Have you ever had those moments? You did your best -- really! (not just half-heartedly, but you whole-heartedly did your best!) – but it still wasn't good enough. That's Josiah. According to the Word of God, Josiah was the best king ever. He followed God and did what he was supposed to do better than anyone. Even better than David? Well, what does verse 25 say: "Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, ccording to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him." That sure sounds like he was better than David! But even the best king ever was not good enough to turn Yahweh aside from his burning anger against Judah. Why not? "Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath, by which his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him." (2 Kings 23:26) There's the problem: the wages of sin is death. When it comes to God's holy standard, anything less than true holiness isn't enough! Once Manasseh's sin is on the books, there is no way for Josiah to erase it. All the faithful obedience in the world simply postpones and delays judgment. It cannot erase it...

[Sung Psalm: 128] Peter commands wives to "be subject to your own husbands." Submission is a difficult subject in our day. Plainly we live in a very different culture than the apostles did. But the point of what Peter is saying is the same in every time and place. What is submission? Peter enjoins submission three times in this section (2:13-3:6). Christians are to be subject to the emperor and other rulers. Slaves are to be subject to their masters. Wives are to be subject to their husbands. And later, he will say that the younger in the church should be subject to the elders (5:5) Does submission mean the same thing in all four cases? In one sense, yes. The word "likewise" suggests that there is a fundamental similarity between them. All were intended by God to be good: - The state was intended by God to praise the good and punish the wicked. - The master/servant relation was intended to be good, as the master is to reflect the kindness of God in his treatment of his servants. - The marriage relation was intended to reflect the love of God for his people. - And in the church, elders are called to shepherd the flock in the way of Christ. But all four have been perverted by sin: despotism and tyranny in the state; cruelty and oppression in master/servant relations; abuse and infidelity in marriage; domineering in the church. Peter is saying that the Christian must remember the purpose of these various institutions, and live according to that purpose – even when others forget. Because in each of these arenas, God is still in control. And those who trust in him have the confidence that he will turn all things to his glory and our good...

[Sung Psalm: 105] In 1 Peter 2 the apostle says that it is a gracious thing in the sight of God when we suffer unjustly in his service. A gracious thing?! How is it a gift of grace to suffer unjustly?! Remember the story of Joseph! In Genesis 39 we certainly hear about Joseph's unjust suffering. He does what is right – and is punished for it! And yet this is a gracious thing – because God will use all these sufferings to bring salvation for his people! The problem is that we tend to be forgetful... and so we respond to unjust suffering with grumbling and groaning – and we turn away from the LORD and we forget him...

We saw last time that Manasseh is best described as "an idolatrous Solomon on steroids." We saw last time that when Manasseh made Judah to sin God declared that it was time to pull the plug on the house of David. We've been seeing for the whole series that the message of the book of Kings is that Israel and Judah must die. Tonight we see very poignantly that there is nothing that can save Judah from death. All of God's blessings to Israel are found in the reign of Josiah in 2 Kings 22-23: - a reforming king, - a faithful priest, - a true prophetess, - a cleansed and properly functioning temple, - and renewed obedience to the law. But the story of Josiah makes it abundantly clear that none of these things is enough: - A reforming king cannot save them. - The temple cannot save them. - A prophet cannot save them. - A faithful priest cannot save them. - Even obedience to the law cannot save them. Israel's hope is not that they will escape death - Israel's hope is that there is life beyond the grave. Israel's hope is that God will raise them from the dead...

One commentator describes Manasseh as "an idolatrous Solomon on steroids." (Leithart) The other way of saying it is, "the Ahab of the South." Think back to the Omri – and his dynasty (the third story in the book of Kings). Omri was a parody of David. Everything about Omri reminded us of David – he was the general of the previous king, and a few years after he took power he built a new capital city. And then Omri's son built a temple for his god. Omri's son was Ahab. And we saw that Ahab was very much like Solomon – except the temple he built was for Baal. If Hezekiah is the greatest king since David, one would expect his son to be like Solomon. And Manasseh was a great temple builder – but his building projects are all idolatrous. Indeed, Manasseh is rightly compared to both Solomon and Ahab – he is truly an idolatrous Solomon on steroids! Manasseh reminds us – over and over – for 55 years – that the wages of sin is death, but – for 55 years – this most wicked king in all of Jerusalem's history – refuses to die. Why does God do this? Kings never answers this question. Only the book of Chronicles will point out that Manasseh repented! The book of Kings never mentions Manasseh's repentance! Why not? Because the book of King is focused on how Jerusalem wound up in exile. Manasseh's repentance is irrelevant to the story of the book of Kings. The book of Kings wants you to see that Manasseh's sin resulted in the death of Jerusalem. The Chronicler wants you to see that there is hope even for sinners like Manasseh! But the book of Kings wants you to see that in the middle of the story, sometimes we don't understand why God allows wickedness to prosper...

[Sung Psalm: 67] In chapter 1, Peter showed us the eschatological hope of salvation – as God "has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance is that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." (1:3-5) And this eschatological hope is rooted in the Christological substance of salvation – the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1:3), or in 1:18-19, "you were ransomed…with the precious blood of Christ" And all of this comes to us through the preaching of the gospel (the kerygmatic means of salvation – since kerygma means "preaching"). Then at the beginning of chapter 2, Peter shows us how we are living stones, being built up in Christ, the chief cornerstone, into a dwelling place for God. Peter tells us that we are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation – drawing on the language of Exodus 19 – which God spoke to Israel. In other words, Peter is telling the church, that YOU ARE what Israel was called to be. In Jesus Christ, who himself is the true Israel, you have become citizens of the kingdom of God. Your identity is no longer that of Americans. You are now Christians. And as citizens of the kingdom of God you cannot live the way you once did...

We have come to the final section of the book of Kings: the end of the house of David (at least as a ruling power). And the last chapter of Hezekiah's life is the first chapter in this final story. It is the beginning of the end. Because in those days, Hezekiah became sick...

[Sung Psalm: 34] At the end of chapter one, Peter said that you have been born again "not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God." "And this word is the good news that was preached to you." So we have the eschatological hope – that's where we're going! We have the Christological core – we are born again in Christ – joined to his life. And we have the kerygmatic means! Kerygma is the Greek word for "preaching." It is through the preaching – it is by means of the proclamation of the word - that we are born again to this living hope. As Paul says, faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ (Rom 10:17) And so because of this – because of the eschatological hope (the goal), because the Christological core – the substance of our faith, and the kerygmatic means of grace in preaching – that Peter opens Chapter 2 telling us to crave pure spiritual milk...

Last time, we saw that Hezekiah was the best king in Jerusalem since David – "he trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him." His father, Ahaz, had renounced his Davidic sonship, acknowledging Tiglath-pileser – King of Assyria – as his father, but Hezekiah is a true son of David. After the death of the house of Ahab, the house of David renewed the covenant under Joash; and now after the death of the northern kingdom, the house of David renews the covenant under Hezekiah. God is faithful to his promises to David. And even when he brings judgment against his people, his purpose is to restore his people under the son of David forever...

Does this language ring any bells for anyone? "they stood by the conduit of the upper pool, which is on the highway to the Washer's Field." Have you heard of this place? It is the place where, thirty years earlier, God had sent Isaiah the prophet to meet Hezekiah's father, Ahaz, "at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field." It was here, thirty years earlier, that Isaiah told Ahaz to ask for a sign, "But Ahaz said, 'I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.'" And so Isaiah replied, "The Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:3-14) So this is the place where God had promised Immanuel – God with us. In a very real way, Hezekiah himself was a partial fulfillment of this promise. Verse 7 of 2 Kings 18 tells us this: "The LORD was with him" Truly, with the coming of Hezekiah, there was at least a partial beginning of what God had promised: that he would be with his people! And now, in the same place where that promise was made to Hezekiah's father, comes precisely what his father had feared! The Assyrian army. Ahaz did not trust in the LORD. What will his son do?