2 Chronicles 26:15 “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 marvellously helped, till he was strong.”
He was marvelously helped, till he was strong.
God helped a man and God kept helping him. God kept blessing him and it worked so well that the man forgot who was doing the helping. He got strong on God’s help and then decided he did not need the help anymore.
His name was Uzziah. He was king of Judah for fifty-two years. He started at sixteen years old and he started as well as any king could start.
And he ended his life as a leper, cut off from the house of the Lord, buried in a separate field because his own countrymen said, “He is a leper.”
This is his story and it is a warning for every Christian who has been blessed by God.
The Rise
2 Chronicles 26:5 “And he 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.”
First, Uzziah sought God. Second, he did it in the days of a godly teacher named Zechariah who understood the visions of God. The young king had a mentor who knew the Lord, and while that mentor was pointing him the right direction, Uzziah followed.
The result was staggering. God blessed him in nearly every direction a king could be blessed.
He fought against the Philistines and broke down the walls of their cities. He built new cities in the land. He had an army of 307,500 mighty men. He built towers in Jerusalem and dug wells. He loved farming and had vinedressers and husbandmen in the fertile places. He built engines of war that could shoot arrows and great stones from the towers!
2 Chronicles 26:8 “And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.”
His name was known as far as Egypt and he was strong, famous, rich, successful and every bit of it came from God!
God helping a man become great and then that greatness turning into pride is a common thing.
The higher God takes us, the more careful we have to be. The more He blesses us, the more we need to watch our hearts.
Then verse 15 lands the warning that changes the whole story.
2 Chronicles 26:15 “for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.”
God’s help got him strong. And strong got him proud.
The Fall
The fall came in stages and each stage got worse than the one before it.
1. Pride Caused Him to Transgress
2 Chronicles 26:16 “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.”
Pride did its work in the heart first. By the time he was walking into the temple with a censer in his hand, the damage was already done. What we saw on the outside was just the fruit of what had been growing on the inside.
The temple was not his to enter. The altar of incense was for the priests only, the sons of Aaron. Uzziah was a king, not a priest. But pride does not respect boundaries. Pride tells us we can do what God said we cannot do, go where God said we cannot go, and touch what God said we cannot touch.
2. Pride Caused Him to Reject Correction
2 Chronicles 26:17-18 “And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God.”
Eighty priests that were valiant men standing between the king and the altar. Telling him plainly, “This is not yours. Go out. You are trespassing.”
They risked their lives to say it. And Uzziah did not listen.
3. Pride Caused Him to Be Marked
2 Chronicles 26:19 “Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: 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, from beside the incense altar.”
The leprosy rose up on his forehead. The priest was supposed to wear a golden plate on his forehead that read “HOLINESS TO THE LORD.” Uzziah wanted to look like a priest. He wanted the plate and the honor. Instead, God marked his forehead with leprosy in the exact spot where holiness should have been.
Where pride wants to place a crown, God places a mark.
4. Pride Caused Him to Lose Fellowship
2 Chronicles 26:21 “And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.”
A leper until the day of his death living in a separate house and cut off from the house of the Lord. He never worshipped in the temple again. He never sat on his throne the same way again. His son had to step in and rule while he faded away in isolation.
Even his burial reflected what pride had done to him. 2 Chronicles 26:23 “So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper.”
They would not put him in the tombs with the other kings. Not even in death could he be near them. That is how far pride took him.
5. The Priests Who Stood in the Way
God did not strike Uzziah with leprosy the moment he walked into the temple. He gave him a warning first. And that warning came through eighty faithful men who refused to let their king walk into judgment unopposed.
2 Chronicles 26:17 “And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men.”
It took courage to stand in front of a king with a censer in his hand to tell him he was wrong. It took courage to stay in that room even after he got angry.
God’s first line of defense against Uzziah’s pride was not lightning from heaven. It was faithful men who loved him enough to tell him the truth.
Proverbs 27:6 “Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.”
If God has put faithful voices in your life who tell you what you do not want to hear, do not push them away. They may be the only thing standing between you and the mark on your forehead.
Uzziah’s story leaves us with five things to carry home.
- Faith has to be personal. Uzziah rode his mentor’s faith until his mentor was gone. When Zechariah died, the anchor was gone. Every Christian has to build their own walk with God and not just borrow someone else’s.
- Strength is the most dangerous season of life. “He was marvellously helped, till he was strong.” The moment we feel like we have it figured out is the moment we are most in danger. Strength is not a graduation from needing God. It is a gift that requires more dependence, not less.
- Pride enters the heart before it enters the sanctuary. By the time you see it in someone’s actions, the damage is already done in their heart. Guard your heart first. Watch it more closely than you watch anything else.
- God sends warning through godly people before He sends judgment. If a faithful voice is telling you the truth today, listen. Do not get mad like Uzziah did. The eighty priests were mercy in the form of men. Do not push mercy away.
Where pride wants to place a crown, God places a mark. Every proud heart eventually gets marked one way or another. Better to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God than to be marked by it.
1 Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.”
Uzziah was marvellously helped, till he was strong. Do not let strength be the thing that ends your walk with God.
