The Cause and Effect of a Quiet Land Text: 2 Chronicles 14:1-8
Introduction: The Deuteronomic Engine
We live in a noisy, agitated, and restless time. Our politics are in a constant state of frenzy, our culture is a shrieking cacophony of rebellion, and the hearts of men are full of anxiety and disquiet. And many Christians, looking at the chaos, have concluded that the best we can do is hunker down, carve out a little personal peace, and wait for the celestial bus to come and take us away from all this mess. But the Scriptures present us with a very different picture. The Bible teaches a direct, causal relationship between a nation's public faithfulness to God and the public peace that nation enjoys. This is not a mysterious or hidden principle; it is the engine of history. It is the law of covenants, as plain as the law of gravity.
The book of Deuteronomy lays out the terms with stark clarity: if you as a people obey the Lord your God, you will be blessed in the city and blessed in the field. Your enemies will come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will grant you peace. But if you disobey, if you turn to idols, you will be cursed. There will be confusion, vexation, and rebuke in all that you set your hand to do. There will be no peace. This is the Deuteronomic engine that drives the history of Israel, and because Christ is now king of all nations, it is the engine that drives the history of the world.
In our text today, we see this principle illustrated with textbook clarity in the early reign of King Asa. His father Abijah had a mixed record, but he passes from the scene, and his son Asa takes the throne. What follows is a case study in cause and effect. It is a lesson in how a nation gets to a state of quiet. And we must pay close attention, because the formula presented here is the only one that has ever worked, and it is the only one that will ever work for us. The peace of a nation is not a matter of fortunate geopolitics, or a robust economy, or a clever foreign policy. The peace of a nation is a direct gift from God, given in response to a particular kind of public behavior.
The Text
So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was quiet for ten years during his days.
And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Yahweh his God, for he removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, cut the Asherim in pieces, and said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet before him.
And he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because Yahweh had given him rest.
And he said to Judah, "Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side." So they built and succeeded.
Now Asa had a military force of 300,000 from Judah, bearing large shields and spears, and 280,000 from Benjamin, bearing shields and wielding bows; all of them were mighty men of valor.
(2 Chronicles 14:1-8 LSB)
The Foundational Standard (vv. 1-2)
We begin with the summary statement, the headline that governs the entire passage.
"So Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David; and Asa his son became king in his place. The land was quiet for ten years during his days. And Asa did what was good and right in the sight of Yahweh his God..." (2 Chronicles 14:1-2)
The Chronicler connects the dots for us right away. Asa becomes king, and the land was quiet for ten years. Why? The very next verse tells us: because Asa did what was good and right. But notice the standard. He did what was good and right "in the sight of Yahweh his God." This is the only standard that matters. The modern politician is concerned with what is good and right in the sight of the focus group. The pragmatist is concerned with what is good and right in the sight of the markets. The pietist is concerned with what is good and right in the sight of his own private conscience. But the biblical standard for a ruler is none of these. A ruler's actions are to be measured by one thing: God's revealed law. God is the audience. God is the judge.
This is a profoundly public and objective standard. It is not a matter of Asa's internal sincerity or his private devotionals, though those are important. The text is concerned with his official, public actions as the civil magistrate. He is the king, and as the king, he has a responsibility to govern the nation in accordance with the law of the nation's God. This is anathema to the modern secularist, who wants to build a wall of separation between God's law and public life. But the Bible knows nothing of this separation. For the Bible, a ruler who ignores God is a fool, and a nation that follows him is a nation on the fast track to judgment.
The Hard Work of Reformation (vv. 3-5)
So what did this "good and right" action look like in practice? It was not a vague sentiment. It was concrete. It was destructive. It was a top-down reformation.
"...for he removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, cut the Asherim in pieces, and said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment. He also removed the high places and the incense altars from all the cities of Judah. And the kingdom was quiet before him." (2 Chronicles 14:3-5)
Asa's first move is to clean house. Notice the verbs: removed, shattered, cut in pieces. This is not a polite dialogue with paganism. This is not an interfaith roundtable. This is a holy violence against public idolatry. The foreign altars, the high places dedicated to false gods, the sacred pillars representing male deities, the Asherah poles representing the foul goddess of fertility, they all had to go. True reformation always begins with the destruction of idols. You cannot build a righteous society on a foundation cluttered with pagan garbage.
We must see the parallel to our own day. Our public square is littered with idols. We have the idol of sexual autonomy, celebrated with rainbow flags on our embassies. We have the idol of Molech in our abortion clinics, where we sacrifice our children for convenience. We have the idol of Mammon on Wall Street, and the idol of state power in Washington D.C. A true modern reformation would not just involve personal revival; it would involve the public tearing down of these abominations. It would mean shattering the sacred pillars of secular humanism.
But Asa's reformation had two parts. There was a negative part, the tearing down, and a positive part, the building up. He "said for Judah to seek Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and to do the law and the commandment." This is crucial. The king used his royal authority, his bully pulpit, to command the people to return to the true God and His law. He understood that the role of the civil magistrate is not to be neutral. The magistrate is a minister of God for good (Romans 13:4). He has a duty to encourage what is right and punish what is wrong. Asa was not imposing his "personal faith" on the people; he was calling the covenant people back to their covenant obligations. He was reminding them of the foundation of their own national existence.
And the result is stated again, just to make sure we don't miss it: "And the kingdom was quiet before him." The cause is reformation. The effect is quiet.
The Gift of Divine Rest (v. 6)
The Chronicler now elaborates on the nature of this quiet, attributing it directly to God's sovereign pleasure.
"And he built fortified cities in Judah, since the land was quiet, and there was no one at war with him during those years, because Yahweh had given him rest." (2 Chronicles 14:6)
The quiet was not an accident of history. It was not that Judah's enemies were simply preoccupied elsewhere. The text is explicit: "because Yahweh had given him rest." Rest is a gift. National peace is a direct, supernatural grant from the throne of God. God is the one who stills the raging of the nations. He is the one who breaks the bow and shatters the spear. When a nation honors Him, He gives them the gift of rest. When a nation dishonors Him, He removes that gift and lets them reap the whirlwind of their own folly.
This is a truth our modern leaders have completely forgotten. They think peace comes from treaties, or from foreign aid, or from military might. Those things have their place, but they are downstream. The ultimate source of national security is national righteousness. If we want God to give us rest from our enemies, both foreign and domestic, then we must first give God His rightful place in our public life. We must seek Him. There is no other way.
Rest is for Building (vv. 7-8)
But what is this rest for? Is it a time for lazy self-indulgence? Is it a time to put our feet up and enjoy the good life? Not for Asa. For Asa, a time of peace was a time for productive, faithful work.
"And he said to Judah, 'Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours because we have sought Yahweh our God; we have sought Him, and He has given us rest on every side.' So they built and succeeded. Now Asa had a military force of 300,000 from Judah... and 280,000 from Benjamin... all of them were mighty men of valor." (2 Chronicles 14:7-8)
Asa understands that God's gift of peace is not an invitation to idleness. It is an opportunity. It is a stewardship. He says to the people, "Let us build." The time of quiet is the time to strengthen the defenses, to fortify the cities, to prepare for the future. He is not being paranoid; he is being prudent. He knows that the world is a dangerous place and that enemies will eventually arise. But he also knows that the time to prepare for war is during a time of peace.
And notice his reasoning. "The land is still ours because we have sought Yahweh our God." He connects their possession of the land, their seeking of God, and God's gift of rest into one seamless argument. This is covenantal thinking. Our obedience in seeking God is the ground upon which He gives us rest, and that rest is the opportunity He gives us to build for His glory. And so they built, and they succeeded. God blesses the work of their hands.
This is a powerful lesson for the church today. If God in His mercy grants us a season of relative peace and prosperity, we are not to squander it. We are to build. We are to build Christian schools and universities. We are to build robust Christian communities. We are to build Christian businesses and media companies. We are to fortify our families with sound doctrine and diligent discipleship. We are to use the time of quiet to prepare for the inevitable storms, so that when they come, we are not found sleeping.
The passage ends by noting the strength of Asa's army. This is not a contradiction of his faith. A strong military and a strong faith are not mutually exclusive. Asa sought God, and he also mustered his troops. This is the biblical pattern. Trust in God, and keep your powder dry. Pray for peace, and build up your walls. True faith is not passive; it is active, prudent, and prepared.
Conclusion: The Unchanging Formula
The story of Asa's early reign is not just a quaint piece of ancient history. It is a demonstration of the permanent moral government of God. The formula is simple and unchanging. First, a leader arises who does what is right in God's eyes. Second, this leader leads the people in a public reformation, tearing down idols and commanding obedience to God's law. Third, God responds to this public faithfulness by granting the gift of public peace and rest. Fourth, the people are to steward that time of peace by building and strengthening for the future.
This is the path to a quiet land. It is the only path. Our nation is filled with noise, chaos, and strife because we have abandoned this path. We have erected idols in every corner of our culture and have told God that His law has no place in our public life. We are reaping what we have sown.
The solution is not a new political party or a new economic theory. The solution is reformation. We need leaders like Asa who fear God more than they fear the polls. We need a church that has the courage to call for the tearing down of our national idols. We need a people who are willing to once again seek Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and to do the law and the commandment.
And if we do this, we have the promise of God Himself. He will be found by us. And when He is found, He will give us rest on every side. This is not a vain hope. It is the sure promise of the King of kings, the Lord Jesus Christ, who through His own work of reformation on the cross, has secured an ultimate and final rest for His people. Our task is to live out the implications of that victory, in our homes, in our churches, and in our nations, until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of His glory, and enjoys the quiet that only He can give.