15:1 God’s Spirit came upon Azariah son of Oded. 

 

Azariah was a prophet of God who was only mentioned this one time in Scripture.

 

15:2 He met Asa and told him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin! The Lord is with you when you are loyal to him. If you seek him, he will respond to you, but if you reject him, he will reject you.

 

The prophet reminded King Asa of the conditions of the blessings and cursings of the Mosaic Covenant.

 

15:3 For a long time Israel had no true God, or priest to instruct them, or law. 

 

Israel had plenty of priests, but no bible teachers. This is the same condition of the church today. There are plenty of preachers, but not enough bible teachers.

 

15:4 Because of their distress, they turned back to the Lord God of Israel. They sought him and he responded to them.

 

Revival comes by teaching the entire counsel of the Word of God at the deepest level. Satan can deceive believers who are fragmented. He has a more difficult time deceiving those who are grounded in the entire Bible.

 

15:5 In those days no one could travel safely, for total chaos had overtaken all the people of the surrounding lands.

 

Without strong bible teaching, lawlessness abounded in the land. There are a lot of smart boys in many different governments who think that they can control law and order in the land without bible teaching. This is foolish thinking. Satan has those smart boys right where he wants them.

 

15:6 One nation was crushed by another, and one city by another, for God caused them to be in great turmoil.

 

Nations without strong bible study will crush one another.

 

15:7 But as for you, be strong and don’t get discouraged, for your work will be rewarded.” 

 

Strong bible teachers produce biblically strong men who do not get discouraged. These strong men understand that they are in a spiritual battle and the victory has already been decided upon even before the foundations of the world were created.

 

15:8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he was encouraged. He removed the detestable idols from the entire land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had seized in the Ephraimite hill country. He repaired the altar of the Lord in front of the porch of the Lord’s temple. 

 

Asa was encouraged by the words of the prophet. He removed the idols from Judah. He repaired the altar and the front porch of the Lord’s temple.

 

15:9 He assembled all Judah and Benjamin, as well as the settlers from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had come to live with them. Many people from Israel had come there to live when they saw that the Lord his God was with him. 

 

The messianic believers from the other nine tribes moved out of Israel and into Judah so that they could worship the one true God. Judah was a nation of messianic believers. Israel was a nation of satanists.

 

15:10 They assembled in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. 

 

These messianic believers from all over Israel assembled in Jerusalem.

 

15:11 At that time they sacrificed to the Lord some of the plunder they had brought back, including 700 head of cattle and 7,000 sheep.

 

All of these sacrifices pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

15:12 They solemnly agreed to seek the Lord God of their ancestors with their whole heart and being. 

 

These messianic believers agreed to seek Jehovah. The only way to know the mind of God is to study bible doctrine from the entire counsel of God at the deepest level. Music, meditation, fasting, and going back to nature will not help one learn the mind of God. Deep bible study through a gifted bible teacher is the only way to learn about the mind of Christ.

 

15:13 Anyone who would not seek the Lord God of Israel would be executed, whether they were young or old, male or female.

 

Satan does not like this verse, because he wants everyone to be multi-cultural. Multiculturalism teaches that all religions are equal. Since all religions originate from Satan via the Babylonian Religious System, then multiculturalism gives Satan equal billing with God. 

 

The words of a heretic were dangerous to the Israelite community, so God sent them to their maker. Maybe the reality of execution will make these blasphemers seek God a little harder before their execution. This reality of execution and eternal damnation may be the only way that these souls can be touched by God. This is hard teaching for those unbelievers and carnal Christians who are not grounded in the Word of God. Execution for heretics during the Mosaic Law was the divine viewpoint of the Bible.

 

15:14 They swore their allegiance to the Lord, shouting their approval loudly and sounding trumpets and horns.

 

Judah praised Jehovah with all kinds of instruments. The Church of Christ is wrong when they forbid musical instruments in their modern churches.

 

15:15 All Judah was happy about the oath, because they made the vow with their whole heart. They willingly sought the Lord and he responded to them. He made them secure on every side. 

 

King Asa led a very successful revival. Bringing Judah back to the Word of God had tremendous results. All of the revivals in Scripture started when the nation of Judah returned to the Word of God. John Wesley, George Whitfield, and Dwight Moody also led successful revivals by concentrating on teaching the Word of God. The purpose of the YEBC Study Bible is to bring revival back to the global community.

 

15:16 King Asa also removed Maacah his grandmother from her position as queen mother because she had made a loathsome Asherah pole. Asa cut down her Asherah pole and crushed and burned it in the Kidron Valley. 

 

King Asa even removed his own grandmother from her royal position for idolatry. Evidently, Maacah had used her motherly influence to inspire demonic teachings upon her husband Rehoboam and her son Abijah. God rescued King Asa from this kind of demonic curriculum.

 

Whenever a public school designs a curriculum which censors the Lord Jesus Christ, then this is a demonic curriculum. Education should glorify Christ, not censor Him. Education should honor Christ, not treat Him as an equal to other demonic religions.

 

Satan currently places many of his followers into school board, principal, superintendent, and college leadership positions. Once a godless superintendent gains control of a school district, then he will begin placing atheists, humanists, evolutionists, feminists, homosexuals, and lesbians in leadership positions. It is the responsibility of the electorate to ground themselves in biblical doctrine and keep these types of people out of leadership positions.

 

15:17 The high places were not eliminated from Israel, yet Asa was wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord throughout his lifetime.

 

King Asa eliminated many of the pagan altars and Asherah poles, but he did not get rid of the high places. The high places were private worship centers of Jehovah. Sometimes Jehovah was worshiped alone. This was a violation of the Mosaic Law. Sacrifices could only be offered at the temple. Sometimes the high places were involved in syncretism. Syncretism was a mixture of worshiping Jehovah along with other pagan gods.

 

15:18 He brought the holy items that his father and he had made into God’s temple, including the silver, gold, and other articles. 

 

Some of these items replaced the utensils in which Pharaoh Shishak had plundered to Egypt.

 

15:19 There was no more war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa’s reign. 

 

King Asa will go to war against King Baasha in his 36th year of reign.