:27] Now Moab rebelled against Israel after the death of Ahab. So politically, physically, as far as earth is, you know, kind of, if we confine ourselves to the realms of this world, when Ahab dies, Moab is king now and says, well now I'm vindicated in my rebellion against him and he who caught me and suppressed me and humiliated me is no longer there so now I can go be free.

[13:53] So we see this happening all the time. But that is also what is going on here with Ahaziah because we are told that Ahaziah, we don't know why, it really doesn't matter why, he fell through the lattice on the roof of his house and he's injured.

[14:06] And so he is doing the same thing the Moabites did, that is, he is diminishing the presence of the king and is going to walk in rebellion because it says that he sent his messengers to go on their way to Ekron to consult the god of Ekron which should all of a sudden gather your attention because that god of Ekron's name lowercase g is Belzebub.

[14:30] Belzebub is the same name as Belzebul which is the lord of the flies is who they accused Jesus to be a messenger of there that we find in the New Testament. We find it mentioned in the gospels.

[14:42] More than likely that is not what the people of Ekron called their king it is probably the lord prince but as a spite the scribes of scripture changed just one letter in the original language and made him the lord of flies and not the lord of princes because they are diminishing the reality of who he really is.

[15:00] Okay? But at this time Ahaziah is diminishing the presence of god and is looking to another god and walking in open rebellion and wants to know if he is going to make it over his illness over his fall from through the lattice.

[15:17] Now we know this is rebellion because he is sending to Ekron. Now any quick look at any map to find out where Ekron is you will see it is in kind of the territory there.

[15:31] It is mentioned several times in scripture. I told someone a minute ago I kind of got caught up in studying Ekron today I don't know why but I will just kind of give it to you a little bit. It is right there on the Philistine coast where the Philistines and the tribe of Judah kind of merge.

[15:46] During the period of Joshua the Philistines still lived there when we get to the period of Judges they are there we see it kind of going back and forth between two people between the people of Judah and the people of the Philistines.

[15:58] You should know Samson does some work there at Ekron and there is all this other stuff there is all these people that hang out but what you see is to go to Ekron okay he is in Samaria right?

[16:10] Stay with me. Ahaziah is in Samaria where he falls through the lattice of his root that is he is in the northern kingdom but to send messengers to Ekron he has to go south into the Judean region towards like if you are going to this little place named Jerusalem and then go just due west of Jerusalem a little bit along the coastline you can get to Ekron and you get over there in that region and you are going to consult the God of Ekron now this should throw a little red flag for us because you probably know Ekron or you should know Ekron from 1 Samuel 1 Samuel if you remember in the early stages I am supposed to confine myself to the pulpit brother I was getting away I am sorry let me get back I asked them if they would let me use a podium mic and not a lapel mic because it was getting on my nerves I said I will stay there and I was starting to walk away so I caught myself here we go anyway the five lords of the Philistines remember when the Ark of the Covenant was captured in the battle remember that right and the five lords of the Philistines they took the Ark of the Covenant up there oh and they brought it to the household of Dagon that is not where it was at not at Ekron but the last city that they took the Ark of the Covenant to was Ekron and when they brought it into Ekron the Ekronites said oh no do not bring the Ark of the Covenant here because you are trying to kill us you are trying to everywhere this Ark of the Covenant goes the God of this Ark overcomes us and is more powerful than us and it was the people of Ekron who said send it back we don't want it so it was the people of Ekron that hooked it up to two calves who had never pulled a cart and said send it back so I'm saying all of this because the God of Israel has already proven himself to be greater than the God of Ekron but yet Ahaziah wants to consult the God of Ekron why?

[17:53] because he has diminished the presence of the God of Israel and we know that because Elijah the Tishbite by the way God always has his man he had been kind of quiet and off scene just a little bit he shows up and he says is it because there's no God in Israel that you send your men to Ekron see rebellion happens when we diminish the presence of the king not just in Ahaziah's life but in every individual's life when we begin to diminish the presence of the Lord God almighty we begin to diminish the reality that he is omnipresent omniscient you know all these omnis he is always there and we begin to diminish that then we begin to walk in sin and rebellion why?

[18:45] because we think we can get away with it just like Moab rebelled when Ahab died Ahaziah rebels because there is no God in Israel so he thinks and he does it because he is going to go somewhere else he has diminished this presence now he should have known better it was his dad who was with Elijah on Mount Carmel when fire came down it was his dad who just died in battle as the prophets had foretold he should have known better but his mother is Jezebel his dad is Ahab we understand all of these realities and for the breath of their kingdom they had tried to diminish the reality of the Lord God's presence and when we do that when we begin to diminish that reality we walk in rebellion friend you do not have to look very far in society to see that the great cry of society to remove the existence of the Lord God

[19:45] Almighty is just so that man can do whatever man wants to do read your history and when you read your history and you see the great atrocities that have been done throughout the world when there was a presence of the church in those countries that often it began as a covert operation within the churches to try to diminish the reality of God's word in the church so that society could do whatever they wanted to do the attack is not an open attack on all people rather is an attack of subversion into the churches to try to soften the provision of the church or soften the word of the church and to try to bring down the presence of God so that society can do whatever it wants to do when it wants to do it that's what's going on in our denominations in our own country that's what's going on in our world we want to belittle and diminish the very presence of a holy God and act as if he's not upon the throne so that we can rebel against him and walk in open disobedience we'd rather go to the gods of

[20:50] Ekron who have already been proven to be too little for the God of Israel that way we can do whatever we want to do it rebellion starts with a diminished presence this diminished presence does not really remove God from throne because we see that God is on the throne whether man acknowledges it or not so thus enters Elijah and Elijah never goes to Ahaziah he goes to his men and says is it because there's no God but you shall die diminished presence is followed by disregarded power because Elijah all of a sudden brought to the reality that there was a God on the throne over!

[21:35] not just over Israel but there was a God who was over the throne of all heaven and earth now I want you to notice one little side note if you look at the end of first kings the end of first kings the last chapter there in verse 51 it says Ahaziah the son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria now what does that say again let's see he became king over Samaria okay so as king over Israel in Samaria he began to diminish the presence of God and wanted to go talk to a god of Ekron which was a city when God sends word through Elijah God refers to Ahaziah as how go back to 2nd kings chapter 1 and look at what it says he sends Elijah and he tells Elijah something there in verse 3 but the angel of Samaria do you see this it says he became king of

[22:41] Israel in Samaria but God refers to him as the king of Samaria because see now he is not reigning over a region now he's just confined to a city because when you diminish God you are diminishing yourselves and you get to this place here where you disregard the power of that God because now Elijah has brought to the forefront the reality that God is still on the throne where Isaiah says who is this man his messengers say well he was wearing hairy clothing and he had a leather belt John the Baptist who came in the power and the spirit of Elijah a hairy clothing and a leather belt are really just poor man's clothes are what they were you know he wasn't shopping at goodwill he had the!

[23:24] poor of the poor he didn't have the fine linen of the upper class there he had the most common of all clothes that he could he wasn't anything for show he was just there immediately Ahaziah knew this was Elijah now how can you diminish the reality of God if you know so much about Elijah you know how he dresses so don't tell me Ahaziah didn't know because simply based on what he was wearing and how he looked he knew who it was he said this was Elijah so he sent his captain of 50 with his 50s right and now we begin to see how the Bible through the word of!

[24:02] paints the Elijah ran away but now when Elijah ran away he ended up at Mount Horeb or Mount Sinai he had an encounter with the God who's on the throne he had an encounter with the king of kings and lord of lords and he never ran away again God reassured him reaffirmed him and recommissioned him now all of a sudden Elijah is sitting on a hilltop he's not going anywhere to Elijah Elijah has to go down to them the bible is very clear when you read things anytime you leave Jerusalem in scripture you do what anytime geographically you leave Jerusalem it says you go down from Jerusalem even if you're traveling south it doesn't matter if you're going north south east or west anytime you leave Jerusalem you go down from Jerusalem and you say that geographically doesn't make why because that's where the presence of

[25:09] God is when you're in the presence of God everything else is below you you have to go down to it right and that's why scripture is very clear in what it states here we have Elijah on the hilltop the captain of the 50 with his 50 come and he comes in the name of Ahaziah Elijah has already delivered his word but look because see he's listening to another king he's listening to the one that Ahaziah doesn't acknowledge he says oh man of God the king says come down in the original language it is a forceful command that you must listen to me and Elijah said well if I'm a man of God let the fire of God come down and consume you and it consumes they've known all these realities right these things were not done in a corner as

[26:11] Paul would say or in the dark the prophet who had just stood before Ahab said let all the people hear everybody listen to what's going on the word of God had rung true over and over and over again and here he thinks he has the authority to command and he pays dearly for this the second one comes and he comes with even more force he says oh man of God thus says the king come down quickly you need to listen to me so he gives it more force he gives a little bit more of a command he says you need to do it right now think of it when you talk to your kids come here come here come here now that's exactly what's going on so he is up on the hill he says get down here right now well just as the first time he says if I'm a man of God let the fire come down and consume you but there's a difference here because with the first captain of 50 it says and fire came down and consumed him and his 50 with the second one it says and the fire of God fell down and consumed him and his 50 because see the more the world began to disregard the power of

[27:17] God the greater the fierceness of God's judgment began to pour down the first one disregarded that power and said I have the authority to command you and he paid for that disregard the second one says I have even a greater authority to command you and you need to listen to me right now and it says and the fire of God fell upon him the wording there is that it was a greater more intense more severe fire that fell down why because his disregard for the power of God exceeded the disregard of the first captain in his 50 when we begin to act as if the one who's on the throne is not stronger than us then we think we have the ability to rebel but friends rebellion comes at a very very dear price the greater they disregarded the power the greater the judgment of God fell upon them but we meet this third one this third one who comes and it says that when he got there he fell down on his knees he says he fell down on his knees and he bowed down and he said before

[28:23] Elijah and begged him and said what is he doing he is humbly submitting to the power of God here is a man who has seen what has happened to the two captains of 50 and their 50 that have preceded!

[28:43] Here is a man who says I am not coming in my own strength here is a man that acknowledges his own weakness it says that he falls down on his knees and begs for mercy and forgiveness and notice this in case we paint God as a big mean God it says and the angel of the Lord said Elijah go down with him see when he humbly approached the man of God who was on a hill who was a representative of the God that was on the throne this humble approach brought a gracious response but for those who disregarded that power and said we have greater authority than you we have more authority and more power than you and those who rebelled against the reality just Elijah come down they paid dearly see rebellion happens when we diminish the presence of the king and when we disregard the power of the king but when we fall on our faces and we cry out and say please let my life be precious in your sight we would find that king who is on the throne full of what power he has responds to us in a merciful gracious way and so

[29:52] Elijah goes down but we've got one more pathways to rebellion against the king starts with diminishing his presence disregarding his power but there's a third one and it's probably the most dangerous in our society today there are many people who want to diminish the reality that God exists and if they can simply erase God from existence then they are free to do everything and anything they want to do even though they love to live with some morals which is really an oxymoron because there are no morals without a moral law giver and there is no such thing as morality and right and wrong without one who sets such a standard but they want to remove the reality of the presence of God so that they can do whatever they want to or if they acknowledge that there is a God they want to diminish and disregard his power okay so he's a God who created everything but he leaves it right there so I can do whatever I want to because he doesn't care he doesn't concern himself and they want to disregard the power he has over creation and when we dismiss the penalties one great pathway to rebellion against the king is a dismissed penalty three times in 18 verses actually it's three times in 16 verses we are told you shall die three times you shall die you shall die

[31:25] Elijah is given that word to give to the messengers he gives that word to the messengers the messengers go and give that word to the king and the king hears it himself from Elijah's mouth later on it is the same penalty being repeated over and over and over again and the hope of Ahaziah is that he wants to dismiss that reality he wanted to ask Ekron the god of Ekron would he die and he wanted to ask would he live from this but when the god who is on the throne of thrones when the king of kings and lord of lords gives him an answer he doesn't like that answer he doesn't want that answer and he seeks to dismiss that answer he wants to bring Elijah captive so that he can control the realities of what's going on but what we see is it doesn't matter if you dismiss!

[32:27] that but we don't want to dismiss the wages of sin in our society one really dark thing has happened is that we have quit calling sin sin and we have quit talking about the reality that sin has a consequence and a wage to it and we try to affirm and assure everyone that you will be okay in the end and we try to dismiss the penalty for these things even and our own lives we try to excuse the reality of the penalty of our sins so that we can do what we want to do and claim the grace of Jesus Christ as our hope and much like Paul we're using that grace as Paul would say we're using that grace as a crutch to sin we are dismissing!

[33:05] This is when we fail this is I'm not casting stones and judging I'm just speaking reality this is when we fail and when we find ourselves falling short is because we do not think the penalty is as stark as God has said it would be because the reality is if we really took God at his word if every one of us took God at his word then we would walk in holy fear and trembling all of our days with the reality that God really is going to do what he says he's going to do now thankfully through Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior there is grace there is mercy there is forgiveness there is restoration there is hope and we don't want to be those people without hope but what happens in the world that wants to live in rebellion against the king of kings is that it dismisses the penalty that is ascribed to heaven is the same eternity that is ascribed to hell in the very same verses that you find the speaking of the eternal rewards of being in the presence of

[34:13] God for all of eternity and living eternally in his presence you also find the eternal condemnation of all those who rebel against him the same wording that is used to describe the believer existence!

[34:33] lake of fire it is the reality of that penalty that most people want to move away from because we like to convince ourselves that surely a loving God would not do such things friends listen to me three times in the course of a very short period he told Ahaziah that he would die in three times Ahaziah heard that or twice he heard that and he ignored it and did nothing in response to it and guess what it says so Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken exactly what God had said happened and the reason we know that it happened is because he never repented he never confessed and he never changed but he continued to walk in rebellion we can dismiss!

[35:17] the penalties of sin and we can dismiss the price of our rebellion all we want to but in the end so it will happen just like the word of the Lord says over and over again we find that in scripture man rebels because they diminish the presence of God they continue in that rebellion because they disregard his power and think that he does not care his hand is short it says or his eye does not see and his ear does hear the fool and say surely he is a loving God who would never judge me for this if the word of God is clear than the word of God is clear and we cannot we must elaborate it sure we cannot confine it to its historical setting we bring it to our own selves we set it in its historical setting and we bring its application forward because what God has declared to be the penalty of sin is still the same penalty we want to read things in their historical setting but we cannot keep

[36:20] God as the God of history who is just doing it back then because he is the same God it says yesterday today and tomorrow we must be careful when we begin to dismiss the penalties of sin and say well surely that won't happen when the reality is is that it is still happening and is something that is still true because this is when man rebels we walk in rebellion to the king look at what it says Moab rebelled against Israel because Ahab was dead what happens is that man tries to remove the existence of a powerful king and they want to live however they want to live they diminish his presence they disregard his power and they dismiss the penalty they think they can get away with it but we fall woefully short because

[37:21]  God is not confined to what we think of him or what we want to do with him his word is true it is sure and it is accurate and it will be fulfilled exactly how he says we find this in 2nd Kings chapter 1 thank you my brothers