Surrounded: Overthrow the Foe
One Year Bible (July 25)
2 Chronicles 14:1-16:14
“Surrounded: Overthrow the Foe”
“It may look like I’m surrounded. But I’m surrounded by You.”
("Fight My Battles" Michael W. Smith)
Abijah’s “War of Words” has left him surrounded on all sides. In fact, I guess you could say that his little four-point sermon fell flat in persuading his enemy, the armies of Israel, to surrender voluntarily. (13: 4-12)
Every homiletically sound pastor has been trained to have a three-point sermon, but Abijah has four. He is an over-achiever it seems.
First, he defended the right of David’s house to rule Israel.
Secondly, he belittled Jeroboam and pointed out “worthless men” who aided in his rebellion.
Thirdly, he called Jeroboam out on their “calf-worship”.
Fourth, he warned Israel that if they fought against the true worshippers of God (The Nation of Judah) they would be defeated.
Was Abijah sound in his preaching? It seems to be “right on” but let’s look a little bit closer. Was he correct when he declared that David’s house had the right to rule ALL of Israel?
No, this was a half-truth. God, himself had divided the kingdom as a discipline and handed a large part of it over to Jeroboam. God had sent two prophets to enforce the division.
( I Kings15:4,5; 2 Chronicles 21:7)
Was Abijah correct when he blamed “two scoundrels” for the takeover of his father’s kingdom? That was also a falsehood. It was actually his father, Rehoboam who inadvertently caused the northern side to rebel when he put unreasonable burdens on the people.
Ultimately it was God’s part to deliver them over to discipline by allowing them to become two kingdoms.
Was Abijah correct in rebuking them for “worshiping the calves”? He was quite right that Jeroboam had established religion of his own making and was supporting their worship of Idols. Right on!
There was only one problem with Abijah’s closing point. He, himself, was not convicted because he allowed similar idol worship in his own land.
Remember my story from yesterday about Paulo in “The Lizzy McGuire Movie”. My daughter was enthralled with his good looks, charisma, and singing. There was only one big problem. While Paulo accused his co-performer of ‘lip-synching”, he was the one who really couldn’t sing!
Abijah is “Lip Synching” the songs of his ancestor David. He knows the right words but is missing the message in his heart. His life lacks validity and his words to Jeroboam lack power, and so he finds his entire city surrounded with NO WAY OUT!
In spite of Abijah’s rousing little speech, the Bible records him as a “Bad King”.
If you were God would you rescue him, and give him a “C” for Convincing?
Let’s look at what happens, “Judah turned and saw that they were being attacked at both front and rear. Then they cried out to the LORD. The priests blew their trumpets and the men of Judah raised the battle cry. At the sound of their battle cry, God routed Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. The Israelites fled before Judah, and God delivered them into their hands.” (2 Chronicles 13: 14-16)
Five hundred thousand choice men of Israel fell that day, a huge price to pay for turning away from God. Abijah acquired additional territory and “grew in strength”, and Jeroboam was later struck down by the LORD. (13:21)
Look at why God rescued his people when they had no hope.
Who cried out for help? God’s people, Judah.
Who led their armies? The priests blew their trumpets. They were spiritually led into battle not by politics but by the men of God who were worshipping and seeking God.
Who won the battle? The Lord Almighty completely rescued his people when they were completely surrounded and without hope.
King Abijah only reigned for 3 Long Years! Perhaps, he went on tour with the Greek Theatre to continue his hypocritical Lip Sync business. As you can see from our reading today, his son, Asa will now rule as a GOOD king for Judah for 41 years.
I see powerful thoughts in this passage. Although they had a king that wasn’t seeking God, the priests and people were seeking him.
Sometimes we may look at our country and feel hopeless because our “Lip Syncing leaders” are not seeking God as they should. This passage should wake us up to the power that we have as believers.
Tony Evans says this, “For Israel, the way things worked in society was determined by the way things worked or did not work in the temple. So, in the event that God left the temple, the problems showed up in the streets.,, We must understand that if God doesn’t see the church getting things right, it doesn’t matter whom we elect to the White House. Both judgment and healing start with the household of God”. (The Tony Evans Bible Commentary, P. 428)
We may be surrounded on every side such as the nation of Judah, but when we lead with worship, praise, and obedience, our God can OVERTHROW ANY FOE!
“It may look like I’m surrounded. But I’m surrounded by You.”
(Fight My Battles. Michael W. Smith)
