Launch out into the Deep III: Why Kingdoms Rise and Fall (I and II Kings)

Jul 04-05, 2020
Rev. Simon Lee, Senior Pastor RCAC

Dear brothers and sisters of RCAC,

We started the year 2020 with the theme of “Launch Out into the Deep,” by examining “our identity, stand and mission as a C&MA Church” in the first quarter. The Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic disrupted our plan and by the second quarter we switched to the subtheme of “Jesus calms the storms in our lives /Restore us to Yourself, O Lord.” Now in the New Normal, in the third quarter we are going back to Biblical history and examine the rise and fall of the kings of Israel and Judah, so as to discover lessons for us today for our personal lives and the growth of the Church. The major lesson that Kings teaches us is that failure to honor the revealed will of God results in ruin and destruction.  The nation of Israel reached the height of its power and prestige in Solomon’s day. It began to decline because of Solomon’s unfaithfulness and failure to honor the Mosaic Covenant.

 Biblical scholars do not know who the author of the Kings was, but the historical period Kings covers totals about 413 years which started with Solomon’s coronation as co-regent with David (973 B.C.) and ended with Jehoiachin’s release from Babylonian exile (561 B.C.). However, most of Kings deals with the period from Solomon’s coronation and to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., a period of 387 years. At the beginning we see the temple built and at the end the temple burnt. I find these quotations from Constable’s notes very helpful:

“. . . 1, 2 Kings present Israel’s history as a series of events that describe how and why the nation fell from the heights of national prosperity to the depths of conquest and exile.”

“More specifically, 1, 2 Kings explain how and why Israel lost the land it fought so hard to win in Joshua and worked so hard to organize in Judges and 1, 2 Samuel.”

“Plot relates the causes and effects in a story. Thus, the story line in 1, 2 Kings may be that Israel went into exile, but the plot is Israel went into exile because of its unfaithfulness to God. To make cause and effect unfold, plots normally have at least two basic aspects: conflict and resolution. A plot’s conflict is the tension in a story that makes it an interesting account, while a plot’s resolution is the way the conflict is settled. How the author develops these two components usually decides the shape and effectiveness of the plot.”

The theme of our new series is “Launch out into the Deep III: Why Kingdoms Rise and Fall (I and II Kings).” As the title suggests we are exploring the reasons for the rise and fall of the Kingdom of Israel. Out purpose is to discover the role of the kings and leaders in that period in the fate of the nation. We hope we can then apply it to our Church as we face the challenge brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic, to reflect on how the lives of our pastors and leaders can directly affect whether we are going to success or fail as a church.

Our preaching schedule in the summer quarter will be as follows:

In the New Normal we do well to remember that God has revealed Himself in the history of Israel. With each sermon, we shall reflect on this history with an eye on how we as a people of God in Christ’s Church at RCAC must not fail in following the teaching of God, lest we FALL like the people of God in this period of history! We shall cover the history up to I Kings 16 in this quarter from July to September and return to the rest of the history at a later date (projected to Winter, January – March, 2021). This is arranged so that we will return to a New Testament study in the fall. Let’s dig into the Word of God together.

Your servant in Christ,

Rev. Simon Lee

Senior Pastor, RCAC