God's Blessings and Curses: Examples upon Examples

A 高銘謙 Sermon Summary

​Let’s learn from God’s promise and examples after examples of God fulfilling them in 2 Chronicles.
 
In Chapter 6, Solomon prayed to God about His promise in Deuteronomy 28. God responded, affirming that rebellion led to curses, but that forgiveness would come if they humbled themselves, prayed and sought God’s face, and turned from wickedness (2 Chronicles 7:12-16).
 
Humility means to accept ourselves as God’s creation. Praying to God is an act of humility. We don’t pray if we think we can handle everything. Seeking God’s face means following God’s commands, where seeking with all your heart being similar to loving God with all your heart in Deuteronomy (2Chronicles 15:12). 
 
In the bible, to love God isn’t just a feeling, but a commitment to follow His command as an expression of that love (John 14:21).
 
Solomon’s prayer concludes with God’s promised love (2 Chronicles 6:42). 2 Chronicles repeats the refrain: “He is good; his love endures forever,” a reminder that God will always keep His promise, specifically the promise in 7:14 (2 Chronicles 5:13).
 
2 Chronicles 7:14 is on admitting sin, repenting, and receiving forgiveness, like salvation through faith (1 John 1:9).
 
In the Old Testament, prayers went through the temple. Later, John identified Christ as the temple, which Christ rebuilt in three days. So, prayers now go through Christ, not Solomon’s temple.
 
Chapters 10-36 describe the rise and fall of the several kings, illustrating the promise of verse 7:14 in action. A common pattern repeats itself: a king would seek God and be blessed, but then grow arrogant and abandon God, leading to his downfall. But repentance brings salvation.
 
Let’s look at the following examples in 2Chronicles:

• Rehoboam’s humility leads to God saving him from total annihilation (11:17; 12:1, 6);
• Asa depends entirely on his own strength, ignoring God, leading to his death (14:4-6, 15:12-15, 16:7-13);
• Jehoshaphat’s alliance with a bad king leads to an attack, but the promise in 7:14 leads to God destroying the enemies (17:3, 5, 10; 18:1; 19:2; 20);
• Joash fails after following his officials instead of God (23, 24:17);
• Amaziah seeks God but, after defeating the Edomites, seeks the Edomite gods also, which leads to his downfall (25:2, 15-16, 19, 23, 24);
• Uzziah’s success makes him arrogant, causing leprosy (26); and
• Manasseh recovers after repenting (33:11-14).

 
May we learn from history so we don’t repeat these mistakes.
 
Summary of a sermon titled “2 Chronicles on Seeking God” by 高銘謙:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXE3ZjxVi9I