II Chronicles

I have had two cups of coffee so far.  It took me longer to read this morning because I was very interested in the description of the temple that Solomon built for the Lord.  It was amazing all of the details that are mentioned.  I did get though all twenty chapters and I want to share just a few things that I made a note about: 1) GOLD- Almost everything in the temple was overlaid with gold!  Chapter three describes the temple and how everything was either overlaid with gold or made of solid gold.  In chapter 9:13, we see that Solomon had brought to him 666 talents of gold per year.  Now a talent is 160 pounds, so you can see that this is a lot of gold for such a precious metal.  In fact in chapter 9:20 it says:  "none were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of Solomon."  In other words, silver just wasn't that important when there was so much gold!  Read chapter three slowly and realize how wonderful this temple really was.  I was 30 x 90 feet with the holy of holies being 30x30 and two angels were in the holies with a wing span of 15 feet each and their wings met in the middle of the room and underneath is where the ark of the covenant was set.  The entrance of the temple had a tall tower that was 30x30 and 180 feet tall, and.... it too was overlaid with gold!!  What a sight it must have been.  All over there was detail seen and carved all over the gold. 2) THEN HEAR.... & THEN WILL I HEAR....   In II Chron. 6, Solomon asks God to hear from Heaven when His people stray and then call upon His name again.  He describes seven different scenarios where they could possibly stray from the LORD and if they will return to the LORD and humble themselves then Solomon asks God to "Then hear thou from the heavens..."  (seven times in chapter 6)  In Chapter seven, God says once that if they depart, but will humble themselves and seek His face, "Then will I hear from heaven..."  (II Chron. 7:14, also called the recipe for revival!)  Solomon bargains with God and God accepts his offer. 3) II Chron. 13- I never realized that Abijah the son of Rehoboam was a fairly good king.  When the mass of Israel's army came against him with twice as many soldiers, Abijah tells Israel not to do it, but cause they have forsaken the LORD and Judah is still following the LORD.  In verse 10 he says: "But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not forsaken him.."  in verse 12 he says:  "fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper."  Wow!!  He said it straight!!  Israel did not listen and came against Judah with the huge army of 800,000 men, but when Judah saw they were surrounded by the enemy, they cried out to God, and vs. 16- "God delivered them into their hand."  That day, 500,000 men of Israel died in battle!!  God gave the victory.  God is still in the victory business!!  Whatever trials you are facing today, God still has the answers.  Don't despair.  Don't fall apart, just kneel down and seek His face.  God is still on his throne!! 4) WHO ARE YOU HANGING AROUND??  It does make all of the difference, as Jehosphat found out.  Again I mention this as I did in II Kings, but it is so important.  In II Chron. 18:1, he joined affinity with Ahab.  "affinity" is much stronger than just friendship, it is a partnership.  (it is yoking together).  In chapter 19, Jehu, the seer, says: "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD?" (vs. 2) and in chapter 20, when he joined with Ahaziah king of Israel in a joint venture to build ships, they all were destroyed in a storm.  vs. 37 says: "Because thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the LORD hath broken thy works.  And the ships were broken, that they were not able to go to Tarshish."   God has a way of correcting us when we make bad associations!!  Don't do it! They may be a dear Christian friend, but once they start heading in another direction, don't join yourself to them, you too will get pull down!  (That's Bible)  Well, have a great day.  So much to learn, so much to enjoy!  Have a blessed day.  Pastor Mike Mutchler