Departed, And Nobody Cares

Departed, And Nobody Cares

I am so in love with the church. Beyond these walls, and all over the world people are praying. Nothing can stop the progression of the church as long as people pray.

The world may change. People may embrace many different cultural ideas. Religion is splintered into hundreds, even thousands of different theological platforms.

Yet God has not changed. “James 1:17 says, Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

So culture may change, the world may change. Right and wrong has been redefined over and over again. We don’t answer to culture, we don’t answer to religion. Right and wrong is clearly defined. Christians must do two things to change our world, and move forward in Christ. “Love God with all you heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

As I begin I want to lay a foundation to build on. The Bible clearly tells us that the Messiah would come from the house of David. His seed would bear our Lord.

1 Chronicles 17:11-15

11 When your days are fulfilled that you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up one of your descendants after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom.

12 He shall build for Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever.

13 I will be his father and he shall be My son; and I will not take My lovingkindness away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.

14 But I will settle him in My house and in My kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever.”’”

15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.

Confirmed by the Angel visiting Mary.

Luke 1:32-33

32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;

33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”

I love when the old and the new connect. What an amazing God that positioned individuals over thousands of years to keep the Messianic message real.

For the past few weeks I have been listening to the new and reading the old. While reading in the OT I came across a sentence that hit me like a ton of bricks.

In 2nd Chronicles 21 there is a very sad story. It begins this way.

2 Chronicles 21:1-3

1 Then Jehoshaphat slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Jehoram his son became king in his place.

2 He had brothers, the sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azaryahu, Michael and Shephatiah. All these were the sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.

3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold and precious things, with fortified cities in Judah, but he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.

Jehoram had it made. (Lineage, name means Jehovah is exalted. Financial prosperity and safe cites to dwell in as a king. Covenant)

He started with all he needed to succeed.

2 Chronicles 21:4-7

4 Now when Jehoram had taken over the kingdom of his father and made himself secure, he killed all his brothers with the sword, and some of the rulers of Israel also.

5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.

6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord.

7 Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.

God moved Elijah to write Jehoram a letter acknowledging his wickedness. It ended like this.

2 Chronicles 21:14-15

14 behold, the Lord is going to strike your people, your sons, your wives and all your possessions with a great calamity;

15 and you will suffer severe sickness, a disease of your bowels, until your bowels come out because of the sickness, day by day.’”

This story is so sad. His end is near.

2 Chronicles 21:16-17

16 Then the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who bordered the Ethiopians;

17 and they came against Judah and invaded it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king’s house together with his sons and his wives, so that no son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.

2 Chronicles 21:18-20

18 So after all this the Lord smote him in his bowels with an incurable sickness.

19 Now it came about in the course of time, at the end of two years, that his bowels came out because of his sickness and he died in great pain. And his people made no fire for him like the fire for his fathers.

20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years; and he departed with no one’s regret, and they buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Verse 20 AMPC

departed without being wanted. GNT Nobody was sorry when he died. TLB died unmourned. MSG There were no tears shed when he died—it was good riddance.

Now here was a man with everything.

He had financial security. Safe cities, a Godly covenant with his heritage in the house of David. A destiny with God’s favor. A name that honored God. (nobody cared when he died.)

How could someone have so much to begin with, and end with nothing? He wasted his gifts and his talents. He did not walk in the purpose of God.

What about your gifts, your talents. Your purpose. Jesus fulfilled His purpose to redeem all of us. Have you accepted the gift of Salvation. What is your gift, and what are you doing with it? Preach, People with little to begin with. The woman at the well was a mess. Mary Magdelene possessed with devils. Woman who washed His feet with tears and dried them with her hair. Gideon, Jehoshaphat. On and on through the Bible there were people who had very little to start with. Still they used what they had and changed the world they lived in for the better. We remember them today. Nobody remembers Jehoram.

What about your gift? (People won’t remember how you start. They will remember how you finish.)