# A Great Kings Downfall - The Book of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles

An episode of [Kids Bible in a Year with Julia Jeffress Sadler](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1696638708), 26 Dec 2023, 10 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/f8ddd7fd-69c6-48d0-804f-b4d6010c327c/f19d05a3-99dd-4bfe-ba0d-b4d6018a3423/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=14e8ed60-20b2-4d5c-a832-b4d6010c3283

Join Julia Jeffress Sadler as she takes us on an incredible adventure in Episode 117. Discover how Uzziah became king at the tender age of 16 and led Jerusalem to great prosperity. We'll explore his passions for farming, his military achievements, and his fame that reached even to Egypt. But the tale takes a dramatic turn when King Uzziah, filled with pride, decides to burn incense in the temple, a task reserved only for priests. Find out the surprising and life-changing consequence of his actions and how this affected his reign and legacy. Sign up to receive Kids Bible in a Year devotionals in your inbox every weekday: https://www.kidsbibleinayear.com/ Get ready to experience the Bible designed specifically for children with the official KidsBibleinaYear.com podcast, led by Julia Jeffress Sadler. This captivating audio series presents the age-old wisdom of the Bible in an engaging format that will captivate your kids. Each episode Julia translates biblical teachings into real-life applications, making Bible comprehension a breeze for young minds. And if you want more Christian resources and content, you can download the Pray.com app. Pray.com is the digital destination for faith, offering over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime Bible stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible. For more resources on how to live a successful Christian life, visit Julia Jeffress Sadler's website at https://ptv.org/julia/. This episode is sponsored by Little Passports. Visit LittlePassports.com/blessed and use promo code BLESSED to receive 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Let my prayer be set before you like incense. Psalm 141, 2.
[0:07] Speaker 1: Dear Jesus, thank you for being our prophet, telling us
[0:11] Speaker 1: what is to come and giving us truth. Thank you
[0:15] Speaker 1: for being our priest. Because of you, we can get
[0:18] Speaker 1: straight to God. And thank you for being our king,
[0:22] Speaker 1: the one and only true king of kings and lord
[0:25] Speaker 1: of lords. Everything we need is in you. In Jesus'
[0:30] Speaker 1: name I pray, amen.
[0:33] Speaker 2: Thank you for praying with us today. The Kids Bible
[0:36] Speaker 2: in a Year podcast is sponsored by Little Passports, delivering
[0:39] Speaker 2: monthly activity kit subscriptions that help kids explore the world,
[0:43] Speaker 2: cultivate curiosity, and discover new interests with hands-on crafts and
[0:48] Speaker 2: activities in cooking, science, crafts, and more, all with a
[0:52] Speaker 2: unique cultural twist. Visit littlepassports.com slash blessed to learn more
[0:57] Speaker 2: and save 20% with code BLESSED.
[1:06] Speaker 3: A great king's downfall. In our last story, we learned
[1:11] Speaker 3: about Amaziah, who started out a king who ruled in Jerusalem,
[1:16] Speaker 3: and his heart followed the Lord. But after he defeated
[1:19] Speaker 3: the Edomites, he bowed down to their gods. In this story,
[1:24] Speaker 3: we learn about the great king Uzziah and how he
[1:28] Speaker 3: was struck with leprosy, as inspired by 2 Kings and
[1:32] Speaker 3: 2 Chronicles.
[1:38] Speaker 1: Hi friends, it's Joy Sabler back with another story from
[1:42] Speaker 1: the Kids Bible in a Year podcast. Today we meet
[1:45] Speaker 1: King Uzziah, a great powerful king who, you guessed it,
[1:52] Speaker 1: disobeyed God and was given an awful punishment. We're also
[1:56] Speaker 1: going to see Jesus in today's story as prophet, priest,
[2:01] Speaker 1: and king. Let's listen in.
[2:06] Speaker 3: There were many things that made King Uzziah a great king. First,
[2:11] Speaker 3: he became king at a very young age. He was 16.
[2:16] Speaker 3: He did many things right. King Uzziah listened and obeyed
[2:21] Speaker 3: the Lord. He made Jerusalem a city that was alive again.
[2:26] Speaker 3: He was also really into farming and animals. He had
[2:30] Speaker 3: many crops planted and plenty of vineyards. When it came
[2:34] Speaker 3: to battle, He had over 300,000 soldiers. He made sure
[2:39] Speaker 3: that his men were equipped with the right weapons. Some
[2:43] Speaker 3: of the king's best workers had also created weapons that
[2:46] Speaker 3: could shoot arrows and stones as well. In fact, King
[2:50] Speaker 3: Uzziah started a war with the Philistines and won with
[2:54] Speaker 3: the help of God. All of the cities knew who
[2:58] Speaker 3: King Uzziah was because he was so powerful. Even Egypt
[3:03] Speaker 3: knew of him. One day, King Uzziah was feeling very
[3:07] Speaker 3: proud of all the work he had done as king,
[3:09] Speaker 3: as he should be, and decided that he was going
[3:12] Speaker 3: to burn some incense in the temple. Now, burning incense
[3:16] Speaker 3: at the temple was an act only the priests were
[3:19] Speaker 3: supposed to do. When priest Azariah saw what he was
[3:23] Speaker 3: about to do, he gathered a bunch of other priests
[3:27] Speaker 3: and tried to convince him not to do it, saying,
[3:30] Speaker 3: King Uzziah, if you burn an incense in here, the
[3:33] Speaker 3: Lord will not be happy. because you are not a
[3:36] Speaker 3: priest or a relative of Aaron. King Uzziah couldn't believe
[3:41] Speaker 3: that the high priest was trying to stop him from
[3:43] Speaker 3: doing what he wanted to do. He was king, after all.
[3:48] Speaker 3: So King Uzziah decided to go through with it anyway
[3:51] Speaker 3: and burn the incense. Once the incense was lit, King
[3:55] Speaker 3: Uzziah's forehead began to look very weird. It was then
[4:00] Speaker 3: that everyone realized that King Uzziah had gotten leprosy. which
[4:05] Speaker 3: is a contagious skin condition. He knew that God was
[4:09] Speaker 3: punishing him. Since King Uzziah's disease was contagious, he lived
[4:14] Speaker 3: away from everyone until he died. King Uzziah's son, Jotham,
[4:20] Speaker 3: took over and became a great king himself.
[4:29] Speaker 1: Just when we thought King Uzziah had it all together,
[4:33] Speaker 1: another great king walks away from the ways of God.
[4:37] Speaker 1: How sad. We heard today how this king was very
[4:40] Speaker 1: powerful and well-liked. He did what was right and built
[4:45] Speaker 1: a great army. He took great care of the crops
[4:48] Speaker 1: and animals and obeyed God. Until he didn't. The story
[4:53] Speaker 1: takes a turn for the worse when we hear that
[4:56] Speaker 1: King Uzziah went into a temple to burn incense. But
[5:00] Speaker 1: what does that mean? Incense is something you burn that
[5:04] Speaker 1: smells very good. It might be a stick or spices.
[5:08] Speaker 1: And when you light it, smoke rises and causes a
[5:12] Speaker 1: sweet smell or aroma to fill the air. In the Bible,
[5:16] Speaker 1: incense often represents the prayers of God's people. Just like
[5:21] Speaker 1: the smoke rises and smells good, our prayers rise to
[5:25] Speaker 1: God like a sweet aroma or smell to Him. He
[5:29] Speaker 1: loves to hear His children pray. In Psalm 141-2, David prays,
[5:36] Speaker 1: Let my prayer be set before you like incense. But
[5:40] Speaker 1: here's the thing. In the Old Testament, before Jesus came
[5:44] Speaker 1: to earth, Only priests could burn incense because they were
[5:48] Speaker 1: seen as the middleman between God and his people. They
[5:53] Speaker 1: would offer sacrifices to God for the people and burn
[5:56] Speaker 1: the incense. In fact, God made it very clear that
[6:00] Speaker 1: a priest, prophet, and king were three different things and
[6:05] Speaker 1: could not be performed by one person. That's why it
[6:09] Speaker 1: was such a big deal for King Uzziah to burn
[6:13] Speaker 1: the incense. And here's the coolest part. Jesus changed all
[6:18] Speaker 1: of that. When God sent Jesus to earth to be
[6:21] Speaker 1: the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, Jesus became all three
[6:27] Speaker 1: of these things. Let's talk about all three. First, Jesus
[6:31] Speaker 1: was the prophet. Just like the prophets we have learned about,
[6:35] Speaker 1: Jesus told things that were going to happen in the future.
[6:39] Speaker 1: And he spoke truth to God's people, trying to warn them,
[6:44] Speaker 1: and show them the right way to go. He also
[6:47] Speaker 1: healed many people like many prophets. After Jesus brought a
[6:53] Speaker 1: boy back to life in Luke 7, 16, we read this. Okay, secondly,
[6:56] Speaker 1: let's look at Jesus the priest. Because Jesus came to
[7:14] Speaker 1: rescue us on earth, and because he is actually God,
[7:18] Speaker 1: we no longer need a priest in order to get
[7:21] Speaker 1: to God. Isn't that amazing? We learn that in an
[7:25] Speaker 1: important passage out of Hebrews 4, 14-17. It says this,
[7:32] Speaker 1: Having then a great high priest who has passed through
[7:36] Speaker 1: the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let's hold tightly
[7:40] Speaker 1: to our confession. For we don't have a high priest
[7:44] Speaker 1: who can't be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
[7:49] Speaker 1: but one who has been at all points tempted like
[7:53] Speaker 1: we are, yet without sin. He is our high priest. Lastly,
[7:59] Speaker 1: let's talk about Jesus the King. We often call Jesus
[8:03] Speaker 1: the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. The
[8:07] Speaker 1: Bible tells us that his name is above every other name,
[8:12] Speaker 1: and one day every knee will bow before him. On
[8:16] Speaker 1: Palm Sunday, as Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey,
[8:20] Speaker 1: we read this in Matthew 21, 5. Tell the daughter
[8:25] Speaker 1: of Zion, Behold, your king comes to you, humble and
[8:30] Speaker 1: riding on a donkey. And today, thousands of years later,
[8:35] Speaker 1: Jesus is still fulfilling these jobs of prophet, priest, and
[8:39] Speaker 1: king in our lives. Today's story ends with King Uzziah's
[8:44] Speaker 1: punishment of leprosy and eventually his death. There's always a
[8:49] Speaker 1: price to pay for doing things our way instead of
[8:52] Speaker 1: God's way. Thanks for being with me today, and I
[8:55] Speaker 1: hope you'll be back next time as we talk about
[8:58] Speaker 1: the kind of people we choose to follow. and why
[9:01] Speaker 1: it matters so much. The Bible is the best story
[9:05] Speaker 1: ever told. It's God's story to you, and it's all true.
[9:10] Speaker 1: Did our podcast make your day? Drop a review to
[9:13] Speaker 1: guide other families to us and spread joy across the world.
[9:18] Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to Pray.com's Kids Bible in a Year.
[9:22] Speaker 1: For more inspiring stories and wisdom to last a lifetime,
[9:26] Speaker 1: download the Pray.com app for free today. Thanks for listening
[9:39] Speaker 1: to Kids Bible in a Year. I want to invite
[9:42] Speaker 1: our adult listeners to check out my other show, Unapologetic,
[9:46] Speaker 1: God's Truth on Today's Topics. It's unfiltered, important, inspiring, and
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