Dear church.
What does it mean to seek the Lord? What does it mean to rely on the Lord? What does true revival look like? Why is there backsliding in the church? These are just some of the questions we will be asking and answering. I think the central though here is reliance upon the Lord or seeking his face. The Hebrew words to rely or to seek, appear a total of at least nine times. I think the central thought of this entire section can be summed up with the Word of God to King Asa after he is returning from battle. And we will use this verse as a lens through which to few this passage. He says, ‘The LORD is with you whole you are with him. If you seek him he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” Remember this is also the theme of almost the whole book – a theme which 2 Chronicles 7:14 lays out for us.
Rely on the LORD and seek His face!
- If you forsake him, he will forsake you.
- If you seek him he will be found by you
- How to seek him and not forsake him.
If you forsake him, he will forsake you.
We start our text with the story of Abijah, and again you notice that the Chronicler picks one event in Abijah’s life to make a theological point and set him and the Davidic kingship and the temple worship in contrast to Jeroboam and the worship of the golden calves.
He does this through the retelling of a battle scene, something that we see often in the book. And just like so many other battle scenes Judah’s army is significantly smaller. The point being it is not in the strength of military might that they are victorious, but in the Lord, and his mighty power. It is because God has covenanted himself with this people. Judah has a 400,000 and Israel has an army twice that size.
But army size doesn’t matter. Whose side God is on matters. Abijah makes that point when he says that they are fighting a useless battle because they are fighting against the kingdom with which God had covenanted himself!
This is not just any other kingdom they are fighting against. This is the messianic kingdom – God’s Kingdom, as we read in verse 8, “and now you think to withstand the kingdom of the LORD in the hand of the sons of David, because you are a great multitude and have with you golden calves that Jeroboam made you for gods.” It is as if he is saying, it does not matter how big you are, how strong you are, how intimidating you are, how many gods you have or bring with you, you cannot succeed. Do not think that you can withstand the kingdom of the LORD. Your defeat is inevitable.
Why? Because the northern kingdom had abandoned the worship of God. they had driven out the priests and made whoever they wanted to be a priest. Priest who are not priests are preists to gods who are not Gods. Verse 9 is almost meant ot be funny if it was not so sad. When the word of God, and the law of God, and the worship of God is no longer honored among a people that people is doomed to failure. When the people no longer want to follow preachers that honor God and appoint whoever they want as their leaders and teachers that church is in danger of abandoning the LORD.
The Lord had abandoned Israel because they had abandoned the worship of the one true God. And he was with Judah because they worshipped him. He made this clear in verse 10 and following. In chronicles we find that the victory is not found in the number of troops but through the worship of God. If the people are seeking God in his holy Temple – then there can be victory. It is the praise of God that causes the towers of hell to crumble! It is the worship of God that causes his enemies to quake.
And Israel who had abandoned the worship of God was not fighting against Judah. Or Abijah even. But against who are they fight?! Read verse 12! “BEHOLD! (Look) God is with us at our head!” And his priests are leading into battle. Not the king! But the priest! For a people without a king (Remember it was written after the exile) this was a good reminder. It was God who was the head. It was the priest that led into battle.
And it is God who defeats his enemies. God will arise and by his might put all his enemies to flight! This is all about reliance on God! And what happens! Israel attacks, they have superior forces, they seem to have a superior strategy in attacking from front and back, but Judah has the LORD.
Just look at how the last verse emphasize that it is God who did it. V. 15, “God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel…” v. 16, “God gave them into their hand…” v. 18, “and the men of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.” And in the end Jeroboams death is the LORDs work, “and the LORD struck him down and he died.”
You see where abandoning the LORD and his worship leads? Death. Slavery oppression. Every time. All the time.
Dear church commit yourself to worshipping God and him alone in the way that he has called you to. Commit yourself to the preaching of the word, the sacraments. Trust in him, even when all things seem against you. It is in him and him alone that we find our hope. His covenant promises are sure despite how things look! This is the promise to the people feeling small in exile. This is the promise to you. For your life. Not just one time. But don’t ever grow complacent. Don’t ever take it for granted. Listen. Listen to the word of the Lord. Let it penetrate your heart. Humble you. So that you earnestly seek his face.
If you seek him, he will be found by you.
For in seeking him we find rest. In obedience to him there is peace. This is the first thing that we see when we turn back to chapter 14:1-8. Just look at how many times the word rest, or peace is used here. Ver. 1. “The land had rest for ten years.” v. 5 “and the kingdom had rest under him.” v. 6 “For the land had rest…” and again, “…for the LORD gave him peace.” V. 7 “For he has given us peace on every side.” And why? The rest of the verses explain. Here was a king that was good and right. He returned to the worship of God and commanded people to keep the law. V. 7 makes it explicit “the land is still ours because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” There is no peace, where there is no seeking after God. there is peace upon Gods covenant people when they seek him. Rest and shalom comes when a people rely on him and seek his face continually.
In seeking him we see that our inheritance is in him, and therefore it is secure against all power that the world might have, even against overwhelming odds.
We see this become clear in the rest of the chapter when a million army comes against him! What does Asa do he! He prays! It is through the prayers of his saints that God gives his covenant. If you have never prayed, you need not expect blessing!
Utter reliance on God does not mean do nothing. Asa had an army, and he used his army. But he didn’t say armies were the decisive thing. God was. When he was sick, he made the opposite mistake. He had a doctor and used him without relying on God. (If you go to a doctor, by the way, that is the spirit God approves. Doctors are not wrong. Armies are not necessarily wrong. But putting your hope on them, and not praying the way Asa prayed in 14:11 is folly.)
Asa was on his face before God saying that armies are not the decisive thing. You are, O Lord! We are not trusting in our army but in you. And the text shows us that God was the decisive player. The LORD that defeats the Ethiopians (v. 12). And I just love what v. 13 says, “For they were broken before the LORD and his army.” This is the Army of God! Onward Christian soldiers marching as to war. With the cross of Jesus going on before! Christ the royal master leads against the foe! Forward into battle, see his banners go!”
He sought him in battle, and it would have been tempting to go home after this victory and rest on his laurels. But God is not satisfied just with reliance upon him to defeat enemies from without! He wants them to rely upon him to defeat enemies within! Seeking the Lord, and reliance upon him is a constant watchfulness to uproot sin both without and within our midst. Dear church no matter the victories let us never ever become complacent in seeking the LORD! Let us always heed the call of scripture! To seek is face!
How to Seek the LORD
God commands that we seek him. How do we do this? Step 1. Listen to the Word of the LORD. It begins with the appearance of the prophet with short sermon from the throne of God for the king. The prophet appears with message, on the way back from war. And the key message is “the LORD is with you while you are with Him.”
If you seek him, he will be found by you. It reminds one of texts like Isaiah 55 “Seek the Lord while he may be found. Or Psalm 27: “You said seek my face!” Or “seek first the kingdom of God.” This is what it means to be part of gods covenant people. And this call comes to them often in times of revival. It is a call to renewal. Closer communion. When the church is danger of forsaking God, or losing their identity, God brings this command again and again to his people history. The pressing need in the church and worship is not that we seek to be people pleasers and make the church happy, but the pressing need is that we seek the presence of God. The pressing need for Gods people is always the reordering of live. Israel’s greatest danger was not Ethiopia, the danger was the that they could fall into complacency and crumble form the inside.
“If you seek him, he will be found by you.” Human agency and urgency. If you seek him, you will find him. And then the prophet tells of a time when people didn’t seek him. it was a time of war, bloodshed, oppression. He is probably talking about the time of the judges. When there was no law and everyone did what was right in their own eyes. And then you can see this preacher turning to the king who just returned from battle and pointing his finger at him and saying, “But you, take courage! Do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded.”
Look at what Asa does! As SOON As! He does three things.
1. Took courage! It takes courage to break with the status quo and get rid of all the idols. It takes courage to radically seek the LORD.
2. He puts away the detestable idols from all the land. He purged the land. Rooting out the idolatry wherever he could find it! He even goes to Ephraim. But he does not just stop with his country, and the covenant family. He goes to his own family. He even removes his own mother. He did not stop in other peoples houses, he went to his own family, and dealt with the sin of relatives. He went on a campaign of king led national repentance. This was not let go and let God. this was a warrior in the name of the LORD. As Paul says to the church in Corinth, “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”
3. Restores the true worship of God. The dwelling place of God in the midst of his people. He repairs the temple. He moves to the place where Gods glory dwells. He repairs and gathers the people. V. 9. There is gathering from all Israel. Around the time of Pentecost. And they sacrificed, and the texts says, “they entered into covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their Fathers with all hearts and all their soul. But whoever did not seek the LORD, the God of Israel should be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman.
Talk about church discipline! If there is anyone that is member of the church that does not seek the LORD, or desire to do so it is a sign of a cold heart. If even the reading of this text does not awaken in you the desire to seek to the LORD, and honor his holiness, then there is a problem. If there is no desire to seek the Lord, there can be no communion.
As a response to this preacher’s sermon from God, Asa roots out evil in his own land, in his own family, orients his life toward God, and the right worship. And what happens, they sought the Lord with their whole desire, and he was found by them! WOW! How beautiful is this! What motivation for us to seek the LORD! To get rid of the idols. To not start in our neighbor’s house, but in our house!
So what is it to seek the LORD. First you must have courage. You find that in the promises of God! You need faith, believe that God is for you in Jesus to overcome and be honest.
Second it involves repentance. Turning from Sin to Christ. this means dealing ruthlessly with it. Look at what Asa did in verse 16 to the idol. Its quiet graphic. “He cut it down, crushed it, and burned it at the brook Kidron!” There is always idols to cut down, crush, and burn.
And finally, you build the temple, and worship him among his people with great rejoicing and feasting gathering around the place where he has promised that he would be. You see the progression of Asa’s seeking? It begins with purging land. Moves to the temple. And ends with an oath and singing. It starts with the command to seek the LORD, and you find them at the end gathered around the temple the throne of god worshiping. When God says seek the Lord you should go to the place where he promises to be. Restoration of worship is the pinnacle of command to seek his face. Ultimately this command will end in the Worship of GOD!
And finally we are called to persevere in it and not give up! Because only those who persevere to the end will be saved. We heartbreaking picture in chapter 16. The very temple that Asa restores he also destroys by taking the gold from the temple are relying not on God but others for help. Then when he is approached he becomes angry – and starts inflicting cruel injuries on people! His feet become diseased, maybe as a sign that he is no longer walking in the way of the LORD. But he does not heed the rebuke. And seeks human help for his problem. O church! Let us seek the LORD, let us not become complacent. Especially in this time. But yearn even more to gather again. Let us seek his face now! Let’s cast out the idols now! Listen to rebuke! Yes it is hard for young and old. Pride is a part of all of life. When we are young we think we know it all. When we are old we think we know it all. It can be so easy especially for those of us who have been Christians a long time to think we can coast into heaven. You can’t. Just ask Asa. But the prophet offers this encouragement to all who would trust him.
Chapter 16:9, “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” When the prophet says that, what he means is that this is God's job, and he is really out to do it. Giving strong support to those whose heart is blameless.
This is the God and father of our Lord Jesus who loved us and gave himself for us. This is the God who hears all your prayers. This is the God who created the universe and holds it all together. This is the God who stands in this room right now teaching through my teaching and calling you to trust him and call upon him for every need that you have. Seek him with all your heart. Rely on him completely.
Amen