Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: II Chronicles 25-27
II Chronicles 26:5
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper.
The “he” in today’s verse is Uzziah, king of Judah. The prophet Zechariah is one of the 26 or 27 men in the Bible by that name. The only thing known of this Zechariah is that he …had an understanding in the visions of God… he is the only man in the Bible with this distinction. Uzziah began his reign as king when he was sixteen years old.
Like so many before, his story begins with great promise. As long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. For 52 years he reigned and as verse 4 says, he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD. He was a mighty warrior, builder, manufacturer of armaments, and even engines. These engines were not like we understand them today, but rather catapults that shot arrows and hurled great stones. This is the first mention in the Bible of such an invention. Uzziah was quite a man. A great king. Evidently a good father in that his son, Jotham, would reign as king in Judah and do that which was right in the sight of the Lord. So much so that God’s Word says of Uzziah’s son: So Jotham became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the LORD his God. (27:6)
But… also speaking of Uzziah the Bible records: But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for the transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. II Chronicles 26:16 Because of this transgression that was brought about through pride, he immediately, at that altar, became a leper. Upon his death he was buried in a graveyard that was close to the sepulchers of the kings, but not in the royal tombs. For he was a leper.
Once again, like his predecessors Joash and Amaziah, Uzziah’s life is a cautionary tale of the dangers of pride and pitfalls of turning away from the Lord God. He went from being a man that God prospered to being a man that God smote with leprosy. All because of pride.
As a sidenote: It was the year that king Uzziah died that Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up (Isaiah 6:1). That was the day that Isaiah received his great commission from God, that great King of Glory. For about 20 years Isaiah observed the prosperity of Uzziah, he also observed his king’s quick demise due to pride and leprosy. His king died, but a greater King took his place.
But let us not miss an opportunity to consider in passing. When John the beloved wrote These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him. (John 12:41) He was speaking of Jesus. This is full proof that Christ is the Lord God that Isaiah saw in the year that King Uzziah died. Proving once again, that Jesus Christ is/was God in the flesh, just as John 1:1-3 and 14 clearly teaches.
Dr. William T. Howe
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