God-centered resources from the ministry of John Piper

After Solomon’s reign and the split of the twelve tribes, not one king of Israel, the northern kingdom, was righteous. Nearly every monarch gets the explicit judgment, “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.”

But despite their unremitting evil the Lord still had mercy:

The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them (2 Kings 13:23).

God’s good to his people depended on the great promises he made to the patriarchs, promises that went far beyond their lifetimes. They were faithful men who persevered to the end, but they died, and God’s word still remained unfulfilled.

So God, being a “man of his word,” simply (gloriously!) followed through on what he had sworn. He blessed their descendants for generations, no matter how wicked they became. He didn’t count their trespasses against them, but he blessed them because of the faithfulness of their fathers and his faithfulness to his word.

What’s even more encouraging is that today God does this same thing for anyone who makes themselves a descendant of Abraham through faith in the Messiah (Romans 4:16). On account of Christ’s faithfulness we who gain adoption through him are forgiven all of our trespasses, are reconciled to God, and receive every good thing that his obedience earned.