We've been considering the 15th chapter of 2nd Chronicles. An amazing chapter to be sure. In this post - our focus will be 'parallels' and the 'me' or the 'church' dimensions. This means, we will be looking for parallels between the story, its setting and our day. These parallels the Holy Spirit will show us and help us to discern their relation to our personal lives.
Before listing some of the verses that stand out, let's consider the context:
King Asa had faced the first 'million man march' on record and the Lord delivered Judah in amazing fashion (2 Chron. 14:9-12). Chapter 15 gives additional context about the condition of 'the church' during these times:
3 For a long time Israel has been without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without law;
Here's additional context about 'the world' during these times:
5 And in those times there was no peace to the one who went out, nor to the one who came in, but great turmoil was on all the inhabitants of the lands. 6 So nation was destroyed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every adversity.
After the encouragement - coupled with a gentle warning - from God, what did 'the church led by its leader' do?
8..he took courage, and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim; and he restored the altar of the Lord that was before the vestibule of the Lord. 9 Then he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and those who dwelt with them from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon, for they came over to him in great numbers from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him.
10 So they gathered together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they offered to the Lord at that time seven hundred bulls and seven thousand sheep from the spoil they had brought. 12 Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 and whoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman. 14 Then they took an oath before the Lord with a loud voice, with shouting and trumpets and rams’ horns.
16 Also he removed Maachah, the mother of Asa the king, from being queen mother, because she had made an obscene image of Asherah; and Asa cut down her obscene image, then crushed and burned it by the Brook Kidron.
Wow - amazing work. Do you see a parallel to today? I do. With increasing frequency, evidences (online, through news reports, in my local church, in my cross-country prayer calls) of God's people restoring the altar, gathering together and uniting in prayer, returning to the Lord, removing the idols in their lives - abound.
What was the result of this work?
15 And all Judah rejoiced at the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought Him with all their soul; and He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around.
Now - it is true, that 'the church' today lives in the end times so we have our eyes on the 'rest' promised us when Jesus returns to take us home. However - the journey of the church to the 'promised land' parallels the journey of biblical Israel. Before the 'promised land' - there was a faithless generation to lay to rest and a faithful generation to raise up. There were new conquests/tests for the 'new' generation such as losing Moses to death and transitioning leadership to Joshua. A new baptism - the march through the Jordan - referenced as such by Paul. A new conquest - Jericho. One might look deeply at the conquest of Jericho and see the church united, moving in unison, and finally - issuing the 'loud cry' of faith that resulted in the walls falling.
In this passage of 2 Chronicles 15, we see in verses 9-14 a unification of the tribes. This unity was centered on sacrificing all to God, giving all their heart, all their soul to God. Promising to serve God - and then acting in faith. Shadows of the same work by the 'church' of old. Shadows of today's church?
Thank You dear Jesus - that You ask us to have faith - but then You provide us with manifold reasons for the faith that is to be within us.
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