A King's work.

2 Chronicles 26:14
Then Uzziah prepared for them, for the entire army, shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones.

When was the last time you saw the President of the United States preparing the gear for a battalion of Marines before shipping them off to the battlefield? At most there are about 1200 soldiers in a battalion. That is about .4% (roughly 1/2 of 1%) of the 310,100 (2 Chronicles 26:12-13) soldiers that Uzziah was outfitting for war. So to simplify, Uzziah had quite a task ahead of him.

When I think about all the work, time, and energy that Uzziah invested in the safety and security of his men, I cannot help but think about what God has done for all of us through Jesus Christ. It’s awesome to me that God would choose to use Uzziah, the king, to prepare the supplies for the army. A noteworthy fact is this: the Bible doesn’t tell us that Uzziah ordered his skilled laborers to prepare the shields and spears and helmets. The Bible clearly states that Uzziah prepared all of those things.

The work, time, and personal sacrifice that Uzziah put into preparing the gear and protection for his army is only a shadow example of what Christ has done for us. Christ, being the King of kings, took it upon Himself to prepare our armor for us. He went to the cross bearing our sickness and disease in His body and He suffered our death in the midst of thieves. He gave us His righteousness, His forgiveness, His perfection, and His status with God and stood in our place. It is only through His suffering, death, and resurrection that we are able to possess the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:14-16).

Christ, like Uzziah, never asked His skilled laborers (referred to as disciples) to do the work for Him. In fact, He told them not to act, but to allow Him to do everything (Matthew 26:52) leading up to and including His crucifixion. He didn’t allow them to partake in the suffering that He was about to endure, but sheltered them from it. In the case of Peter, He used his own human nature to protect him and keep him from interfering with God’s work.

What an amazing King we have in Jesus Christ! One who is so loving, caring, and grace-filled that He would choose to do all of the work, to make all of the preparations, so that we could be fully covered when it comes time to do battle. All of His power, all of His might was focused into preparing our armor so that we are clothed with His righteousness and our heads are protected by His salvation.

Uzziah, whose name means “God is mighty”, prepared for his army all that they needed for battle to survive the war. Jesus, who is the mighty God, prepared the armor, fought the battle, and won the war so that we don’t just survive, but so that we can have life, abundantly (John 10:10).