Solomon establishes the temple in Zion
• Jerusalem (David’s city)…1 Kings 8:11...cloud fills the temple…Eden recovered…Shalom
The Kingdom rent in two
• Seeds of downfall…“high places” of the Baals…forced labor…foreign wives
• YHWH judges Solomon…1 Kings 11:33
• Kingdom divides… North (Israel) under Jeroboam… South (Judah) under Rehoboam.
• Rehoboam: forced labor…Jeroboam: golden calves…North and South would fight continually

Elijah and Elisha confront an unfaithful Israel
• Prophetic office rises…prophet Ahijah…Asherah poles…confront the kings of north and south
• God is patient…sin reaches its full measure with Ahab and his wife Jezebel.
• Subsequent kings continue in idolatry…Elijah vs. Ahab/Jezebel…showdown between Yahweh and Baal.
• YHWH demonstrates control over drought (18:41-46), hunger (17:8-16), thirst (2 Kings 2:19-22), debt (4:1-7), infertility (4:11-17), diseas (5:1-19), and death (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:18-37).
• YHWH’s love for the nations…Naaman healed…this is how Israel is to be a light to the nations
II. Israel’s Steady Slide toward Disaster and Exile
Northern kingdom (Israel)
• 2 Kings…northern and southern kingdoms in a side-by-side account… attempts at reform…the growing power of Assyria and Babylon…deportation and exile out of their land.
• Jehu is called by Elishah to confront the evil king Ahab…Jehu compromises…
• Israel (northern kingdom) continues on its path of disaster…Assyrian empire sieges Samaria for 3 years… deports the conquered Israelites during King Hoshea’s reign in 722 BC (2 Kings 17).

Southern kingdom (Judah)
• Followed the north…deportation comes later…two faithful kings…Hezekiah and Josiah.
• Hezekiah: Jerusalem…temple worship continues…a remnant of hope?
• When Assyria threatens Judah, King Hezekiah seeks the Lord…deliverance from Assyria (2 Kings 18-19).
• But Hezekiah compromises…Babylon…Isaiah prophesied (2 Kings 20:12-19)…Isaiah 1 -39
• Josiah (Manasseh’s grandson) becomes kings at 8!...book of the Law…leads all of Judah to repent
• Judah continues to be unfaithful…Jeremiah prophesizes that Babylon will conquer during Zedekiah’s reign… temple, palace and Jerusalem destroyed…Judah’s people deported in 587BC (2 Kings 25)

III. Why did this occur? (2 Kings 17:5-23)
• Remember the story (17:7): biblical narrative…"under-kings”
• Covenant rebellion and God’s judgement (17:8-20): covenant disobedience (sins of commission)…failure to be a light to the nations (sins of omission)…God’s discipline
• Led by unfaithful kings (17:21-22): Jeroboam drove Israel away from the Lord… pattern of unfaithfulness.
• Rejected the prophets (17:23) God sent the prophets to warn them but they refused to listen.

IV. Christmas Hope?
• 2 Samuel 7: 16 “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.”
• Isaiah 9:6-7
Wonderful Counselor: he draws near to the brokenhearted

Almighty God: Creator King...Redeemer Lord...Baal was a lord who enslaves...YHWH is a Lord who frees

Everlasting Father: God who comes near...Immanuel...God in our skin

Prince of Peace: Shalom...kingdom realities...heaven on earth....not just "inner peace"...environment, politics, reconcilation, relationships...Tom Cousins

• Christmas is about grace: St. Nicholas...grace...Vickie Ruvolo forgave...God takes our mistakes and continues His faithfulness
Conclusion
• Idolatry

“What other gods could we have besides the Lord? Plenty. For Israel there were the Canaanite Baals, those jolly nature gods whose worship was a rampage of gluttony, drunkenness, and ritual prostitution. For us there are still the great gods Sex, Shekels, and Stomach (an unholy trinity constituting one god: self), and the other enslaving trio, Pleasure, Possessions, and Position, whose worship is described as “The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16). Football, the Firm, and Family are also gods for some. Indeed the list of other gods is endless, for anything that anyone allows to run his life becomes his god and the claimants for this prerogative are legion. In the matter of life’s basic loyalty, temptation is a many-headed monster." James Packer