151 Now the Spirit of God came on Azariah the son of Oded , 2 and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, "Listen to me, Asa , and all Judah and Benjamin : the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. 3 " For many days Israel was without the true God and without a teaching priest and without law . 4 "But in their distress they turned to the Lord God of Israel , and they sought Him, and He let them find Him. 5 " In those times there was no peace to him who went out or to him who came in, for many disturbances afflicted all the inhabitants of the lands . 6 " Nation was crushed by nation , and city by city , for God troubled them with every kind of distress . 7 "But you, be strong and do not lose e courage e , for there is reward for your work ."
8 Now when Asa heard these words and the prophecy which Azariah the son of Oded the prophet spoke, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities which he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim . He then restored the altar of the Lord which was in front of the porch of the Lord . 9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin and those from Ephraim , Manasseh and Simeon who resided with them, for many defected to him from Israel when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 10 So they assembled at Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth e year of Asa's reign . 11 They sacrificed to the Lord that day 700 e oxen and 7,000 e sheep from the spoil they had brought . 12 They entered into the covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and soul ; 13 and whoever e would not seek the Lord God of Israel should be put to death , whether small or great , man or woman . 14 Moreover, they made an oath to the Lord with a loud voice , with shouting , with trumpets and with horns . 15 All Judah rejoiced concerning the oath , for they had sworn with their whole heart and had sought Him earnestly e , and He let them find Him. So the Lord gave them rest on every side . 16 He also removed Maacah , the mother of King Asa , from the position of queen mother , because she had made a horrid image as an Asherah , and Asa cut down her horrid image , crushed it and burned it at the brook Kidron . 17 But the high places were not removed from Israel ; nevertheless Asa's heart was blameless all his days . 18 He brought into the house of God the dedicated things of his father and his own dedicated things : silver and gold and utensils . 19 And there was no more war until the thirty-fifth e year of Asa's reign .
161 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah in order to prevent e anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah . 2 Then Asa brought out silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord and the king's house , and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram , who lived in Damascus , saying , 3 "Let there be a treaty between you and me, as between my father and your father . Behold , I have sent you silver and gold ; go , break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel so that he will withdraw from me." 4 So Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent the commanders of his armies against the cities of Israel , and they conquered Ijon , Dan , Abel-maim and all the store cities of Naphtali . 5 When Baasha heard of it, he ceased fortifying Ramah and stopped his work . 6 Then King Asa brought all Judah , and they carried away the stones of Ramah and its timber with which Baasha had been building , and with them he fortified Geba and Mizpah .
7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, " Because you have relied on the king of Aram and have not relied on the Lord your God , therefore e the army of the king of Aram has escaped out of your hand . 8 "Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim an immense army with very many chariots and horsemen ? Yet because you relied on the Lord , He delivered them into your hand . 9 "For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this . Indeed , from now on you will surely have wars ." 10 Then Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison e , for he was enraged at him for this . And Asa oppressed some of the people at the same time . 11 Now , the acts of Asa from first to last , behold , they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel . 12 In the thirty-ninth e year of his reign Asa became diseased in his feet . His disease was severe , yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord , but the physicians . 13 So Asa slept with his fathers , having died in the forty-first e year of his reign . 14 They buried him in his own tomb which he had cut out for himself in the city of David , and they laid him in the resting place which he had filled with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers' e art ; and they made a very e great fire for him.
27 " Now My soul has become troubled ; and what shall I say , ' Father , save Me from this hour '? But for this purpose I came to this hour . 28 " Father , glorify Your name ." Then a voice came out of heaven : "I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again ." 29 So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered e ; others were saying , " An angel has spoken to Him." 30 Jesus answered and said , " This voice has not come for My sake , but for your sakes . 31 " Now judgment is upon this world ; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. 32 "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth , will draw all men to Myself ." 33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die . 34 The crowd then answered Him, "We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever ; and how can You say , 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man ?" 35 So Jesus said to them, " For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light , so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes . 36 "While you have the Light , believe in the Light , so that you may become sons of Light ." These things Jesus spoke , and He went away and hid Himself from them.
37 But though He had performed so many signs before them, yet they were not believing in Him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet which he spoke : " Lord , WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT ? AND TO WHOM HAS THE ARM OF THE Lord BEEN REVEALED ?" 39 For this reason they could not believe , for Isaiah said again , 40 " HE HAS BLINDED THEIR EYES AND HE HARDENED THEIR HEART , SO e THAT THEY WOULD NOT SEE WITH THEIR EYES AND PERCEIVE WITH THEIR HEART , AND BE CONVERTED AND I HEAL THEM" 41 These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory , and he spoke of Him.
42 Nevertheless e many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear e that they would be put out of the synagogue ; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God .
44 And Jesus cried out and said , " He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 " He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me. 46 " I have come as Light into the world , so that everyone who believes in Me will not remain in darkness . 47 "If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world , but to save the world . 48 " He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings , has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day . 49 " For I did not speak on My own initiative , but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak . 50 "I know that His commandment is eternal life ; therefore the things I speak , I speak just as the Father has told Me."
(Read John 12:27-33)
The sin of our souls was the troubled of Christ's soul, when he undertook to redeem and save us, and to make his soul an offering for our sin. Christ was willing to suffer, yet prayed to be saved from suffering. Prayer against trouble may well agree with patience under it, and submission to the will of God in it. Our Lord Jesus undertook to satisfy God's injured honour, and he did it by humbling himself. The voice of the Father from heaven, which had declared him to be his beloved Son, at his baptism, and when he was transfigured, was heard proclaiming that He had both glorified his name, and would glorify it. Christ, reconciling the world to God by the merit of his death, broke the power of death, and cast out Satan as a destroyer. Christ, bringing the world to God by the doctrine of his cross, broke the power of sin, and cast out Satan as a deceiver. The soul that was at a distance from Christ, is brought to love him and trust him. Jesus was now going to heaven, and he would draw men's hearts to him thither. There is power in the death of Christ to draw souls to him. We have heard from the gospel that which exalts free grace, and we have heard also that which enjoins duty; we must from the heart embrace both, and not separate them.
(Read John 12:34-36)
The people drew false notions from the Scriptures, because they overlooked the prophecies that spoke of Christ's sufferings and death. Our Lord warned them that the light would not long continue with them, and exhorted them to walk in it, before the darkness overtook them. Those who would walk in the light must believe in it, and follow Christ's directions. But those who have not faith, cannot behold what is set forth in Jesus, lifted up on the cross, and must be strangers to its influence as made known by the Holy Spirit; they find a thousand objections to excuse their unbelief.
(Read John 12:37-43)
Observe the method of conversion implied here. Sinners are brought to see the reality of Divine things, and to have some knowledge of them. To be converted, and truly turned from sin to Christ, as their Happiness and Portion. God will heal them, will justify and sanctify them; will pardon their sins, which are as bleeding wounds, and mortify their corruptions, which are as lurking diseases. See the power of the world in smothering convictions, from regard to the applause or censure of men. Love of the praise of men, as a by-end in that which is good, will make a man a hypocrite when religion is in fashion, and credit is to be got by it; and love of the praise of men, as a base principle in that which is evil, will make a man an apostate, when religion is in disgrace, and credit is to be lost for it.
(Read John 12:44-50)
Our Lord publicly proclaimed, that every one who believed on him, as his true disciple, did not believe on him only, but on the Father who sent him. Beholding in Jesus the glory of the Father, we learn to obey, love, and trust in him. By daily looking to Him, who came a Light into the world, we are more and more freed from the darkness of ignorance, error, sin, and misery; we learn that the command of God our Saviour is everlasting life. But the same word will seal the condemnation of all who despise it, or neglect it.
