Episode Transcript
WEBVTT
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So let's turn our attention to second
chronicles, chapter twenty two. In Chapter
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Twenty one, Jero Jehoram has just
died, and now we see his son
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becoming king, and we're given an
account of his brief kingship, and we
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will learn much about our Lord from
it. Second Chronicles twenty two, and
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the inhabitants of Jerusalem made ah Ahaziah, his youngest son, King in his
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place, for the band of men
that came with the Arabians to the camp
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had killed all the older sons.
So Aziah, the son of Jehoram,
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King of Judah, reigned a Haziah
was twenty two years old when he began
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to reign, and he reigned one
year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was
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Atheliah, the grand daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of
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the House of Ahab, for his
mother was his counselor in doing wickedly,
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he did what was evil in the
side of the Lord, as the House
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of Ahab had done, for after
the death of his father, they were
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his counselors to his undoing. He
even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram,
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the son of Ahab, King of
Israel to make war against Haza L,
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King of Syria. At ramoth,
Gillian and the Syrians Wounded Joram and
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he returned to be healed at Jez
real of the wounds that he had received
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at Rama when he fought against Hazael, King of Syria. Then Ahziah,
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the son of Jehoram, King of
Judah, went down to see Joram,
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the son of Ahab, in jazz
real because he was wounded. But it
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was ordained by God that the downfall
of Ahaziah should come about through his going
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to visit Joram, for when he
came there, he went out with Jehoram
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to meet Jay who, the son
of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed
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to destroy the House of Ahab.
And when Jayhu was executing judgment on the
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House of Ahab, he met the
princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's
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brothers who attended Ahaziah, and he
killed them. He searched for a Haziah
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and he was captured while hiding in
Samaria and he was brought to Jay who
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and put to death. They buried
him for they said he is the grandson
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of Jehoshah Fat, who sought the
Lord with all his heart, and the
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house of a Haziah had no one
able to rule the kingdom. Now,
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when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead,
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she arose and destroyed all the royal
family of the House of Judah. But
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JEHOSHAH beef, the daughter of the
king, took Joe as the son of
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a Haziah and stole him away from
among the king's sons who are about to
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be put to death, and she
put him and his nurse in a bedroom.
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Thus, Jehosha Bief, the daughter
of the of King Jehoran and the
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wife of Johoyda the priest, because
she was the sister of Ahaziah, hid
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him from Atheliah so that she did
not put him to death, and he
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remained with them six years, hidden
in the House of God, while Atheliah
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reigned over the land. Sends the
Reading of God's word, may He bless
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it to us. His story is
about a lot of things. One of
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the things it's about, one of
the main things it's about. Plot wise,
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anyway, as the history is being
chronicled here, it's about a wicked
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woman, a very wicked woman who
moves from the background of the story to
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the foreground. She destroys the House
of Judah, the Royal Family, and
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brings it to the very brink of
a extinction, which is to say that
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she seems to almost undo the very
promise that God, God, had swore
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to David that one day one of
his sons would be set on his throne
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and be established forever. But this
promise would not be undone. As it
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happens every time and as we've seen
over and over and over again in chronicles,
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the oath of the Lord remains strong
despite all human political maneuvers, despite
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every strength and every work that anyone
can throw against the Lord's promise. The
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oath of the Lord will not be
undone. He will not allow it to
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happen. So despite the cunning of
evil, perhaps even blood flowing in the
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palace and the bedrooms in the hallways, God is able to save this son,
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Joe Ash. God overcomes evil with
good, though this is something of
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the main lines of the story,
I admit that the story is not easy
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to tell and I will warn you
that, if you don't realize it already,
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it's going to require a certain amount
of attention on your part. I
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will do my best to make the
details clear, but there are quite a
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few difficulties in this chapter if especially
if you're not familiar, for familiar with
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it. I'm going to set some
of these out for you just to sort
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of put them up front so you
kind of understand some of the difficulties in
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understanding the passage, and then we'll
dig in and and think through the story
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together and then make some conclusions about
what God means by it why he has
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it here in the Bible for us. So, first of all, why
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is this story a little bit difficult
to follow? Well, for one reason
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there are names that switch back and
forth, that are the same name.
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Now we might sort of be annoyed
by that and wonder why do they do
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this, but of course we do
this too. You know, you have
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a friend named James and you call
him Jim. You have a friend named
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William and you call him bill.
Those names have seemingly nothing to do with
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each other and there's spelling, and
yet that is what they are. They
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are the same name and the same
kind of thing happens in Hebrew. So,
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for example, the King Jehoam in
the King of Israel is also Ko
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called King Joram sort of back and
forth in this passage, and if you
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don't catch that it can be difficult
to follow. Also, if your memory
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is good, you may remember that
the youngest son of another Jehoram, and
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we'll come back to that in a
second, but the youngest son of the
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King of Judah was called Jehoah,
Jehoahs in the last Chapter I'm here.
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His name is Ahaziah. So in
case you're wondering, I thought this other
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guy was the youngest son. Well, it's the same guy. So these
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are just again spelling issues. Ways
names work. It's not a big deal,
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but you have to sort of know
that in order to be able to
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follow at least more easily. So
that's the first thing to sort of be
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aware of, especially this the first
one I mentioned that Joram and Jehoram are
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the same person, James and Jim. So second thing to note that's also
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a little bit confusing, is that
there are two jehoram's, or two JIM's
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or two James's right, that there's
a two of them and they're both kings.
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One is king over Israel and the
other is king over Judah. Now
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this is confusing and if you're wondering, I thought he was the son of
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so and now he's fighting with this
guy. And it's because here there are
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two different guys, or two Jim's, we might say, Jehoram and Jehoram.
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Now. The main reason for all
this confusion, and there are other
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things too, which all point out
as we go along the way, is
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not just spelling in the differences between
Hebrew and English, and are unfamiliarity with
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the language and names and things like
that. The main reason for all the
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confusion is actually a theological reason.
There is a lot of sin going on
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in this chapter. The Kingdom of
God after Solomon's time had been divided into
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two kingdoms. This will be important
for you to remember. There is the
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kingdom in the north, which was
the Kingdom of Israel, and the Kingdom
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of in the south, which was
the Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of
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Israel had separated from God's promise,
had thrown out God's priests, had installed
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God's own worship that was against God. The continuing kingdom in the south,
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the Kingdom of Judah, is where
the Line of David continued to progress on
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what we see happening in these chapters
and the one before it and twenty one
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and twenty two, is these two
kingdoms mixing, but not in a unifying
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way, whether they're all coming around
Yahway to worship him again and be one
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people again under one king and under
one law. Instead, what we see
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is the darkness of Israel penetrating into
Judah and Judah welcoming them in many ways.
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And so that's why there's a lot
of confusion here, because things that
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shouldn't be mixing are mixing. Things
that shouldn't be confused are being confusing,
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and that even comes out in the
names itself, in the names themselves.
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So, for example, a he's
a Hasia in our chapter twenty too,
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is probably named after Authuliah, his
mother's brother, who is a King of
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Israel. Let me say that more
briefly. Ahaziah, the King of Judah
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in this chapter, is likely named
after an evil King of Israel. You
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see what I'm saying. There's a
mixing going on. Why are Judah's kings
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being named after Israelites, Israel's kings? That shouldn't be the case. So
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this is what some of the mixture
is going on. And if, at
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the end you feel a little confused
about the details. This is the point
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I want you to take home that
when we confuse things that shouldn't be confused,
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when goodness is being overcome by evil, it gets confusing. The mixture
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is bad. It's not just a
matter of names. There's nothing wrong with
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mixing names. It's it's symbolic,
though. It's symbolic of what's happening in
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these kingdoms, and what's happening is
not good. So now let's think about
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the story. Having quit these things
out a little bit, laid a little
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bit of groundwork that I hope will
help in understanding it. As I said,
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this story is about many things,
but it's especially about Atholia's rise to
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power. This is a disappointment,
by the way. The baby names department
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a pretty name. A terrible woman, though. Awful Leah, a terrible,
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wicked woman. Perhaps you haven't heard
of her before, but I bet
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you have heard of her mother,
Jezebel. Awful Leah was the daughter of
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Ahab. This is mentioned back in
Chapter Twenty one when she marries a Haziah's
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father, Jehoram. Think of it
this way. In the Kingdom of Judah,
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there was a king, his name
was Jehoram, and instead of marrying
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one of one of the daughters of
the Kingdom of Judah, he went to
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the wicked kingdom of the north,
the Kingdom of Israel, and he found
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himself a wife, but not just
any wife, the daughter of Ahab and
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Jezebel. For those of you who
don't remember Ahab and Jezebel, you might
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remember that Jezebel is the one who
established the worship of bail in a very
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significant way in Israel. Now,
God's priests had already been thrown out,
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altars had already been put up,
but Jezebel thought it was a high time
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to put a temple right there in
Samaria, in this kingdom, a temple
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to bail, a false god.
She establishes priests. Perhaps you remember the
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showdown that happens on Mount Carmel,
when Elijah, the Prophet of God,
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combats with the priests of bail,
with Jezebel and Ahab watching behind the scenes
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as the priests whip themselves and and
call down fire upon this sacrifice and do
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all kinds of things, hoping that
bail will prove himself good. But of
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course bills a false god. Bale
does nothing. You can establish temples to
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him, you can establish a priesthood. It makes no difference to God and
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Elijah. When he calls down fire
upon that altar, it consumes they sacrifice
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completely. It consumes all the water
that was around it. It would have
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had been soaked. and God is
vindicated, Elijah is vindicated, and many
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other things we could point to the
wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel. If I've
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mentioned a naboth's vineyard or the death
of many number of prophets of perhaps these
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will ring a bell. But the
point here for our stories that everything that
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Jezebel and Ahab had done in the
North was now being brought down into the
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Kingdom of Judah. Here's Athe Leah, her daughter, and she sees she
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desires nothing more than to follow in
the way of her mother. If we
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go back to Chapter Twenty one,
she marries a Jehoram and we read that
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he made the high places in the
hill country of Judah, these high places
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referring to places of false and idolatrous
worship, and he led the inhabitants of
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Jerusalem into hordem and made Judah go
astray. Things were so bad the idolatry
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was increasing in Judah, just like
it had in Israel, through Awfu Yah's
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presence there and Jehoram's acceptance and desire
of all of that, that Elijah,
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the very same Elijah who had been
railing against Ahab and Jezebel, who had
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been running for his life, now
writes a letter to the southern kingdom.
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Having dealt with all of this garbage
up north, he writes down South,
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and we have his letter. In
verse twelve. Elijah, the Prophet says.
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Thus says the Lord, the God
of David, your father, because
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you have not walked in the ways
of Jehosha fat, your father, or
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in the ways of Asa King of
Judah, but have walked in the ways
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of the kings of Israel and if
enticed Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem
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into hordom, as the house of
Ah Blood Israel into hordem, and you
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also have killed your brothers of your
father's house, who were better than you.
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Behold the Lord will bring a great
plague on you or on your people,
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your children, your wives and all
your possessions, and you yourself.
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He says, writing to Jehoram,
will have a severe sickness, with a
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disease of your bowels, until your
bowels come out because of the disease,
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day by day, and that's how
Jehoram dies. Now think about Aufuliah again,
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his wife, the daughter of Jezebel
and daughter of Ahab. Do you
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think it's time for her to learn
her lesson? Having seen what happened to
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her parents, having seen what happened
to her husband, having even experienced,
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if is, Elijah says, a
plague upon her as one of his wives,
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having seen the destruction of his possessions
and all other things, this is
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a time for repentance. This is
a time to wake up and say you
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do not cross the Lord God,
you do not cross the god of the
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God of Judah, the God of
David. Here even Elijah, the Prophet,
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who had spoken to her very own
parents, is now speaking to her
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husband and her household. So her
husband dies this terrible, ble gruesome,
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tragic death. Her son comes to
power, son she likely named after shore,
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or at least she and her husband
named after her brother Hasia. Has
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a Hazia learned his lesson? No, it says, I believe it's in
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verse six that his mother is his
undoing. It says in verse three that
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he walked in the ways of the
House of Ahab, for his mother was
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his counselor in doing wickedly. Next
week we're going to consider what Paul says
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in Romans Thirteen about giving honor and
respect to all governing authorities. This includes
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political leaders, it includes people in
our families, fathers, mothers, but
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every time we are called to submit
to someone, it is always in the
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Lord. The submission that God calls
us to give our authorities is not a
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blank check to our authorities to command
us to do things against his will.
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I don't think there are many examples
in the Bible that we can point to
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where a son or a daughter should
have definitely disobeyed mom or dad, but
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this is definitely one of them.
Ahaziah foolishly listened to his mother. His
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Mother did not teach him the ways
of God. His Mother did not teach
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him and tell him to follow in
the ways of good king, a son
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Jehoshaphat or David, but instead she
led him in the ways of Bale and
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the ways of Ahab and Jezebel,
and so like Jehoram, her husband,
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Azia, falls into exactly the same
problem. He wants to be like Israel
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and so he makes this stupid mistake. He follows the counselor of his father's
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and his mother and he goes to
Ahab, the King of j Israel,
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to make war against the king of
Syria. May Not seem like a big
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deal, a common enemy, but
it is a big deal. If Israel
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had come to Judah and said we're
repentant and we're coming back to the Lord
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and we want to be brothers and
united under the same cause again and to
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be reconciled and all of these things, well, then it would make sense
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to unite together and to go after
the Lord's enemies if they were causing them
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trouble, or to do whatever the
Lord had commanded them. But here we
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have is just the same old story
that we have seen many times and chronicles.
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Political maneuvering Israel and Judah not trusting
in God to protect them, to
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give them counsel to do as he
has called them to do. So,
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like Jehosha fat did stupidly and he
learned from it, he joins with Ahab,
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he joins with Ahab and he goes
out to battle. What Asia does
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not realize, however, is that
the House of Ahab is about to be
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itself undone. What Asia does not
realize, and it's recorded for us since
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the end of second kings, God
was raising up a king and Israel to
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set things right. That man's name
is Jayho. We hear that in our
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story Jay who was being raised up
to overthrow this evil king who had the
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same name and as is his father, Jehoram. He was going to take
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him down, and not out of
just mere wrath or pettiness or political maneuvering,
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but by the very will of God. We read of that in second
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kings, but we also read it
here when we read in verse eight that
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Jay who was executing judgment on the
House of Ahab. The Lord is patient
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and long suffering, but Ahab and
Jezebel and their sons and daughters had plunged
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Israel further and further and further and
deeper and deeper and deeper into wickedness and
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idolatry. And the Lord, as
he says, sometimes no more, we're
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done, it's over, and he
sends Jay who to exercise judgment a Haziah
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doesn't realize this, but it doesn't
really matter because it turns out to be
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a very a very fitting judgment,
I think, for a Haziah. Aziah
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wanted to share in the life and
the wealth and whatever else he saw in
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Israel. I think it's fitting that
he would also share in their death their
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judgment. This isn't just my opinion, this is what the word of God
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says in Verse Seven. It was
ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah
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should come about through his going to
visit Joe Ram, the other name for
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Jeho Ram. This is what happens. He tries to escape, it doesn't
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succeed. He's found in Samaria,
brought to Jaho and, as we read,
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he is put to death. I
want to pause here and remind you
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of the Psalm that we sang earlier, Psalm one, that one of the
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themes of this chapter is that of
counsel. Asia listens to the counsel of
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his mother, he listens to the
counsel of wicked people, he listens to
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the counsel of Ahab's House, and
he doesn't listen to Yah way. He
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doesn't listen to his words, his
teachers the history that he'd been given his
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grandfather, great grandfather and even further
back. Psalm one sells US blessed is
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the man who walks not in the
council of the wicked, nor stands in
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the way of sinners, nor sits
in the seat of scoffers. This is
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exactly what Ausia was doing. He
was surrounding himself just like his father had
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done in marrying Atheliah. He was
surrounding himself by wickedness, he was standing
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in the way of sinners, he
was sitting in the seat of scoffers.
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This is not a person who's blessed. This is a person who is cursed.
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We read of his fate later on
in the song, comparing it to
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the blessed man, who stands strong
like a tree, the one who delights
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in the law of the Lord.
The blessed one is like a tree planted
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by streams of water that yields its
fruit in its season, who's leaf does
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not wither. In all that he
does, he prospers. The wicked,
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like Asia, are not so.
They're like the chaff that the wind drives
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away. Therefore, the wicked will
not stand in the judgment, nor sinners
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in the congregation of the Righteous,
for the Lord knows the way of the
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righteous, but the way of the
wicked will perish. This is something that
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we must all remember, particularly as
we pick our spouses, as we pick
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our friends, as we choose those
who will surround us. And sometimes that
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means that even when we are brought, in the Providence of God, into
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certain situations, we must be on
guard. Ah Ziah was born to Aufuliah
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whether he wanted to or not,
but he's still on a responsibility to be
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discerning, to be wise, to
know the word of God, especially as
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a king. Now this would seem
to be the end of the story.
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The king is dead, just like
his father before him, and we expect
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something similar to happen the next king. One of the sons rises up,
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and then we will have to find
out if he's good or bad and go
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forth from there. But that's not
what happens. As bad as it is,
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it gets worse. We read in
verse ten, after the death of
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a Haziah, that his mother,
Autheliah, the mother of Ahzia, when
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she saw that her son was dead, arose and destroyed all the royal family
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of the House of Judah do you
know whose house she belongs to? The
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House of Judah. She was born
to Ahab and Jezebel, but she has
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been married into this house. You
know the WHO the sons are and the
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grandsons are. They're hers. And
she goes and sends out her mercenaries,
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or maybe she did it herself,
who knows? As she puts to death
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son after son, after son after
son and tries to eradicate the whole house.
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Blood everywhere, we see her great
wickedness and the wickedness of the evil
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one who, always, always,
always, is trying to put to death
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the Lord's anointed one, trying to
take the promise that God had made and
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break it. Here we see Satan
through this woman, trying to bring the
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House of David and the promise of
God to an end, to undo it,
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to make it extinct, and it
would seem like she succeeds, except
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for another woman. Verse Eleven were
introduced to her, Jehosha be if she
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is of the daughter of the king, she is a sister to Ahaziah.
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Here is a woman who, unlike
all these people around her, who had
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some discernment, who heard the word
of the Lord, who trusted him and
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she saved one of these sons and
she hid him away faithfully in the House
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of the Lord of for six years. An amazing thing. This woman is
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a woman that you should remember as
a great hero, as one who stood
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up against terrifying evil, likely certain
death if she were ever found nowt and
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she did a very risky thing by
stealing away this one that this crazed,
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wicked woman was seeking to destroy,
and she hid him and by this son
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the word of the Lord would continue. I think it's remarkable and important to
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point out that Jehosha Bieth's name means
the oath of the Lord, the oath
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of the Lord, that's what saves
everything. God's will cannot, will not
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be undone. What could be a
more desperate situation than to have all of
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the men and kings of Israel or
Judah, gladly handing themselves over to Israel
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and all her authority and power,
seeking to unite with her, seeking to
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join with her. Here is this
woman who comes in, this daughter of
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Jezebel, this daughter of Ahab,
brings Judah to the very same place that
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Israel was destroys all the suns.
It would seem to be over, except,
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of course, that it's not,
and it's never that way. When
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we considered Noah riding up above the
waters, or other children like Joseph being
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saved, not to mention, of
course, the greatest son of David,
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the greatest one of all, Jesus
himself, who also got caught up in
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a moment of infanticide and eradication.
Is King Herod was trying to destroy everyone
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who would seek to contend against his
rule. Again, Satan, trying to
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exercise his will, exercise his power
and break apart the bonds between the Lord
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and his anointed. But despite all
the political maneuvering, despite all the deception,
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despite all the lies and the foolishness, the Lord sits in heavens.
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We read in Psalm too, and
he laughs because, as we read in
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Psalm one, the wicked are like
chaff that he blows away. You know
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what chaff is? It's this very
light material, is sort of left over
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stuff that comes from grains. It
is very easily blown away. The slightest
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breeze just takes it off. It's
no problem for God, in other words,
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to exechite, execute his judgment,
to be sovereign over every situation.
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Despite the incredible power that Autho Leia
has and indeed ends up reigning for six
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years over the Kingdom of Judah,
this wicked queen of Israel ruling over Judah.
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God does not bat an eye.
Everything is ordained by him. Jay,
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who is risen, arises up because
of him. A Ha Ha Hasia
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falls down because of him. Joe
Ash will be made king because of him.
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The oath of the Lord never fails. And when Jesus comes into the
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world and survives all number of disasters, does I and comes into the world
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through all number of miracles, we
see this happening again, but in a
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final way. The dramatic nature of
Jesus is birth as dramatic as the story
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is here of Joe Ashes, a
birth and rescue. Jesus ought takes everything
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to a higher degree. Stars and
angels and Wise Men, all of these
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things to signify what God is doing
here. When Jesus comes into the world,
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things are coming to a completion,
and that's why Satan and his forces
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and the demons and all the rest, we see them kind of ramping up
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in a way, fighting and and
and cursing and seeking to undo this anointed
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one, this Messiah, but of
course it's not undone. Jesus goes to
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the cross willingly, bravely, courageously. He hangs on a cross, dies
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for all of us and our sins, and he offers to US repentance and
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hope and life and the righteousness that
is described in Psalm One, the righteousness
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that we see demonstrated by these people
who trust in the Lord God of Israel
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and Judah and everywhere. I want
to, ever, end by just mentioning
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bringing to conclusion these two essential truths
that we see here that are bound up
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in God. The one is simply
this, as I've stated already, those
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who cross him will always meet their
doom, and it's not being over dramatic
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to use a word like that.
When you consider a man's bowels coming out
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day by day and judgment of God, or when you consider God's will being
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done and striking down kings or any
number of people that he decides, God
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orchestrates everything. The Bible says it
is a fearful thing to fall into the
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hands of the Living God. He
upholds the good. The wicked will be
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blown away. But though God is
strong and sovereign and, most awesomely,
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good. He is not cruel.
He upholds the good and he puts to
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death the wicked, but he is
also merciful and Gracious. The terrors of
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his wrath that are described in terms
of this world, which will be experienced
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exponentially in the age to come,
all of this wrath is turned away and
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his favor is poured out on everyone
who comes to him and faith. We
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don't want to do that and we're
afraid to do that because we worry about
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people like Authulia or a Haber Jezebel. What will they do to me?
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What will people say? I might
die? But we have these stories recorded
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for us in scripture as a way
for the Lord to tell us over and
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over and over again that you will
be okay, that he knows how to
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preserve those who trust in him,
even in death. As we see our
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Lord Jesus Christ raised from the dead, as he promises that all who are
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in him will also have a share
in that resurrection life. We are told
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throughout the scriptures that we need not
fear and we can trust our Lord for
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everything. It's just one very quick
example to be reminded of His mercy and
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of His grace. Consider the man
Jehosha Fat, Asia's grandfather. In this
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chapter we read something very significant.
It versial nine. It says that Asia
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is buried because he is the grandson
of Jehoshah Fat, who sought Yah Way
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with all his heart. Ahziah didn't
seek the Lord with all his heart.
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Obviously it's speaking of Jehosha fat.
Asia, is grandson, gets this special
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treatment because of Jehosha Fat, who
sought the Lord with all his heart.
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Now this is significant because if you
go back and you read the story of
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Jehosha fat and you remember, Jehosha
fat was not perfect. This is a
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strong phrase. He sought the Lord
with all his heart. That's what it
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says, and yet when we read
the details of the story, we see
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that not every single moment of his
life was stellar. In fact, he
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did just as his grandson did.
Hear and that he went after an alliance
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with Ahab and sought to go out
in a similar kind of battle, and
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he barely escaped with his life.
But jehoshaphat did what All Saints Do,
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they repent of their sins. That's
why I bring him up, to remind
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you of God's graciousness. The way
that he sees us and the way that
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he treats us. He does it
require us to come to him when we
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finally are perfect in all things,
when our faith is finally totally strong?
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No, he requires to us to
come to him trusting, as Jehosha bift
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did in the oath of the Lord. That's all, to simply trust him
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and watch him work. This is
the God who rules the world and each
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of us have a responsibility to see
ourselves in the light of His Holiness.
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And so where do you stand?
Are you rebellious or are you repentant?
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Are you hard against him or hopeful
in him because of the promises the that
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he has made and the many ways
that he has taught us how he upholds
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them? I hope it's the latter, because if it is, you will
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be saved. Let's pray
