Uzziah, we learn from this chapter, "sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and warred.... and God helped him.... He strengthened himself exceedingly.... Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem... and fortified them... Also... towers in the desert, and digged many wells... he had... husbandmen also, and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel... Moreover Uzziah had a host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands.... The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor were two thousand and six hundred. And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the hosts shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." 2 Chron. 26:5-16.
There are few words more remarkable than these. One would have thought that the very object to be gained by Uzziah was to be strong. The strength we naturally covet, however, is independence of God. Saints are found mourning over their weakness, and what do they mean? Is it not that they have no resources in themselves? If we did not forget that all real strength is derived from the fullness that is in Jesus, we always would be able to say with Paul, "When I am weak, then am I strong." We need to be deprived of every resource in ourselves, that we may know our strength to be in Him. When Uzziah felt himself to be strong, he transgressed against the Lord his God.
There is a great danger of our putting multiplied means in the place of the Lord Himself; we may rely on the means, and forget that they are not the source of supply.
What has been the history of the Church? She was marvelously helped till she was strong; when she was strong her heart became lifted up. The saints at Corinth who had multiplied resources: men, wealth, and wisdom, were tempted to think that by exercise of this wisdom they could refute the heathen. The Apostle told them that only by leaning on the "wisdom of God," which is "foolishness with man" and the "strength of God," which is weakness with man, they would be blessed.
The Spirit of God shows us in The Acts that the Church, when few in number, was marvelously helped. But soon the Church began to look to itself and to its own resources and greatness, instead of to the Lord. And does this not speak to us? Our blessing is in taking the place of weakness so that God may help for His own name's sake.
It is dangerous to say or suppose that we have attained to something. It is a mark of failure when a Christian looks for his own honor and credit instead of for the honor of the Lord. The great thing is to be mindful of His name. A single eye will be occupied with Christ.
It is a very strong word that we have here in reference to a saint-"His heart was lifted up to his destruction." But there is as strong a word in the New Testament. "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." If any, even a saint of God, "soweth to his flesh," he will reap a sorrowful harvest of corruption, having misspent all his time. We need to give heed to the searching words of Scripture, not turning away the point of them from ourselves under the supposition that they cannot apply to us. This thought has been the source of much mischief in the Church. That soul will prosper which trembles at God's Word and is willing to face the most searching parts of it. The saint of God can sow to the flesh, can walk "according to the flesh," can "war after the flesh," but the miserable end will be, that he will "of the flesh reap corruption." When Uzziah was strong (his strength being in his own resources), his heart became "lifted up" like the heart of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon (Dan. 4:20) rather than like that of God's anointed king of Judah. A heart that is "lifted up" is in a dangerous state and almost always on the point of falling.
Though Uzziah was God's anointed king, he was not God's anointed priest. Yet, he would have nothing restrained from him and he transgressed "against the Lord his God" by going into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense which did not pertain to him, but only to the priests, the sons of Aaron who were consecrated to burn incense. Let us, too, beware of dealing with the Lord in unholy familiarity. A humble spirit is always a confident spirit, but a humble spirit can trust only in the blood of Jesus. It does not rush into God's presence as the man who is "lifted up" in heart does. We can only come there through the incense of the Lord Jesus, not on the credit of our own graces, or devotedness, or in fleshly fervor.
"Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God," said Azariah the priest as he with fourscore priests that were valiant men withstood the king. "Then Uzziah was wroth... and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord."
This history of Uzziah is written for our admonition. Lifting up of heart is always self-seeking, not God-seeking. We have liberty to enter into the holiest, for we are priests unto God by the blood of Jesus, but it is always through the incense of our great High Priest.
We have a contrast in the next chapter. In 2 Chron. 27:6 we have no mention of Jotham's great army: he "became mighty, because he prepared his ways before the Lord his God." This is the way for the saint to grow in practical strength. Thus it was with the Thessalonians; their "work of faith, and labor of love, and patience of hope" was "in the sight of God and our Father." Jotham set the Lord always before him and went on in an even tenor of conduct. In the eyes of man, he may not be as mighty as Uzziah, but the Holy Ghost records his name as that of one "mighty" in the eyes of God.