Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Rebellion Leads To Destruction

1 Kings 15:8 KJV
And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead.

After Solomon died things deteriorated pretty quickly in the kingdom. Rehoboam and Jeroboam divided the land into two kingdoms and, while part of it was because of Rehoboam's foolishness, still Jeroboam was acting in rebellion. Rebellion is never rewarded and always leads to destruction.

When Rehoboam died his son took the throne, but he did not live long and a second son, Asa, was crowned. Asa reigned many years and, it seems to me, would have had trouble keeping up with who he was fighting in the northern kingdom. During Asa's reign Israel went through at least four, (and sort of five) not kings, but royal families.

Jeroboam's entire family was murdered. Then Baasha's entire family was murdered. The nation then went through Zimri, the seven day king. For a spell the Israel itself was divided and had two kings; Tibni and Omri. Eventually they settled on Omri and his family became the royal family in Israel. But for approximately thirty years they just had turmoil. They went through kings so quickly the citizens literally did not know who their king was at times.

And such it is with rebellion. It cannot breed stability but always only destruction and uncertainty. The sin nature exists even in those who seek the Lord by faith so we are certainly not perfect and have our own struggles, but among those who rebel against God, the promise of instability, uncertainty, unrest and discontent is sure and quick.

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