SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 15
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
A record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David… David was the father of Solomon, whose mother had been Uriah’s wife, Solomon the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa, Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Jehoram, Jehoram the father of Uzziah… And Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. [Matthew 1:1,6-8,16]
I know quite a bit about my parents, a little about my grandparents, next to nothing about my great-grandparents, and nothing about the generations before them.
It would be very interesting if all of their stories were written down for me to read and reflect on.
Jesus could do that, he could study the Jewish bible to discover the stories of His predecessors, the good, the bad and the ugly.
Our reading in 2 Kings 15 gives a snapshot of some of them: Azariah (or Uzziah) and Jotham both did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.
There are also the sad stories of Israel’s kings: Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Hoshea did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

Jesus is a king like them, and yet He is not like them.
He can trace his ancestry back to David, but He is not limited or defined by that ancestry.
As we read through the list of kings, even the very best (who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord) didn’t follow God’s will [2 Kings 15:3-5].
As a king in the line of David, Jesus chooses a path of perfect obedience, and breaks the cycle of sin, death and hell, fully establishing God’s kingdom.
The prior kings could not do this, no matter how good they were, because they were still sinful, straying to varying degrees from God’s will.

Thankfully Jesus is not a king like them; thankfully He breaks the cycle that saw first Israel’s kings, then Judah’s kings degenerate to the worst kind of depravity and cruelty.
We can learn from the stories of the kings, but their stories cannot save us.
We need the perfect king Jesus to break the cycle of sin, death and hell, and guarantee God’s perfect kingdom.
This is why we do not put our trust in human leaders, no matter how great.
Our confidence is in Jesus, the only king that can save us from ourselves.

PRAYER:
Lord, thank You for the stories of the kings that went before You. But thank You most of all for being the perfect King, the guarantee of a Kingdom that will never fall or fail.