CSearchResult:RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:3 kjv@2Chronicles:3 @ @ RandyP comments: How does one build a temple to the Lord? Seems that the moment that the design is put to paper the design becomes more and more human. So to, the actual implementation and labor, here foreign residents appear to have been conscribed and the plunder of wars smelted. It just seems the more real it becomes the less real it is.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:4-5 kjv@2Chronicles:4-5 @ @ RandyP comments: It seems to me that given the ornamental details of the Temple it would be easy to be overwhelmed with craftsmanship over the truer meaning and worship. How close are idol golden calves from proper? Even in a Temple inspired by the spirit, even with all the deeper symbolizes and cultural significances, can't these things be misunderstood and interrupted or worse corrupted? I guess that there is always that danger given the heart of man.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:6 kjv@2Chronicles:6 @ @ RandyP comments: Popular thought has it that if one is religious/prayerful all should go well and these problems be avoided. This is not what is prayed here; it is prayed that when these things happen here is what to do. Surely, there are evils that can be prevented, the individual has a much greater hope of benefiting from this lifestyle, but, some things cannot be avoided especially when looked at as a group/nation.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:4-5 kjv@2Chronicles:4-5 @ @ RandyP comments: Nearly everything in the Old Testament is said to be a symbolic shadow/type of the real object in the New. What then would be the fulfillment of the Temple? Is it Christ? Is it the Church body? Is it the church building? Is it the Kingdom? Is it the heart of the born again believer? Is it the physical body of the believer? All of these things might well be considered, many have been identified as such in the texts. Could it be all the above? The Life and the Worship in and towards? The communion with God? The abode? God dwelling with man?
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:7:20-21 kjv@2Chronicles:7:20-21@ @ RandyP comments: It would be wise to consider today what has befallen Israel and the Temple these many years. After reading accounts like these of the fire from the sky moments to the accounts of the Temple/Israel scattered in heaps burnt to the ground; What has happened? What is God telling us? What is it about us the merely writes these things off as oddities? How is this not relevant?
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:7:12-22 kjv@2Chronicles:7:12-22@ @ RandyP comments: The point should be made that the future ahead was conditional; if they did this. God knows the outcome but, yet the choice is given. There is not a person at the beginning of a choice that doesn't feel confident, inspired, capable; the choice seems obvious. As the consequences and requirements of choice develop human will follows the path of least resistance, the path of least effort. It is not that the human will does not want to do good, that it does not choose to do good, it is that it does not know how to sustain good, to expend the resource and effort to remain good. Most importantly it is the reprobate distaste of having to surrender itself to the highest good by obedience to the will of God.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:9 kjv@2Chronicles:9 @ @ RandyP comments: This may be the height of Israel's prosperous influence over the middle east and beyond. Rarely do we look at successes like this as the beginning of the end, however most times they are. Certain tendencies develop within a nation, attitudes and expectations without and within that irreversibly turn the course of a nation. We'd expect to see jealousies and envies and covetousness increase. Pride and fatness and laziness erupt. Corruption and bribery and extortion. Things that those living through these fat times just come to except.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:10-11 kjv@2Chronicles:10-11 @ @ RandyP comments: It is important to realize what is happening here because what has been set forth now will play out the remainder of Israel/Judah's days. Because of the harsh rule of Judah over the 10 tribes there is a succession led by the exile Jeroboam. A sin is begun that will continued down through every Israel king, a nationalized form of false worship. The Levitical priests are banished and the former Levite cities abandoned. This split was predicted by the prophet Ahijah and confirmed here by God.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:12:1 kjv@2Chronicles:12:1@ @ RandyP comments: Much like Judah, when God is providing and blessing and is non-judgmental, people are more then willing to allow some resemblance of God into their lives. But, when the tables turn and God stands off in displeasure and reproof the same nominal people shut down and disallow any resemblance. The void is quickly muddied by every other notion and imagination. It is essentially the same god served in both cases, the god of whatever serves me best.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:12:14 kjv@2Chronicles:12:14@ @ RandyP comments: He was willing to consult old and young counselors, even for a moment humbled himself in the temple, but, this know it all never is recorded to have prepared his heart to seek the Lord.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:16:9 kjv@2Chronicles:16:9@ @ RandyP comments: The perfect heart spoken of here seems to boil down to the heart that seeks the Lord in all things, that clears away the idols and false notions, that relies on His strength even in desperate times, that avoids pacts with questionable outsiders, that allows God to be God.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:20:33 kjv@2Chronicles:20:33@ @ RandyP comments: Perhaps this goes to show the deep roots of our sins. Even though we see the great fast and prayer, even though we see God speak through a Levite to the king, even though we see a tremendous victory at God's hand, our heart is still not yet prepared, there are still high places of idolatrous worship.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:21:18 kjv@2Chronicles:21:18@ @ RandyP comments: This is not to say that incurable disease is caused in this manner or reason in all cases. It was true in this particular case because we are told that it was so. How often this happens we do not know, we are not told. This is a very important time in Judah given what he had done to the remaining descendants of David, what he had encouraged Judah to sin in, and by his own idolatrous practices and alliances.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:22:4 kjv@2Chronicles:22:4@ @ RandyP comments: As we see so often, the wickedness of a king is not necessarily in his strength and resolve, but, in his weakness from keeping others of wicked counsel out of his circle of influence.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:22 kjv@2Chronicles:22 @ @ RandyP comments: Do you remember back in the days of Samuel that God had warned united Israel what it would be like for them under the monarchy that they were desiring to switch to? But, they wanted to be like all the other nations? Well here you go. Sounds like a bad nightmare by now doesn't it? Two generations from a good king in Judah and a victorious moment of remembrance of Solomon's temple dedication promise and they are right back into the deep darkness.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:23-24 kjv@2Chronicles:23-24 @ @ RandyP comments: This is one of the few times we see the strong influence of a high priest on the king and the nation. So often we are left asking where are the Levites? Where are the priests? Well, here one is in Jehoiada. Remember that this is Judah. Israel has for long expelled the Levites and the influences of the mosaic covenant priests.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:25:15 kjv@2Chronicles:25:15@ @ RandyP comments: Idolatry seems rather foolish when it is put this way. Perhaps the decision isn't so much what the new god represents to them but, what the old God has become to them in their rebellion, a constant reproof.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:25 kjv@2Chronicles:25 @ @ RandyP comments: It is easy for us to see by this narrative how the mind of a not so good king digs a destructive whole deeper and deeper for itself. It is not so easy to see this tendency play out in our own lives. We are not under the same pressures and responsibilities that drive such stark consequences, but, we do do these things none the less. We see these forces working in other people's lives and when it is fully explained to us as God sees it, but, not readily by our own introspection.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:26:5 kjv@2Chronicles:26:5@ @ RandyP comments: As we saw just recently a priest influencing a king for good, now we see a prophet. The text does not say how they may have meet or what if any relationship they might have had, but the two are noted mutually here.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:26:16 kjv@2Chronicles:26:16@ @ RandyP comments: I find it interesting that in all the things he could have lifted his heart to do that he lifted his heart to do that which only the high priest could do, enter the holiest to burn incense. He was seeking to worship, I suppose, in a way that he was not permitted, assuming a role that was not his. We do not know other than his pride what prompted him to do this nor for whom he was doing this for.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:27:2 kjv@2Chronicles:27:2@ @ RandyP comments: Apparently for fear of what had happened to his father being stricken for a high heart. Notice as well that there is something similar with other people, perhaps entering the temple in ways not permitted. Are the two related?
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:26-27 kjv@2Chronicles:26-27 @ @ RandyP comments: We are seeing a descent run of good kings in Judah for now. You will notice that even though they are good, doing right in the eye of the Lord, they are also exposed as having peculiar defects. It is noted that they are being influenced by either a good priest or a good prophet which say much about their leadership style (the strength of keeping poor influence out and good influence in). The text also hints to the weakness of either lift their own heart too high in their public worship or else avoiding public worship altogether without standing against the corruption of others in the temple. Both are weakness of high order for a king even if they are otherwise doing right.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:28:5 kjv@2Chronicles:28:5@ @ RandyP comments: It is interesting here that especially with Israel that God would be using the self same source of Judah's sin (Israel's false religion) as the subjecting hammer over Judah. It should be clear to Judah how God feels about their idolatry.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:28 kjv@2Chronicles:28 @ @ RandyP comments: The tables turn quickly under a wicked king. Judah gets spanked hard. You'll notice though how quickly the tables turned, how rapidly that that high places and idols almost seemed to be in place, how eager others were to follow along. It seems so much harder and politically time consuming to establish good than it does evil.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:29:12 kjv@2Chronicles:29:12@ @ RandyP comments: How cool would it be to be like a great grand child two or three generations from this and see that the men of your family are actually mentioned in the Book of Chronicles as actually doing something marvelous for the Lord. There for you and everyone else to read about. Problem is that two generations or so seems to be the length of most of these revivals, those generations may not even be aware that there is such a book.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:29:16 kjv@2Chronicles:29:16@ @ RandyP comments: The thing about having an actual physical temple is that it often stands as a barometer of the people of the nation spiritually. The condition of the temple reflects the condition of men's hearts. Figuratively, it takes one drunken night to tear it apart and defile it, yet it takes eight intense days and the political will several years later just to bring it back to where it was.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:29:24 kjv@2Chronicles:29:24@ @ RandyP comments: In the OT atonement was not only made for the individual but for the nation. Now that the body of Christ has outgrown the nation we must consider that His atonement is not only for the individual, not just the nation of Israel, but the entire body of Christ as one. This is how we later will see a bride of Christ dressed white as snow. The critics of the bride and the stay at home believers should be made aware of this fact.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:29:27 kjv@2Chronicles:29:27@ @ RandyP comments: King David to this day not only has political and judicial effect on men, but, perhaps more importantly has spiritual effect influencing even the forms and means of corporate worship. That friend is lasting and powerful!
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:30:14 kjv@2Chronicles:30:14@ @ RandyP comments: Alters and relics of the false gods that still remained in Jerusalem were removed and thrown into the brook Kidron. The disgusting action of having to do this made the priests and levites feel filthy and ashamed. They must have been filthy and disgusting idols.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:30:18-20 kjv@2Chronicles:30:18-20@ @ RandyP comments: The spirit of the law had precedence. The spirit is that we come prepared spiritually to seek the Lord not necessarily how we come to the event ritualistically. The ritual then becomes important only when the spiritual requirement is met, other wise pardon would not have to asked for or granted
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:30:26 kjv@2Chronicles:30:26@ @ RandyP comments: The days of joy celebration song and feasting of the passover are now replaced by the joy and celebration and song and feasting we have every day in our Lord' passover presence. It is what we should feel each and every time we prepare our hearts to seek the Lord in fellowship together. It is a solemn experience only as we approach His alter with our sins. It is a long long joyous feast thereafter having been given His pardon. Some congregations have got this backwards.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:31 kjv@2Chronicles:31 @ @ RandyP comments: It is amazing how much work went into restoring Judah back into being right with God; they had slipped that far. Hard as this was, the scary thing is that it will take at least as much work for them to sustain it. The problem we see play out time and time again is not starting, not reviving, but sustaining for any length of time. People are much more willing, there is much more momentum at the onset. They succeed, God blesses, they become comfortable, other notions intermingle, new momentum's sway entirely different directions, the established good is torn down in short order replaced by the unproven notions and imagination perceived benefit and entitlement. It is no different today. The heart of man is never satisfied. The will of man never sustains.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:32:15 kjv@2Chronicles:32:15@ @ RandyP comments: Words similar to the Assyrian King's echo brashly still today. I guess when you've been fighting against paper tigers all this time you'd just expect every other god to fall in the same manner. Many people today feel that this is what all gods are. Our God uses these people at times to test and foster the faithfulness of His beloved. What do these puppets get out of the deal? A moment of feeling brash and superior.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:32 kjv@2Chronicles:32 @ @ RandyP comments: We've seen a spiritual process as developed in King Hezekiah that we should consider ourselves. He was a very good man to begin with and became a vessel of God's to begin and complete a tremendous restoration/revival in Judah. God certainly blessed his faith and actions as we would expect. Because of this success others sought to put him down, put him back in mere human terms. The Lord stands up for him as he responds to this desperation humbly with prayer. God blesses again as expected. Then with all this success he gets a bit too puffed up, but even that gets worked out. The king is doing admirably right? You would think that this would be the end of the story, but, for everything considerable that Hezekiah has been able to depend on, obey and do, his inner heart has yet to be fully revealed to him. There are the ways of God that you and I would expect and there are the much deeper ways of God that must need to be done; revealing the full heart of man. This God does for our own sakes.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:33:2 kjv@2Chronicles:33:2@ @ RandyP comments: This flip flop father to son/good to evil has occurred far too many times now for us not to make a point out of. Judah has had a better history than Israel in lessening this historical tendency, but, it still has happened far too frequently. Is it leadership weakness keeping others out? Trying to be all things to all people? Is just the anti-establishment nature within us? Is it parenting? The vigor of marking ones turf with one's own scent? Yes we all have freewill, each child must make his/her own decisions. How much of this is decision though and not nature or environment or conspiracy? We are told of our warfare against spiritual powers and principalities. Is it really all of our own choosing?
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:33:3 kjv@2Chronicles:33:3@ @ RandyP comments: Where are the people in all of this? Where are the priests and the Levites? Is the position of king all that matters in these perversions? Is there no resistance? Is the resistance that easily overcome? Does the perversion go on that un-noticed? We can only guess from our own experience. What would you say?
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:33:17 kjv@2Chronicles:33:17@ @ RandyP comments: The damage is done anyway. His previous influence remains even though he himself has changed. We see this in our own lives as well, friends that we've gone back to now that we've been reborn in Christ who see us as former shells of ourselves, turn coats to the truer rebellious faith, enemies to be reconverted or abandoned.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:34:3 kjv@2Chronicles:34:3@ @ RandyP comments: When you think of all the influences in a child king's court this is a fairly remarkable feat, to have a firm belief by sixteen and to have begun a zealous purging by twenty.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:34-35 kjv@2Chronicles:34-35 @ @ RandyP comments: There has been for a long time debate about "solo scriptura" the doctrine of only by written scripture. The counter argument is of the oral teachings and oral traditions. This passage in particular seem ample proof that the oral argument falls flat. When the written scriptures reappear, there is a vast discrepancy between the way things were then with Moses and the way they became minus the writings centuries later. It seems incredulous that for all this time the written scripture was not even consulted and hidden away in the treasury. Maybe God was pointing to the obvious symbolism and critic.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:36 kjv@2Chronicles:36 @ @ RandyP comments: Even in the midst of all this trouble with Egypt, the people of Judah were hardened and brazen enough not to see what was happening. They had the arogance to dismiss and utterly mistreat God's prophets and the gall to not observe the Mosaic seventh year agricultural Sabbaths. This is a full spiritual revolt.
RecentComments:kjv@2Chronicles:34:5-6 kjv@2Chronicles:34:5-6@ @ RandyP comments: Do you find it interesting that special mention is made of the treatment of the Baalim priests burnt to ashes upon their alters? The back and forth between evil and good is drastically heating up. Fast forward to chapter 36 and the final straw where God pulls the plug on Judah, the horrors placed upon His prophets. I know we'd like to think of these grotesque items on our limited individual terms of free will and human over-reactions. There is something much more spiritual going on here though that can't be sugar coated. A war between spiritual powers and principalities in high places is what is being described here; something of a scope so very few of us can imagine. All along we have been asking why? Why the back and forth? Why doesn't Judah see? Why don't they listen? Why is it so difficult to sustain any thing good? Why this god and that? Why is God so upset? What is God wanting us to see in all of this gory repetition? Well this explanation makes better sense than most? The spirits are at war over Jerusalem and the seed of David.
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