THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

XX. Preparing Wisely For God's Humanly Overwhelming Assignments

(2 Chronicles 2:1-18)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

Right now, we believers face seemingly overwhelming assignments from the Lord. We illustrate (as follows):

(1) Mike Stobbe's story, "Second Wave" (Republican-American, February 15, 2020, p. 1A) warned, "A second wave of flu is hitting the U. S., turning this into one of the nastiest seasons for children in a decade," but that "(i)f" the "coronavirus were to begin spreading in the U. S., there would be confusion about whether people are getting sick with it or the flu," adding to the problem. Yet, God in 1 Timothy 5:22 tells us to use common sense to handle our ills.

(2) Syndicated columnist George Will in his piece, "Democrats' victory tax" (Ibid., February 20, 2020, p. 8A) warned, "America has an aging population and an entitlement system (principally Social Security and Medicare) into which 10,000 baby boomers retire daily," and "(T)here are only two ways to finance government: present taxes and future taxes," so "(h)igher tax rates and/or new taxes (e. g. on carbon) are coming." Yet, God in 1 Timothy 4:8 calls heads of households to provide for the living needs of their dependents regardless if taxes go up.

(3) Eliza Collins' story, "Nevada Win Gives Sanders The Inside Track" (The Wall Street Journal, February 24, 2020, p. A1) reported that "Bernie Sanders" is "the clear front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination," a worry to many due to his track record: Jonah Goldberg's piece, "Bernie sees what he wants to see" (Ibid., Republican-American, February 22, 2020, p. 8A) told how Sanders has praised communist governments and leaders and that he holds up Scandinavian countries as patterns for the "democratic socialism" he envisions for America. However, those Scandinavian nations have abandoned socialism in their economies since it proved to be so bad, and most European nations that have more generous welfare systems and more progressive taxation than the United States "also have much worse unemployment and economic growth," Ibid. Yet, God in 1 Peter 2:13-15 calls us to obey every government law and to honor every ruler, what we would need to do under a President Bernie Sanders.

(4) We face it in our apologetics: (a) one of our members last Sunday said she was unable to answer a man who holds to evolution since he holds God would not violate His own natural laws to perform the miraculous creative acts of Genesis 1-2. (b) Also, I recently heard a political progressive on the local radio talk show, "The Talk of Connecticut," hotly critique evangelicals for believing in the rapture. I was shocked at his until I learned the progressive was likely reacting to the evangelical outcry at "Second Coming, a comic-book series with Jesus Christ as a character" with the plot where "God was so upset with Jesus' performance the first time he came to Earth, since he was arrested so soon and crucified shortly after, that he has kept him locked up since then.'" (George Gene Gustines, "Comic Book With Jesus as a Character Finds a New Publisher," https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/arts/second-coming-jesus-com...) The comic-book series has Jesus in His Second Coming to Earth interacting with super-hero Last Son of Crispex apparently to learn how to do a better job than in His first advent (Ibid.). Yet, in spite of such blasphemy and hot resistance to our beliefs, 1 Peter 3:15-16 calls us to be ready to give a defense of our faith.

Need: So we ask, "How do we begin to address such humanly overwhelming assignments that God gives us?!"

I. Though God had commanded Solomon to build Him a temple in 1 Chronicles 28:6, Solomon realized he needed the expertise of the craftsmen of Tyre to build a temple that honored God, 2 Chronicles 2:1-3a:

A. In line with God's order in 1 Chronicles 28:6, Solomon purposed to build God's temple, and he commissioned resident aliens as laborers with 3,600 Hebrews to oversee them, 2 Chronicles 2:1-2, 17-18 with 8:7-10.

B. However, Solomon realized that he needed the expertise of Tyre's craftsmen to build an adequate temple:

1. Solomon's request to Hiram king of Tyre in 2 Chronicles 2:3b-10 revealed that Solomon meant to honor the Lord with a magnificent temple structure, for God was a great God above all other gods, 2 Chron. 2:5.

2. As seen in Solomon's request that Hiram send him a man skilled in handling a lot of construction projects (2 Chronicles 2:7-8), Solomon testified that Hiram's craftsmen excelled in cutting timber and that he needed their expertise to help him construct a quality building for the Lord, 2 Chronicles 2:8b.

3. Indeed, Hiram's people were not only skilled in cutting timber, but they "were famous the world over for their architectural and building skills," Bible Know. Com., O. T., p. 621.

II. However, Solomon also realized the need Tyre's king had for the food Israel produced, 2 Chron. 2:10:

A. Solomon offered to pay king Hiram 125,000 bushels of ground wheat, 125,000 bushels of barley, 115,000 gallons of wine and 115,000 gallons of olive oil for the expertise of Hiram's craftsmen, 2 Chr. 2:10 ESV; Ibid.

B. This offer revealed that Solomon knew about the agricultural needs king Hiram of Tyre faced:

1. Tyre was greatly endowed with highly skilled artisans, but the city state lacked sufficient agricultural land and the population to withstand a powerful empire's advance. (Zon. Pict. Ency. Bible, v. Five, p. 832-835)

2. Tyre's king thus tried to make peace with other nations and to trade its expertise for food from others, Ibid.

3. Aware of this need in Tyre, Solomon's plan to offer much food to hire Tyre's craftsmen was a wise plan.

III. Solomon thus successfully offered Hiram food that Israel produced in exchange for Tyre's expertise:

A. Hiram responded positively to Solomon's proposal to give him food in exchange for Tyre's construction expertise: Hiram praised Solomon for his wisdom, discretion and understanding, 2 Chronicles 2:11-12 ESV.

B. Tyre's king agreed to Solomon's offer (2 Chronicles 2:15) and sent Solomon a man who was skilled in all kinds of workmanship, be it working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, purple, blue and crimson fabrics and fine linen and all sorts of engraving and design composition, more realms than Solomon had requested likely due to Solomon's ignorance of all the skill sets that Hiram knew he needed, 2 Chron. 2:13-14.

C. Hiram added that the wood Solomon desired would be sent west from Lebanon's forests down to the sea and floated south on the Mediterranean to Joppa in Israel, far more efficient than hauling it overland, 2 Chr. 2:16.

Lesson: To address God's humanly overwhelming assignment of building Him a quality temple, Solomon realized his lack in skilled craftsmen but bounty in food production along with Hiram's lack in food production but bounty in skilled craftsmen, and utilized each king's respective strength to cover for each king's respective weakness.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16. (2) Applying the principle of this sermon lesson to the Church today, if we believers in Christ face God's seemingly overwhelming assignments, may we recognize what spiritual enablings for service the Lord has given us together with the enablings God has given other believers so as to use these divine enablings for the good of the whole Body of Christ, cf. Ephesians 4:11-16.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

In applying this message to the issues in our introduction, we note that 2 Timothy 3:17 claims Scripture is sufficient to equip every believer for every good work. However, I like Hiram's craftsman must use my spiritual gift of Bible knowledge to explain the Scripture verses each believer needs so each like Solomon's workmen might be able to address the issues God assigns us. [For my effort, you have already provided for my livelihood needs!]

(1) On facing the flu and coronavirus, we can apply God's 1 Timothy 5:22 call to use medical common sense and bolster our immune systems by lowering our blood sugar levels through avoiding stress and minimizing our food sugar and food starch intake, and by drinking lots of fluids, resting, exercising, washing our hands often, etc.

(2) On the threat of rising taxes and God's 1 Timothy 5:8 call that we earn a living for our dependents, we can focus on ordinary, stable income streams (Proverbs 27:22-27) and diligently save a part of our income (like the ant in Proverbs 6:6-8) to invest regularly long-term, boldly, with diversification (Ecclesiastes 11:1-6) for sufficient wealth.

(3) On possibly living under a future President Bernie Sanders with his socialism, while heeding 1 Peter 2:13-15 to submit to Sanders' rule and heed his laws, 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12 directs that we work as independently of others as we can, including functioning as independently as possible of inept socialized government agencies and policies, to protect our testimonies and not be in any material need.

(4) On heeding 1 Peter 3:15-16 to answer evolutionists who counter belief in special creation and to answer scoffers who critique our belief in the rapture and/or Christ's Second Coming, we can simply apply 2 Peter 3:3-13. That passage predicted that scoffers would arise, holding to uniformitarianism, the presupposition behind the theory of evolution that everything in the universe has continued to exist unchanged since the origin of the universe so that there are no miracles. (John C. Whitcomb, Jr. & Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood, 1978, p. 14) 2 Peter 3:5 predicted such parties would "willingly" (thelontas, U. B. S. Grk. N. T., 1966, p. 811; The Analy. Grk. Lex. (Zon.), 1972, p. 192; Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 355-356) "[have it] escape their notice; overlook" (lanthano) (Ibid., p. 467; ESV) evidences of God's miracles of creation and the Genesis Flood that cannot be explained by uniformitarianism (Ibid., Whitcomb & Morris) and reject the Bible's teaching on Christ's Second Coming. They would also reject Bible predictions that God will eventually cause the current universe to pass away in a fireball and replace it with a new one! Since Isaiah 46:8-11 with Deuteronomy 18:20-22 teach only God can perfectly predict the future, and since 2 Peter 3:3-13 was written long before uniformitarians and scoffers of Christ's return arose, the Bible's prediction that they would arise is true and the uniformitarians and scoffers greatly err!

May we trust in Christ for salvation. May we address God's seemingly overwhelming assignments by using our God-given spiritual gifts to help other believers, and see God use their gifts to address our needs.