Sermon Preview for Sunday, August 9, 2026: End of the United Kingdom (part 1)

Sermon Preview

For Sunday, August 9, 2026

The End of the United Kingdom (part 1)

1 Kings 11:28–43

“Providence is wiser than you, and you may be confident it has suited all things better to your eternal good than you could do had you been left to your own option.” John Flavel (The Mystery of Providence)

This Lord’s Day we come to the closing years of Solomon’s reign and the beginning of a dramatic transition in the history of Israel. Jeroboam, a young servant whom Solomon himself promoted, is met by the prophet Ahijah and told that God will tear ten tribes from Solomon’s kingdom and give them to him. The coming division of Israel will not be the result merely of political unrest or poor leadership; it is the judgment of God upon Solomon’s unfaithfulness.

There is much irony in these closing events. Solomon, who had received unparalleled wisdom from God and had written about the certainty of God’s purposes, attempts to kill Jeroboam and thereby prevent the prophetic word from being fulfilled. Solomon eventually dies after forty years upon the throne, and a brief statement concludes the reign of the once great Solomon: “Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.”

Rehoboam receives a sizable kingdom from his father, but he also inherits the consequences of his father’s sins. As we will see, he soon demonstrates that possessing a great inheritance is very different from possessing the wisdom necessary to preserve it. The passage reminds us that kingdoms, rulers, and generations pass away, while the purposes of God continue without interruption.

Solomon dies, Rehoboam rises, Jeroboam waits, and the kingdom will soon divide—but God’s covenant promise remains intact. The Lord preserves the house of David because His purposes ultimately extend beyond Solomon and Rehoboam to Jesus Christ, the greater Son of David. Earthly kings may fall and human wisdom may disappear from one generation to the next, but Christ reigns over a kingdom that can never be divided or destroyed.

For further consideration:

“God can never be believed to have left the kingdoms of men, their dominations and servitudes, outside of the laws of His providence.” Augustine (The City of God)

“God exercises the kingdom of his providence in the world. ‘He putteth down one and setteth up another.’ … Nothing stirs in the world but God has a hand in it. The kingdom of God’s providence rules over all; kings do nothing but what his providence permits and orders.” Thomas Watson (The Lord’s Prayer)

“It is quite right to seek counsel of men who are wiser than we ourselves are; but he who trusts to earthly counsellors, instead of to God, is guilty of great provocation against Him who is full of wisdom.” Charles Spurgeon (Sermon: “Rehoboam the Unready”)