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Hi Arthur:
For my quiet times I've been reading I/II Samuel, Kings and
Chronicles. It's been good to learn from the lives of each
of the kings and I find myself looking through MacArthur's
notes to understand what's going on. This morning I read about
King Asa of Judah (II Chron 14-16). He is faithful to the
Lord, removing many of the idols, exercising reforms, and
bringing treasure back to the temple. But after 35 years he
begins to make some bad choices. He trusts in the King of
Syria instead of God and he mistreats a prophet that God sends
to bring rebuke. Eventually Asa becomes diseased and dies.
I was just wondering how you make sense of the lives of some
of these kings. Many of the kings were evil in God's sight
so it makes sense for God to judge them when they die. And
it makes sense that the kings that were faithful or repented
like Josiah or Hezekiah would be saved by their faith in the
Lord. But what about those kings that were in between who
didn't remove the high places or were like Asa who ended his
life in shame? I have the same problem with Gideon and even
Solomon (although I know that he repents in Ecclesiastes).
Does the ungodly behavior mean that they fell away and lost
their salvation?
The bible doesn't speak explicitly about the fate of these
kings so I know that there may not be a certain answer. But
I was just curious how you or Sandra make sense of it and
whether or not that has certain implications for us who now
have Christ as our advocate.
It's not an urgent question so there's no need to rush. I
just wanted to email you while it was still fresh in my mind.
I hope things are well.
For the kings who ended their lives in shame, I know how
you feel, and even feel that way somewhat about David too.
That's probably why Joseph and Daniel are probably my two
favorites.
A biblical interpretation principle comes to mind here,
and that is that historical narratives should always be interpreted
in light of the didactic (the clear explicit teaching of Scripture).
The clear teaching of Scripture, as you know, is that His
children do not lose their salvation, for it's not really
theirs to lose (and neither is it theirs to earn).
You ask, "Does the ungodly behavior mean that they fell
away and lost their salvation?" Ungodly behavior doesn't mean
they lost their salvation any more than good behavior means
that they earned it. Our behavior is fruit, not root. Ungodly
behavior (fruit) speaks to a bad root.
Jesus says that God's will (John 6:39) is that He will not
lose any of the people God gave Him to save, but will raise
them up on the last day. It's really up to Jesus to keep His
people in His flock and to discipline those He needs to.
We also know that He will be faithful to complete the good
work of justification, sanctification, and glorification that
He begins in all believers (Phil. 1:6), paupers or kings alike.
However, that doesn't mean that He won't allow His people
to struggle and "dig their own grave" (in the temporal sense)
if they're being really stubborn and/or unwise. He doesn't
suspend the spiritual "laws of gravity" for those whose flesh
is still temporarily dominant.
In fact, the Scripture says that God does sometimes take
away the life of a believer who has been sinning in order
to stop them from sinning further. (1Cor. 5:5)
Now as for who the real believers are, that's another discussion.
We know that though Christians still sin, the Holy Spirit
is growing and changing their lives. I do not believe in "carnal
Christianity"; that is, that Christians can "accept Christ"
and continue to live unchanged lives, still fully in their
flesh. It's not possible to have the Holy Spirit residing
in you and you don't have a changed life.
So, for those kings whose lives ended in question, I'd say
1. that's a shame. I want there to be no doubt of who I
loved and served and of where I'm going when the Lord takes
my life;
2. it's possible they were never Christians and it showed;
but the Lord used them any way and they obeyed the Lord's
political and governmental directives without having saving
faith;
3. it's possible they had saving faith but were in such
positions of power and prestige that the temptations to self-exaltation
(and all the company that keeps), etc. that they struggled
to walk straight; so the Lord dealt with them and took them
home.
4. what's not possible is that they were true Christians
who fully and finally turned from the Lord and lost their
salvation; they either never had it or they had it and the
Lord disciplined them (Heb. 12)
I don't know if that's what you were looking for, but I
hope it helps. Let me know what you think or if I missed your
question altogether.
Blessings,
Arthur
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