What's Fair About That? (2 Kings 20-22) Series

August 6, 2023, Glynwood Baptist Church, Prattville, AL. James Jackson, Lead Pastor

Context: Earlier in the week, my nephew died at age 34.

Good morning. Please open your Bibles to 2 Kings 22.

I want to thank all of you for your prayers for my family and me in the death of my nephew Aaron this week. Initially, we thought the funeral would be earlier in the week, and my plan was to be there for my brother this morning and then stay through the funeral. Dr Tew had very graciously agreed to preach this morning. But because of the circumstances of Aaron’s death, the funeral was pushed to this coming Saturday. So, I’ll go later in the week, preach the funeral on Saturday, and then I will be here next Sunday to worship with my own church family as Dr Tew teaches us from God’s Word.

If you are a guest with us this week, I want to apologize for what will be feel like a downer sermon. We are going to talk about some tough truths. But you’ve heard me say it many times—I am responsible to teach what God’s Word says, and not what I wish it said. And the combination of where we are in our reading plan and circumstances so many of us are dealing with have caused us (or at least me) to ask some hard questions. And then we wonder if it’s okay to ask them. Now, if it’s just me asking questions, then, again, come back next week. But I have a feeling it’s not just me. I know enough of your stories that I know you’ve got lots of “Why Gods.”

We read in 2 Kings 20 how God told good king Hezekiah to get his house in order because he was going to die, and how Hezekiah prayed, and how God added fifteen years to his life. And we wondered if God changes His mind because of our prayers. Then we wondered why God didn’t or hasn’t answered our prayers for a loved one to recover. Were we somehow not doing it right?

We wondered how a bad king like Ahaz could have such a good son like Hezekiah. Then how a good king like Hezekiah had an awful son like Manasseh, who then had a son named Amon. Then, history repeated itself as Amon the Awful fathered Josiah the good. Amon was well on his way to being just as bad as his dad, but he was assassinated by his own servants after only two years. But wondered why we see parents who do everything “right” for their kids still have kids that go off the rails, and why parents with no heart for God can raise the next Billy Graham (We forget that there has never been a more perfect parent than God, and look how Adam and Eve turned out)

We wondered why evil King Manasseh had the longest reign of any king in Israel or Judah’s history, at 55 years. And then we wondered why his grandson Josiah, whom you could argue was the most godly king in Israel’s history, died in battle before his fortieth birthday.

  So—lots of questions. And they all boil down to the same questions people are asking today:

Is God good?

Is God wise?

Is God powerful?

With those questions in mind, let’s look at God’s Word together. We are in 2 Kings 22., starting in verse 21.

A little background on King Josiah. We’re told at the beginning of chapter 22 that “He was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned 31 years.” Eighteen years into his reign, when he was around 25 or 26, he starts making repairs on the temple, which his Manasseh and Amon had defiled with pagan altars and statues of Asherah and Baal.

While the workmen and priests are making their repairs, Hilkiah the high priest finds “the Book of the Law” which at that time would have been the books of Moses). In 2 Kings 22:8, he tells the royal secretary “I have found the book of the Law in the house of the Lord.”

Can we ponder that together? Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law. Now, for something to be found, it must first be lost. So this must mean that for at over half a half century, no one had a copy of God’s Word, not even in God’s house.

What do you think would happen to a church that hasn’t seen a Bible for 55 years? What would happen to a people if that was the only place of worship in the city? I’m not going to ask you how many of you don’t have a Bible this morning. But I am going to encourage you to have a physical copy of God’s word from now on when you come to church. If you don’t have a Bible of your own, please talk to me. We have them here. We will give you one.