September 16, 2025 - 2 Chronicles 26:16 - "The Peril of a Proud Heart"

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."

The story of King Uzziah is both a warning and a lesson written for our learning. Here was a man marvelously helped of the LORD, raised up in strength and prosperity, yet brought low by pride and presumption. His fall reminds us of the deceitfulness of the human heart and the danger of trusting in our own wisdom, strength, or position. Apart from the sovereign Grace of God in Christ, pride always leads to ruin.

But the greater lesson is this: in Christ Jesus, the true King and Priest, we find what Uzziah failed to be. The LORD Jesus alone has entered the holy place with perfect Righteousness, not presuming upon God but fulfilling His will. Where pride destroys, Grace restores. Where man’s strength collapses, Christ’s strength endures forever. This passage turns our eyes away from ourselves—weak, unstable, and prone to destruction—and fixes them upon the LORD Jesus Christ, Who is our Righteousness, Wisdom, Sanctification, and Redemption (1 Corinthians 1:30).

This Scripture in 2 Chronicles 26:16 is the turning point in Uzziah’s life. The chapter shows how the LORD marvelously helped him. He was blessed in battle, in building, in farming, in engineering. He was marvelously helped until he was strong. And then comes the stark change! “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” This is where the story comes home to us. Pride is the great danger. Here we see the clear example of what we read in Proverbs 16:18-"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Can God prosper men, bless them, even make them men of renown—and yet, in the end, cast them into destruction? Absolutely. That is what we see here.

Notice how the Scripture describes King Uzziah's fall. It’s as if there was one transgression. Just like Adam’s one sin. It was not adultery, nor drunkenness, nor material robbery, although it was a spiritual adultery and robbery of God's way of Glory. His was the simple, deadly presumption of stepping where God had not ordained. Uzziah went into the temple to burn incense. And the priests withstood him—eighty valiant priests, warning him: “It pertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah.” But his heart was lifted up in him. He thought himself worthy of entering into God's presence in another way, as did Cain in Genesis 4:3-5.

This is where the Word of the LORD presses upon our own hearts in our approach unto God. The heart of sin in self-righteousness would lead us to think that we can approach God in our own way rather than through the Mediator. Many are those who presume upon God, having made an outward profession of faith, yet still living as though the work of Christ on the cross was not necessary.

Yet in all of this, we see the sovereign Hand of God. He had given Uzziah his success. He had given him his natural wisdom, strength, and power to rule. And at the same time, in His sovereignty God had struck him down when he trespassed. Just as God had raised up Pharaoh in the day of His power, for one purpose—to manifest the power of God in his destruction (Romans 9:17). So Uzziah’s rise and fall were in the Hand of the Sovereign LORD.

What does this show us of Christ? That apart from Him, there is no access, either to the altar, or to the throne, nor to God Himself. “There is one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). We need Him now as much as ever. Even throughout eternity, there will never be a time when we do not need Christ the Mediator. In glory, the song is still the same: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” (Revelation 5:12).

So let us take the warning: pride will lift the heart to destruction. But let us also take the Hope: in Christ Jesus, there is therefore now NO condemnation (Romans 8:1). He alone is the High Priest, the Sacrifice, the Way to the Father. We do not come in our own strength, but through Him Whom God has ordained. And in Him, we are received—at the throne of Grace—to find mercy and help in our time of need.