This time will be different. How many times have you told yourself this concerning some life struggle? The idea that with everything being constant, somehow this time the results will perfectly align with your expectations. The definition of insanity is, “doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result.” The struggles in life can trudge on until the point where we defiantly put up a mental roadblock and say enough is enough. We refuse to believe or acknowledge the hamster wheel we are stuck in, somehow believing that we can defiantly alter our own situation by the power of our own thought. But there is a given in this life, doing the same thing over and over will indeed get you exactly the same result as before.
As we move towards the end of the books of 1 and 2 Kings, we are at an excellent vantage point to pause and look in the rear-view mirror. We have now seen almost the entirety of 43 Israelite kings, and we have seen rules that fit into two categories. Good and bad. Sure, our world today would try to create 50 more creative descriptions for their rules, but God sees it as very simple. Did you follow Him or not? Out of those 43 kings we see that only 7 were good, the rest being evil as they denied God, embraced sin, and led their kingdoms into idolatry.
But what is ironic is the overlying theme of repetition. If you hop in a plane and observe the books of Kings from high above, you can see a pattern that not only plays out in their kingdoms, but the many kingdoms of man that have ruled since. The pattern being that bad kings rule and really mess things up and then a good king comes along and fixes it. The good king tears down the false altars, breaks apart the idols, and returns the people to the true North of God’s Word. As a result, the kingdom flourishes in the blessings of God. But just as soon as you think the sin and idolatry problem is beat…wham! The good king dies and an evil king comes right after him and reverses everything he has done. You see the evil king return to idolatry, false gods, sexual immorality, and general rebellion to all things of God. It’s a vicious roller coaster ride that after 47 chapters of Kings, makes you want to jump off in the middle of the ride. But what it tells us is one very important lesson. As long as the kingdoms, countries, and societies of this world are ran by men and women with a sin nature, history’s roller coaster is doomed to rise and fall as the occupants merely hold on for dear life.
We see the end of King Josiah’s reign in chapter 23 of 2 Kings, a reign that brought about great revival in God. He recovered and proclaimed God’s Word to the people, he re-instituted the Christocentric Passover festival which had been forgotten by the people for 400 years, he tore down altars, deposed sinful priests, and eliminated the temptation of idolatry by burning them to ash and dumping the ash outside of the city. And as he brought about this great revival, he did it all by example. Josiah was a true servant leader that loved the Lord and simply invited others into his journey. A journey that put Almighty God first in all he did. And the people followed him.
In one powerful verse we see that Josiah simply gathered the people together and read God’s Word…all of it. At this time, they would have only had the Pentateuch, that is the first five books of the Bible that Moses wrote. Can you imagine your pastor opening up the Bible on Sunday morning and reading Genesis (50 chapters), Exodus (40 chapters), Leviticus (27 chapters), Numbers (36 chapters) and Deuteronomy (34 chapters)? This passage is similar to Nehemiah 9:3 where we see a people so hungry for God’s Word, they corporately read his word for 4 hours straight. Wow, I hope their pews were cushioned. Josiah saw the unparalleled importance of God’s Word and the power of simply reading it and studying it. He allowed the power of God’s Word to do what it was created to do. Move hearts that encountered it closer to God.
But the vicious cycle never stops and guess what happens as Josiah dies and his son takes over the kingdom? Yep, he takes the coaster from the high point of worshiping God in truth right back down into another valley of idolatry. We saw the same thing with Hezekiah and Manasseh. Good king Hezekiah reestablished God in the kingdom only to be followed by his evil son, Manasseh. And Manasseh reversed it all and instead pursued the sinful lusts of the human heart. And folks, the coaster still speeds along today.
If you again take the 35,000 foot view, you can see not only the smaller Israelite pattern here in Kings, but a pattern that engulfs the world. We will soon see Babylon sweep through the land and conquer not only God’s people, but the rest of the known world as they become the first world superpower. But their victory will be short lived as they self-destruct in their sin and greed. Greece will come along as the next superpower and you’ll see history’s coaster do what it does, race through the ups and downs. Greece will implode upon itself, the idolatry and false god mythology it created, still lore today. As Greece falls, Rome takes over the world. And the debauchery, evil, greed, and immorality that is the basis for the Roman empire is one that truly boggles the mind. Margie and I have just completed an exhaustive study of the Roman emperors for our Church History class and the details of their lives are so foul, repulsive, and repugnant, you can hardly believe you are reading about a human being. And as you know, the great Roman empire that was thought would stand forever, ceased to exist under its weight of sin, corruption, sexual immorality, and perverse evil.
The coaster still speeds along today amongst the nations, destined to claim more victims even though they think that this time will somehow be different. But outside of countries, nations and societies, lies individual people. You and me. And our lives can be on that uncontrollable coaster as well…if we choose to ride. Are you floundering in the throws of sin today? Has sin got such a grip on you that you’re up and down hills that you don’t want to be on? Are you desperate to get off the ride? You can. Has the bondage of addiction got such a firm grip on you that you feel you’re no longer the one calling the shots? Do you keep trying to quit but you can’t seem to distance from the pull it has on you? You can have freedom.
Folks, the freedom is in Christ. But to claim Jesus, you’ve got to mean it. With sincerity in your heart admit that sin has beat you and it’s going to cost you all you have. That coaster ride is destined to end with you at a place you don’t want to be. Cry out to Jesus to save you and He is faithful to answer all those that call upon His name. And as you do, He will free you. His Word will free you. Prayer to Him will free you. Fellowship with other encouraging believers will free you. Refuse to live in a cycle today that only seeks to destroy you. The history of sin has the same effect on individual lives as it does on entire cultures…it destroys.
Claim the goodness, joy, freedom, and peace of Christ today and refuse to ride that roller coaster one day longer.
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