2 Kings 9:1-10:36
Lessons from the Acts of Jehu
In "Lessons from the Acts of Jehu," Pastor Albert N. Martin expounds 2 Kings 9-10, revealing four crucial truths about God amidst the brutal narrative of Jehu's anointing and judgment on Ahab's house and Baal worship. He argues that God is an avenging God, His Word is unfailingly certain, His government sovereignly uses even wicked men for His purposes, and His ultimate purpose of redemption cannot be frustrated. Martin applies these truths to both believers, who find comfort and motivation for prayer, and unbelievers, who are warned of impending judgment and called to repentance.
Primary Texts
Topics
Outline 10 sections · 63 min
- Introduction: The Darker Side of Elisha's Ministry and the Brutality of Jehu's Acts 0:04
- A Sketch of Jehu's Bloody Task 6:03
- The Overarching Message: Fourfold Word of God Concerning Himself 9:29
- The Character of God: An Avenging God 12:20
- Comfort and Prayer for Believers, Warning for Unbelievers 30:22
- The Word of God: Unfailing Certainty 33:02
- The Government of God: Sovereign Over Evil 40:59
- The Purpose of God: Unfrustratable Redemption 49:32
- Application: God's Purpose and the Church's Role 53:59
- Conclusion: Repent and Find Refuge in Christ 57:43
Key Quotes
“I suggest it is this, that the God of the Bible is an avenging God. The God of the Bible is an avenging God.”
“Now I say that is shocking. It is shocking on the ear of many moderns, to whom God, if He existed all, is nothing but a formless glob of unprincipled sentiment called love.”
“Not because revenge is utterly foreign to the revelation of God in the New Testament. No, no. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God for it is written, not vengeance was mine, but vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord.”
“And there seems to be a peculiar connection between man venting the vile and cruel dispositions of his heart in the shedding of the innocent blood of his fellow men that provokes the vengeance of God.”
“He has not changed. He is the avenging God. He is the God who says, I will repay.”
“And I say to my unconverted friends here tonight Payday Someday. The wages of sin is death.”
“I'm just asking you to embrace what God teaches concerning his government and so in these chapters full of bloodshed chapters which seem to indicate and I would not pronounce with finality but as I've tried to feel the flavor of the character of Jehu it does not seem as though he was actuated by the same motives of a Joshua whose sword was bloody many a time with the head of a Canaanite but who seemed to be driven with a passion for the honor and glory of God Jehu seems to be driven by a natural passion he seems to be a ferocious and a bloodthirsty and a heartless man”
“my friend if God treated his son when he was bearing sin like that how do you think he'll treat you if you go to judgment bearing your own sin he's an avenging God you better repent and flee and find refuge in Christ because he's the God whose word never changes and his promise is him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out”
Applications
The unconverted
- Understand that 'Payday Someday' will come for your sins; the wages of sin is death.
- Repent and flee to find refuge in Christ, because God is an avenging God whose wrath was poured out on His Son for sin.
All listeners
- Recognize that the God whose laws you trample and whose gospel you despise is an avenging God who will repay.
- Find comfort in God's avenging character, knowing He will repay for injustice.
- Pray that the Lord will keep you from allowing your heart to share in a sinful shadow of God's righteous vengeance.
- Don't grow impatient; cry out with the souls under the altar, 'How long, O Lord?' with a sanctified impatience for justice.
- Come to grips with the great teaching that God is on His throne, overruling even the wicked designs of men for His glory.
- Cry to God for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost, using spiritual weapons (Word, prayer, godliness) to engage the enemy.
- Be done with trifling and playing church; take up all your weapons and engage the enemy in the name of Jehovah God of hosts.
A full transcript is available on the tab. 116 paragraphs, roughly 63 minutes.
Introduction: The Darker Side of Elisha's Ministry and the Brutality of Jehu's Acts
I refer, of course, to the words spoken on the occasion of his being formally set apart for the prophetic office under the direction of his previous spiritual or his spiritual mentor or in the previous representative of God in Israel, the man of God, Elijah. 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 15 through 17. 1 Kings chapter 19, verses 15 through 17.
And the Lord said to him, that is, Elijah, Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when you have arrived you shall anoint Hazel king over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi shall you anoint king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Elisha the son of Shaphat, of Elisha the son of Shaphat, Abel, Mechola, you shall anoint as prophet in your place. And it shall come about that the one who escapes from the sword of Hazel, Jehu, shall put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha, shall put to death.
Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the needs that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not. Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the needs that have not bowed to Baal,
not a precise numerical amount, but seven being the number of perfection, a thousand being the number that speaks of a vast quantity. God is saying, I have the full role of my elect in Israel, and that role of God's elect must not only be made up in the actual calling of these people to faith in the true God, but in their preservation in times of impending judgment, judgment, and general spiritual declension. And as we have traced out the incidents recorded in the life and ministry of Elisha,
we have seen how again and again his ministry was marked by consolation and provision for the godly remnant in Israel. Whether it's a widow of one of the sons of the prophets, who is destitute of earthly means of support, and Elisha ministers to her need, or a poor young preacher boy who loses his faith, or a poor young preacher boy who loses his faith, or a poor young preacher boy who loses a borrowed axe head and God performs a miracle to give it back to him, again and again the man of God, Elisha, is seen in this role of sustaining the claims of Jehovah in Israel and supporting those who had not bowed the knee to Baal.
But now in this section that we began to study several months ago when we came to 2 Kings chapter 8, the darker side of Elisha's ministry, begins to come into prominence. This is not the only time we have seen the darker side of judgment, for you remember on the very threshold of his ministry, there was the killing of that mob of young teenagers who smart-mouthed the prophet, and God sent she-bears out of the woods to consume them. But now at this point in the prophet's ministry, that darker side which was announced on the very occasion of his being, and set apart to the prophetic office,
begins to come into a more complete fulfillment. And in the last study together we saw the incident of the anointing of Hazel to be king over Syria, and Hazel and the nation of Syria would become a scourge in the hand of God with which to chastise his own people. Now in this chapter, chapter 9, which was read in your hearing of 2 Kings, and then I trust some of you read on into chapter 10, it is no understatement to say that the dominant characteristics are brutality and violence.
Now brutality and violence are realities in a world of sin, and therefore they are never ignored or omitted in the Word of God. Yet even those sections in which brutality and violence occur, violence dominate, God's Word says of those sections, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Even of these R-rated sections, R-rated for their brutality and violence,
of them Jesus could say, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeded out of the mouth of God. And so let us come then to this portion of the Word of God convinced that there is in reality life-giving, soul-nourishing food amidst all of the carnage, the bloodshed, and the brutality of these chapters. Let us come to them with the conviction that amidst the brutal deeds of men we shall find
A Sketch of Jehu's Bloody Task
the gracious revelation of the goodness and the mercy of God. Now, first of all, let me just sketch out in a matter of two minutes the basic facts of this section that will be the focal point of our study this evening. Beginning in chapter 9 of 2 Kings, we have the record of the first chapter of 2 Kings. We have the record of the first chapter of 2 Kings. We have the
record of the first chapter of 2 Kings. We have the record of the first chapter of 2 Kings. We have the record of Elisha's instigation of the anointing of Jehu to be king in Israel. Twenty years have transpired or passed since the word read in your hearing at the beginning of our study tonight was given. God spoke to the prophet Elijah, and we would gather from that word that he
personally would anoint Jehu to be king in Israel, to be an instrument in God's hands, to bring judgment particularly upon the house of Ahab. But that commission was not so much to Elijah in his person, but to Elijah in his office. And so when into that office comes the man of God, Elisha, that commission is now brought to pass twenty years subsequent to its initial utterance, and the man of God, Elisha, calls upon one of the sons of the prophets, and we are told in verse 4 that he will be the son of the prophets. And we are told in verse 4 that he will be the son of the And he was a young man, and he was given no easy task to barge, as it were, right into the assembly
of the leaders of Israel and there to announce that he had a message from God with respect to the captain among the captains and among the leaders, even Jehu. Once he is anointed, and this transaction apparently takes place secretly, and Jehu apprises others of what has happened, he is immediately recognized as king, according to verse 13. Now no sooner is he recognized as king, but he begins his bloody task of assassination with respect to the present king, Jehoram,
or Joram. Both names are used of the one man, Joram, or Jehoram. And then he proceeds to the slaying of Jezebel, and then on into chapter 12, chapter 10. And which is perhaps the bloodiest and most brutal of all the chapters, we see him exterminating the entire household of Ahab, and then exterminating all of the leaders of Baal worship in Israel. So
that when he is done, the word of God says in chapter 10 and verse 28, thus Jehu eradicated Baal out of Israel. And the summary then, of what he did, verse 34, now the rest of the acts of Jehu and all that he did in all his might, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the king of Israel? So in short, that is a summary of the main events and facts which transpired in chapters 9 and 10 of 2 Kings. Now why has God recorded these brutal and bloody and gruesome events in the
The Overarching Message: Fourfold Word of God Concerning Himself
holy word? Well certainly not to give fuel for people who have a morbid curiosity for brutality and for violence. And certainly he has not put these things here for skeptics to have fuel with which to feed the flames of their unbelieving skepticism. But rather God has put these things in his word in order to reveal to us some very vital facts about things concerning himself.
And as we address ourselves to the message of this passage, I want to suggest that its great and overarching message is a message concerning our great God. And I would like to trace out with you tonight what I am calling the fourfold message or word of God concerning himself contained in these chapters. First of all, there is a word concerning the character of God. Then we shall discover together that there is a word concerning the word of God, a word concerning the government
of God, and a word concerning the purpose of God. First of all then, this message is a message with respect to the character of God. Now nothing, nothing is of greater importance for every man, woman, and man to be a believer in the word of God than the word of God itself. Let us not doubt that any man, woman, boy or girl in this place, than that you and I think rightly about God. If the cry of the philosopher is know thyself, the cry of the
Bible is know thy God. We are called upon to think correctly about God. For it is God
who has made us. It is God to whom we are accountable. It is the living God before whom we will stand in judgment at the last moment. day. And in this passage there is an aspect of the character of God that is highlighted
in perhaps a manner which is not found in many other portions of the Word of God. Aspect of the character of God highlighted in this passage is an aspect of His character that is often ignored in our day and by many is flatly denied to exist in the character of God. Now, what is the word concerning the character of God that is highlighted in this passage that stands, as it were, in bold relief upon the very face of the passage? Well, I
The Character of God: An Avenging God
suggest it is this, that the God of the Bible is an avenging God. The God of the Bible is an avenging God. Now, the word avenge means to inflict punishment for wrongs done. When men violate God's law, when they spurn His calls to repent, when they abuse His people, and in particular, when they abuse His servants, God is committed to avenge them.
God is committed to avenge such activity with His own judgment. And you will notice that when the Son of the Prophet came into the company of Jehu and the other great ones in Israel, that this note of the avenging God of Israel was dominant in His message. I direct your attention now to 2 Kings chapter 9 and beginning with the middle part of verse 6. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I have anointed you king over the people of the Lord, even over Israel, and you shall
strike the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge. There's the key phrase. Jehu, you are being anointed as king for this specific purpose, that I, Jehovah, may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, that I may avenge the blood of my servants, the prophets, that I may avenge the blood of all the servants of the Lord at the hand of Jezebel, for the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I, now notice, not you, Jehu, but I will cut off from Ahab every male person, both bond and 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. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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through which I will cut off Ahab, through which I will make desolate the house of Ahab. And therefore there is no way in which we can be honest with this passage of Scripture without coming to the acknowledgment that the word it contains concerning the character of God is a word which declares that the God of the Bible is, present tense, not was, but is an avenging God.
So we are not reading an account primarily of the dealings of this cruel and vengeful man, Jehu. But in chapters 9 and 10, amidst all of the carnage and bloodshed and brutality, we are viewing the hand of God revealing the unchanging heart of God. Now I say that is shocking. It is shocking on the ear of many moderns, to whom God, if He existed all, is nothing but a formless glob of unprincipled sentiment called love.
What the world needs is love, sweet love. And if all of that can be rolled up into someone called God, so you can have a bumper sticker that says, If you smile, God loves you, then all is well. But that's not the message of this passage. The message of this passage is that the God of the Bible is an avenging God.
I will repay. I will avenge is the message of this portion. And God has always been that kind of God. When Moses is composing the song that summarizes God's dealings with Israel, it is called the Song of Moses, recorded in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy, chapter 32.
He celebrates in this song, on the one hand, the great mercy of God in the deliverance of His people, and on the other hand, the great wickedness and perversity of the people of God in spurning God's law and despising His grace. And in the midst of this song, celebrating the goodness of God, the perversity of the people of God, we have these vivid words in Deuteronomy 32, and verses 41 and following. If I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold on justice,
I will render vengeance on my adversaries and I will repay those who hate me. I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired leaders of the enemy, enemy. Rejoice, O nations, with his people, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance on his adversaries, and will atone for his land and for his people. The God of the Bible is the God of the song of Moses. He is the God who is to be praised
and worshipped by the nations, because he is an avenging God. But someone objects, Pastor Martin, don't you know your Bible well enough to know that in the coming of the Lord Jesus there is a toning down of the vengeance of God, and the New Testament emphasis falls upon the mercy and the love and the kindness of God, and this matter of him being an avenging God pales into insignificance before the blazing light of his love revealed in Jesus Christ. Well, no, my friend, I know my New Testament well enough to know that that notion is just
a notion spun out of the stuff of your own imagination. For if you will follow with me, I will read four or five New Testament texts, beginning in Romans, that great epistle of the grace of God, the kindness and favor of God in Christ to guilty sinners. And yet the God of Romans, chapters three through eight, the God of that grace, the grace of great salvation expounded and celebrated in those chapters, is the God who says in Romans 12 and verse 19, never take your own revenge, beloved. Why? Notice his reasoning.
Not because revenge is utterly foreign to the revelation of God in the New Testament. No, no. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God for it is written, not vengeance was mine, but vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Do those words sound familiar? They're taken right from the song of Moses. And God
is saying, I am the same God celebrated by Moses in his great song before his death. I am that God today. Vengeance is mine. I will.
Repay. Turn over to the book of Hebrews, that great epistle, which along with Romans is a watershed of New Testament teaching concerning the greatness of salvation in Christ. And in the setting of having expounded this great salvation under the new covenant, we read in Hebrews 10, verses 29 and following, how much severer punishment do you think he will deserve? He trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant
by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know him who said, and the writer can say we know him, and he's a changeless God, and if he has once said, vengeance is mine, I will repay. He will never change, for he is the Lord who changes not. And he quotes the book of Hebrews, verses 29 and following, how much severer punishment does he deserve?
Vengeance is mine. I will repay. And then over into 1 Thessalonians, I should say back into 1 Thessalonians, Paul is writing to this infant church formed under the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God. And yet he says in 1 Thessalonians 4 and verse 6, buttressing his exhortation to purity that no man should wrong his brother.
Or by defiling his wife in sexual immorality, that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter, because the Lord is avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you. Paul was only in Thessalonica for three weeks. And in the book of Acts, it tells us he was there for three Sabbaths, opening and alleging from the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ. But in the midst of his gospel preaching, he proclaimed that the God and Father of the
Lord Jesus was the God who avenges all high-handed indifference to his holy law, even when that law impinges upon the manner in which we gratify our sexual passions and appetites. And he says, What I am telling you in this epistle is simply a repetition of what I told you in my elementary gospel preaching. And then when we turn to the book of the Revelation, we find that the God who is worshiped, the God who is adored by angels and by perfected saints in his presence, is revealed as the same God.
In Revelation chapter 6, one of the most moving passages in all of the book of the Revelation, at least to my mind, we read in Revelation chapter 6 and verse 9, And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they maintained. Now here are perfected spirits in the presence of God, martyrs, who are so attached to Christ in love and faith that life itself was not precious if it could only be maintained. At the price of denying Christ, they are martyrs for their testimony.
Perfected saints made perfect in his presence. And from that state of the spirits of just men made perfect, notice their cry, verse 10, And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood? And as they prayed and sang about him on the cross, and prayed for him, he went into his presence ... .
Verse 11, Which of you drilled, O Lord, of the rain? And which of you on the earth were ... ?
Let me say this , In this particular part of Revelation, Galatians 3 verse 11 says, Let him who shall be called with a faith full of faith shall always be a king. There in Galatians 3 Chapter 36 it's an equivalence. In other words, You shall not know Him, whereas you shall never know Him. Because he didn't say, I am holy.
You must not speak in case of any quindiist belief who denies His true glory. an idol and not the true God. And he cannot be holy, for there would be lacking in his character something essential to holiness. Further on in the book of the Revelation, chapter 16, we find the same emphasis coming through. Chapter 16, verses 5 through 7.
And I heard the angel of the water saying, Now notice how God is worshipped. Righteous art thou who art and who wast, O holy one, because thou did'st judge these things. For they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it. And I heard the altar saying, Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous
are thy judgments. Here God is being worshipped as the God who avenges evil, the God of this world, the God of this whole universe. And the holy God who is worshipped is being worshipped as the God of this evil, the God of this world, the God who avenges evil, who meets out justice upon his enemies. And other passages could be brought forward from the book of the Revelation, but suffice it to say that the great word concerning the character of God in 2 Kings chapters 9 and 10 is a word which is confirmed throughout the length and breadth of the Scriptures that the God of the Bible is an avenging God.
And I suggest that there are few things which this generation needs to hear with greater clarity than that truth. That the God of the Bible is an avenging God who in these contexts you remember is particularly stirred to be an avenging God when innocent blood is shed. It was the innocent blood of that man Naboth who owned a vineyard upon which Jezebel set her fickle heart and schemed and lied with false witnesses to have a son. To have the man slain in his innocence.
And God says in chapter 9 and verse 26 that I will repay for the shedding of that innocent blood. And you'll notice in the passages of the book of the Revelation it was the cry, how long before you avenge the shedding of the innocent blood of the martyrs? And there seems to be a peculiar connection between man venting the vile and cruel dispositions of his heart in the shedding of the innocent blood of his fellow men that provokes the vengeance of God. No doubt it's rooted in the whole doctrine of man being made in the image of God.
And when men slay men brutally and heartlessly it's as though they are manifesting at this level their utter indifference to and hatred of the living God in whose image man has been made. And perhaps it's that which calls forth the image of God. And perhaps it's that which calls forth the image of God. And perhaps it's that which calls forth this avenging element of God's character more than anything else.
And if that's so, then I say there are few things this generation needs to hear with greater clarity than this message. Because the blood of the over million innocents slain in wounds in this country and the 50 million slain in Japan since the close of the Second World War and the countless millions in Russia and in other places where abortion, clinical abortions have become a way of life. Surely, surely if the blood of one man, Nabal, calls forth this violent death of a king, what must there be of a backlog
of the avenging God upon this generation?
As God beholds the brutal slaying of millions in Southeast Asia by the Marxist social manipulators who have literally exterminated millions.
No wonder God humbles us as a nation when we sit down at the diplomatic table with such butchers and treat them as though they were worthy of the dignity of international diplomacy.
When as a nation, at least in the past, having committed itself to the standard of the word of God concerning human dignity, we should be crying to the conscience of every nation, every nation that manipulates in terms of political philosophies that treat men as little things to be gotten rid of if it will advance the political cause.
Our generation needs to hear this word concerning the character of God. He has not changed. He is the avenging God. He is the God who says, I will repay.
Comfort and Prayer for Believers, Warning for Unbelievers
And my sinner friend, that's the God with whom you have to do. The God whose laws you are trampling underfoot this very night. The God whose gospel you despise. And in the language of Hebrews 10, you treat the holy things you hear, perhaps from mom and dad and from this pulpit and from others, you treat them as nothing worthy of your consideration.
You trample them underfoot as though they were dirt. To such, God says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. And dear child of God, you and I should find comfort in this aspect of God's character.
And when you see that which in the word of God is the basis of calling forth the vengeance of God, remember God's word, I will repay. And child of God, pray that the Lord will keep you from allowing your heart to share in a sinful shadow of that which is righteous in God's heart. Vengeance is mine. I will repay.
Don't grow impatient. Cry out with those souls under the altar, how long, O Lord? There is a way in which we can pray that without sin, for those are people confirmed in holiness in the presence of God. And there is a sanctified impatience.
And there should be something of that in our hearts. Lord, how long will you allow those heartless, cruel people to butcher people by the millions in Southeast Asia? How long will you allow men in power who will carry on their vicious extermination of human life? How long will you allow judges on the bench of our highest court that decree murder by their decisions?
Lord, how long? And we ought to find comfort, dear fellows, Christians, brothers and sisters, in knowing that when we pray in that manner, we blend our voices with the perfected saints under the altar who also cry, how long, O Lord, before you avenge our blood? But then in the second place, and I have taken more time on this first point because I do feel it is so vital to our generation, let me suggest that this passage contains not only a word concerning the character of God, but a word concerning the word of God itself. Stamped on this passage
The Word of God: Unfailing Certainty
again and again is the fact that God's word is a word of unfailing certainty. Way back in 1 Kings 19, the passage I read at the outset of our study tonight, God said to the prophet Elijah, Thou shalt anoint Haziel king over Syria. Thou shalt anoint Jehu to be king over Israel. Whoever escapes from the sword of Haziel shall Jehu slay.
Whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. And I can imagine some smart aleck who, if he had overheard that, would have said, Aha! God's word has failed! Elijah's gone to heaven!
Haziel's not been anointed king! Jehu's not been anointed king!
There were smart alecks then as there are now who love to come to the Bible and force it to say something God never intended it should say. In order to prove it has errors in it. You see, history was the infallible interpreter of the words of 1 Kings 19. If we simply look at them as they stand, we would think that Elijah was going to come one day into the presence of a man named Haziel, take a bottle of oil, pour it on his head, and say, Hey, Haziel, king over Syria.
And later on, he'd go to a man named Jehu, take another bottle of oil, pour it on his head, and say, Jehu, king over Israel. And that Elisha, would go around with a big, broad sword lopping off all the heads of the people that escaped from Haziel and from Jehu. But we know from the history that that was not what God meant. God can speak in language that adapts itself to all the forms of human expression.
And there is no untruth in what God has said. There is the imprecision at times of prophecy yet unfulfilled. But when it's fulfilled, we see precisely what God was saying. And what we see is that God's word was indeed an unfailing word and came to pass with absolute accuracy.
Twenty years pass, and in 2 Kings 9 and verse 6, Jehu is anointed to be king over Israel. And then the judgment begins upon the house of Ahab, starting with Joram, and then moving right on to the extermination, of the whole house of Ahab and ultimately all of the Baal worshipers. Notice in 1 Kings 21 and verse 23, the ancient prophecy, not ancient, but it's an old prophecy by the time Elisha is found in the chapter before us, 1 Kings 21-23, a prophecy was made with regard to Jezebel.
1 Kings 21-23, And of Jezebel also has the Lord spoken, saying, The dog shall eat Jezebel in the district of Jezreel. 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 14 years have passed, and Jezebel still carries on her unprincipled wickedness. She is still, as it were, the mother of all harlotries in Israel as she is addressed by Jehu. She is the propagator of Baal worship, harlotry, of the worst kind, and yet she seems to go on utterly exempt from this word that dogs are going to eat her flesh.
And yet we come to chapter 9 and Mr. Hildebrand read the passage in our hearing, a gruesome picture. As she is thrown down from that parapet and her blood is spattered hither and yon and she's trampled underfoot and when Jehu has second thoughts and says, Well, she is a king's daughter, let's give her a decent burial when they go to bury her, they find, no, the word of God has been fulfilled. If she were to have had a decent burial and the dogs did not dig her up and eat her, the word of God would have failed, but the word of God did not fail.
God had said, The dogs shall eat her flesh. And the text tells us that when they went to bury her, verse 35, but they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands. Then on into 2 Kings, chapter 9, verses 33 through 37. You have them, sorry, that's the passage we've just consulted, fulfilling the promise of God.
And then 2 Kings chapter 10 and verse 10. Know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord, which the Lord spake concerning the house of Ahab. For the Lord has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah. Verse 17.
Of the same chapter. And when he came to Samaria, he killed all who remained to Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed him according to the word of the Lord which he spoke to Elijah. And in each successive step of Jesus' brutal dealings, there is this capstone statement. What he did was a fulfillment of the word of God.
The word of the Lord. What is God telling us then in this passage? He's telling us something about his word. He is telling us that his word cannot fail.
That forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven or in the language of our Lord till heaven and earth pass away. His word shall not pass. Therefore, all of the promises he has made will indeed find fulfillment in his own time and way. And all of the threats will be executed.
One wonders how many times Jezebel went to bed at night with a sneer at the corner of her lips for she had no doubt been told of this prophecy the previous history indicates that she was not ignorant of the sayings of the prophets with respect to her. And how many a time perhaps she drifted off to sleep gloating as it were that no dogs had eaten her flesh. What passed through her mind from the time she was killed to the time she was let loose from the top of the parapet until she hit the bottom.
God's word is indeed fulfilled.
I heard a preacher many years ago who preached what is a bad thing to preach a famous sermon. But he had preached this sermon in many, many places and often had been asked to preach it. And though there was something excessively theatrical about the preaching I shall never forget the title preaching on the whole subject of Jezebel's ultimate judgment the title to his sermon was Payday Someday.
Payday Someday. And I say to my unconverted friends here tonight Payday Someday. The wages of sin is death.
The soul that sinneth shall die. He that believeth not shall be damned.
Those words are words that perhaps you think of when you drift off to sleep at night but you see them. But you smile a smile of triumph saying, ha, hadn't happened to me. My friend, Payday Someday.
The Government of God: Sovereign Over Evil
This passage contains a word about the word of God. It is an unfailing and a certain word. But then thirdly it not only contains a word about the character of God He is an avenging God. A word about the word of God it is an honoring faithful word but it contains a word concerning the government.
The Bible teaches from Genesis to Revelation that God is king in His world. According to the language of Ephesians 1.11 He works all things after the counsel of His own will. Or in the language of Psalm 115.3
Our God is in the heavens He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased. But now that teaching has great problems and mysteries. Because it means that even in a world where evil operates God is king. And evil does not operate somewhere out there under a self-governing impulse and power.
That if God works all things after the counsel of His will then somehow even evil is under His control yet. Not so as to stain the character of God with being the author of sin. God cannot be tempted with evil neither. Neither tempteth He any man to sin is the teaching of James 1.
Well then you see this is a problem. A problem concerning the government of God. And this passage contains some very helpful instruction about that very issue. Because in this passage we are told that God can use men as His instruments who in no way could be called His loving servants.
It is said of David that he fulfilled the will of God in his generation. He did it as a man after God's own heart. He did it as a servant of God. But not this man Jehu.
He became an instrument in the hand of God so much so that you'll remember the words I emphasized earlier. Upon His very anointing He was told Jehu I'm going to do this work. Oh yes you're being anointed as king to be anointed to be my instrument but I stand behind you. It is my work to bring judgment upon the house of Ahab and these other terrible things that he was to accomplish.
Concerning the man Jehu himself notice what is said of him in 2 Kings 10 verses 28 to 31. In spite of all of this judgment that he brought upon the Baal worshippers in the house of Ahab verse 29 however as for the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat that was a half-baked Jehovah worship carried on under the form of worshipping Jehovah in a calf or worshipping as representing him having been represented as a calf that's the sin of Jeroboam the son of Nebat wherewith he made Israel to sin from these Jehu did not depart
even the golden calves that were at Bethel and were at Dan and the Lord said to Jehu because you've done well in executing what is right in my eyes notice now the commendation is upon that which Jehu did in executing the very vengeance of God you did what is right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart your heart your sons of the fourth generation shall sit on the throne of Israel but Jehu was not careful to walk in the law
of the Lord the God of Israel with all his heart he did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam which he made Israel to sin you see what God is saying as he summarizes the place of this man Jehu he is saying Jehu you are an instrument in my hands and to the extent that you carried out my will as my executioner upon Ahab and upon Baal worship I will bring a temporal blessing upon your household for four generations but he was no true worshipper of Jehovah with an undivided heart and I say this contains a vital word concerning the government of God that God is able
without staining himself with man's sin so to govern and control the man's sin with the natural sinful passions of men's hearts that though they are not actuated by the honor of God and loving submission to the will of God they yet accomplish God's design and of course nowhere is that more patent than in the crucifixion of Christ for the scripture tells us they were gathered together to do whatsoever God's hand foreordained to be done and yet Peter points to those very people and says you by wicked hands took him and crucified and slew him you say I can't figure that out I don't ask you to
I'm just asking you to embrace what God teaches concerning his government and so in these chapters full of bloodshed chapters which seem to indicate and I would not pronounce with finality but as I've tried to feel the flavor of the character of Jehu it does not seem as though he was actuated by the same motives of a Joshua whose sword was bloody many a time with the head of a Canaanite but who seemed to be driven with a passion for the honor and glory of God Jehu seems to be driven by a natural passion he seems to be a ferocious and a bloodthirsty and a heartless man
who can kill and slay without blinking an eyelash or having a twitch or a twinge of concern when it's all over with and yet God without in any way pumping that spirit into the man sovereignly channels it to fulfill his own word and to accomplish his own vengeance upon wicked men I say that's a very helpful word concerning the government of God because you and I live within that framework do you stand back and say how can the Bible be true when it says God's working all things after the counsel of his will and yet he allows in the inner counsel of those who determine the policy
of the USSR to go down and to take over as it were that helpless country of Afghanistan how can God be on his throne in all of that and when we see the pictures of those poor little children with their bloated bodies and hear the reports of the thousands who died upon the high seas and others who died in camps and refugee compounds we say how can it be amidst all of this you'll find no comfort my friend ultimately until you come to grips with this great teaching of this passage God is on his throne and even the wicked designs of men and the brutality and the cruelty in a way that makes
no sense to us now is being overruled by a sovereign God and will one day ultimately redound to his glory what could be more ungodly than the scheming godless wickedness of that painted witch called Jezebel what could be worse than the spineless simpering wickedness of an Ahab who has no backbone but is the lackey of that wicked wife that he took to himself what could be more unlike God than some of the cruel vengeance of Jehu that does not seem to be activated by righteous motives well in all of this
The Purpose of God: Unfrustratable Redemption
God is on his throat and then finally this passage contains not only a word about God about his word about his government and I'm glad I can close on this note it contains a word concerning the purpose of God you remember the ancient promise you're reminded of it many times in this place no sooner had man sinned than God comes as a seeking God and we read in Genesis 3 and verse 15 that God commits himself to a mighty work of redemption that will bruise the seed of the serpent in the process the heel of the seed of the woman will be bruised but the head
of the serpent will be crushed my language was imprecise God says he will crush the head of the serpent but the seed of the woman will be bruised in the process well in the unfolding of that great first gospel promise God brings as it were one of his most crucial promises to Abraham in Genesis 12 and he reiterates it in Genesis 15 and again in Genesis 17 and he says of Abraham I will make you the father of a nation I will make you the father of many nations and your seed will be as multitudinous as the grains upon the seashore the sand upon the seashore and the stars of the heaven well it's interesting
toward the conclusion of this gruesome section in 2nd Kings chapter 13 we have a very interesting word in verse 23 2nd Kings 13 and verse 23 perhaps we should read verse 22 in connection with it now Haziel king of Syria had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz but the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of his covenant with the with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and would not destroy them or cast them out from his presence until now
you see nestled amidst all of this that is sickening to read is the statement that God was mindful of his covenant promise to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob and according to the New Testament those promises had in view not primarily that earthly nation but ultimately that great seed of Abraham who is Christ in whom all of the promises find their fulfillment what you and I need to do when we come to a passage such as 2nd Kings 9 read in your hearing tonight 2nd Kings 10 in which we read of the extermination of Ahab's household and then the extermination of all the
Baal worshippers through the guile of Jehu we need to stand back and say this is God's purpose of redemption yes it is cutting a channel through gore and blood and viciousness and brutality but God is determined to do what he's determined to preserve that earthly seed of Abraham until the great promised seed capital S should come so if he allows Ahab and his successors to turn Israel away from the worship of Jehovah Messiah would not have a channel for this to come and God is saying in these chapters
I am so committed to the salvation of those sinners sitting in Trinity Baptist Church June 22nd 19 I am so committed that I'll anoint to Jehu and by means of the violence of this man I will exterminate Ahab and his household I'll blot out Baal worship why? I'm committed to saving a great multitude whom no man can number out of every kindred tribe and tongue and nation and so a passage such as this contains a comforting word concerning the purpose of God and that purpose of redemption cannot be frustrated and so God
Application: God's Purpose and the Church's Role
at times must use what we would say violent hands with which to advance his purpose but remember it's only because of the perversity of man's sin and not for anything that is in God and so it should be our consolation this night as we see the Jezebels of our own generation and I won't name them but they are manifold the leaders of the so-called feminist movement the leaders of the so-called movement for the rights of a woman over her own body as we see such and their male counterparts as we see those who would
tell us within and without the church that this and that thing condemned by the word of God is no longer to be regarded as sin let us remember that God may have to bring some severe judgments to humble a nation that dares to rear back on its hind legs and defy the almighty with such blatant and open defiance but as he does it is only because he's committed to save a people for himself and if this nation will continue to be a nation through which as it were ungodliness is channeled to the rest of the world to preserve
enough sanity for the proclamation of the gospel God may have to blot it out my prayer is that he would not because it is still such a channel in bringing the gospel and with the great resources and with the wealth of heritage that is ours surely we should cry to God for a mighty outpouring of the Holy Ghost that God would come not with the sword of the Jehu for that is no longer his method unless he is pleased to use some civil power to do that some nation but as far as the church is concerned God has put in our hands not carnal weapons but those weapons which are mighty
through God to the pulling down of strongholds and our weapons are the sword of the spirit which is the word of God our weapons are all prayer by which we wrestle and seek to prevail our weapons are godliness of life zealousness for the advancement of the kingdom of Christ and I call upon you my fellow members of Trinity Church to cry to God that we may be done with every bit of trifling that we may be done with every bit of playing church and playing at the things of Christ and take all of our weapons and engage the enemy in the name of Jehovah God of hosts and pray that in our day we shall see
the Lord advance his purposes of redemption in mercy and not in judgment I say this passage contains then a very helpful word concerning the purpose of God and that's exactly what Peter said in second Peter when people are standing around laughing and saying Peter you're reminding us about the second coming our fathers told us about that and everything continues just as it always has been Peter says look account that the long suffering of God is salvation why doesn't God send thunderbolts or lightning bolts out of heaven and strike dead those that defy him with such shamelessness because now
Conclusion: Repent and Find Refuge in Christ
is the day of salvation and the door of mercy still stands open my dear unconverted friend I've told you tonight from the scriptures I didn't spin it out of the stuff of my own imagination that God's an avenging God if you don't believe it go to Calvary look at this God as an avenging God when he pours out his wrath upon his son when he crushes him beneath the load of our sin until the son cries my God my God why have you forsaken me my friend if God treated his son when he was bearing sin like that how do you think he'll treat you if you go to judgment bearing your own sin he's an avenging God you better repent and flee
and find refuge in Christ because he's the God whose word never changes and his promise is him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out he that believeth on the son hath life as many as received him to them gave he the right to become the children of God as sure as he is an avenging God he is the God of unchanging promise his word cannot fail and he is also that God whom we have seen who governs amidst all of the foul deeds and wickedness of men he has not abdicated his throne and his great purposes of redemption will ultimately be accomplished and all who have
fallen in have cast their lot with the Lamb and with his followers they shall stand with him in triumph and rejoice and say true and righteous are thy ways O Lord God the true and the holy for thou hast avenged thine enemies O to stand with him in the triumph of the last day it's an old song some of us associated with days when perhaps our theology was very thin at the edges but there's an awful lot of good heart theology in it some of you know it it will be worth it all when we see Jesus one
glimpse of his dear face all sorrow will erase so bravely run the race till we see Christ let us pray our father we bless you for these portions of your word which upon our first perusal shock us seem to be so foreign to the overall spirit of the scriptures and yet as we reflect upon them we see that it is our own darkened judgment
that would ever think such unworthy thoughts we thank you even for these brutal chapters we thank you that in them we come to know who you are we come to know something more of the trustworthiness of your word we come to understand something more of the mystery of your government and the certainty of your saving purposes write upon our hearts these truths make them profitable not only to the edification of your children but even to the salvation of some who are out of Christ we thank you for this day how we bless you for another Lord's day for another day of rest
day of all the weeks the best emblem of eternal rest and we do blend our voices with those souls who cry out from under the altar how long oh Lord we long to see the open sores of the world cleansed and healed by the return of our Lord Jesus we confess oh God we are not insensitive nor can we take any delight when we hear the reports of thousands starving and dying and brutally murdered Lord our hearts grieve as we think of the sickness of the world but our hearts
take hope and courage in the confidence that a new heavens and a new earth will indeed be ushered in at the return of our Lord Jesus a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness even so come Lord Jesus Amen
This transcript was generated by automated speech recognition and may contain errors. It is provided for study and reference only; the audio recording is the authoritative source.
Passages Expounded
This entire section of 2 Kings is the primary narrative being expounded, detailing Jehu's anointing and his execution of God's judgment.
Texts Expounded
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