Tues.’s Devo - Spiritual Warfare

Read: 2 Kings 15:1-16:20; Acts 19:13-41; Psalm 147:1-20; Proverbs 18:4-5 Uzziah became the king of Judah. His name means “my strength is Jehovah.” He did what was pleasing to the Lord but he didn’t destroy the pagan shrines. He was struck with leprosy which lasted till he died and had to live in isolation in a separate house. His son Jotham was put in charge of the royal palace and governed the people and continued after he died. In Israel, Zechariah ruled only six months. He did evil and refused to turn from worshipping idols. A man named Shallum rose up and assassinated him in public. His name means “restitution”. Shallum became the next king. Zechariah was Jehu’s fourth generation so the Lord’s prophesy came true. Shallum only lasted a month when Menahem from Tirzah assassinated him and became the next king. He was ruthless and destroyed the town of Tappuah and its countryside because the citizens refused to surrender. He killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant women. He reigned in Samaria for 10 years. When Assyria attacked, Menahem extorted money from the people to bribe the king of Assyria from attacking them. After him, his son, Pekahiah reigned for 2 years and did evil. He was killed by Pekah who ruled for 20 years. During his ring, he captured town of Assyria and took back much of their land that had been stolen. He was assassinated by Hoshea. Meanwhile in Judah, Jotham, Uzziah’s son was ruling. Jotham pleased the Lord like his father but he also didn’t remove the pagan shrines where the people worshipped idols. He reigned in Jerusalem 16 years and rebuilt the upper gate of the Temple. While he was reigning, God sent King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel to fight against Judah. When Jotham died, his son, Ahaz became king of Judah. He reigned for 16 years and did not do what was pleasing to the Lord. He worshipped idols and even sacrificed his own son on the fire of Molech. King Reza of Aram came to attack Jerusalem. They surrounded it but couldn’t conquer it. Edom took this time to recapture the town of Elath from Judah and replaced the people with their people. King Ahaz of Judah asked the king of Assyria for help. Ahaz sent him silver and gold from the Temple as payment. The king of Assyria attacked the king of Aram’s capital, took the Arabian people out of the city and killed the king. King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria to thank him and was impressed with his altar to his god. He drew a picture of it and sent a model of it to Uriah the priest. Uriah had this altar built in Jerusalem right next to the brazen altar they had used for years. When the king came home and saw it, he moved the brazen altar to the north side of the new altar and told the priests to start sacrificing on this new and improved altar. He also removed the basin that the priests washed in before and after the sacrifices. They took it from off the backs of the bronze oxen and placed it on a stone pavement. He also changed the entrance that the priests went through and made it like the Assyrians had. This was a picture of what was happening in the hearts of the people. Jesus, the final sacrifice was crucified north of the altar. The Passover lamb was slain on the altar that Ahaz built which was the modern version of religion. When Jesus came to the earth, the religious leaders had replaced the law of God with all their manmade laws. Everything had been modernized. Jesus was the promise of the ages. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. When Ahaz died, his son, Hezekiah became the next king. In Acts, there were a group of Jews that did exorcisms. They started adding the name of Jesus to their incantations, but one time the demon spoke to them and told them that they knew the name of Paul, they didn’t know them. It then attacked them so violently they had to run. When word spread about this, the fear of God fell on the people. Many came out of their New Age occults and started trusting in Jesus. Paul felt led to go to Macedonia on his way to Rome. In Ephesus, there lived a silversmith named Demetrius who made his living crafting images of idols. Paul’s influence was hurting his business so he stirred up a following to oppose Paul and his companions. They all met in the amphitheater and it soon became a riot. They were there to protect the worship of their goddess Artemis that their city was famous for. The mayor finally calmed down the crowd and told them that Paul had not committed a crime or spoken against their goddess so they needed to handle this peacefully through their legal system. He then dismissed the crowd. Lord, it is obvious that the truth stirs up the demons in people. May we learn to fight this fight with spiritual weapons and not our flesh. May we use the Word of God to face our battles and not be afraid.