9/20/08
The Blessed Life, Part 4:
Jehoram
2 Chronicles
20:31-37
31-32 Jehoshaphat
did what was right in the sight of the Lord.
Verse 33 tells us that even good King Jehoshaphat, as successful and
powerful as he was, couldn't change the hearts of ALL the people.
We can indeed
have a holy influence on the people around us, but we cannot change
anyone. People are still responsible for
making their own decisions, good or bad.
Think for a
moment about the influences for good in your life at present. Are you making the most of the godly people
in your life? Are you following their
example, or do you ignore their influence so that how they live doesn't even
phase you? We don't know how long we may
have their influence with us.
God wants to
guide us and to bless us through these spiritual examples He has placed in our
lives. And we are held accountable for
the opportunities for growth that He gives us.
But is up to us to respond.
Now, while
Jehoshaphat was a good man and a noble influence, he seemed to have one
weakness. His weakness was in the area
of judgment. He should have learned from
his near-death experience while helping King Ahab, that you don't participate
in the activities of people who reject God.
But at the end of
his reign Jehoshaphat helped another evil person—King Ahaziah of
Maybe it was a mid-life
crisis. You know, men can do some pretty
foolish things when they start sensing that they are getting up in years, and
youthful vigor is slipping away. Many a
good man has been ruined by careless, quick decisions made at this time in
life.
Jehoshaphat is
rebuked for his indiscretion by the prophet Eliezer, and the end result is that
God destroys all the ships that Jehoshaphat and Ahaziah had built.
Listen—if we
involve ourselves in projects that run contrary to God's will, He will turn
those plans into curses in our lives!
The Bible talks
about the steps of a good man in Psalm 37:23-28:
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the
LORD,
And He delights in his
way.
24 Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast
down;
For the LORD upholds him
with His hand.
25 I have been young, and now am old;
Yet I have not seen the
righteous forsaken,
Nor his descendants
begging bread.
26 He is ever merciful, and lends;
And his descendants are
blessed.
27 Depart from evil, and do good;
And dwell forevermore.
28 For the LORD loves justice,
And does not forsake His
saints;
They are preserved
forever,
But the descendants of
the wicked shall be cut off.”
The Lord is smart
enough to tell the difference between occasional slips and falls, and SINNING
AS A WAY OF LIFE AND ROUTINE. This psalm
is talking about the person who is trying his best to choose right, and to depend
on the Holy Spirit to live right. When
this person falls, his heart is grieved, and he goes to his knees in
repentance—crying out to God for having hurt Him. By the grace of God he then makes the
necessary changes in his life in order to obey the Lord.
GOD CAN WORK WITH
THIS KIND OF PERSON!! He will forgive,
and He will continue to DIRECT that person, and BLESS that person. This is the kind of person Jehoshaphat was.
In 1 Corinthians
3:11-13, the Apostle Paul discusses the Foundation of one’s life, and the
examination process that we will each undergo, at the end of time:
“For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which
is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds
on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,
13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will
declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each
one’s work, of what sort it is.”
“Revealed by
FIRE.” Tested by FIRE. What will the true character of our lives be,
in the final analysis? WHAT DID WE DO
WITH JESUS? Did we center our lives
around Him? Was He our only Foundation
in life? Did we surrender to Him, and
live for Him?
The true nature
of our work will become clear, the Bible says.
Was it righteous? Was it
surrendered to the Lord? Was it pleasing
to Him? And have we been a holy
influence on others? Have we led others
to Christ? Have we improved upon the
talents and opportunities God gave us?
Only the work
that is done in righteousness—only the work done with the blessing of God will
last.
The Short Reign of Jehoram
The first verse
of 2 Chronicles chapter 21 tells us "And
Jehoshaphat rested with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the
City of
Now reading
verses 2-3: “He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah,
Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael, and Shephatiah; all these were the
sons of Jehoshaphat king of
There were seven
sons of Jehoshaphat in all. Jehoram, the
firstborn, was given the kingdom. But instead of being grateful, verse 4 says,
"Now when Jehoram was established
over the kingdom of his father, he strengthened himself and killed all his
brothers with the sword, and also others of the princes of
Jehoram had the
example of a godly grandfather, Asa, and a godly father, Jehoshaphat. But he still had to choose to live a life
that is pleasing to God.
Each of us must
choose life or reject life. It's not
enough that our dad is godly or our mom is godly. Your parents can't save you.
God wants us to
make good choices for ourselves. He
expects us to chart an individual course with Him that will lead to right
living and to Heaven itself.
Looking at verses
5-6 "Jehoram was thirty-two
years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in
Jehoram certainly
didn't help himself by marrying into the family of Ahab! Be very careful who you date, who you hang
with, who you allow yourself to like.
Ask yourself if this person you're interested in has good moral
principles guiding their life. What do
they talk about? What do they seem to be
thinking about most of the time? Is it
clear to you that God and God's kingdom is uppermost in their thinking?
So many young
women make the mistake of thinking that the guy they like will somehow change
when they get married. That doesn't
happen. The habits and lifestyles of men
tend to strengthen and get magnified as they get older. Ask yourself if you really want to be dragged
down spiritually by this person you like.
For Jehoram, who
was already weak morally and spiritually, life only got worse when he got
hitched with a worldly woman who didn't put God first. We will be influenced by the one we are with,
no doubt. Therefore, be careful who you
date, who you allow yourself to like. Choose
wisely, and be patient.
But even though
Jehoram lived wrong and chose an ungodly mate, God remained faithful nonetheless. Verse 7 tells us that "!!
God remembered
His covenant with David. God promised
David that He would keep a lamp burning on the throne in
In Psalm
132:11-12, it says, "The LORD has
sworn in truth to David;
He will not turn from it:
“I will set upon your
throne the fruit of your body.
12 If your sons will keep My covenant
And My testimony which I
shall teach them,
Their sons also shall sit
upon your throne forevermore.”
Notice that even
this oath made to David is conditioned upon the obedience of his sons—whether
they kept their covenant with God and obeyed His testimonies.
God is faithful,
even when we are not. God keeps His
promises, and hopefully His work will move forward with our cooperation, and not in spite of us.
In Jehoram's
case, there was no cooperation whatsoever.
So God had to move Jehoram out of
the way, so that the
So what can we
learn from this? Listen carefully. Is there anything in your life that you are
holding back from God? Are you presently
making a decision in your life that is not pleasing to God, even though He has
warned you what will happen if you keep heading in the same direction?
Listen—do
whatever it takes to please God, and avoid ruin. You have no idea how difficult and painful it
is to lose everything in life that matters.
I know how that feels. I stand
before you as one who died spiritually—who embraced the darkness—as one whom
God brought back from the dead with His own powerful hand. I have the experience and the right
to WARN you—to SNATCH you out of the FIRE if need be, TO SAVE YOU FROM RUIN!!
You need to understand
how important it is to do the right thing—let go of your pride, your
stubbornness—do the right thing.
As the Lord
started to get Jehoram out of the way, He first allowed the Edomites to revolt
against him. This began a long-term bad
relationship between
You see, when we
rebel against the Lord and continue to disobey Him, His presence is no longer
blessing our relationships—business and otherwise. In short, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE when we
choose darkness rather than light.
But the Bible
says it is far better for the one who serves the Lord. Indeed, Proverbs 16:7 tells us, “When a man’s ways please the LORD,
He makes even his enemies to be at peace
with him.”
2 Chronicles
21:11 tells us, “Moreover he made high
places in the mountains of
These high places
contained shrines, idols, images, and altars to pagan gods. Jehoram, the Bible says, “caused the
inhabitants of
This is
premeditated evil on Jehoram’s part, and he was directing all of
Whatever takes
the majority of your energy, time, affection, adoration—that is your god. That is spiritual adultery.
So God moved upon
the prophet Elijah to write a letter to King Jehoram. And we find the letter in verses 12-15:
“And a letter came to him from Elijah the prophet,
saying,
Thus says the LORD God of
your father David:
Because you have not walked
in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, or in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have
made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot like the
harlotry of the house of Ahab, and also have killed your brothers, those of
your father’s household, who were better than yourself, 14
behold, the LORD will strike your people with a serious affliction—your
children, your wives, and all your possessions; 15 and
you will become very sick with a disease of your intestines, until your
intestines come out by reason of the sickness, day by day.”
Thus Elijah
describes for Jehoram exactly how he will suffer, physically. In addition, reading verse 16-17:
“Moreover the LORD stirred up against Jehoram the
spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians who were near the Ethiopians.
17 And they came up into
So God permits a
rapid deterioration socially and nationally for Jehoram, and allows
invasions to occur. Then comes the
demise of Jehoram, verses 18-20:
“After all this the LORD struck him in his intestines
with an incurable disease. 19 Then it happened in the
course of time, after the end of two years, that his intestines came out
because of his sickness; so he died in severe pain. And his people made no
burning for him, like the burning for his fathers.
20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king. He
reigned in
A very dreadful
disease of the intestines that lasts for two years, just as the prophet had
said. WE WOULD DO WELL TO LISTEN TO GOD’S PROPHETS, AND TO PUT INTO PRACTICE
WHAT THEY TEACH.
It’s not enough
to read what the prophets say. We must
DO it as well. And so Jehoram’s short
evil reign comes to an end—“to no one’s sorrow” the Bible says. Jehoram—he had a godly father and
grandfather. He had everything going for
him. He had access to the truth of
God—the oracles of God.
Just like
us. WE HAVE EVERYTHING GOING FOR
US. WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE REVEALED WILL
OF GOD IN THE BIBLE. We also have the
SPECIFIC MESSAGE FOR GOD’S PEOPLE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS—THE WRITINGS OF ELLEN
G. WHITE, WHO PASSES THE BIBLICAL TESTS FOR A PROPHET.
But just like
Jehoram, it’s up to us to read for ourselves these truths, and to put them into
practice.
Jehoram is an
example of someone who squanders
opportunities, and turns a deaf ear to the voice of REBUKE. My friends, if we are going to experience a
blessed life, we will have to become OPEN to THE VOICE OF REBUKE IN OUR
LIVES. We will have to adopt a spirit of
humility before God, admitting when we’re wrong, and accepting God’s corrective
work in our lives.
The blessed life
is a life of obedience. A heart that is
fully surrendered to God and His ways. A
life of peace before God.
The blessed life
is full of GOD’S POWER and GOD’S PRESENCE.
The blessed life will take us all
the way to heaven.
NOW is the time
to GET REAL WITH GOD, and give up the CONTROL OF OUR LIVES to Him. May God bless you, my friend, as you
SURRENDER YOUR WILL TO THE MASTER, and begin the awesome, powerful experience
of the blessed life.