“THE TALE OF TWO HEATHEN KINGS.” DECEMBER 2019

            What we are about to examine are the Divine Mandates given by the One True God of Israel, to two heathen kings for two specific purposes; each, in its own time, that we can correctly term to be both the right hand, and the left hand of God. The following is generally understood and accepted in general terms within the church-world. “Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for ever more.” Psalm 16: 11. But in many circles, even in the movies, the left hand of God is characterized as his hand of training, correction, as shown in the book of Hebrews. “My son, despise not thou the chastening  of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not.? Hebrews 12: 5-8. 

          On an individual basis, the ultimate workings of God’s left hand differs from person to person, and from circumstances and situations that are diverse in every sense of the word. But we can attest to the fact that both hands of God are permanently featured in our formation and growth. In this study, we are going to examine how God placed his call upon two heathen kings: each for a different purpose under the Divine Mandate issued by God himself. Before long, we will come to understand that the entire process of life—freedom and bondage—are not contingent upon us knowing God or that we are willingly yielded to him. Listen to this profound declaration by God himself as it pertained to Noah. 

          “And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.” Genesis 7:1. Who among us could argue the righteousness of this man? How would he measure up to our Christian theology and the accepted form of religion across Christendom today? Let us put it this way. If God declares Noah, or anyone else to be perfect or righteous, or even holy, who among us can argue the matter and render God’s verdict null and void? and make our own ruling in contradiction? Let us consider the fact of the backdrop against which God spoke. First of all, righteousness was a rear commodity in those days. We read the following account: “And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the Lord.” Genesis 4:26. The narrative does not offer much details concerning the worship just mentioned. Judging by the biblical chronology, man’s attitude towards God was short lived, based upon the next account that warrants our close attention. From our current vantage point, even with skillful research and historical data, we cannot be sure of the exact dates and the people living through those periods. We are obliged to tap into the biblical narrative that brings us closer to Noah and the days in which he lived.

          It is out of, or because of, the current conditions that God was prompted to take drastic actions. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord. It is against this backdrop of gross evil that reached to the high heavens that God turned his eyes upon one man, named Noah. Here is a little twist in the story just to stir up your pure mind. God did not say that he found Noah to be holy—as we, full gospel and born-again believers count holiness. Righteousness simply means doing the right things and living right to the best of your ability. 

          On the other hand: “holiness” is that which God adorns his people with. It is birth out of the process in which we are made partakers of the Divine Nature. In holiness, we do not acquire it or attain unto it, by self-discipline or by strict observation and adhering to church doctrines and trying to crucify the “old man” 24/7, 365 days a year. We cannot work our way to be holy, but by having him who is holy dwelling within us, his holiness becomes ours by the process of the “ingrafted word.”  I remember a little song we used to sing in our worship services in West Palm Beach that goes like this: “His word is working mightily in me; his word is working mightily in me. No matter what the circumstances, what I feel or see; His word is working mightily in me.” The first heathen king to be featured in this study, is Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. But we need to offer the background of this heathen king, and how God ordained him to be a tool of punishment of Israel. 

          Let us notice at the very beginning how God assed the value of this king in the Divine process of punishing Israel. Just a single verse so far! “Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, MY SERVANT, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitance thereof, and against all the nations round about.” Jeremiah 25:9. It should be noted clear and distinct that God referred to Nebuchadnezzar as “My Servant.” The king did not know the God of Israel and was a worshipper of pagan entities; But God’s call upon this king outweighed his current status. God called him “MY SERVANT” not to make him another prophet—and not to set him upon a religious throne, promoting the worship of the God of the Hebrews. What is the take-away so far, in this lesson? God does not hesitate to take any object to get his purpose in full motion through instruments of his own choice. 

          We cannot forget a vivid lesson chronicled in scripture that holds significant historical value for ages to come. We read about a heathen king who entreated a prophet to come and curse Israel. God instructed the prophet not to respond to the king’s offer because God had already blessed Israel. Upon receiving the reply from the prophet Balaam, the king increased his gifts tremendously. Taking note of the increased gifts, the prophet started out to do the king’s bidding. Along the way, an angel of the Lord stood in their path, seen by the prophet’s ass, but not by the prophet himself. “And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, what have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And the ass said unto Balaam, Am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand and he bowed his head and fell flat on his face.” Numbers 22:26-31. What are the ramifications contained inside this real-life human story?  When we feature real life stories, no matter how painful or how divine in nature, we bring the stories home to our own doorsteps. We succeed by putting ourselves along side the people that lived the stories thousands of years ago, and their lessons in tests, trials and victories become a legacy that we can be a part of. Let us turn our focus on king Nebuchadnezzar, whom God called “My Servant.” NO! he was not God’s worshipper—merely God’s servant—meaning that God’s call upon his life was for a specific purpose—and in this case it was to punish Israel. 

          Let us offer a small caveat on the background of this king. His Neo-Babylonian Empire was established by his father, Nabopolassar in B.C.625. In about B.C. 605, Nebuchadnezzar defeated an alliance of Egypt and Assyria, and Babylon became the undisputed dominant world power. God’s narrative to Israel by the mouth of Jeremiah was clear and concise. God began his case for action because of Israel’s evil ways. “Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Behold I will send and take all the families of the north saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof------And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” Jeremiah 25:8-11. Thus, we are being introduced to the celebrated “Seventy Years Babylonian Captivity.” 

          The Lord added more information to the narrative concerning the King of Babylon. “And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant (a servant of wrath and punishment) and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, (Nebuchadnezzar) and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yok of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.” Jeremiah 27:6-8.  

          In about 18 to 20 years later, the prophecy was fulfilled in stark reality. “In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army against Jerusalem, and they besieged it. And in the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, the nineth day of the month, the city was broken up. So, about 18-20 years elapsed since God’s call went both to Nebuchadnezzar and to Israel. Could Israel have turned the tide and offset God’s impending judgment? I have said often in sermons that simply because the prophets say “It shall come to pass” it does not necessarily have to come to pass as prophesied. More often than not, God’s prophecies are dependent on how we respond, that will determine the final outcome.

          Consider this! Jonah came into town with a stark message of total destruction.  “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”  Israel had about 20 years to amend their ways and motivate God to insert his tender mercies. Upon what reality could Israel be assured of God reversing the decision? “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:17. At crucial moments in life, we are caught in situations that leaves us sometimes, with only one choice. So, what did the people of Nineveh do? When faced with God’s pronounced judgement that offers no room for negotiation, what option (if any) is left for us.  “So, the people of Nineveh believed God (whom they did not know and did not serve.) and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them, even to the least of them. And the king of Nineveh arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.  

          Here is the king’s rational! “Who can tell of God will turn and repent (change his mind) and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? To begin with, God did not offer a way out. The king reasoned that if they repented and call upon God he would hear and turn away his anger. But if he did not hear and destroy us, we were going to be destroyed anyway, so what is there to lose in doing something. In 40 days, the wrath of God was turned away, much to the displeasure of the prophet. To the contrary, Israel had about 20 years to repent and change their ways to avoid being carried away captives to Babylon. Here is another real-life story. The prophet Isaiah came to king Hezekiah who was sick, nigh unto death. Instead of bringing a message of healing, he told the king: “Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die and not live.”

         This was a heart-rending message that offered no way out. The message could not be more candid and profound. The king turned his face to the wall in tears. The king wept but did not ask for the death sentence to be lifted. He simply prayed saying: “Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. Before the prophet could exit the building, God spoke again, and sent him back to the king. Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years. Isiah 38:1-5. These real-life stories are woven around the life and struggles of people like us. But the victories that they produced will long last in their footprints in the sands of time. They were not trained to be victors, and they did not discover some sort secret potion that made them invincible. But somehow, they found a way to get on the good side of God. So to speak!

 Once again, let me reiterate the fact that simply because God said “It shall come to pass in that day” doesn’t mean that our response in humility and genuine repentance will not change the outcome. In a matter of a few days of fasting and genuine repentance in sackcloth and ashes, the people of Nineveh turned away the judgment that God had pronounced upon them. As we said before, Israel had about twenty years to seek God in repentance in an effort to entreat God’s mercies. In just about every case chronicled in the Old Testament narrative, when people turned to God in search of mercy and God’s grace, the Lord generally respond mercifully and with compassion to those who repented and called upon him. It is not his will that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

The second heathen king we will study is Cyrus the Great. Speaking of himself with regards to this king we read: “That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” Isaiah 44:27,28. God calls this heathen king, my shepherd; and this announcement was made before Cyrus was born.

Cyrus was the king of Persia (modern day Iran) and one of his religions was Zoroastrian also known as Mazdaism. He was a well favored king because when he conquered a nation, he did not destroy the people: rather, he built their towns and improved their way of life. He allowed them to continue as a people, but he wore the crown. By doing this he garnered great wealth for himself—by allowing others to improve their wellbeing in the process. Nebuchadnezzar was used to punish Israel and set in motion the 70 years captivity. The task that Cyrus would undertake would be to grant freedom to the Jews and those who wished to return to Jerusalem were free to do so. Here is the king’s own account.

           “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation  throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” Ezra 1:1-4.

           Listening to this heathen king speak about the God of Israel, and the realities in terms of needs in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, one would think that the man Cyrus was a devout disciple of the God of the Hebrews. His thoughts were well fixed upon what God’s program was! How was that accomplished? In verse one, we are told that God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, that in turn, inspired him to make a proclamation, and to put it in writing—we can assume that when the proclamation was written and presented to the king, he sealed it with the king’s seal, thus making it the law of the land. In this study, we see that God called one king with the exclusive task of putting Israel into the hands of this great Babylonian King. As the seventy years captivity began at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Daniel as a youth of about 17 years old was among those led captives to Babylon. Daniel was of outstanding heritage and found a home in the royal palace in Shushan where he spent the rest of his life. It was from this palace that the angel Gabriel came and shared with Daniel details of what is now known as “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks” prophecy. What we have learned in this study, is that God remains committed to all that transpires in his world. He creates instruments for the task at hand and determines the outcome before the task begins.

        As we approach the end of another year, it is my pleasure to extend greetings to you all, and also to say “THANK YOU” for your love and support during the year. Your prayers and notes of encouragement mean a lot to me. Once again, “THANK YOU” and be blessed in all that you do in the coming New Year. In his loving service, bro. Kennedy.