DAY 160

DENIAL & REPENTANCE

2 Chronicles 32 & 33 and John 18:19-40

Sennacherib, King of Assyria was notorious for his methods. Archeological finds regarding the city o Lachish are widely documented. The most famous of these finds is called the Lachish Reliefs. Some 8 feet tall and 80 feet long they chronicle a broad history, including Sennacherib and his siege of Lachish. You can “goggle it” and see some amazing cites. Here is a link: http://theosophical.wordpress.com/2011/08/16/biblical-archaeology-17-the-lachish-reliefs/

To broadly review, God’s people were united under King David and then King Solomon. Around 900 BC we know that the people split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom, most often called Israel, and the southern kingdom, most often called Judah. The north was geographically larger, but the south is where Jerusalem and the Temple were located.

Around 720 BC the northern kingdom was defeated by Sennacherib. This king was brutally real and now he turned his attention to Jerusalem. The expanse of Sennacherib’s empire was great. Assyria can be thought of as modern day Iraq. Yet amid this attack Hezekiah remains faithful. We have read about this before in 2 Kings (18 and on). Evidence of Hezekiah’s strategy is thought to still exist in what are commonly referred to Hezekiah’s tunnels.

Remarkably, or maybe at this point you don’t find it remarkable, after Hezekiah dies the next king, Manasseh does evil in the sight of the Lord. Yet his denial ultimately leads to repentance and God is once again merciful.

Denial and repentance: it seems everywhere, even among Jesus’ closest friends. We read of Peter’s second denial, and we read of how the people deny Jesus to Pilate. We have Pilate’s famous question of “What is truth?”

How we determine truth is the subject for another blog on another day. Some people rely on others such as a king, or the Church, to determine it. Others rely on science, or the Bible, or their own experience…most use a combination. The point we have seen over and over is that when the people in the Bible have denied God, who is Truth, things do not go well. The circumstances usually become so bleak that they turn back, they repent, and return to God…and God who is infinitely faithful receives them.

Why is truth so hard to accept? Why did the kings we have read about deny God and His Truth? If you add up all the kings and keep score, those who “did good” and those who “did evil”…the evil ones outnumber the good ones by a long shot. Why? Beyond them, why do I? This is one of those questions for the ages, but before I fall into a philosophical hole the reality is that there is enough data to demonstrate the un-deniability of this situation.

Rather than deny this situation and rather than obsess about why, I suggest we look not at ourselves, but at God. What does God do amid all our denial? He stands faithfully by, waiting for our return…and when we do He is quick to receive us…and for that we are grateful.