This past Friday thousands of flights with American, Delta, and United Airlines were canceled or delayed. Emergency services reliant on 911 calls were disrupted, and court trials delayed. The U.S. Customs service was delayed. Hospitals were unable to do diagnostic tests like X-Ray, CAT Scan, or MRIs. Some surgeries had to be rescheduled. United Parcel Service and FEDEX reported issues, and Wall Street as well as banking services across the nation were effected. What happened? A routine update to Microsoft Windows customers contained a defect that crashed computers nationwide.

Sometimes it seems as if the world has gone crazy. Yet in the midst of all this craziness (including what they call AI – which I think is very dangerous … have you never seen the Terminator movies?) our God is still in control. Sometimes we forget this, and start to make golden calves. We have a lot of golden calves in America today, things we rely on instead of God.

Computers
Health Care
Man Made Religion
Human Sexuality
Money
Political or National Alliances
Family
Businesses

Anything we put in front of God in our affections, anything we rely on more than God is a “golden calf”. And God will not bless that.

God Hates The Golden Calf

Tonight we’re going to see how God blesses or curses a nation. We’re going to go back to the Old Testament, to the Book of 2 Chronicles, to the reign of King Asa of Judah. At this time in history Israel has gone through a Civil War, and the Ten Northern Tribes of Israel have split off from Judah and Benjamin. Though God decreed that the ruling Tribe of Israel would always be Judah, the Ten Northern Tribes rejected the rule of King Rehoboam the son of King Solomon, and set up their own kingdom and place of worship in Samaria. Read with me:

2 Chronicles 16:7-9 And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand. 9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

“Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah”. A “SEER” (Hebrew rā’â, pronounced raw-aw’) means “someone who looks, sees, perceives, a watcher who is caused to see”. This is another word for a “preacher”, someone who studies and ministers the Word of God. Asa, the rightful King of Israel, of the Tribe of Judah, has gotten off course of God. What has happened?

2 Chronicles 16:1 (KJV) … Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah, and built Ramah, to the intent that he might let none go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

Baasha the King of Israel (the Ten Northern Tribes) – of the Tribe of Issachar, has decided to attack Judah or Southern Israel. My commentary notes:

“Baasha gained the upper hand in the days of Asa because he effectively blocked a major route into Judah at the city of Ramah. He hoped this military and economic pressure on Judah would force Asa into significant concessions. … “Baasha’s aim in fortifying Ramah was probably to prevent access to Jerusalem for religious or trade reasons. Ramah is usually identified with er-Ram, on the main road just five miles north of Jerusalem.” (Selman)”

The “enemy is at the gate”, so to speak. King Asa, the rightful ruler of Israel, panicked. Rather than turn to God in prayer and seek Him, Asa turned to Ben-Hadad king of Syria. At this point in history Syria was a powerful world leader who lived in Damascus. We are told:

2 Chronicles 16:2 … {King} Asa brought out silver and gold out of the treasures of the house of the Lord and of the king’s house, and sent to Benhadad king of Syria

King Asa went “TO THE HOUSE OF THE LORD”, the Temple of God, and took treasures out of God’s Temple to give to a pagan king. In his panic and fear he robbed God to build a golden calf, an alliance with Syria. When Asa proposed the alliance – with God’s property – we are told:

2 Chronicles 16:4-5 … Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of his armies against the cities of Israel … 5 when {Northern Israel’s King} Baasha heard it, that he left off building of Ramah, and let his work cease.

It worked! The alliance between Judah and Syria frightened King Baasha away from Ramah. He stopped building his fortress in Ramah. What is the significance of Ramah? One of the greatest Prophets who ever lived, Samuel, was born, lived, and died in Ramah. When King David fled the wrath of Saul, he met Samuel at Ramah. The only female Judge Israel ever had, Deborah, was based in Ramah. Ramah (which means “a high place”) was also about five miles from Bethlehem, where Jesus Christ would be born (Matthew 2:18).

Once King Baasha of Israel abandoned his fortress at Ramah, we read:

2 Chronicles 16:6 … Asa the king took all Judah; and they carried away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha was building; and he built therewith Geba and Mizpah.

It appears that King Asa’s trust in a pagan king worked. Asa now orders Judah to tear down the fortress at Ramah, and take the materials to build up two other fortifications in Geba and Mizpah. Geba guards the north-east approach to Jerusalem, and Mizpah the northern approach. Asa has done a great thing in banding together with this pagan king.

Or has he?

Pastor C.H. Spurgeon, “Now, many people in the world judge actions by their immediate results. If a Christian does a wrong thing, and it prospers, then at once they conclude he was justified in doing it; but, ah! Brethren, this is a poor, blind way of judging the actions of men and the providence of God. Do you not know that there are devil’s Providences as well as God’s Providences?”

Even if a “golden calf” seems to make things better, anything that dishonors God in the life of the Christian is a false good. When the Bible says “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), this standard does not just apply to the unbeliever, but to all people. Anything that dishonors God and robs Him of glory will not, in the long run, prosper. God says:

Isaiah 42:8 (ESV) I am the Lord; that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to carved idols.

Did Asa Act In Ignorance?

Sometimes God’s people turn to a golden calf because of ignorance. When Moses delayed coming down from Mount Sinai (Exodus 32:1), the people in ignorance turned to a golden calf. Is that what happened with Asa?

Absolutely not!

Asa’s daddy was King Abijah of Judah. In 2 Chronicles 13 (turn with me if you will) King Jeroboam of Israel (the Ten Tribes in revolt) came to attack Judah and Abijah. Before the battle began Abijah stood on Mount Ephraim and quoted the Word of God to Jeroboam and his men:

2 Chronicles 13:4-10 … Hear me, thou Jeroboam, and all Israel; 5 Ought ye not to know that the Lord God of Israel gave the kingdom over Israel to David for ever, even to him and to his sons by a covenant of salt? 6 Yet Jeroboam the son of Nebat, the servant of Solomon the son of David, is risen up, and hath rebelled against his lord. 7 And there are gathered unto him vain men, the children of Belial, and have strengthened themselves against Rehoboam the son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and tenderhearted, and could not withstand them. 8 And now ye think to withstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hand of the sons of David; and ye be a great multitude, and there are with your golden calves, which Jeroboam made you for gods. 9 Have ye not cast out the priests of the Lord, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and have made you priests after the manner of the nations of other lands? so that whosoever cometh to consecrate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be a priest of them that are no gods. 10 But as for us, the Lord is our God, and we have not forsaken him; and the priests, which minister unto the Lord, are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites wait upon their business:

King Abijah – Asa’s daddy – stood his ground. He called out the Word and the Promise of God, and declared that the Northern Kingdom of Israel was “children of Belial” who rejected “the kingdom of the Lord”, and who worshiped “golden calves”. King Abijah did what every Christian should do when confronted by evil and godless culture. We are to “STAND FAST IN THE FAITH, and ACT LIKE GROWN MEN” (1 Corinthians 16:13). We are to “STAND FAST IN THE LIBERTY WHEREWITH CHRIST HAS MADE US FREE, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). We are to “STAND FAST IN THE LORD” (Philippians 4:1), to “STAND FAST AND HOLD THE BIBLICAL TRADITIONS YOU HAVE BEEN TAUGHT” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

Oh, that God would give us spines like Abijah! He stood fast on the Word and Promises of God.

Abijah said (2 Chronicles 13:12) “God Himself is with us for our Captain, and His Priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the Lord God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.”

Did Abijah win the battle that day?

2 Chronicles 13:16-18 … God delivered them into their hand. 17 And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. 18 Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers.

Judah prevailed “because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers”. Not because they had superior numbers, or because their men were better trained. Because they trusted the Word and Promise of God.

When King Abijah died, his son King Asa took over the throne. We read:

2 Chronicles 14:2-6 (KJV) And Asa did that which was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God: 3 For he took away the altars of the strange gods, and the high places, and brake down the images, and cut down the groves: 4 And commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. 5 Also he took away out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the images: and the kingdom was quiet before him. 6 And he built fenced cities in Judah: for the land had rest, and he had no war in those years; because the Lord had given him rest.

King Asa had watched his father, King Abijah, reign. He saw that Godly man trust in the Lord and defeat all the enemies of God. But if you serve the Lord, it won’t be long before the devil will rear his ugly head. Asa has an army of 580,000 “mighty men of valor” (2 Chronicles 14:8). But we read:

2 Chronicles 14:9 … there came out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; and came unto Mareshah.

King Zerah brings the vastly superior army of Ethiopia – one million troops with 300 chariots – against Judah. They are nearly outnumbered two to one! Does King Asa seek out a treaty with a neighboring nation? No! We read that he goes to God in prayer:

2 Chronicles 14:11-12 … Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on thee, and in thy name we go against this multitude. O Lord, thou art our God; let no man prevail against Thee. 12 So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.

After this great battle, a Seer by the name of Azariah the son of Oded (2 Chronicles 15:1) went to King Asa. He told him:

2 Chronicles 15:2-4 Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin; The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you. 3 Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law. 4 But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and sought him, he was found of them.

Though “Israel” or the Northern Kingdom had been without true worship of God (for they would not go to Judah and the Temple to worship), when the Northern Kingdom called upon God in their troubles, “and sought him, he was found of them”. The Bible tells us that:

2 Peter 3:9 {God} … is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God blessed the Northern Kingdom when they turned from their golden calves and turned to Him. God’s policy is very simple. It is “if ye seek Me, I will be found of you; but if ye forsake Me, I will forsake you”. Put away the golden calves!

Asa listened – and obeyed!

2 Chronicles 15:8-13 … when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the Lord, that was before the porch of the Lord. 9 And he gathered all Judah and Benjamin, and the strangers with them out of Ephraim and Manasseh, and out of Simeon: for they fell to him out of Israel in abundance, when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 So they gathered themselves together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Asa. 11 And they offered unto the Lord the same time, of the spoil which they had brought, seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep. 12 And they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul; 13 That whosoever would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

There was a national revival throughout Judah, so much so that many of those who broke away to the north returned to worshiping in Judah and at the Temple. The golden calves were destroyed. In fact, King Asa’s mother Maachah was removed as queen of Judah because she worshiped a golden calf in a grove (2 Chronicles 15:16).

But Asa didn’t go far enough.

When God gave His law to Israel, He said:

Exodus 22:20 (ESV) Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone, shall be devoted to destruction.

Though King Asa removed his mother Maachah as Queen of Judah, he failed to do as God said. According to the Law of Israel, the idolator was to be taken outside the gates of the city and “stoned to death with stones” (Deuteronomy 17:2-5). Harsh? Yes, it is. But God hates golden calves. They rob Him of His glory, and divide the faith of His people. Since King Asa failed to follow God’s Word – making a golden calf of his mother – we read:

2 Chronicles 15:17 … the high places were not taken away out of Israel

Since King Asa made an exception in the case of his mother, this opened the door to more golden calves. This is why in chapter 16 Asa compromises and reaches out, not to God but to King Ben-Hadad of Syria.

God Calls Out King Asa For His Compromise

2 Chronicles 16:7-8 … at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thine hand. 8 Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubims a huge host, with very many chariots and horsemen? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand.

God reminded King Asa that when he was vastly outnumbered by the “Ethiopians and the Lubims” (the Lubims or Libyans are an African nation mentioned in Nahum 3:9 and Acts 2:10), that He intervened and Judah destroyed this multitude. God said “because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thine hand”. When King Asa made a covenant with Syria, his action actually robbed Judah of future blessing. God told him:

vs 7 the host of the king of Syria escaped
out of thine hand

God would not only have defeated Northern Israel for King Asa had he called out to Him, but God would have defeated Syria as well. But Asa made a deal with the devil. When we make golden calves, we rob ourselves of the blessings that God wants to give us. Think about it. Because the Methodist Church made a deal with the golden calf of wokeness, that Church is splitting and dissolving. Beloved, we need to rely on God and His Word.

Hanani the Seer goes on to say:

2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

The phrase “eyes of the Lord” occurs 92 times in the Old Testament. The phrase is used to describe the omniscience of God, the fact that nothing is hid from our Lord:

Proverbs 15:3 (ESV) The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

God watches what we do. Speaking of another King of Israel, we read:

2 Chronicles 34:2 … [Josiah] did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

God watches over His children.

Psalm 34:15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry.

God was watching over King Asa when Northern Israel tried to build a fortress at Ramah. He should have called out to God.

Pastor John Piper put it this way:

“I love this verse. … it put the sovereignty of God in the service of His eagerness, like you said — the eagerness of God to help me if I simply trust him. Not to help me if I work for Him, but if I trust Him, He’s going to work for me. He’s going to be strong on my behalf if I look away from myself and look to my heavenly Father — His broad shoulders, His huge biceps, His strong back, and those bright eyes just full of eagerness to show Himself powerful on behalf of those who simply trust in Him.”

The peace that King Asa should have had to the end of his life was gone. Hanani the Seer told him, “from henceforth thou shalt have wars”. How did King Asa respond?

2 Chronicles 16:10 Then Asa was wroth with the Seer, and put him in a prison house; for he was in a rage with him because of this thing. And Asa oppressed some of the people the same time.

Rather than repent, King Asa fired the preacher! He imprisoned Hanani, and anyone else who disagreed with his decision. How did King Asa’s life end? In misery. We read:

2 Chronicles 16:12-13 Asa in the thirty and ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians. 13 And Asa slept with his fathers

King Asa refused to repent, so God brought disease – a painful, lingering disease – into his life. And Asa died in misery. Why? Because he compromised with the golden calves. And even suffering, he refused to repent and call upon the name of the Lord.

Beloved, I pray that God will speak to your hearts this very day. We must live our lives reliant upon the Word and promise of God. We must trust Him no matter what enemy may come our way. And we must repent, and turn from any golden calf. If you want to finish well, reject the golden calves.

May God touch your hearts with His Word.