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"... will
you miss the coronation completely?"
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To Old Testament students, the kings of
Israel and Judah elicit a fan base not unlike modern
professional sports. Regardless of who you talk to with
interest and knowledge in this area, they will have their kings categorized by
friend or fiend. Over the centuries, from Saul to
Zedekiah, there were heroes and villains, cowards and
courageous, loyalist and traitor, some selfless, and others
selfish. The southern line was made up entirely of blue
bloods to preserve the kingly line of David. The northern
line of kings, on the other hand, requires a college
genealogists, and some fancy software to track. No matter
the pedigree though, both kingdoms had their share of winners
and losers. When the saga of their demise closed in 586
B.C., at the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, a chapter
of world history didn't end; but it was put on pause.
King Hezekiah of the south, spoken of here
in 2 Kings 18, bears the Biblical
distinction of being the greatest among his peers, either
before, or after ... save ONE. At least three things stand out
about this king which make up the root system of his success:
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Hezekiah removed the wrong.
"He removed the high
places, and brake the images, and cut down the groves, and
brake in pieces the brasen serpent that Moses had made: for
unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to
it ..." No
passivity here ... but rather an aggressive and proactive
approach to rid his sphere of every influence and power, of all
which diminished GOD'S same.
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Hezekiah righted the worship.
"He trusted in the LORD GOD of
Israel ... For he clave to the LORD, and departed not from
following HIM, but kept HIS commandments, which the LORD
commanded Moses." As this king turned his
sights upon the LORD, revival rushed into the vacuum created
at the vanquish of every idol.
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Hezekiah resisted the wicked.
"... he rebelled against the king
of Assyria, and served him not. He smote the
Philistines, even unto Gaza, and the borders thereof, from
the tower of the watchmen to the fenced city."
Having purged the home front of sin, and reset the
sights of a nation back upon GOD; he then turned his guns upon
those persons and things beyond his sphere, which
threatened the ground he had won.
"And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in
heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the
kingdoms of our LORD, and of HIS CHRIST; and HE shall reign for
ever and ever." At
a time known only to GOD, the pause of HIS plan for Israel will
resume to play, and a hostile takeover, a coup d'é·tat of global
scale, will usher the KING OF KINGS to HIS rightful place upon
David's throne. Are you presently ready and waiting as a
subject of that Kingdom, or will you miss the coronation
completely?
"And out of HIS mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he
should smite the nations: and HE shall rule them with a rod of
iron: and HE treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath
of ALMIGHTY GOD. And HE hath on HIS vesture and on HIS
thigh a NAME written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."
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