The LORD was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet
Wed, 21 December, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
14 After Amaziah came from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the men of Seir and set them up as his gods and worshiped them, making offerings to them. 15 Therefore the LORD was angry with Amaziah and sent to him a prophet, who said to him, “Why have you sought the gods of a people who did not deliver their own people from your hand?” 16 But as he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we made you a royal counselor? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped, but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
Amaziah begins well as king of Judah. We learn in verse two that he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, yet not with a whole heart. But the last phrase is key. He never followed God with his whole heart. Although he did some good things, Amaziah never truly repents of his sins, and as far as we can tell, he is now in hell.
We are told how he decides to go to war, and hires additional troops to assist, but at God’s rebuke through the prophet that he is trusting in men and not in God, Amaziah dismisses the mercernary troops. And God is faithful, granting Amaziah the victory over Edom. A smaller army was no handicap when God has decreed victory. Amaziah was willing to listen to God in this instance.
But instead of learning the lesson of relying upon God, Amaziah takes the captured Edomite gods and begins to worship them. Imagine that! These false gods couldn’t deliver the Edomites from Judah, so why would Amaziah take them for his objects of worship? He had proved them to be worthless and not worthy of worship by his victory over their worshipers.
God sends another prophet to confront Amaziah in his foolishness and sin, but this time, Amaziah refuses to listen to the prophet. God sends to Amaziah, warning him of his disobedience. We see at the beginning of the chapter, he listens and responds to the word of God, but here, in his pride he rejects God’s word.
As the prophet is rebuking him, Amaziah cuts him short and threatens him with death if he continues to call Amaziah to repentance. Amaziah rejects the word of God. We see in the rest of the chapter that Amaziah goes on to be destroyed in his pride and arrogance after rejecting God’s word.
What do we learn from this?
Like He did with Amaziah, God also calls us to repentance of our sins. He presents us with the choice. We can listen to His word, repent of our sins, and turn to Him for salvation. Or we can reject His word and continue in our sin. If, like Amaziah, we reject God and refuse to listen to His word, there is no possibility of salvation for us. If we refuse to listen to God’s word, we can’t be convicted of our sin. We can’t turn to Him in saving faith unless we listen to His call for our repentance.
God will work within us to convict us of our sins and to lead us to repentance. As God is convicting you, repent of your sins, and turn to Him. He will save you as you trust in Him alone for your salvation. But if you reject Him, you, like Amaziah, will be lost in your pride.
Where is Christ in this passage?
Amaziah, in bringing back idols from Edom, did not do anything that was beyond forgiveness. He could have listened to the prophet and repented of his foolish, sinful actions. He could have turned back to God, repenting of his sins. Had he done so, he would have been forgiven. The sin that he committed did not disqualify him from God’s salvation. What disqualified him was his refusal to repent.
Had Amaziah repented of his sins and turned to God, trusting in God’s provision for his salvation, Amaziah would have been saved. The life and death of Jesus Christ would have been applied to him, and he would have been justified. And we too can be saved from our sins by trusting in God’s provision for our salvation: Jesus Christ.
