On Sept. 6th, we finished our summer series, "Hot Topics". I spoke on God's fierce anger, doing my best to balance the OT stories of God with the NT stories. We may not like to read about God running out of patience and mercy, but it happens, especially when we continually deny him. We can never forget that God is the same God throughout history and is capable of acting in the same way at any point in history to get our attention.

Difficult Bible passages “God’s fierce anger” 2 Kings 21-23
Intro… reading comics growing up, digging superheros, I like the OT God…
Does God really get angry enough to wreak havoc on humankind?
Jerry Falwell…Katrina…God is God, same in the OT and NT

Text: 2 Kings 21:10-15

A brief background to the books of 1 & 2 Kings…
Originally they were one book. These books trace the history of the kings of Israel and Judah from Solomon to the Babylonian captivity.
These two books not only record the history of the kings, but show that the success of any king or leader (and of a nation as a whole) depends on his allegiance to God’s law. Failure to do that resulted in decline or captivity.
2 Kings traces the decline and captivity of both Israel and Judah. Israel endured a succession of evil kings during a period of 130 yrs! It’s a back and forth with the kings…however most of them did evil in the eyes of God.

In chapter 21 we read about the reign of King Manasseh, 21:1-3, 6, 8-9.
· Now we see God’s righteous anger flare up…and rightly so….21:10-15
· For 50 years Manasseh duplicated the depravity of the Canaanites. He murdered so many righteous men that there were not enough left to defend Jerusalem when the need arose (21:10-15). Worst of all, the people tolerated it!
· We know from Hebrews 11:37 that he ordered Isaiah sawed in two. All this led to the unavoidable rejection by God.
· Even with his conversion later in life, it was too late to reverse what had happened among the people of the nation as well as his own household.

His son follows right in his fathers footsteps, 21:19-22
· He was assassinated by his own people and they put his son Josiah (at 8 yrs. old) in charge to be the next King.

Mercifully God prepared Josiah to get Israel’s house back in order with God. 22:1-2
· They found the book of the Law, 22: 8, 11-13, 15-20
· Josiah reformed the nation, 23:1-4, through 24
· He ushered in one of the most intensive periods of reformation and revival known in Judah’s history.
· However, even with finding the book of the Law and now following it, this revival never really deeply penetrated and affected the culture.
· Manasseh was so evil that the effects were multi-generational.
· And then we come across our main passage for today, 23:26-27.
· Amazingly , Josiah’s reformation and revival was not sufficient to offset the evil done by Manasseh and temper God’s anger.
· Josiah was a great godly leader, but the people themselves did not turn back to God. They followed Josiah out of fear without a change of heart.
· The early chapters of Jeremiah reflect the conditions under King Josiah Jeremiah 1: 13-16, 2:4-6.
· This describes the condition of the human heart accurately.

Really the bigger picture in today’s story is: “What is the balance of God’s love and mercy with his wrath and righteousness?”
Today’s story is a sobering reminder of how at times God will no longer forgive and extend mercy. God was (rightly so) obligated to bring the judgment foretold to Manasseh in 2 Kings 21:12-15.

Yes, God is patient and long-suffering in his mercy. Yet his judgment will and must eventually come, even though someone may arrive on the scene and call people to repentance. (Josiah)

God's wrath does burn against unrepentant sinners Ps. 38:1-3, Jer.1 0:24
If God always extended his mercy, we would (and do) abuse that mercy. Romans 6:1-2

Our minds want to compartmentalize things. We tend to emphasize one side, rather than the full package Reality though is not that way.

It’s called a healthy respect for God’s total and complete character.
In understanding God’s character, we need to be able to escape our linear, compartmentalized world view. This is only possible through Jesus.

Conclusion:
There should be the same healthy balance in a good Father, right? A good Father loves his children and gives them grace when they mess up, yet he also sets the rules and disciplines his children. Kids need both!

And from today’s Bible story, (Manasseh, Amon and Josiah) what a lesson for us men today, are we living out a godly example for our children? Will they carry on the name of God?
· 2 Chron. 33:10-17