2021-7-11, The Council of Ancient Kings: Jehu Shows Us What Confidence Looks Like. 2 Kings 10:16
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2021-7-11, The Council of Ancient Kings: Jehu Shows Us What Confidence Looks Like. 2 Kings 10:16
If you recall, Ahab was one of the worst and most despicable kings in Israel. His wife, Jezebel, was even worse than he was. One of the worst things he and his wife did was murder a man named Naboth in order to steal his vineyard (1 Kings 21:1-25).
They were so bad, that God promised Elijah that He would end the house of Ahab (1 Kings 19). This meant more than ending Ahab’s life because of his sin, but ending the lives of Ahab’s descendants, because they were all wicked. God is patient toward our sin, giving us opportunity to repent, but ultimately He has enough and issues His judgment toward sin.
If you recall, Ahab, king in Israel, met a gruesome end when he and Jehoshaphat formed an alliance to take back Ramoth-gilead. Yet, even with Ahab gone, the promise of judgment remained his entire family.
The basics to know today...
Jezebel still alive
Joram, Ahab and Jezebel’s son is king of Israel
Athaliah, their daughter married into Judah’s Monarchy
Ahaziah, her son, is now Judah’s king.
Now, Joram, king of Israel, is Ahaziah, the king of Judah’s uncle. Athaliah of Judah is his sister.
So, it appears that Ahab’s descendents have a solid grip on the monarchies of Israel and Judah.
Will God’s prophecy of judgment against Ahab’s house come true? Will God’s justice prevail? Is God the truth-teller?
This morning I want to look at a story in which God ensures justice will happen and proves that He keeps His promises.
God does this through a man named Jehu. Jehu is not of the royal line of Israel. Rather, he is a commander in Ahab’s army. God decrees that Jehu’s will be His instrument of judgment against Ahab and that Jehu’s house will usurp Ahab’s house. Jehu will represent one of the few bright spots in the northern kingdom’s monarchy.
His story begins with an anointing by the great prophet Elisha.
Then Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him, “Tie up your garments, and take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead. And when you arrive, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. And go in and have him rise from among his fellows, and lead him to an inner chamber. Then take the flask of oil and pour it on his head and say, ‘Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee; do not linger.”
So the young man, the servant of the prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead. And when he came, behold, the commanders of the army were in council. And he said, “I have a word for you, O commander.” And Jehu said, “To which of us all?” And he said, “To you, O commander.” So he arose and went into the house. And the young man poured the oil on his head, saying to him, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, I anoint you king over the people of the Lord, over Israel. And you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, so that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.
Jehu is up near Ramoth-gilead. The Lord tells Elisha to send a messenger to Jehu to tell him that he will be the next king, and to anoint him. The messenger also tells Jehu that he will be God’s instrument of wrath against Ahab’s house.
The messenger does this and anoints Jehu.
While initially hesitant (Vs. 8), Jehu recognizes the call of God on his life and he embraces it with confidence.
Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram. (Now Joram with all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Syria,
So…Jehu is on the move against Ahab’s son Joram.
A little context: So, King Joram of Israel was wounded in battle and was recovering in Jezreel. He happens to have King Ahaziah of Judah (his nephew) and Athaliah (his sister) with him (2 Kings 9:14-16).
Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, “I see a company.” And Joram said, “Take a horseman and send to meet them, and let him say, ‘Is it peace?’ ” So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, “Thus says the king, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Jehu said, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.” And the watchman reported, saying, “The messenger reached them, but he is not coming back.”
1. So, Joram’s watchman goes out to meet him and ask if Jehu comes in peace. Jehu’s response is “Um, no. Fall in line behind me or else!” He does not flinch and he does not stutter. The watchman hears the authority in his voice and falls in line.
This scene feels like it is straight out of a John Wayne Western!
Joram gets the report and doesn’t understand what happened, so he tries again.
Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, “Thus the king has said, ‘Is it peace?’ ” And Jehu answered, “What do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me.”
2. And the watchman does! Jehu has radical confidence in his calling.
Still confused, Joram asks for input from the third-string watchman...
Again the watchman reported, “He reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.”
Other translations say that he is riding like a “madman”.
It appears Jehu is riding toward Jezreel like a horse of the apocolyse.
Joram, confused figures that he needs to talk to Jehu himself. He tells his servants to hitch up his chariot and, though wounded, he goes out to confront him! He has his nephew, the king of Judah,go with him (A2). Then this happens...
Joram said, “Make ready.” And they made ready his chariot. Then Joram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah set out, each in his chariot, and went to meet Jehu, and met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He answered, “What peace can there be, so long as the whorings and the sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many?” Then Joram reined about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!” And Jehu drew his bow with his full strength, and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot. Jehu said to Bidkar his aide, “Take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember, when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how the Lord made this pronouncement against him: ‘As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons—declares the Lord—I will repay you on this plot of ground.’ Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground, in accordance with the word of the Lord.”
Joram goes out, “Hey Jehu, what’s going on?” Jehu, confident in his calling as an instrument of God’s judgment on Ahab’s family, declares to Joram that he is about to receive the wrath of God because of his mother.
Then Jehu quickly shoots Joram in the back with an arrow. Then he throws his body on Naboth’s property in fulfillment of prophecy.
3. Next, Jehu pursues and has his men to assassinate Ahazariah the king of Judah. 2 Kings 9:27-28,
4. Next, Jehu goes and finds Jezebel and tells her servants to throw her out of the tower she was in (2 Kings 9:30-33. “Who is on my side? Who?” As God foretold, she is not buried because she is eaten by dogs.)
5. Then, Jehu sends letters to Samaria to instruct that all of Ahab’s remaining 70 sons are killed. 2 Kings 10:6-8
So Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his great men and his close friends and his priests, until he left him none remaining.
6. Then, he comes across some relatives of Ahaziah, the dead king of Judah and nephew of Joram, all connected to Ahab, and he proceeds to execute all 42 of them. 2 Kings 10:14
All the while saying, “Come with me and see my zeal for the Lord.” 2 Kings 10:16
7. Last, but not least, he tricks and kills all the prophets of Baal in Israel. 2 Kings 10:18-26
If you are keeping count, there are about 7 times that Jehu barks orders and people listen (most of the time his opponents who were terrified of him). He is a man of confidence in his calling.
So the Lord fulfilled His wrath through Jehu, His instrument of judgment.
So there are a few lessons from this gruesome story...
First, It reveals God’s true feelings about sin. He hates sin and rebellion against His Law (all sin and rebellion). It is a major offense to His glory.
We have a tendency to think that sin is not so bad and that stories of God’s judgment are an over-reaction. Instead, knowing that the Word is the standard we must adjust to, the reality is that we have an under-reaction toward sin. In Scripture, the punishment fits the crime, seeing that this is the punishment, the crime must be worse than we believed.
If this is not persuasive enough, then look at the magnitude of the solution necessary to appease God’s wrath for our sin- That He sent His One and Only Son to die as a wrath-bearing Sacrifice for us. This is a shocking solution which is the only thing which could overcome God’s hatred for sin.
Secondly, given this hatred toward sin, God promises to judge the wicked with His wrath, and it is not a pretty picture. God keeps His promises.
Johnny Cash- God’s gonna cut them down.
Please take this as a warning, The promise remains that one day, everyone who’s sin has not been repented of and covered by the blood of Jesus will face the wrath of God at the white throne judgment.
Matching a major theme in this story is that “There is no peace for the wicked.”
Stories like this one lend understanding to the black bead in our gospel presentations.
Another lesson, the one I want to emphasize this morning is how Jehu took hold of his calling and lived it out with confidence and zeal.
He understood he was to become king by being God’s instrument of judgment against Ahab’s house. He went after this mission like a “madman”.
So, look at his zeal for the Lord and his confidence in calling, as an instrument of God’s wrath.
Now compare it to us. We have received a different calling. Our calling in Christ is to be instruments of God’s grace by spreading the good news of the Gospel. This is our reason for existence. Given the wonderful nature of our calling, how much more zeal and confidence should we have as a people who bear the gospel, which can rescue people from God’s wrath for their sin?
How is your confidence? How is your zeal? Would anyone you know ever describe you as a madman for the gospel? Would anyone know you are called to spread it? We are a rather tepid and fearful group aren’t we? We approach our calling with about as much zeal and confidence as a slug.
Meanwhile, billions in the world face a great white throne judgment (Rev 20:11-15).
Wouldn’t it be something if a change happened among us? It would be incredible if a fire began to burn in our hearts which made us ooze Christian confidence. What if people described you as a furiously working for the gospel- telling people about Jesus and walking with them to learn His ways? Calling them to salvation?
So how do you grow in confidence in your calling?
Understand and own God’s call on your life as stated in Scripture.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Chosen, a race (offspring, family, race, nation, kind), royal, priesthood (direct access to God), holy, God’s possession (own emphasizes that we belong to God), so that you may testify about His glory (specifically in relation to the redemption he performed in your life, and that He can perform in theirs).
and...
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Jesus sends us in His authority (all authority in heaven and on earth), Make disciples, baptize them, teach them, He goes with us. This is like the charge in a battle.
and...
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We are witnesses to all the peoples of the world, endowed with power by the Holy Spirit- the same Spirit of God which raised Christ from the dead.
and...
All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
We hold the key to the redemption of the wicked, that they maybe reconciled with God. We are His ambassadors.
We’ve been given a grand calling to live holy lives, glorify God, proclaim His Word, win the lost, disciple the saved.
You need to ask yourself if you really believe this. You need to move toward owning this calling.
2. Ask the Lord in prayer to stir the zeal in your heart.
3. Start obeying even if you have no zeal, then watch it grow. Fall in line.
4. Get the training you need to overcome hesitation. Get with the several in our church who are getting trained and they can train you to.
5. Surround yourself with people who share and embrace this calling.
6. Remove the things in your life which make you spiritually anemic.
Invitation to those who have not called on Jesus to be Savior and Lord. The story of Jehu is a foreshadowing of the spiritual judgment to come to you for your sin. It will not be a pretty sight. But you need not face His wrath.
ABC
Come and be saved from danger.
Come and start a new life as a new person.
Be Baptized.
Join the church.
Answer the call to go into vocational ministry or missions
Support the mission with your time, talent, and treasure.
Quit the excuses.