THE GIFT
THAT NOTHING COULD PREVENT
2 KINGS 11:1-3
Introduction – Learning a little
more about Advent:
I suspect that right now, most of you are wondering; “What in the world does this story have to do with Christmas”. Or, more properly, Advent, which is not the same. Advent is the time in the Christian year that comes just before Christmas. It sometimes gets confused with Christmas, but it’s very different in purpose. Christmas celebrates the arrival of the Savior. Advent is a time set aside to remind us that we are a waiting people. God’s people waited for the Messiah in the Old Testament times, and we await His return in our time.
The return of Advent marks the start of the annual cycle of the Christian year. It starts 4 Sundays before Christmas Day. So this is the first Sunday of Advent, 2012. In the more distant past – you could say “back in a different dispensation”, I would not have said anything about Advent, unless it was in derision, and I would not have been preaching on any subject having to do with Christmas until the Sunday before.
But in the more recent past, I have come to appreciate the cycle of the Christian year, and the way that it not only lays out the life and ministry of Christ, but also the way that it can bring us in to that story. The seasons of the Christian Year are a repeating unfolding of the story of Christ – every year we can walk through the highlights of how God brought salvation to us, and as such, it is a means of keeping that story before us, and even of being embraced by it. Because, after all, and I hope that you are beginning to understand, contrary to the thinking of modern Americans, Christianity is not really about Christ coming into the story of your life. It’s about you coming into His story, and entering His life.
Those
of you that have been around here for the last few years have caught on, or are
catching on, and have probably rightly come here today expecting a message with
an Advent theme - maybe even on the subject of HOPE, which is the first of the
four Advent themes (followed by love, peace, and joy).
And
believe it or not, you aren’t mistaken. But
I can understand if it is not immediately apparent. Indeed, “What could this story we just read
possibly have to do with Advent” is a
sensible question. But actually, it has
a great deal to do with Advent, but you need some background in order to why.
BACKGROUND
TO OUR STORY
The
names given her in these three short verses -- Athaliah, Ahaziah, Jehosheba,
and Joram are probably not very familiar to you. You probably know the name of Ahab best of
all, but you probably don’t know anyone by that name. You may recall a popular song from 1962 about
“Ahab the Arab”, but I’m pretty sure Ray Stevens chose the name Ahab simply
because it rhymed with his redneck mispronunciation of Arab.
If you are fond of epic stories, you will recall that the monomaniacal sea captain that relentlessly pursued the Great White Whale to his own destruction was named Ahab, and it is certain that Herman Melville chose that name for very definite reasons.
But sadly, modern Americans, including the ones that go to Church, are more likely to recall some camel-riding “sheik of the burning sand, his Camel named Clyde and his harem-girl friend Fatima than either the Biblical or the literary figure.
Of course, Melville was writing at a time when the average person was much more Biblically literate than today, and readers in his day would have immediately associated that name with the obsessed, narcissistic, Clintonian character and arch-enemy of the prophet Elijah, that we first encounter in 1Kings 16.
By the way, everything in the books of the Kings from that first encounter with Elijah in 1Ki 17, up to the end of this chapter, is one long story about the war between Jehovah, Who alone is God, and His faithful servants, and the pagan. False-god Baal, and his interloping devotees. This story is part of that larger story, but even that larger story just a chapter in the greater story – the story of the conflict of the ages between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
There was some light in those days when Israel and Judah were halting between Baal and Jehovah. There always is some light - but they were very dark days. Most of the time things look more bad than good, and several times, when it looked like things were going to get better, or had begun to get better, they actually took a turn for the worse.
It was a trying time for God’s people, and much of the blame goes to old King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel.
That “original” Ahab has a high degree of visibility in the Bible. He’s mentioned in every chapter from 1Ki. 16 through 22 (the last) and again in 2Ki. 1, and numerous times in Chapters 3, 8, 9 & 10 of 2Ki., mostly as the progenitor of “the house of Ahab”. He may not be on the scene, but many people that he and Jezebel had influenced – notably his family, are carrying on the mischief that they began. All in all he is named 92 times in 80 verses.
And there is no question about how the Bible regards Ahab or his family. They’re all pretty despicable; and the Scriptures lay the blame on them for most of the evil in Israel and Judah that comes after them.
We’re introduced to him with these words;
And in the thirty and eighth year of
Asa king of Judah began Ahab the son of Omri to reign over Israel: and Ahab the
son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years. And Ahab the
son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD above all that were before
him. And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in
the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the
daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and
worshipped him. And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which
he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke
the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before
him. (1 Kings 16:29-33)
It’s probable that the most despicable of them all – even worse than Ahab himself, was his wife Jezebel (circa 874-853 BC).
You saw there, she was born the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Zidonians (Phoenicians). The marriage of A.&J was made in hell, but the superficial reasons were for political expediency. The real reason was a truly diabolical, in every literal sense of the word, plan to exterminate the royal line of the house of David.
Jezebel is mentioned 23 times in 20 verses, with the distinction of having her name used metaphorically for an idolatrous and heretical faction threatening the very existence of the Church of Thyatira. May God deliver all of His Church from all such parties and movements.
We don’t have time to go into Jezebel’s persecution of the prophets of Jehovah, or the plot to steal Naboth’s vineyard, or any of the other insights we are given into her rotten and deviant character – because she isn’t the subject of the story. I only said this much about her because her daughter – Queen Athaliah, who we are informed, sought to slay all “the seed royal” certainly gave “Mommie Dearest” – whose name is even more rare than that of her husband, a run for her money. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Just as Ethbaal successfully did great harm to the N. Kingdom by getting Ahab to marry is daughter Jezebel, so they did great harm to the S. Kingdom when they contracted with Jehoshaphat for a marriage between their daughter Athaliah and his oldest son, Jehoram. He happened to be one of the better Kings of Judah, but the political maneuver of taking the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel for his son’s wife was a major blunder, and a huge ugly blot on his good name. As we say, “nobody’s perfect”, and for Jehoshaphat, here’s your proof. He’s been described as personally godly, but covenantally stupid.
As for his son Jehoram,
he came to the throne at the age of 32, and you-know-who came along. Athaliah –the daughter of an idol-worshipping
pagan mother and a spineless hen-pecked compromising father, and the
granddaughter of a man who was named after Baal, and named his daughter after
Baal, was now the queen of Judah, married to the heir of David, from whose line
the Messiah would be born, and sitting next to his throne. And she was not going to leave the
opportunity unavailed because she had a full compliment of her mother's willfulness
and craftiness, as well as sharing her fanatical devotion to the cult of Baal.
It is probably due to
her influence that the first thing Jehoram did when he became the king was to murder
all six of his brothers – as well as several other princes who were inclined
toward keeping the old faith.
Eight years into his
administration of Hope and Change, Jehoram went to his reward. Her 22 year-old son Ahaziah took his place
on the throne, which meant that Athaliah was now, as the “Queen Mum”, even more
influential than ever.
It was time for God to
do something, and through the exploits of a rough-riding (furiously driving)
character named Jehu, within a year, Ahaziah was also taken down permanently,
along with all of his brothers. You can
read about all that in 2Ki. 8, 9 and 10.
And now, with her sons
all gone, and her brothers-in-law all gone, that
meant that the only thing standing between Athaliah and the throne were her
grandchildren. And that’s where our
story picks up. She sets about to murder
them all, and to seize the throne and all power tied to it for herself. And she didn’t even have to rig the voting
machines.
RACHEL WEEPING, YET ANOTHER TIME
One of the gems hidden
here is yet another time instance of “Rachel weeping for her children.” That prophecy was actually given by Jeremiah, in that portion of
his prophecy known as “the book of comfort” that I talked about last Sunday
night, and linked to the New Covenant. But
it can be applied to many occasions.
Thus
saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter
weeping; Rahel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her
children, because they were not. (Jeremiah 31:15)
It’s quoted in Mt. 2, as
you probably know
16 Then Herod,
when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent
forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts
thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had
diligently inquired of the wise men. 17 Then was fulfilled that which
was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, 18 In Rama was there a voice
heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for
her children, and would not be comforted, because they are not.,
The part of this story
that ties it in so well to the Christmas narrative is the murder of the
children. Time and again, the malice of
the Serpent has expressed itself by trying to prevent the seed of the woman
from being born through the slaying of innocents. It happened under Pharaoh, it happened under
Herod, and it happened here. And it has
happened in other times in less obvious ways that we may talk about some other
time.
But what is startling
here is that God used a princess, from an evil dynasty, but with a tender heart
to rescue Moses, so Israel could be delivered from Egypt and the Messiah could
be born.
And yet again, He used a
princess, from an evil dynasty, but with a tender heart – this time married to
one of God’s priests, to rescue Jehoash, so the Messianic line through the
household of David would be preserved, so that David’s greater Son could be
born, so that you and I – law-breaking, covenant-despising, idol-worshipping sinners
that we were, could have a Savior and escape the hell that was coming to us.
And when that Son was
born, and once again the serpent raged against innocent children in the
interest of advancing his own illegitimate kingdom, God had His means to protect
His virgin-born Son from the soldiers spear, at least for a time, until He
could carry out His entire work, and 33 years later take that spear in His
side, along with the nails in His hands and feet, the thorn stabs in His head
and the lashes on His back – for my sins and for yours.
Once Athaliah had the
throne to herself, things could not have looked worse. By all appearances, hope was lost. A child-murdering, idol-worshipping pagan
woman was sitting on the throne of David.
And in 2 Ch 24:7 we read
For the sons of
Athaliah, that wicked woman, had broken up the house of God; and also all the
dedicated things of the house of the LORD did they bestow upon Baalim. (2
Chronicles 24:7)
So then we know that
some portion of the true temple, built by Solomon, dedicated to the worship of
Jehovah was pulled down, and the material used in the structure of a temple of
Baal. God’s house always suffers when
evil women gain influence.
So it would seem that
all hope was lost, and we can easily understand how the weak-hearted and the
faithless and those who were not true believers would run away in the interest
of what was best for themselves. But
even in the worst of times God has a faithful remnant. One of them happened to be in the palace that
bloody day, and her name was Jehoshebath.
I don’t know about you,
but I want to be one of that faithful remnant that keeps the faith and doesn’t
just roll over and show my belly like a whipped puppy. I want to hang in there to the end.
HOW DID THEY SURVIVE?
By holding to the Word of God, of course! And, by the way, hope should not have been lost. You ask “Why?” Because the LORD God, Jehovah had made
promise, and the LORD God Jehovah always keeps His word.
He had promised a
redeemer to Adam and Eve, and protected that messianic line through Seth, and
Noah, and Shem, and Abraham, and Judah, the family of David, and God was doing
what He always does – He was working behind the scenes in unseen ways through
ordinary people.
From our text, we know
next to nothing about Jehoshabeath other than that she was the daughter of king
Joram and the sister of Ahaziah, and what she did on that terrible day as she protected her little
nephew Joash from a post-partum abortion at the hands of Athaliah’s soldiers.
But there is one more
bit of information about this dear lady, given only in 2 Chr. 22:11.
But Jehoshabeath, the daughter of the
king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king's sons
that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king
Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,)
hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. (2 Chronicles 22:11)
That one bit of
information explains much. She was not
just a princess in a decimated, effete and apostate dynasty. She was married to a godly man, a leading
priest and a man of strong convictions and character. As it happens, that priest was just the man
to be able to keep the child Joash safely hidden and thoroughly catechize him
and prepare him to take the throne, and to stage a coup against Athaliah.
Of course, it wasn’t
until after she had 6 years on the throne – and what a dark, depressing and
drawn-out six years that must have been for God’s people. Somehow they endured to the end.
And when the time came
to hatch the plot to remove the interloper, Joash was still just a little
boy. But he was a boy who was adopted by
two parents who loved and served God, who had rescued and protected him, who he
loved and respected and would listen to, and that had the courage and patience
and wisdom to know the right way and best time to take back the throne.
This was nothing short
of a miracle of Divine Providence, and the whole thing was done through
ordinary means and ordinary people – not by superheroes and miracle-workers –
they were people with some position. But
it was really all executed by the one True God, Who is able to have the right
person with the right set of gifts and talents and character in the right place
at the right time to do the right thing in order to fulfill His purposes.
CONCLUSION:
The rest of the story is
a short and easy read. God took care of
His covenant people through a small faithful remnant. And when the time came, He dealt with those
that tried to destroy it. And after
that, things got back to more like they should have been. And in time, we got a Savior. Sarah’s womb was barren, but God gave a
miraculous child and through Isaac came Israel.
They wound up in Egypt, and in short order Pharaoh was having a grand
time there killing Jewish babies.
But God delivered Moses,
and Moses delivered Israel, and Israel delivered David, and David delivered a
royal household, and when Athaliah got close the power to do so, she went after
the babies again – but God delivered Joash, and through Joash the royal line
was preserved, and despite some upcoming bumps in the road that I don’t have
the time to talk about today, in the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem
those that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons.
What a wonderful story
from which we should take encouragement.
God has never abandoned His people or His purpose, and in the darkest of
times, He is just as committed to the salvation of His own as He is when all
seems to be going along smoothly.
You can trust this
God. He is much more to be trusted and
depended upon than your feelings and your natural reasoning. He will not fail, because He cannot fail, and
your hope belongs in Him alone.
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