A Divided Kingdom: Lessons from Kings, American History, and Faith

In this sermon, Preston discusses the Book of Kings, specifically focusing on the divided kingdom after Solomon's reign. He draws parallels between the biblical divisions and historical events, such as Abraham Lincoln's 1858 speech on a divided nation. Preston reflects on the importance of humility, repentance, and following God's commandments during times of division. He emphasizes the ultimate hope and unity found in Jesus Christ and His eternal kingdom. Preston encourages us to rely on faith rather than human leaders or institutions to navigate current political and spiritual turmoil.

00:00 Introduction and Personal Reflections
00:59 Abraham Lincoln's Prophetic Speech
02:58 Lincoln's Words and Modern Relevance
07:05 Biblical Reflections on Division
08:21 Lessons from Israel's Divided Kingdom
15:22 Prophets Speaking Truth in Dark Times
20:15 Hope and Revival in Dark Times
26:30 Final Reflections and Call to Action

Transcript

Good evening. You got your Bibles. Go and turn to the Book of Kings in around chapter 11. We'll begin in there in just a moment. I gotta say before I begin because both Reagan and Harold are not here, I can actually compliment them. So they don't get too big of a head. You know, Harold has a big problem with that.

But I definitely got a good taste of what, what the life is like as a preacher today. I feel like today was very, very busy. Good busy, good work to do. A lot of new experiences and just so thankful that you guys allowed us to be here. And for the experience I've been able to get from Harold and Reagan, they've, they've taught me so much and it's so, it's, it's funny days like this, you realize how much you don't know until you're in the thick of something.

Having people like Harold and Reagan to kind of. Hold your hand, you know, a little bit is how it feels sometimes, I'm sure for them to kind of learn and help you grow through some of these things is, is really special things. So I'm very, very thankful for them. And it, it's nothing new to you guys.

You're like, duh, we knew that already. But but something I come to appreciate more and more every single week. But shifting gears I want to talk, begin by kind of pulling up a, a quote from Abraham Lincoln from 1858. This is a speech, a section of his speech that maybe you've heard this one line we'll get to in just a second.

Delivered on June 16th. 1858 when he had received his nomination for the, the senate position for the state of Illinois. And Abraham Lincoln was delivering this on on account of accepting that nomination, and he's directing his words to his opponent, Stephen. A Douglas and Lincoln has, is here responding to two kind of significant events in the past.

And if there's any history teachers in here, don't fact check me. You can fact check me on the scripture, but not the, not the American history stuff. I've tried to try to do my research here, so, but there's two major events that he's kind of responding to. The first being the Kansas Nebraska Act of 1854, just four years earlier that his opponent that he's about to be run against had proposed and that act had actually repealed this law called the Missouri.

Compromise of 1820. They had previously banned slavery north of the 36 parallel. And this introduced this idea of popular sovereignty. It allowed the states to choose and the territories to choose whether or not slavery would be allowed in their states. But what happened because of this decision was there was a lot of violent skirmishes that got produced in Missouri and Kansas, later referred to as bleeding Kansas.

And so that's kinda the first thing that happened. But also the Dr. Scott decision of 1857, which ruled that African Americans cannot become citizens and that Congress could not outlaw slavery in the territories. And so this opened the door basically for slavery to continue to spread in these territories beyond where the, the United States had already been.

And it created all of this violence and turmoil in the country. So why all this history? Why, why are we going back, you know, eighth grade American history? I think much like today Lincoln's words in 1858 in the mid to late fifties they were, they're very much, you know, attuned today in our situation as they were then because they were dealing with all this tension over existential questions specifically for them, the issue of slavery.

They were, they had all these heated debates between different party lines and there was political violence that was kind of stirring up. And we've seen so much of that in the, the last year, but specifically in the last couple weeks, it's been on a lot of people's minds and it, it's in the midst of all the turmoil that Lincoln said these words.

And I'm just gonna read kind of the beginning of his speech here. And it's, it's a very kind of prophetic warning that Lincoln delivers here when he says. Mr. President and gentlemen of the convention, if we could first know where we are and whether we are tending wither. I've been reading Frankenstein this October to get ready for Halloween.

I'm trying to, I was practicing for this moment. Wither, wither. We are tending. We could do better or we could judge what to do and how to do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of putting an end to slavery agitation under the operation of that policy that agitation has not only has not only has not only not ceased, but has constantly augmented.

And here's the important part in my opinion. It will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. He says a house divided against itself cannot stand. I actually quoted that in a Bible class and when I, my internship and I said, you know, Lincoln's the one who said A house divided against itself cannot stand.

And everybody's like, yeah, but it was really Jesus which we'll get to in a second. So had to learn my stripes there. But he goes on to say. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the union to be dissolved. I do not expect the house to fall. But I do expect it will cease to be divided.

It will be all one thing or all the other. Either the opponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it and place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that is in course of ultimate extinction or its advocates will push it forward till it shall become a like lawful in all the states old as well as New North as well as south.

Have we? No tendency to the latter condition. So he deliver, he delivers this very prophetic and powerful radical speech for his time. But he takes here at the heart of his kind of introduction, the statement from Jesus and Mark chapter three, where Jesus had just healed a demon possessed man. And the scribes, they come down from Jerusalem, they say he's possessed by Beal above speaking of Jesus and by the prince of demons.

He casts out the demons and he called them to him and said to them in parables. How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom divided against itself if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. You know, 167 years after Abraham Lincoln delivered that speech like Jesus is talking about Satan's household, which we'll come back to in a bit.

We, we are still very much a nation that feels very divided. I think that, I was listening to a radio station the other day. It was talking about what's the number one thing most Americans are worried about right now? And I think is the biggest problem facing us. And it's the political division and polarization that we're experiencing.

But unlike, abraham Lincoln's time. The lines aren't drawn north to south, but they're, they're drawn ideologically. They're not issues over slavery, but a whole host of different issues. And so these words that Abraham Lincoln, and of course Jesus before him said they still ring true. A house divided against itself cannot stand.

If you're like me, all these things have been happening. I've been trying to meditate in the last couple weeks on the things that have kind of taken place, the fallout and the reactions to different people. And I thought it was kind of perfect timing that we began starting the, our Bible readings on the divided kingdom.

'cause I was trying to think about, I want to preach on this because this is relevant. What should, what should I say? I wanna go to scripture because y'all don't want to hear anything I have to say about politics. 'cause I don't really like politics anyways. It probably wouldn't make any sense. I wanted to go to scripture and it was just stare me right in the face when I was getting ready for our divided kingdom class.

So tonight that's what I want to do. I want to look at a house divided and I want to make a couple reflections. On Israel's greatest division because they experienced it just as Abraham Lincoln and the Americas in the 1850s, just as Jesus was talking about. We'll come back to Mark three at the end of our lesson, but I'd briefly want to kind of sketch out the high points of first and second Kings.

First thing chronicles what takes place, and some of you were in Bible class last Sunday. You'll get a little bit of a taste of what we talked about. Again, sorry in advance, but we've got some more specific applications this time. I just wanna reflect on this kind of trajectory and story and see how it can warn and admonish us to deeper faith and action in this present time where we feel so much division.

And so we begin with our reflections on the divided kingdom. The first thing that we see in the shortly after the beginning of the book when the Kingdom is passed on from David de Solomon, is that even Israel's best leaders failed them. Israel's divide actually comes immediately after their most wise and successful king.

And by God's power, Solomon, he had expanded his borders all over. We've been talking about the last two Sunday mornings. He went all the way up to the, the Euphrates, all the way down close to Egypt. He had peace all around in the land, people and nations were even coming and bringing homage to Israel.

Israel was a former, former slave nation, and now all of the nations knew their name. They were being fruitful. They were multiplying. God was fulfilling his covenantal promises to Abraham and to David, but the seeds of division that were to come, they weren't solely the next generation's fault as if they mishandled the kingdom themselves, but they were Solomon's too.

Despite being the most renowned King Solomon had failed Israel because he did not keep the mosaic covenant. He did what Deuteronomy 17 told him not to do. He trusted in his economy, his military strength and idol and idolatry. And so God promised him he would take the kingdom away from him in chapter 11, verse 11, but God was merciful.

He desired to preserve David's line and his throne as he promised. But unfortunately from here on out, Israel would only be a, a former shell of who they were under Solomon's rule. And so our first kinda reflection we think about these are gonna go kind of fast. We've got six tonight, but don't, don't worry.

The last two go really fast. So just hang in with me here. The first kind of application you wanna think about and reflect on and the time of division is that we don't need to put our trust in human leaders. We're so often tempted in times of division to displace our trust in human rulers or thinkers to unify us.

Look in the first Kings, chapter 11, verse four, talking about Solomon and his reign and, and reflecting on who he was, says for, for when Solomon was old, his wives turned away, his heart after Gods and his heart. Was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father. But we know even David wasn't a perfect guy.

He was the king that if you read Kings and Chronicles, all the kings are compared to. But even King says in chapter 15, verse five, it says, David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, and it did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah, the Hitite.

You know, we think about Solomon and, and David in relation to our leaders. I, I think it's pretty safe to say, you know, we in our time in America have never had any rulers as powerful and wise as, or maybe more powerful. Consider, consider we have nuclear weapons and things, but not as wise as David and Solomon.

Even Israel's greatest kings failed. But how, if, and if that's true for them, these Godly leaders. Well, how much more should we guard against misplaced trust in our own rulers? Our rulers will make plans and promises just as Israel's kings did, but they often will lead us astray. They'll often generate scandals or they'll die before they're able to fulfill any of the promises they made to us.

We want to not put our trust in our leaders just as Israel failed to do so often. But we also wanna realize that neither power nor compromise really creates lasting unity. And the story shifts from Solomon to his son Bu and and his opponent to Jbu and Bum. As we talked about this morning, he had really, really big shoes to fill in chapter 12, and he was wanting to surpass.

The success of his father, but he chose to do so by lording his power over the people. When he is asked to lessen the, the labor demands given by his father, Solomon bu arrogantly replied, my father made your yolk heavy. But I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.

Because the, he wouldn't listen to the 10 tribes. Well, the 10 tribes don't listen to him, and they end up rebelling. And we know at the expense of Rio Bo's Folly, JBO became the inheritor of those 10 tribes. God had promised him his presence in a house if he would only walk in the way of the Lord. But Jbo, as we will talk about this week in our Bible readings, he sinned.

And he erected golden calves, not one but two in Dan and Bethel, and he doubles the sins of Israel at Sinai. And he did this ultimately so that people wouldn't go to Jerusalem and worship at the temple. He was afraid that the people would leave the northern kingdom, that he would lose his power. And so instead of trusting in God as God had called him to, well, he let fear drive him to compromise his faith.

He trusted in idols rather than God. And for us, when we think about these two extremes of power and compromise, when it comes to trying to create unity, we need to remember that we need to to really find unity. To create unity in times of division. We need to seek it through repentance and humility. Turn to second Chronicles, chapter seven, verse 14.

And Jbo, they, they give us a warning to realize that if we want to overcome di division, well, the true path to restoration in life for Israel is sketched out by God's words to Solomon are through repentance and humility, and the temple dedication. God says to Solomon, if my people who are called by my name, humble themselves.

And pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. In times of division, it seems like we're always tempted to look anywhere but to God. We try to take things so often into our own hands. Maybe we try, like Reone, we try to crush our enemies.

We try to identify who is it that's really keeping us from flourishing like we want to, and we try to just totally crush them. Or maybe we say, well, maybe the problem's with me, and so maybe I just need to give up my convictions to cultural pressure. Either one of the extremes doesn't work forever. We've gotta of course, take accountability and try to find out how is it that we might be participating to the division in our world, but also lead others to rectify that discord through prayer, through humility, and through repentance.

Thirdly, as kings goes on, what we see really at the heart of Kings is the story of God's prophets and God's prophets so often spoke truth, even when they were alone. In the midst of the kingdoms divide, God continually brought prophets to come and confront the leadership and his people because they were continually disobedient to the covenant.

And he did this because he wanted to turn 'em back. He wanted them to experience blessings. He didn't want them to experience the, the, the curses for the covenant. And in the heart of Kings and Chronicles, the most notable prophets are Elijah and Elisha, and there's many others, but of course, they're the most prominent.

They were going against these established powers. And so the voice of Elijah and Elijah most often really fell on deaf ears. Probably the most famous example is in chapter 17 through 19, where Elijah has come to confront the House of Ahab. He had married Jezebel. This this woman this foreign queen princess, and she came and introduced Baal worship to the people of Israel.

God sends Elijah to confront him. And I love there's several different times in Kings where Elijah appears before Ahab and it gives you a glimpse into their relationship. The first time Ahab says, when he walks up, is it you owe Troubler of Israel? And another time he walks up, he says, is it you owe my enemy?

I just love that it cracks me up every time as I'm reading. But Ahab just, he, you can tell that the prophet confronted him to a point where he could not stand it because he's so frustrated. Every time he just sees him, he knows it's about to come. But Ahab, he compounded the sins of Jone by making a Baal.

This prominent God in Israel. And Elijah, through God's power comes to challenge him. He challenges Baal and the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. And at this time, to kind of give a glimpse into the, the loneliness of the prophets speaking truth, Elijah said to these prophets in chapter. 18 verse 22, he says, I even, I only am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baals prophets are 450 men.

And so despite being the lone one to stand up for what was right at that moment where there's not only 400 prophets of Baal, I believe 400 profits of RA as well, didn't stop Elijah from speaking what he knew to be true. And through God's power, he overcame these prophets of Baal and their false God. And so we need to remember even at this times when, when we're standing alone, we need to recognize that God is at work and others that we cannot see.

And this is what we're gonna look down in night. Verse 18 of chapter 19. We'll come to that in a second. You know, when you follow in the example of the prophets, like we should be doing, you know, trying to speak what is true no matter what the consequences or no matter if we are a part of the majority or the minority, what we need to remember.

That that our message is, it is like the prophet's probably gonna fall on deaf ears. A lot of times. It's gonna be a lonely road to walk for us at times. 'cause Elijah, he had done all this at, at Mount Carmel and he hoped that some revolution would come. He, he hoped that some positive outcome would've come, but he was only met with these death threats by the Queen Jezebel.

So Elijah finds himself down in the desert. He's alone. He wants, he's begging God to kill him, to put him out of his misery, but that's when God answers him. Not in a wind, not in an earthquake, not in a fire, but in that low whisper. And this is God's message to Elijah, and he feels all alone. He feels he's the only one who's been able to stand up for what was right.

God says, yet, I leave. I will leave 7,000 in Israel. All the knees that have not bowed to bail. Every mouth that has not kissed him. Following an example of Elijah and Elh and all the other prophets, they spoke God's truth and, and it was a lonely thing for them to do. And it's, you know, it doesn't feel lonely.

We're in a room like this, but when we're out there, you know, this 200 something people that we are in this room that's not a lot of people in the grand scheme of our community, our state, our nation. Even when we spread out, when we leave this building, it can be a very lonely feeling to speak up for what's right.

But when we feel alone, we need to remember that low whisper that Elijah experienced down on Mount Horab. He's still at work, even when we might not be able to see it, and there's always other people standing up for what's right. There's always other fate faithful people trying to do what's right, and you can look around this room and see.

All of us are trying to do that. So if you ever feel lonely, remember these people in this room. Fourthly, what I think about when it comes to the divided kingdom is that revival can come even at the darkest times, the story of the kings that continues on from the prophets. It's really interesting if, if you think about it like a movie or something 'cause there's a lot of wars, there's conspiracy, there's assassinations.

You know, it make for a really good Hollywood movie. Things often rise and fall in bloody ends. And while it makes for good reading, if you put yourself in the shoes of the people of Israel or Judah at this time, there was a lot of dark times for them. There was famine, political instability, there was foreign threats and just general faithlessness of the culture.

Yet in all these times, and no matter how dark the times were, so often in God's mercy for his son David, he continually kept that land burning. He made revivals happen when nobody else could. I think about Joe Ash in chapter 11, who was just a child he couldn't save himself and his grandmother, Atalaya Ahab's daughter, who had been a queen, uh uh, in Judah.

She came to the throne and this coup, she kills almost all the house of David a beer. How, how much darker can it get? And yet Joe ashes preserved and saved until he's able to come to the throne in seven years, and he starts a revival in Judah. I think about Hezekiah who had come to the throne. He was instituting reforms.

He was doing great things in the temple, getting Israel back on track, but immediately suffers the seed from the people of Assyria who carried off the Northern tribes. This was a huge blow even to God's people and Judah and Bethlehem or Benjamin, excuse me. Yet he was preserved through this devastating, kind of blow through all the, the sieges that took place because Hezekiah was continually faithful and he prayed to God Thing about Josiah who followed after his grandfather Manas, who is totally undid everything that Hezekiah had done in terms of reforms.

He led the people astray to do more evil than the nations had done, whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel. Things didn't, things didn't get much darker than under manasses reign, but only two generations when people probably felt like things could never get any better. Well, Josiah came to the throne and he led a restoration and a reformation and, and Judah that had not been like anything else before him.

He tore down all the idols. He took down the high places that so many of the kings had failed to do. They took out some of the idols, but they didn't take the high places. He took out the shrines, he kept the Passover. He was fulfilling the commandments of the law of Moses that God had called him to do.

And as David had commissioned Solomon and so many of his sons to do after him. And so let's remember that no matter how dark the time we might be living in especially the last couple weeks, it felt, felt like that. For sure. But remember that, that there's people seeking, there's people searching and that God can move and work even when we think there's no way possible.

'cause our God is strong enough to work even in these darkest times. Wants to think about number, oh. Sorry, I had that one off there. I apologize for that. I'll leave that up there for a second. So you can write that down if you're taking notes. I think next we need to consider you know, God also can bring so much good out of evil situations.

Israel and Judith Kings, they, they remind us in those dark times that God can make that revival happen. As we talked about, oh wait, no, I'm getting ahead of myself. No, that is where I'm, I'm sorry y'all. It's been a long day. It's been a long day, and I decided to preach a six point sermon on a long day, man.

The application for Point to number four is that in these times of darkness, this, these, these times where we, we search for revival, we gotta believe that God can bring good out of evil situations. God in times of division we're really tempted, I think, to, to bemoan the state of our world, right? And so maybe we, we tend to reflect back on how things were and bemoan, oh, I wish it was like things were back in this time, back in my childhood, back in such and such time.

Rather than really looking forward and considering how God can work and do something new today. Dark tongue. I think we need to look at Hezekiah's prayer, and this is the prayer that we need to be praying. I think when we feel like there's a revival that needs to come look in two Kings 19 verse 15 through 19, two Kings 1915 through 19.

This is Hezekiah's Prayer, and it's one of my favorite prayers in scripture, or Hezekiah is praying before the Lord as Thes Syrian forces are caging in around him. He says. Oh Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the Cher of him. God is king. He says, you are the God. You alone of all the kingdoms of the earth, you have made the heavens and the earth.

Incline your ear, oh Lord, and hear, open your eyes, oh Lord. And. See and hear the words of Sin Ara, which he has sent to mock the living God, truly, oh Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands and have cast their gods into the fire for they were not Gods, but the work of men's, hands, wood, and stone.

Therefore, they were destroyed. So now, oh Lord our God, save us. Please from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, oh Lord our God. Alone, no matter how dark our times may feel or we may perceive them to be, we need to realize that God can always bring good about, because he's our creator.

He's the king that Hezekiah have prayed about just now. And this is the truth, even when all of our surroundings are trying to convince us otherwise. Fifthly, we see that both Israel and Judah's kingdoms ultimately do fall. That even though things get to a point where they're super dark, there's hope for revival.

But still, even with that revival, it ultimately leads to Israel and Judah's kingdoms falling. Hezekiah and Josiah's reforms. They were short-lived, unfortunately, 'cause Israel and Judah will be taken into captivity. Excuse me, Judah would be taken into captivity 25 years after Josiah's reforms. And Israel had been drug into captivity by assy 135 years before Judah.

But Judah was unable to learn the lesson. That Israel had tried, should have taught them, and so they were taken into captivity to Babylon themselves. And so for us, the application is to seek after the kingdom of heaven, a ball above all others. 'cause just like our leaders, the institutions, the kingdoms, which we are subservient to for this time, they're gonna fall just like any other.

I remember sitting in one of my classes on Isaiah in Florida College, and I remember my professor Dr. Hamilton saying, you know, all nations fall. Even the United States is gonna fall at some point. If the Lord tarries. And I was, you know, like, what, probably 19, 20. And I just, that idea never crossed my mind as a kid, I guess.

And it just hit me. I was like, whoa, it is gonna fall at some point. Like, that was the biggest thing ever, you know? But it was something I never considered. But, but so often we think like, that, we think that we're indestructible, that nothing can happen to us, that we're, we're gonna have some kind of our kingdom's just gonna continue to go on forever and ever that the United States will continue for so long.

But history and God's word shows us that that is not the case. And and so they remind us, I think King Josiah does in these times when we are, we're tempted even to division, to keep propping up the system, keep propping up the government, keep trusting in us in these times of polarization. We need to seek the kingdom of heaven above all else.

There's one way for us to walk. Look in the two kings. 22 verse, one verse verse two, excuse me. Verse two, two Kings 22, verse two. You know, there's always this temptation and times of division to go to the right, to the left, you know, to draw these lines in the middle, you know, you have to choose a side.

You have to pick one way or the other. This kind of false dichotomy that's presented in front of us. But Josiah said, taking some of the words from Deuteronomy, it says he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David, his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

There's always a temptation to feel like we have to go to one extreme or the other in times of division, the right or the left, but both are condemned by God and kings. There's one thing that we need to be seeking. It's not, you know, what the news has to say. It's not what my political leader that I like has to say.

It is nothing like that. Not my favorite writer or thinker or whatever that might be. The only thing we need to be seeking are the law and the the commandments of our God. That's what Josiah tried to do. Look over a chapter in chapter 23. All these other kings that formerly they trusted in their power, their might and false gods, and trying to deal with these other nations and to finagle things for their purposes.

But Josiah was one of those great kings. He was one of the greatest and most righteous kings because it says in verse three of chapter 23, the king stood by the pillar. Made a covenant before the Lord to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book and all the people joined in the covenant.

All these human kingdoms our, our kingdom that we're a part of our, our democracy in the United States. They're gonna fall. But if we're seeking that kingdom of God above everything else, well, we are never going to be put to shame. Lastly, what I think one Kings and our first 10 Kings, first 10 Chronicles, the divided Kingdom shows us is even though we can't trust in our leaders, we can't trust in our institutions and our kingdoms, our human, human led organizations and things, in God alone, there is always hope specifically.

Through his Davidic King look in two Kings, chapter 25 in the last chapter of the Book of Kings, people are in exile. Doesn't get much darker than the people being taken outta their land. David's son and his throne being just disheveled and torn apart. All hope seems lost. But even at the end of Saint Kings, we get this glimmer of hope, that there's something that's positive, that there's a Davidic King that's gonna come once again.

Verse 27, it says, and in the 37th year of the exile of JE Hoya, kin Jochen, king of Judah. In the 12th month, on the 27th day of the month, evil Maroc, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jo Hoya Chen, king of Judah from prison, and he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who are with him in Babylon.

So Joa Chin put off his prison garments and every day of his life he dined regularly at the King's table. And for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily needs as long as he lived. And we don't have time. But if you also read the end of Second Chronicles, second Chronicles ends on a cliffhanger as well, where Cyrus is decreed that the people return back to the promised land and take possession of the land once again.

So God is not forsaken his people. He's not forsaken his king, he's not forsaken the land, but there's hope for people. God, even though his covenant seems to have been shattered with David, seems to be non-existent because Ian lived 'cause he experienced the grace of the Babylonian king. There was hope that God would remember his covenant and restore David's throne as he had promised and even though, as we said in class the other day, even though David's line had to die, will it died in order that it might be resurrected once again.

We know how the story ends, how we ultimately lead that Davidic king that we hope for is Jesus. And so Jesus is who we come to place our hope in our king. And coming back to the idea that we started with, with Abraham Lincoln, you know, Abraham Lincoln was dreaming at that moment of, of uniting the house that was the United States, but Jesus, he made it very much possible.

Lincoln's final words. Prophetic concerning the greater reality. That spoke really to the, the. Final judgment that God's kingdom was, is here and present, but also coming in time in eschatological sense. When, when I think Lincoln said these words, I think you know, he, again, Lincoln is dreaming of what the United States could be, but Jesus united the house that is his kingdom with his enthrallment after his resurrection.

But I think Lincoln's words really parallel nicely how we should think about. Waiting for that day, that day of judgment that is to come where he said in his final words of his his speech that we read earlier, he said, we shall not fail. If we stand firm, we shall not fail wise. Counsels may accelerate or mistakes, may delay it, but sooner or later the victory is sure to come.

You know, really what Jesus is saying in Mark chapter three and that statement from which Abraham Lincoln had pulled you know, the, the statement, A house divide against itself cannot stand. Jesus' statements here are really a declaration of victory, just like Lincoln had kind of talked about in his speech as he closed, because he or Jesus is declaring that Satan's kingdom, that's who the house is, he's referring to.

Satan's kingdom is collapsing that the strong man is being bound and being controlled. And so Jesus goes on to say in Mark three, verse 26, he says, and if Satan had risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is coming to an end. He's saying, look, you're seeing actively Satan's house being divided right now being cut up, being controlled and bound up because of my casting out the demons of this person.

That's what you're seeing before your eyes. He says, but no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed, he must plunder his house, and so Jesus is promising that Satan's rule, it's being bound, we're awaiting it to be totally plunder. It was gonna be coming to end.

Jesus Satan's power will ultimately fall the source of all of the division that we're experiencing that Israel experienced in their kingdom that so many kingdoms have experienced in the past. Sin, death, and Satan. Jesus promises will be no more. Jesus came and he established his kingdom, his house in his ministry and his death resurrection, and, and in acts, in Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost, with the spirit coming and filling the city of Jerusalem and his people.

Jesus here erected this new United House in Kingdom that would outlast every single other kingdom that there's ever been. So we think about our, these reflections on the Book of Kings. Hopefully they're helpful, but I'm in my, you know, way. Just trying to think through these last couple weeks and what to think about.

I've been trying to turn to scripture to try and figure out what, what should I be thinking about all of these things? And so. For you. My message is pretty simple. Tonight, when our world feels really fractured, it feels really divided right now, let's not look to, to politicians, let's not look to power.

Let's not look to institutions to save us. Let's look ultimately to the king who really has the power to save the, the king who really has the power. To unite, and that's Jesus Christ, our eternal hope. And if we can help you come to bow your knee to him tonight, to become a member of his kingdom by passing through the waters of baptism, by by passing through and following his example, to learn to die to yourself and walk to a new life and to experience that forgiveness.

Well then we want to help you with that tonight so that you can be a part of the kingdom that's trying. To, to un do, try to unite people through the blood of Jesus Christ. And so if we can help you with that tonight, we'd love to do so. If you'll come now as we stand and as we sing.