King Uzziah’s Legacy (2nd Chronicles 26:5)

Introduction

King Uzziah. So, after 33 years of preaching, I guess it’s time to have a lesson on this particular king and some observations about him. He comes a little bit on down the line from David and Solomon and the descendants, of course, of David. They were all descendants of David in the kingdom of Judah. So he’s the ninth king down the line. Rehoboam would be the first of the divided kingdom. His name means the Lord is my strength. I like how names were given that brought honor to the Lord. And his father had been faithful, as we’ll see in a moment to some extent. And so such a good name was given him. Now in the king’s account that we’ll not be looking at tonight, which is much more brief, he is also called Azariah.

But we’re not going to go for that with that from the simple standpoint that there are over 25 people in the Old Testament named Azariah. So it can get a little bit confusing.

So we’re going to go with the Chronicles, and he’s most commonly called Uzziah anyway. Now he reigned 52 years in Judah, so that’s that’s a very lengthy reign of five decades. Now, when I say the early 700s, think bigger numbers, more toward the north in 722 BC. So a little bit earlier than that, we have the reign of Uzziah in Judah. Now, the Assyrian annals have him reigning 42 years. And probably the explanation for that is that the Bible is right in the Assyrians are wrong. No, probably because he was involved in co-regencies on both ends with his father and his son, and we’ll definitely see why his son in the story. His father was a Messiah, and his son was Joseph, and some good things to recommend these two kings.

Now let’s start in 2 Chronicles chapter 25. And this is an interesting way of describing his father, Amaziah. You know, we like to do the good king, bad king thing with our kids. And you know, with the Israelite kings, how many of those were good? How many of those were good kings to the north? Very good. Hayden wins the award. Zero. There was one who was only partly bad. I guess you could give him the partly bad, since we have a partly good. I think Jehu might be in the partly bad. He continued in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, but he did some of the things that God wanted to do. He’s the only one that I sort of give an asterisk on his bad.

But still that. Now, on the south, we do, well, there were some good kings. More bad kings than good kings, but even the good ones, such as Joash and Amaziah and Uzziah had some not so great moments toward the ends of their reigns. Interesting, and I’ll just throw this in here how that some of these guys were better in their youth than in their older age. Interesting theme there. But Amaziah became king when he was twenty five years of age, and he did right in the sight of the Lord, but not with his whole heart. Okay, so he was sort of in to righteous things, but not all in as he needed to be. Probably only somewhat of a good influence in Judah, not the most terrible, partly good.

Now, Joseph, his grandson, son of King Isaiah, is a good king. Only good things are said, though not much is said about Jotham’s reign, some of his projects in chapter 27, his victory over the Ammonites. And he reigned only 16 years, but he did right in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father Uzziah had done.

However, and this is the ominous statement I want to call your attention to in chapter 27 and verse 2. The butt, verse 2. However, he did not enter the temple of the Lord. Okay. Good thing. Good thing, said in contrast to another. But the people continued acting corruptly. So Joseph, despite the fact that he was a good king for 16 years, it does not seem that he commanded a lot of influence in the kingdom. Or at the very least, the people just refused to follow as they were growing more and more in their corruption. Now, that leads us to 2 Chronicles 26. And the story of Uzziah. Let’s look at verse 3. We’re not going to read all of this.

And he did right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah, though not with the whole heart, had done. And he continued to seek God in the days of Zachariah. That’s not the guy who wrote the book. That’s another Zachariah. Who had understanding through the vision of God. And as long as he sought the Lord, God prospered him. Oh, there’s some ominous. An ominous statement there. As long as he sought the Lord. And during his early years, he did three major things. He was victorious in war. He defeated the Philistines, and that’s always a good thing. And so he had some victories in war. He had some accomplishments in terms of construction, and his son Jotham would do the same. And was involved in agriculture in a large and successful way.

And so these are the things that he did. He built towers, he reinforced the fences, he expanded the borders, and he prospered as long as he sought the Lord. Now, he tolerated the high places. As a number of kings of Judah, like Asa and Joash, had done, Solomon actually burnt incense on the high places, according to 1 Kings chapter 3 and verse 3. Now Josiah down the road would purge Judah of these things, but again, his influence on the nation as a whole, much like Joseph’s, it seems now.

Monday night, I went over to Cypher. Interesting that Ross’s parents would be here tonight. I saw them there. You were in attendance. I can give you the check. You were there. We heard a lesson on the silence of the scripture. And one of the passages that Jim Deason referenced was this passage in 2 Chronicles 26, in terms of the negative thing that is about to unfold that we’re going to read in the life of Uzziah. Something that the Lord had specifically instructed in regard to service in the temple that this king of Judah, not a descendant of Levi, would violate. And that brings us to the legacy of King Uzziah and some lessons that we can learn from his legacy. Let’s look at verse 16. We’re only going to look at about five verses in regard to the rule of King Isaiah, verse 16.

1. A Pious and Powerful Beginning

But when he became strong, now we talked about all of his accomplishments, but when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the Lord his God. Now, that’s a term we throw around a lot. And it’s a it’s not a good term. We might describe someone’s actions and behavior and say that they’re unfaithful, and that’s an alarming thing. But what I’ve discovered is that when the chronicler says someone is unfaithful, that’s really bad. And really bad because of the harbinger it means in regard to the destruction that’s coming, as we see a progression in the attitudes of those who are leading in Judah. And so to say, this is no small thing is what I’m saying. It’s a word we might throw around some, but it’s always severe in implication, especially in the chronicles, Azia is unfaithful to the Lord his God.

For, and here is the evidence, he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. Now, to be with the priest offering sacrifices outside the temple is one thing, but to actually, as a member of the tribe of Judah and not a Levite, to go into the temple. This was a violation of the law. This represented his proud heart. And again in verse 18, it is said of him by the priests at the end of the verse, get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful. The chronicler mentions it again. You have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord. Before we read the rest of this, I’ve already spoken to point number one. Here is a king who had a pious and powerful beginning.

That is, piety, religious, devout, pious, powerful beginning. The Lord is helping him. As long as he sought the Lord, the Lord was helping him. He had all of these successes in his past. But something has happened.

And it still happens, folks. What begins so zealously with fervor and devotion to the Lord over time can become less than what it was. And sometimes imperceptibly. That is, the person who is declining spiritually doesn’t even realize that it’s happening. I think it’s pretty obvious in Isaiah’s reaction to the priest that he really doesn’t get it. Just how far he’s gone, that he thinks that he is above the law, perhaps conjuring in his mind some concept that was true in other nations of the king being somewhat godlike and can do pretty much whatever he pleases. Righteousness and zeal for the Lord in the early days of adulthood are no guarantee of future faithfulness. We talked this morning about a false sense of security and a false sense of trust because we are at one time baptized into Christ and encountered among the Lord’s people, and we’re faithful and true to the Lord, and so we can just sort of ride off into the sunset without much effort in regard to our faith.

There’s one thing that I’m sure of that strong faith, sufficient faith, is going to require ongoing effort and activity in our lives. It’s not going to just happen. It’s not going to just remain there. Things don’t remain static. We are either walking in a relationship with God week after week after week, or we start walking in a relationship with the world. And we can’t just give zero or little attention to our faith and hope to come out better in the end because of our past. And again, what point did I make it have made several times about the kings? Asa comes to mind. As very another guy who reigned 41 years in Judah, who had somewhat of an ignominious end to what had been a glorious reign.

Same sort of pattern, great military successes, dependent upon the Lord, and then at the end, sort of loses. And having been around for a little while now and having developed a few gray hairs, I get it. Sometimes we grow a little tired. We tolerate small heart compromises that become huge impediments. We grow overly comfortable in our connection with God. We lose zeal for the Lord and enthusiasm for his ways can be diminished. And when that happens, we can become overly focused on ourselves and our circumstances.

2. Eighty Valiant Men With Courage to Do Right

That is not good vision in regard to God’s great purposes for us and awareness of our very short tenure here. So let me just say Uzziah’s legacy is one of warning us about not becoming complacent in regard to our investment in spiritual things. Or we might just find ourselves unbeknownst to us that we are unfaithful to the Lord by his account. The second thing I want to notice in this text, when Uzziah does this egregious thing, violating the scripture, presuming on its silence. It says in verse 17, then Azariah, the priest entered after him. And like I said, probably needs to be distinguished from Azariah because we have a priest in the story named Azariah. Azariah the priest entered after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord.

And I like this. They were valiant fellows. Warriors? I don’t think that’s really the idea. Spiritual warriors. Yes. Because you know what these eighty men are going to do? They’re going to stand up to the most powerful man in the kingdom and say, You’re doing wrong. And this man has the power to execute you. And we’ll see his response to this in a moment. And they opposed Uzziah, the king. It is not for you, Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary. No, they tell the king what to do. You’ve got to get out of here now. This is holy place. Get out of the sanctuary for you have been unfaithful.

And you will have no honor from the Lord. This reminds me of an incident that involved less than 80 men in my childhood. I’ve told you this illustration before in the past. I think I used it in my meeting a couple of weeks ago. When I was a teenager and there was a man in the congregation. This all started with the controversy over marriage, divorce, and remarriage, and this particular elder did not believe the truth. At least as I regard it, as I’ve been teaching you on Wednesday nights, he didn’t believe the truth about marriage, divorce, and remarriage. And we’ve had this meeting, it was controversial. One guy spoke on one side of the issue on Thursday night. Another guy spoke on the other side of the issue on Friday night.

And I gotta tell you, I didn’t agree with either one of them. Now, again, I was a teenager at the time, so I didn’t know much. So, but as I look back, neither one of them was actually teaching the truth. There was another congregation in Louisville involved in this mess. And the elders had such friction between them that ultimately two of the elders stepped down so that the other elder would be forced to resign. And that’s when I saw two of those men, one on this side and the one over here, who almost came to blows and had to be restrained in the foyer. This not a brawler. Okay, this is something we need to give attention to in elders’ qualifications. And so when you’re a young person and you’re standing in the foyer and you see something like this is not a good impression.

This went on for some time. My dad got involved in what would transpire after that because this lone elder wanted to declare himself to the church as an inactive elder, whatever that is. He still, I guess, had to maintain the title and some position of authority among the group. So a church with a single elder. And this went on for some time. And now that we didn’t have an eldership, my dad and some of the men decided that we need to do something about this. And what it ultimately came down to after all attempts at reasoning had failed, the men of the congregation decided they were going to withdraw. Fellowship from this man. And I’ll never forget that Sunday when after the invitation song was sung.

The men started coming to the front of the building. And it was from corner to corner. I counted them. Twenty-five men, you know, I’m young, I got time to count all this. Twive men from corner to corner, as the fellow who had been the song leader, and he was a part-time preacher too, read the letter of withdrawal while that fellow was sitting on the front row having made a confession that did not involve the renouncing of being an inactive elder or his view on Mary’s divorce and remarriage. So, basically one of those, if I’ve upset anybody. And so I’ll never forget the guy reading the song leader reading his note and just motioning to the men to come forward. And they read the letter of withdrawal while the wife of this man is saying they’re crucifying him.

Loud enough for every. She was in the back. I was in the front. I could hear her saying this. Now, okay, I’m a teenager, so, and this is still, I’ve forgotten so many things since then. But I haven’t forgotten that. And I haven’t forgotten how that moment would positively affect the church’s future. And it’s been a group of relative peace ever since. But sometimes hard things have to be done. Unpleasant things that nobody wants to do, but have to do. Because they’re right. And it takes courage. And who knows what the fallout’s going to be? Who knows the people who are who are going to get upset and leave, or what the future ramifications might be to this action. But courage was needed so the right thing was done.

And so these 80 men risked everything. They risked everything to do the right thing. And so I want to tell you this. No one can anticipate the issues that unfold in a local church. Five years from now, we’ll look back and say, we never anticipated that. Hopefully nothing major. But things will happen. You say, boy, I never saw that coming. There have been incidents in the last eight years, here that I never saw that coming. But I’ll tell you when they do come, whatever shape, form, or size they come in, we need to be men and women of courage who do the right thing. Regardless of what the consequences are. If 40 people end up leaving, so be it. That’s not the desire, but this is about fellowship with God.

3. No Honor From the Lord

This is about doing the right thing regardless of the costs. And we need to be able to and ready to stand with those who choose to do right and give them support. It would have been hard for Azariah to do this alone. Probably would have done it. But eight men stood together. Now there was something that we see at the end of this verse that I want to take note of briefly as they say, and I just want to make a thought of it here that I want you to take out of this. When they claim to get out of the sanctuary, they say, For you have been faithful and will have no honor from the Lord your God. That’s an unusual statement. I don’t know that we see that anywhere else in the scripture, it occurs to me.

No honor from the Lord. And I just want to say to you that’s what’s at stake in the spiritual decisions that we make. The choices that we make as to the kind of people that we’re going to be. Whether we’re going to be characterized by filth and immorality, if we’re just going to cater to the speech that’s all around us and not control our tongue and say profanity because we think it’s cool in some sense. I think it just reflects a lack of vocabulary myself. Are we going to be different? Are we going to cause problems in the local church unnecessarily? Are we going to throw a monkey wrench into things because my idea and my opinion reigns supreme in every circumstance? Are we going to throw away marriages?

Look, there’s all kinds of things at stake in the decisions that we make. And one of the things that I want you to remember as you leave this place tonight that we go out there and live for the honor of the Lord.

4. Don't Be Enraged Like Uzziah Was

And the honor in regard to our own lives and legacy. More on that as we conclude tonight. How does that? How’d he take this? Not very well. He has a sensor in his hand for burning incense. This could have gotten ugly in a hurry.

Enraged. Oh. Interesting response. It’s not surprising at all. Because remember how he got in this mess to begin with. When he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly. And guess what he still has at this moment? A proud heart. And so he’s not going to accept what these priests say. Now, here are 80 men of God. Can eighty men of God be wrong? Well, considering Israel’s past, I would say yes. It’s possible. But these are 80 men who were noted for their piety, probably, as I see this story unfold. Eighty men.

You know, if you’re brought into a meeting with three elders, they may not have all the facts. I mean, it’s possible that they’re not seeing this picture clearly, but if they’re telling you your behavior isn’t what it needs to be, you might want to at least listen humbly to what they’re telling. And when brothers of the Lord come to you, even if they don’t have the situation right, we ought to approach that with some humility. At least considering what they’re telling us about our behavior and conduct. And I’ll just, it is not easy to be criticized. I look, one thing we ought to tell every young preacher. Get ready. It’s coming. You think preaching is all about the handshakes and you did a good job, and that’s nice, but you’re going to be criticized.

I don’t think there’s anybody who leads in a public way, who, whether it’s an elder or preacher, who is not the subject of some criticism. And you’re going to have your share, and I don’t care how good you are. I don’t care if you’re deep old and you. And I know about some of the criticism he’s received through the years. I don’t know about all he’s received in the local church, but I’m sure he has, because it goes with the territory. I don’t understand why it happens. But you’re going to be criticized. And so I would tell every young man or anybody who does this work, you better be ready for it when it comes. Handle it with the greatest humility that you can muster. Now, the criticism may be unwarranted, but still, give it a hearing.

Don’t be enraged like Uzziah was. Defend your actions or words if need be, but come. Listen. Well, I haven’t really opened the door here, haven’t I? Tonight’s a good night to unload on Tony. Remember what you just said?

Uzziah’s response is increasingly common in our times. Who are you to tell me anything? You don’t judge me. You don’t tell me what I can and cannot do. Well, somebody needed to because Uzziah was being unfaithful to the Lord. Now, here’s the thing about that. Who’s watching all this? Well, God is. God’s watching all of this. And he doesn’t immediately put a stop to this. You know what you think? Uzziah enters the temple first foot in crispy critter, destroy him on the spot. Priests were sort of concerned about things they did in the temple anyway, could end thusly. And so why don’t you just go ahead and take care of it? Perhaps there was something these priests needed in regard to the courage that they display.

5. One Great Moment of Folly

And first using human agency, I don’t know all the reasons, but as Uzziah has the censer in his hand and he is enraged with the priests. I love this. It’s sad, really, but I’m picturing it in my mind. The leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of instant. Hmm. I think the priests were right. Don’t you? All of a sudden, God causes leprosy to break out on his head. And immediate judgment.

That doesn’t always happen in the Old Testament, where God immediately does something miraculous in this case to judge the evildoer. But he does here. With King Isaiah. Now, that’s all I want to say about that, other than just because judgment doesn’t come immediately, doesn’t mean it’s not noted in heaven. The minute he stuck his foot in the temple, believe me, God is well aware. And judgment is coming for our misdeeds, even if we’re not punished immediately or somewhat immediately, as Uzziah was. But here’s the funny thing. Again, it’s not funny, but Azariah, verse 20, the chief priest and all the priests looked at him. Okay, this what a moment. The king has leprosy on his head. And behold, he was leprous on his forehead, and they hurried him out of there.

And he himself also hastened to get out because the Lord had smitten him. Now here’s what I love about it. He got mad. You’ve got to get out of here. You’re being unfaithful to the Lord. I’m not getting out of here. He’s enraged. And then leprosy breaks out on his forehead, and the priests are rushing him out, and he’s ready to go.

A minute ago, he had all intents and purposes of saying, now he’s got a bigger issue. He’s got leprosy on his head. Wow. Look how suddenly things changed. All of a sudden, Isaiah gets some perspective about this. And here is the treasure. And King Isaiah was a leper until the day of his death. Probably accounting for the co-regency and the reason why Jotham becomes king at a young age. And he lived in a separate house being a leper. For he was cut off from the house of the Lord. It doesn’t always happen this way. But understand this. One great moment of folly can change your life forever.

We’re fortunate it doesn’t always do that. And the repercussions of our sin don’t always last a lifetime. But sometimes they do. And we don’t really know which one could prove to be like this. Great humiliation. That’s Isaiah’s legacy. And for these kings, like Asa. The Lord searches to and fro throughout the earth to strongly support those whose hearts are completely his. How many times have I quoted that? And the tragedy of that is it’s in the context of Asa being told that his heart is not where it should be.

Or his eternal destiny. Or even about Isaiah’s.

Conclusion

And somehow finds himself in the presence of God after repenting, perhaps like Manasseh, the wicked king of his descendant who would follow. I don’t know about his eternal destiny. I just know this story says something about Isaiah’s legacy, and it is far less. I don’t want to hear anything negative about Asa’s legacy. I don’t want to hear anything about Isaiah’s legacy. I don’t want my good king, bad king chart to be messed up. But these two kings in particular made tragic mistakes that negatively affected their legacy. I just want to leave this wish with you as we conclude tonight. We need to be determined and resolute in regard to spiritual legacy.

And what that means is that we need to have with us as frequently as possible, as much as possible, a sense of our mission in the world, and we must not lose sight of it. Because if this complacency comes that came with Uzziah, the consequences and the ramifications could be huge. So think about these two things in regard to our mission and our spiritual legacy. At the end of it all, may it be said of us that our contribution among the Lord’s people was faithful, fervent, and consistent. Let that be your legacy.

This constant participation and faithfulness among the Lord’s people. And then fidelity and devotion in your life on a daily basis. Making prayer a priority in our lives every day. You will do that if you have a strong sense of mission. And concern about the legacy that you’re leading. And your family, in your spiritual family. And a determination that finally I am going to go to heaven by the help of God. He who began a good work in you will complete it at the day of the Lord Jesus. And I know I’m weak. I know I struggle, but I’m not going to give up.

I’m going to keep plugging away, doing what I can in this great cause because I have a sense of mission. And I’m going to hear God’s well done. Do you need to develop that sense of mission by becoming a Christian tonight? Putting on Christ in baptism and starting this walk where you can leave a legacy greater than in any other sphere of life. Or perhaps you’ve lost sense of your mission. Perhaps look like Isaiah have sort of wandered away, not realizing the impact that it’s having on your life and soul. Thanks be to God.

We seem to encourage your response if necessary, let’s stand soon.