How Can We Have Victory?
Copied from the sermon notes of Pastor Don Elmore
January 17, 2016
2 Chronicles 15:9-15
What did the Kingdom of Judah do which enabled them to have rest from their enemies? They made a covenant with their LORD God; just like the Vortrekkers of South Africa did in 1838. This covenant gave the covenant seed of Jacob/Israel another miraculous victory; one that saved their race from complete annihilation in South Africa by the Zulus.
In fact, the covenant that Judah and many of the righteous people of the House of Israel, who had come to Judah, was a covenant with a death penalty attached with it. Any person who failed to participate in making this covenant was to be put to death. It was a serious covenant that each person who was living in Judah made. King Asa was the leader in seeing that this covenant was completed and the Bible says that he was a “good king.”
Well, who was the next “good king?” It was King Asa’s son, King Jehoshaphat.
What did King Jehoshaphat do that was “good” in the eyes of his LORD? Would you be surprised to learn that King Jehoshaphat drove out the remnant of the Sodomites who still remained in the land of Judah that his father failed to destroy during his reign? King Asa got rid of the majority of Sodomites, but the Bible says that there were a remnant who still remained.
King Jehoshaphat finished the job of driving out the homosexuals out of the land. They had been there since the days of his great-grandfather, King Rehoboam. “And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the LORD cast out before the children of Israel” (1 Kings 14:24).
It took two good kings in succession to rid Judah of all the homosexuals. It took both King Asa and his son, King Jehoshaphat, to finally rid Judah of the Sodomites who did all the things that the Canaanites nations did. “And the remnant of the sodomites, which remained in the days of his father Asa, he took out of the land” (1 Kings 22:46). When it says “he took them out of the land” it meant that he destroyed them as the Law of Moses commanded him too. In other words, he executed them.
Chronicles 17:1-6:
- “And Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead, and strengthened himself against Israel.
- And he placed forces in all the fenced cities of Judah, and set garrisons in the land of Judah, and in the cities of Ephraim, which Asa his father had taken.
- And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim;
- But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in His commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.
- Therefore the LORD stablished the kingdom in his hand; and all Judah brought to Jehoshaphat presents; and he had riches and honour in abundance.
- And his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD; moreover he took away the high places and groves out of Judah.”
King Jehoshaphat was very similar to his father. But King Jehoshaphat did a couple of things that his father had not done. For example, one thing that he did that his father didn’t do, and all the rest of the previous kings failed to do, was that he instituted a great teaching mission. This institution was the first that was done by any king of Judah or Israel. The Law of Moses was taken from city to city and taught to the people.
2 Chronicles 17:9: “And they [Levites, priests and princes] taught in Judah, and had the book of the law of the LORD with them, and went about throughout all the cities of Judah, and taught the people.”
This is the secret of peace. For “the fear of the LORD fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war against Jehoshaphat” 2 Chronicles 17:10. And not only was there peace, but the other kingdoms brought tribute money and animals to Judah during this time, and Judah became very great, rich and powerful.
In the House of Israel, at the time of the reign of Jehoshaphat, was the reign of King Ahab. King Ahab was an open Baal worshipper. King Ahab married Queen Jezebel, the daughter of the King of Sidon. That kingdom, the House of Israel, was so bad that Elijah the prophet was sent to show them who the true God was, and that they were worshipping a false god. In fact, all the true preachers were hidden in a cave and the priests of the land were Baal priests. Elijah won the contest; and 850 Baal priests were executed on the spot by the men of Israel who were there.
King Jehoshaphat was actually coerced to fight with King Ahab and the House of Israel against the enemy of Syria. The battle ended in King Ahab’s death but King Jehoshaphat was spared from being killed by God’s direct intervention. King Ahab, disguised in the battle, was killed by a random arrow shot into the air by an enemy soldier which landed in his chest.
After King Ahab’s death, the Kingdom of Moab rebelled against the House of Israel and invaded the House of Judah. It was told to the King of Judah that the armies of Moab and Ammon were encamped at Engedi and later that the Edomites joined them.
What would you do? Three armies that were bigger and more powerful than yours was several miles south of your capital. King Jehoshaphat became afraid and set himself to seek the LORD by proclaiming a fast and a general convocation throughout all Judah.
The people of Moab, Ammon and the Edomites came to battle against the Kingdom of Judah. They were encamped at Engedi.
There was certainly a sense in which Jehoshaphat feared the great multitude coming against him. His last experience on the field of battle was a narrow escape from death. Yet the sense here is that he feared the Lord, and was more awed at the power and majesty of God than at the destructive force of his enemies.
King Jehoshaphat set the example by his own personal devotion. He would not call upon the people of Judah to seek the Lord in a way that he did not.
2 Chronicles: A Recurring Theme
There is a recurring theme in 2 Chronicles: the leaders of the covenant people who seek the Lord. We can expect God to do great things when His people, and especially the leaders of His people, seek Him. The people who sought the Lord in 2 Chronicles include:
The faithful remnant of the House of Israel shortly after they split into 2 separate kingdoms (2 Chronicles 11:13-16).
13) “And the priests and the Levites that were in all Israel resorted to him out of all their coasts.14) For the Levites left their suburbs and their possession, and came to Judah and Jerusalem: for Jeroboam and his sons had cast them off from executing the priest’s office unto the LORD:15) And he ordained him priests of the high places, and for the devils, and for the calves which he had made.16) And after them out of all the tribes of Israel such as set their hearts to seek the LORD God of Israel came to Jerusalem, to sacrifice unto the LORD God of their fathers.”When the two kingdoms split, the Northern Kingdom (House of Israel) immediately went into a great apostasy. The Levites who were living in the House of Israel were cast off from executing the duties of the priest’s office unto the LORD God. So, all the Levites [according to God’s commands, only the descendants of Levi could be priests] came to live in the House of Judah. It was there they were allowed to be the teachers and priests as commanded by Moses.Soon after they left, there was a large number of citizens of all the tribes of the House of Israel who followed them in coming to the House of Judah. So we learn that not only did the priests and Levites leave the 10-tribe kingdom; all the godly of the 10 tribes also left their country, coming to Jerusalem and Judah to seek the LORD and to sacrifice to Him.But this was short-lived. For only after three years of doing what was right, King Rehoboam “…forsook the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him” 2 Chronicles 12:1. It was then that the House of Judah was attacked and soundly defeated by the nation of Egypt.They lost the treasures in the House of the LORD and many of the treasure in the King’s House. But they were spared from total destruction when the king and his princes humbled themselves so that the wrath of the LORD turned from him and Judah was spared. Rehoboam began his reign when he was 41 years old and reigned for only 17 years. If he had prepared his heart to seek the LORD God on a consistent basis, then he would have become established to stay true to the God of Israel.
The people of Judah under king Asa (2 Chronicles 14:4, 15:12-13).
My last sermon and the opening Scriptural reading of this sermon tells of this time when Judah along with King Asa made a covenant with their LORD. This led to a revival in Judah. For there was shouting, the sound of trumpets and cornets, and the people rejoicing at the oath that they had made. They had sworn with all their heart and He was found of them. As a result, God gave them peace for 25 years.
The covenant was made after Judah was attacked by about 1,000,000 Cushites. Judah, under the leadership of King Asa, cried to the LORD God for help and God gave him the victory. The Bible says that “the LORD smote the Ethiopians [Cushites] before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled” 2 Chronicles 14:12.
King Hezekiah “…sought the LORD, and he did it with all his heart, and prospered.” (2 Chronicles 31:21).
In every work that he began to do in the service of the house of God, and in the law and in the commandments he sought the LORD. After the great revival and religious reformation under King Hezekiah, the king of Assyria made war on Judah.
He had already taken the 10 tribe nations into captivity, and now his heart was lifted up to take Judah also. In this he overstepped himself, for he had been commissioned to destroy the Northern Kingdom only. God defeated his purpose and delivered Hezekiah after testing his faith and permitting Judah to be tested.
Jerusalem was surrounded by the Assyrians waiting for their starvation to eventually reach all the inhabitants of Judah. They had already captured 22 fenced cities of Judah. But “Hezekiah, the king, and the prophet Isaiah prayed and cried to heaven” 2 Chronicles 32:20.
Then God’s angel was sent for the purpose of destroying the army of Assyria. The most powerful nation in the world at this time lost close to ½ million troops in one night. King Sennacherib went home disgraced and was murdered in the house of his god by relatives.
“Thus, the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib the king of Assyria, and from the hand of all other, and guided them on every side” 2 Chronicles 32:32.
King Josiah began to reign when he was only 8 years old. In this year, King Josiah “…began to seek after the God of David his father: and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, and the groves, and the carved images, and the molten images” 2 Chronicles 34:2.
King Josiah made a covenant with the LORD to keep the law, and also made Judah to conform to it. They did so all the days of his life.
2 Chronicles 34:31-32:
31) “And the king [Josiah] stood in his place, and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD, and to keep his commandments, and his testimonies, and his statues, with all his heart, and with all his soul to perform the world of the covenant which are written in this book [that they found in the Temple].
32) And he caused all that were present in Jerusalem and Benjamin to stand to it. And the inhabitants of Jerusalem did according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.”
King Josiah had a mighty revival, a great restoration of the Temple and a great restoration of God’s law. Passover was reestablished and kept in a manner that had not been kept since the days of the Prophet Samuel. There were many major reforms that were made in the days of King Josiah.
So, we see that there were several “good” kings that were kings of Judah. All the kings of Israel were basically evil. Many were Baal worshippers. And many kept the people of their own country from emigrating to Judah.
But today, I would like to concentrate on what King Jehoshaphat did when he was facing three major powers who were ready to attack him. They were stationed very close—only a one day’s march from Jerusalem.
King Jehoshaphat in the early part of his reign prepared his heart to seek after God. “Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God” 2 Chronicles 19:3.
Jehoshaphat had a higher trust in God than in his military resources and skills. Remember that King Jehoshaphat was almost killed in the previous battle when he was fighting with King Ahab and now he was facing three mightier nations that were camped near the capital city of Judah.
King Jehoshaphat called Judah to express humility and total dependence upon God through a public fast—that is, abstaining from all food for a period of time. Then Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord.
What should they do? They all gathered there with their little ones, their wives and children. They listened as King Jehoshaphat led them in prayer. It was about as long as the Gettysburg address; in fact, it was 48 words shorter! And what a great prayer it was:
6) “O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?
7) Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?
8) And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,
9) If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our affliction, then thou will hear and help.
10) And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;
11) Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.
12) O our God, wilt thou not judge them? For we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.”
Now all Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord. Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. “And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God’s.
To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before the wilderness of Jeruel.
Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the LORD will be with you” 2 Chronicles 20:15-17.
And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem bowed before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. Then the Levites stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with voices loud and high.
So they rose early in the morning and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa; and as they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said:“Hear me, O Judah and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.
And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever” 2 Chronicles 20:20b-21.
Now when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Edom, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, Edom, to utterly kill and destroy them.
And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Edom, they helped to destroy one another. So when Judah came to a place overlooking the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude, and there were their dead bodies, fallen on the earth. No one had escaped.
What had happened? The three powerful armies killed themselves? The ambushments were not of the army of Judah but must have been angelic hosts. Evidently the angels of God appeared suddenly and the children of Ammon and Moab became so confused that they began to destroy the Edomites. Then, after destroying them they were so confused they began destroying one another.
Regardless of how it happened in the experience of Judah here, there was such a confusion that the enemy destroyed one another. The dead bodies of the three powerful armies were scattered all over the battlefield by the time Judah arrived, and none escaped. There was no need for Judah to fight, as God had told them, and all they did was to gather the spoil which amounted to an abundance of riches, precious jewel and other things. They gathered for 3 days and had more than they could carry.
Then they returned, every man of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat in front of them, to go back to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets to the house of the Lord. And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around.
Conclusion
What is our situation today? We have about 10 candidates whom we can choose for president; all of whom are either not qualified, are of an alien race and/or non-righteous or are a combination of all three. One was born in Canada and is a non-Israelite; in fact, most are non-Israelites which disqualifies them from holding an office over the seed of Jacob/Israel:
Deuteronomy 17:15: “Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the LORD thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set kin over thee; thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.”
We have executive orders that are taking away many of our God-given freedoms. We have no control over our money supply and there are many prisons and jails that people unlawfully stay in for almost a lifetime. People rob, steal, murder, commit arson and do many other things that are against the law, but our laws have terrible punishments for all these crimes. We do not follow what God’s law tells us to do. We have very few capital crimes.
We have weapons that can kill thousands of people in one minute. We have weather stations that are now major weapons of war. We have idols everyplace and we worship multiculturalism and poison our foods at an alarming rate. We have knowledge, but no wisdom. We have fast, invigorating instruments of information, but we have no hint of the truth of scripture.
The government has schools that don’t allow any talk about the God of the Bible. Our people are vaccinated many times in their lives and then are cared for by sorceries till they have so many side effects that they eventually die. The government holds false flag events to put the people in a mindset of gun control.
We have the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest of all Protestant Churches in America, who, just last summer, came out with their Convention Resolutions that say that they were wrong in teaching what the Bible says in the past,
and that they have repented of what they did, and that they NOW are promoting a racial-reconciling theme. They say that the racist message is the devil’s message and that they have changed. Multi-culturalism is their theme now.
Our churches are teaching the message of the anti-Christ. Can you believe it? Which way will you believe? Multi-culturalism or will you be racist?
Our people don’t even realize that they are the people who are the seed of Jacob/Israel. This is a racist statement. We are the racial descendants of Jacob/Israel.
Deuteronomy 10:15: “Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them , and he chose [elected] their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.”
We are slaves just like they were in Egypt several millenniums ago. But this time, most of the people don’t know that they are slaves. They believe that they live in the land of the free and the brave.
What should we do? My answer. Do exactly what our kings of our ancestors did that were called “good” kings of Judah in the Old Testament. Seek after the LORD God of Israel and gather the people of like minds and make a covenant with our God just like Kings Asa, Hezekiah, Josiah and Jehoshaphat did. That is the only way that they ever had peace and a miraculous victory in time of war.
Does anyone else have any views on what we can do and have victory? Let’s follow the examples given us in the Bible. If it was good enough for King Asa, King Jehoshaphat, King Hezekiah and King Josiah—it’s good enough for me.
Let’s make a covenant with the God of our fathers just like they did. They were about to be totally annihilated by their enemies. They didn’t even know what to do. They just cried out to their God and made a covenant. We’re in the same situation.
It was just like what happened to our brethren in South Africa. How scary a time that must have been. But they had the foresight to make a covenant with their God and he saved them miraculously. Four hundred and sixty-eight against 20,000–30,000 Zulu warriors. What chance did they have? None of the Vortrekkers were even seriously injured, and over 3,000 Zulus lay dead on the battlefield.
It is the power of intercessory prayer. It is power of keeping the laws of our God. We are the covenant people of the God of our fathers, let us renew the covenant!
We will make a covenant with the God of our fathers on Passover Day, 2016. The day in which centuries before God redeemed His covenant people from the slavery of the Egyptians. We are the people of the New Covenant. We don’t have to kill an actual sheep, for our Passover Lamb already died for us. Passover Day this year will be the Covenant Day for us. And each year we will renew the covenant again, until our Savior returns.
Our mongrel president said in his State of the Union address that: “We need to reject any politics that rejects people because of race or religion. This is just not a matter of political correctness. This is just a manner of what makes us strong. The world respects us not just for our arsenal, it respects us for our diversity, for our openness, and the way we respect every faith.”
There was no mention of the LORD God of Israel who smote the Ethiopians or God’s angel that slaughtered the most powerful army in the world in one night, or God’s angels that caused confusion that three armies totally killed each other. President Obama says that he believes in the multicultural people of America; I say that I believe in the LORD God of Israel.
The Bible tells us that Babylon was built by the sons of Ham, from whence came Nimrod and the Madonna-Child religion, or system of worship. What was set up was a form of government which was in opposition to the rule of Noah and Shem. The Canaanite religion seeks for one language and one speech. Later, after the apostolic period, Rome claimed to have inherited all the promises made to Israel, thereby creating a false “Israel” and a rival religion in the same way as Ham had done.
Here is the (temporary) vow that is currently contemplating:
Here we stand before our holy God, Who loved our fathers; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And He made an unconditional covenant with them and elected, married and became the King over the holy seed of Jacob/Israel.
We, the children of Jacob/Israel, are making a vow to our Kinsman Redeemer that He will protect us and completely destroy our enemy, Mystery Babylon; just like He did when He answered the similar pleas of Kings Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah and Josiah in the Old Testament.
Help us, O LORD our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy name we go against this vicious enemy which teaches the evil doctrines of multiculturalism and universalism. We have no might against this great beast that cometh against us; neither know we what to do: but our eyes are upon Thee. Save us before we are completely destroyed. Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.
Blessed be the LORD God of Israel.
