Letters to the Churches Part 16

All right, grab a Bible something to write with we are going to get started Lord willing we'll actually get to the lesson

Bruce Burns is here Right, right, right.

Yes, sir Manassa yes

Yeah Would you say the people still guilty of sin even though yes

Yeah, well they actually took the truth and they cast it behind them they refused to listen to the truth

They wouldn't they wouldn't listen And so every step of the way second Kings makes this clear every step of the way that Manassa was doing these abominations the prophets were warning them and they would not listen and And so they wanted it so that these that God's Word had no say and what was going on in the temple and So they got what they wanted

And so you had an entire generation of people growing up with worship in the temple. That was absolutely syncretistically idolatrous and That's that's the way

Manassa wanted it. And so he got what he wanted and he murdered people who opposed him Yeah So, yeah

Okay, we're gonna pray we will get started and then I saw that hand go up premature there's pretty mature

Yes, I started to shake and control Is that what that is? Well, you are an author.

So, okay, let's pray Lord Jesus as we open up your word We ask through the power of your

Holy Spirit that we might rightly believe your word and believe confess and do according to what is Revealed there all of this we ask in the name of Jesus to the glory of Jesus.

Amen All right, Bruce you had you had your hand up pre maturely, but I saw that what is the question sir?

First there's how many are there? Yeah And Yeah That's well

God heard his prayer and God changed his mind indeed did I do you think

I misspoken my sermon Okay, so this actually

I think it first of all great question so the question has to do with how is it that Hezekiah That Hezekiah prevailed

Regarding God, okay. Okay. Elizabeth says Bruce Burns equals rabbit trails. You must have been here longer than a week.

Okay Okay, so here so let's take a look at the text 2nd Kings chapter 18

In the third year of Hosea the son of Ella the king of Israel Hezekiah the son of Ahaz King of Judah began to reign now, by the way

This is not this it's not in 18 that I want to go because the story is a little bit past Sennacherib and that account let me find this

Maybe in 20. Hold on a second here Yeah, here it is chapter 20. We know from the later portion of this chapter that he had a boil

And it sounds like it wet septic and he was gonna die of sepsis That's really you can kind of make a medical diagnosis from this and there's also a king of Israel who

I forget his name His symptoms that are described in such terms that we knew they had diabetes You know that it's kind of fascinating that they didn't have words for these at least

So, you know our modern medical terminology in those days Hezekiah became sick. He was at the point of death

Isaiah the prophet the son of Amos came to him and said to him thus says Yahweh set your house in order

You shall die. You shall not recover Well, that's kind of terse and to the point.

Okay, Isaiah clearly had no bedside manner. No empathy You're gonna die get to get your stuff together

Okay, so Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and he prayed to Yahweh saying now

Oh Yahweh Please remember how I've walked before you in faithfulness with a whole heart I have done what is good in your sight

Hezekiah wept bitterly and before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court The word of Yahweh came to him turn back and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people

Thus is Yahweh the God of David your father. I have heard your prayer. I've seen your tears

Behold, I will heal you on the third day you shall go up to the house of Yahweh and I will add 15 years to your life and I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria and I will defend this city for my own sake for my servant

David's And Isaiah said bring a cake of figs let them take it and lay it on the boil that he may recover

So cake of figs becomes the means of grace here, which is kind of weird But then

Hezekiah said to Isaiah What shall be the sign that Yahweh will heal me that I will go up to the house of Yahweh on the third day

Isaiah said this shall be the sign to you from Yahweh that Yahweh will do the thing that he has promised

Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or back ten steps and Hezekiah answered it's an easy thing for the shadow to lengthen ten steps rather than the shadow to go back ten steps and Isaiah the

Prophet called to Yahweh and he brought the shadow back ten steps by which it had gone down on the steps of Ahaz All right.

So there's your account. So you you see his prayer. He recalls that you know He weeps bitterly and so God answers his prayer and says, all right,

I'm gonna give you what you ask It's just a good theology regarding prayer. He didn't earn Earn this at all.

All right instead God heard his prayer. It doesn't say because you've done these good that works

It just says yeah, I've heard your prayer and I will grant you 15 more years Which by the way, I kind of have to ask the question because there's another account here about Hezekiah He seems to be a guy who seems to be a little bit focused on himself

And this this extra 15 years resulted in the birth of Manasseh who was 12 years old

So three years after this account Manasseh is born and this is the kid who takes

Israel straight down the road to perdition and I mean violently, so violently, so so but the the answer is he didn't earn he didn't earn the extra 15 years

God heard his prayer and decided to grant him his petition his request You'll know God hears our prayers and sometimes

God says, all right, but be careful what you ask for, right? Yeah vaguely familiar yes, yes

God changes his mind Right, and so one of the things I've said in the past and I'll say this regarding prayer is that sometimes

God writes his plans in pencil and When we pray

God goes hmm All right, and he erases what he had planned and he goes with the request of the of his

Saints You know, yes Bruce Okay Yes Okay, so you you are engaging in good theology sir, and I must commend you for this so the note the thing that was noted is that Isaiah the prophet that there were legitimate signs and wonders that affirmed his ministry and This is important because we'll note that periodically within the

Bible. There are signs and wonders and Generally, they are signs for the purpose of validating the ministry of a person who is an author of Scripture in this case

Isaiah legitimately is an author of Scripture and I've seen argumentation that he may be the author of this portion of the book of Second Kings So I'm not a hundred percent convinced, but it seems somewhat compelling.

All right, so But that that all that being said I have a sign gifts are for the purpose of validating the messenger and the message that they bring and so you'll note

Moses had signs and wonders the prophets had signs and wonders the Apostles had signs and wonders and That's the end the

You know, that's it period, you know And there were long long stretches of time without signs and wonders and we and the church did just fine

Without them. Okay, and so, you know the signs and wonders were given to validate those ministries, okay

I Mean, yeah, that's a good. That's a good point Yeah kid poor Hezekiah kid as he's getting towards the end of that 15 years.

He's gone. What day is it gonna be? You know, yes, James Yeah Yeah, but we don't hear him like skydiving without a parachute or anything like that Yeah, he did he didn't live recklessly

Yeah, you'll note that not even Jesus threw himself off the temple when tempted to do so because you know

You know God did not promise you 15 years if it and that includes just being stupid So, all right now real quick.

There was a question was Sunday school canceled last week Yes, it was and I'm calling an audible for next week because this is the first time since I've been at Kongsvinger that we have a compromise and so we have a full divine service with the

Lord's Supper and Confirmation next Sunday, which means we probably won't the the divine service will probably take all of an hour and a half

And then and so I'm calling an audible there will not be Sunday school next week so don't worry

Bruce Burns won't be able to change my mind on that but Anyway, so so be advised due to confirmation and Pentecost we will

We will be not having Sunday school next week because there's other things that have to be tended to so all of that being said we have been working our way through the book of Revelation and It's in this capacity that I want to consider a concept

Scripture is so clear The New Testament is explicitly clear that the Old Testament are types and shadows

And so when you consider the the archetypes and the themes and the stories that we see in the

Old Testament They're always had gonna have a connection to Christ and a New Testament Reality, does that make sense?

And so if I don't know if any of you have ever heard some of the wacker doodle Teachings out there that the

Jezebel spirit is stalking America. Have you have you guys heard this? You okay

It's true. There are there are all kinds of crazy teachings out there regarding the

Jezebel spirit And then and of course her daughter too. Did you know that Jezebel had a daughter?

We're gonna we're gonna learn about her today to Athalia, all right so she has a daughter and so the way the

Charismatics do it is is that they take the baddies of the Old Testament.

I'm using a UK euphemism here the baddies And and what they end up doing is turning them into demonic spirits that are hunting the world today

And so I mean even dr Michael Brown wrote a book recently about the

Jezebel spirit and all I can say is Okay now that being said

Jezebel the story of Jezebel and her judgment in the story of Athalia and her judgment and what comes what comes ends up coming to It's great stuff and it pictures in in type and shadow form

God's judgment against and I'll throw in a character we're gonna see it here in a minute the the whore of Babylon God's judgment of the whore of Babylon and And then the return of the real king is if you would it's kind of it's an amazing archetypal type thing if you're familiar with how

Christian allegory works Especially in like the Chronicles of Narnia and in the Lord of the Rings You kind of get the idea that that maybe

Tolkien and Lewis may have been ripping things off from the Bible Because they understand how the archetypes work so all that being said here we are in Revelation 17 and I'll introduce you to this if you remember in Revelation 13 that the devil was really mad and he decided he's gonna wage war with the

Saints. He has great wrath Because he knows his time is short. He's been cast out of heaven

He can no longer accuse the Saints because of the blood of the Lamb And so he's gonna wage war against the

Saints and he creates two mega weapons The first beast the ten -headed beast and then the other beast which is which in Revelation 16 is described as the false prophet

Here in Revelation 17, we'll see those same two beasts The ten -headed beast will be described in exactly the same kind of imagery

But the second beast is going to be described as the whore of Babylon and the whore of Babylon is the false prophet

This is false religion with false words designed to take you to the devil not to Christ.

That's the idea behind it and And the whore of Babylon is described in quite graphic detail

So a Revelation 17 then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me come

I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute Who is seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose?

Sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk Kind of a gross picture.

All right. So here's the thing This is where we have to pick up a kind of tease out a theme from the Old Testament If you know your

Old Testament prophets idolatry is oftentimes used by the prophets of the

Old Testament and described in terms of adultery and sexual immorality so this false prophet

Beast the whore of Babylon She is, you know sexually immoral and we're not talking

Necessarily about the actual physical deed She's sexually immoral because she is an idolatrous teaching the nations the church and the kings of the earth to participate in her idolatry so and he carried me away in the spirit into a

Wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names It had seven heads ten horns.

Does that sound familiar? That's the one that's the first beast right and the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet

Royalty colors and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls so royalty wealthy holding in her hands a golden cup full of abominations and impurities of her sexual immorality and on her forehead was written a name of A name of mystery

Babylon the Great the mother of prostitutes and of the earth's abominations

And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the Saints the blood of the martyrs of Jesus Now consider the implications here

The whore of Babylon is a false prophet. This is a religious figure and the fact that she is arrayed in purple and scarlet and Has committed sexual idolatry with the kingdoms of you know the kings of the earth what we're seeing here is if you would like the ultimate abominable combination of church and state and The whore of Babylon herself is is the great false prophetess of whatever this

Church state religion thingy is and she's drunk with the blood of the Saints, which means that real

Christians who oppose this false prophetess this whore of Babylon They they they have the privilege then of being martyred for Christ So note the religious persecution and the religious aspects of the persecution there

So then I saw her I marveled greatly, but the angel said to me why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and the ten horns

It carries her the beast that you saw Was and is not and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and then go to destruction the dwellers on the earth

Whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast

Because it was and is not and is to come now somebody pointed out that this that was and is not and is to come

This is like the opposite of you know is you know? How's it go with God who was and is and is to come talking about God?

It's a it's like a it's a complete flipping of the concept The God the run through God who was who is who is to come this beast is the one that was there's not and then it's

Still to come there are also seven kings five of whom have fallen one is yet And one one is the other has not yet come and when he does come he must remain only a little while as for the beast that that was and is not and it is an eighth, but it belongs to the seven and it goes to Destruction and then the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power

But they are to receive authority as kings for one hour Together with the beast these are of one mind and they had and they hand over their power and authority to the beast and they will make war on the lamb and the lamb will conquer them for he is the

Lord of Lords and the King of Kings and those with him are called chosen and faithful and then the angel said to me the waters that you saw where the prostitute is seated are peoples and Multitudes and nations and languages and the ten horns that you saw

They and the beast will hate the prostitute and they will make her desolate naked and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire

So kind of an interesting thing is is that this ultimate mega weapon once it served its purpose of?

Deceiving the nations and leading them to worship the first beast that once that's over The hatred and scorn for this thing comes about and it's eaten up obliterated

Kind of a fascinating concept It cancels itself. Yeah, I see a hand

Bruce. I'm starting to shake That's exactly right

So the false religion that leads to the worship of the beast once that once the beast arises

No need for the false religion anymore. Just destroy it all together So there is only one dark Lord and he does not share power.

It sounds like a Tolkien thing. Anyway, yeah Yeah, it sounds like a Tolkien quote, but yeah, I think you got it, right now with that I want you to consider then in the types and shadows a little bit of information as it relates to Jezebel because Jezebel is one of these characters that is so so so interesting and let's see here

Um Yeah, actually I'm getting ahead of myself here. I want to go a little farther back

So I want to go back into first Kings and we learn a little bit about Jezebel if you remember she is the wife of a

Hav and Jezeb her name you could you could really kind of pronounce it out this way

Jezebel it would probably be a right way of Looking at her name because she is and get the translation of this one.

She's the princess of Baal I'm the princess of Baal Okay, and she and she's married to the king of Israel.

And so we learn a few things about her And in fact,

I got to go back to 18 when we have the showdown at Mount Carmel if you remember there was a fellow by the who was sent out by a

Hav to go look for water and And Elijah had come back from you know

The region of Tyre and Sidon and as Obadiah was on the way behold Elijah met and Obadiah Recognized him fell on his face and said is that you my lord

Elijah and he answered it is I you go Tell your lord behold Elijah's here and he said how have

I sinned that you would Give your servant into the hand of a Hav to kill me as Yahweh your God lives

There is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you and when they would say he is not here

He would take an oath of the kingdom and the nation had if that the nation that had not found you and now you say

Go tell your lord behold Elijah's here as soon as I have gone from you the spirit of Yahweh will carry you

I know not where and so when I come and tell a Hav and he cannot find you He'll kill me

Although I your servant have feared Yahweh from my youth has it not been told my lord what I did when

Jezebel Killed the prophets of Yahweh, so you'll note that during the time during the three -year famine that took place without rain

It's not going to rain until Elijah says so the prophets of Yahweh We're saying to Jezebel and a

Hav it ain't gonna rain till Elijah says so so what does Jezebel do? Kill them kill them, you know, so they they get killed

So she killed the prophets of Yahweh how I hit a hundred men of Yahweh's prophets by fifties in a cave fed them with Bread and water that does not seem like a long -term solution

But at least they were able to escape for a bit. So only a hundred of those prophets survived. Yes, Bruce Yeah Yeah Yeah We have no right

So I think you make a good point I mean even Christ everything that he said and taught would be the

Word of God and John makes it very clear that if all the things that he said and taught and did had been recorded that there wouldn't be enough books in all the world to to contain them

But these things are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and by believing you might have Life in his name

So we have no problem saying that there have been valid prophecies and valid words of God given to humanity

That are lost they have not been recorded, you know God the Holy Spirit did not choose to have them recorded

No, I I understand what you're saying and I would I would tend to agree with you you know and but the purpose of the rhetoric we should add it to the

Bible is Is designed not to say that in practice that was always the case But more or less along the lines if you're really speaking

God's words to me That we should cherish them that they should be they should be Memorialized and by saying well,

I'm gonna add them to the back of my Bible. That would be me saying I View them as actual words of God, but alas, that's

I can't make sense of any of the so -called prophecies that have happened today so Yep, yep

Yeah, no, I think you have a reasonable point. Yeah. Yeah, it's a rhetorical point though Not one and if you push back on it like you did, yeah, it makes sense.

Yeah. All right continuing on here. So we know that Jezebel was a murderer and and Doubly so and if you remember at Mount Carmel the

Baal failed to show up he just was he was

AWOL and Elijah's postulated that he might have been using the bathroom, but when when

Baal did not show up and Yahweh did it resulted in the prophets of Baal all of them being killed that day they were all killed and Of course the right response would have been for a hob and Jezebel to say

Yahweh He is God and for them to repent But Jezebel alas she did not and it says as a hob told

Jezebel all that Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying so may the gods do to me and more

Also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow Then he was afraid he arose and ran for his life and came to better Sheba which belongs to Judah and then left his servant there so apparently she wasn't part of the repentance revival there at Mount Carmel and dug in if you would and then you'll note that throughout this portion of first Kings and on into second

Kings God shows complete patience when it comes to a hob and And on several occasions that for lack of a better way of putting it saved his bacon

Saved his bacon from the king of Syria saved his bacon several times and did so in a miraculous way

So that it would have been impossible for a hob to say that he saved himself It was no doubt

God acting mercifully and God calling him to repent Oddly enough near the end of a hob's life.

He does demonstrate some repentance Which is just crazy when you think about it

Jezebel. Yeah, not so much Okay, Jezebel is the Old Testament type and shadow of this whore of Babylon figure

So fast -forwarding a little bit then into second Kings God now is about ready to execute judgment on the house of a hob and Jezebel is still alive a hob.

No his sons You know have taken the throne of Israel one of them

There's been some intermarrying with the Southern Kingdom at this point So you have some of the blood of a hob in the kingdom of Judah But let's take a look at how this judgment then takes place at the hand of God Elisha the

Prophet called one of the sons of the prophets and said to him tie your garments Take this flask of oil in your hand go to Ramoth Gilead And when you arrive look for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi jumping

Jehoshaphat Anyway, sorry All right And go in and have him rise from among his fellows lead him to an inner chamber

Then take the flask of oil pour it on his head and says thus says Yahweh I anoint you king over Israel then open the door and flee don't linger so the

You know run away This is a drive -by anointing, that's correct

Okay so the young man The servant of the Prophet went to Ramoth Gilead and when he came behold the commanders of the army were in the council

And he said I have a word for you Oh commander and Jehu said to which of us all and he said to you

Oh commander So he arose and went into the house and the young man poured the oil on his head saying to him thus says

Yahweh the God Of Israel I anoint you king over the people of the Yahweh over Israel and you shall strike down the house of Ahab your master

So that I may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets the blood of all the servants of Yahweh For the whole house of Ahab shall perish and I will cut off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah and the dogs shall eat

Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel and None shall bury her and then he opened the door and fled

Run away Okay. Now note here when we when we were reading through the book of Revelation one of the themes was you have the

Saints who were martyred crying out to Christ how long O Lord before our blood is avenged and Jesus basically gives them a

Mai Tai and a chaise lounge and says relax for just a little bit longer The full number hasn't been brought in and so he has them, you know, he keeps them comfortable but the thing is is that one of the one of the major themes of judgment is

That God is the one who avenges and he avenges the blood of his

Saints So this is part of the reason why if we are ever called upon To confess

Christ in the face of being threatened with our death. Don't worry. Christ will avenge your blood

It doesn't sound like a great consolation at the time You're gonna go through your martyrdom, but at the same time keep this in mind.

So Exactly I did right that's what

Paul says I desire to be with Christ which is you know to be it's more desirable Yeah, I just Can't promise that you won't

Okay, can't promise that you won't but all of that being said here. You're gonna see that Jezebel has persisted in her idolatry

She has refused to repent. God has already gotten rid of her husband and And this after a long stretch where God showed nothing but kindness and mercy calling them to repent

Miraculously saving their bacon and then we also have to note this little thing because this is gonna come into play here in just a minute

So, do you remember? Absalom's Rebellion against his father

David. All right The his his fed his his coup d 'etat against his father

Absalom Yeah failure of forgiveness indeed. Yeah Until the day

David said all of your repentance means nothing you cannot be redeemed

Yeah Yeah, even with his with the son who had

Violated his own sister Was a hijack, yeah, so David showed kindness and mercy towards him and that really sent

Absalom into a complete rage But David exiled Absalom Absalom went instantly into exile

Yeah, Dave, you know Absalom petitioned and waited and he brought back and it was only when

David Didn't you know, so there is no possibility of forgiveness.

Yeah, there was no absolution Yeah, really interesting like in English outlaws a punishment before it was a lifestyle.

Yeah, it was the you've done something so bad There's no forgiveness or protection and there's no path back.

Yeah, and then the reaction was the lifestyle then There's no way to ever

Gain my place with you. There's no reason to follow any of your rules. Yeah Yeah, yeah now that and that makes perfect sense

I get that yeah, so good points that being said during Absalom's Rebellion he

Absalom slept with his father's concubines All right, and the question always comes up why and then when you consider when

Solomon took the throne There was a there. What was the name of that gal who was brought in to keep

David warm? Abishag the Shunammite Abishag the

Shunammite she was considered a concubine even though she never physically had relations with David and one of one of Solomon's brothers asked to have her as a wife and That resulted in his death and the reason being is in the in the in the ancient

Middle East when Somebody ascends to the throne

They're given the wives and the concubines of the previous king or if they take them that's that's considered a way in which you

Basically put your stake down that you have control of the throne because you have control also It's kind of like way lions work.

It's in that similar way. It's a weird thing That's part of what's gonna go on here. You keep that little cultural bit handy because there's a weird thing that Jezebel is gonna do and you have to understand it in light of that and a second bit of information

So you shall strike down the house of Ahav. Let's see. He opened the door and and then he fled All right. So when

Jehu came out To the servants of his master they said to him is all well Why did this mad fellow come to you and he said to them?

Well, you know the fellow in his talk and they said that's not true. Tell us now It said thus and so he spoke to me saying thus says

Yahweh. I anoint you king over Israel Then in haste every man of them took his garment put it under him on the bare steps

They blew the trumpet and proclaimed Jehu is king Thus Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi conspired against Joram Joram with all of Israel had been on guard at Ramoth Gilead against Hazael the king of Syria Joram is the king of Israel and But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the

Syrians had given him When he fought with Hazael the king of Syria So Jehu said if this is your decision then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news to Jezreel Then Jehu mounted his chariot went to Jezreel For Joram lay there and and Ahaziah the king of Judah had come down to visit

Joram Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel And he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said

I see a company and Joram said take a horseman Send to meet them and let them say is it peace?

So a man on horseback went to meet him and said thus says the king is it peace and Jehu said

What do you have to do with peace turn around and ride behind me and the watchman reported saying the messenger reached them

But he is not coming back and then he sent out a second horseman who came to them and said thus says the king

Thus the king has said is it peace and Jehu answered What do you have to do with peace turn around and ride behind me and again the watchman reported he reached them

But he's not coming back and that and is driving like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi for he drives

Furiously kind of like my wife anyway Did I say that out loud

And all my children said amen anyway Yeah So Joram said make ready and they made ready his chariot then

Joram the king of Israel Isaiah the king of Judah set out each in his chariot and they went to meet

Jehu and met Him and at and at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite.

This is an important bit here So there's going to be justice then exacted against the house of Ahab at the very place where that innocent guy who owned a vineyard

You know Naboth the Jezreelite who had false witnesses testify against him which led to his death

You know kind of like Jesus the guy who owns a particular vineyard who was murdered on false charges, right?

So, you know There's there's a lot of poetic justice that comes into play here in how these at these God's justice and his vengeance is executed

So when Joram saw Jehu he said is it peace Jehu and answered what peace can there be so long as the whorings and the?

sorceries of your mother Jezebel are So many and that is an apt description this is an example of what you know here we've got a full -on idolatrous princess so to speak and and her

Her false religion is described as whorings and sorcery This is where we pick these themes up to help and you know kind of unpack this whore of Babylon concept

So then Joram reigned about and fled saying to Ahaziah treachery Oh Ahaziah So Jehu drew his bow with his full strength shot

Joram between the shoulders So that the arrow pierced his heart and he sank in his chariot.

That's a good shot Jehu said to Bidkar his aid take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the

Jezreelite For remember when you and I rode side by side behind Ahav his father

Yahweh made this pronouncement against him as surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth the blood of his sons

Declares Yahweh. I will repay you on this plot of ground Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of Yahweh Let's just put it this way when

God acts in vengeance and in judgment He remembers the details And he pays people back in kind So when

Ahaziah the king of Judah saw this he fled in the direction of Beth Hagan Jehu pursued him and said shoot him also

So they shot him in the chariot at the ascent of Ger which is by Eblim and he fled to Megiddo and he died there

Megiddo Hmm, I seem to know Megiddo you guys heard of harmegiddo You heard of that place?

Hmm it shows up shows up several times in the Old Testament always in the types and shadows regarding judgment the place of the final battle in the book of Revelation the ultimate showdown between the kings of the earth and all the world all the nations of the earth against Jesus is fought at a place called

Armageddon har Megiddo Huh, yes We have some speaking in tongues in the chat box in there

Somebody speaking in tongues Oh Victor, we don't All right.

Yeah, so Victor is speaking in tongues Yeah, well, I I'm feeling a shifting and a shaking.

There we go. You can fill those in on your prophecy bingo card Okay, yeah, there we go

Yeah All right, so he fled to Megiddo and he died there his servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem They buried him in his tomb with his father's in the city of David I do find it fascinating that the king of Judah dies in Megiddo But the real king of Judah when he shows up he's gonna win the ultimate victory at Megiddo at harmageddon

All right So in the 11th year of Joram the son of Ahab Ahaziah began to reign over Judah when

Jehu came to Jezreel Jezebel heard of it and here's where it gets weird Okay, so Jezebel who's probably a little long in the tooth at this point

She's she's been you know, she's up there in age She hears a Jehu's coming and what does she do?

She paints her eyes adorns her head and looked out of the window What is going on here

Yoo -hoo Okay All right.

So here's the issue Okay, there's kind of two things in play here And yeah, and I had to actually read like several scholars to tease both of the things out on the one hand her adorning herself

And basically making herself available to Jehu is an offer for him to take her

Physically for the purpose of establishing his kingdom okay, she's after all the wife of the former king of Israel and And so and then the other issue here

Which is kind of interesting culturally is by painting herself and looking out of a window the way she did She was behaving like the prostitutes of the time so She's she's become a red -light district princess if you would which again

Fits with the themes of the whore of Babylon. That's kind of the idea

But Jehu has not come to us. He doesn't need his kingdom be established with Jezebel at all

God has already anointed him king and he's acting in judgment. So as Jehu entered the gate

She said is it peace you Zimri murderer of your master? Clearly? She can't hold her tongue and He lifted up his face to the window and said who's on my side who?

Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. He said throw her down. So they threw her down and Some of her blood splattered on the wall and on the horses and then they trampled on her

And then he went in and ate and drank and he said see now this cursed woman Bury her for she's a king's daughter

But when they went to bury her they found no more of her than the skull and the feet of the palms of her hands

When they came back and told him he said this is the word of Yahweh Which he spoke by his servant Elijah the tishbite in the territory of Jezreel the dog shall eat the flesh of Jezebel and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as dung on the face of the

Field in the territory of Jezreel so that no one can say this is Jezebel eaten by dogs now a little bit of a note here, so You know when somebody's corpse is eaten this way in this particular

You know, this is viewed and this is a fulfillment of a prophecy of judgment She's not even going to get any kind of royal burial.

She's going to be eaten by dogs I always like to note that the devil has this funny thing that he does.

He bears Christ a grudge and And it's I think the devil is devil still seething that his one of his favorite pets

Jezebel Perished in this way. And the reason I say that is y 'all remember the group that was called the

Jesus seminar Yeah Directly, okay

I'll never forget it that the head of the Jesus seminar was a fellow by the name of John Dominic Crossan an

Anglican churchman if you can call him that right and In I remember so it was in middle portion of the first decade of this

Millennium, right? He was questioned by the History Channel regarding the death of Jesus since the

Jesus seminar They voted on whether or not Jesus rose bodily from the grave. What do you they voted?

Yeah, they would use beads What what do you think the Jesus seminar voted?

What was their verdict as to whether or not Jesus rose bodily from the grave They said he didn't so the

History Channel asked John Dominic Crossan About the body of Christ to which he said he was probably thrown

His body was probably thrown in the city dump of Jerusalem and eaten by dogs kind of The same genius and he was an assigned textbook in my theology class

Really yeah This is the same genius whose foundation of his book the historical

Jesus was I studied a 16th century Italian village and since all

Mediterranean cultures are the same. Here's what this informs me of Jesus's life

Chapter one Wow interesting

Yeah Yeah, yeah you get the point so, you know when

I hear so -called Church men who are supposedly Bible scholars

Saying that Jesus's body was eaten by dogs. I always say nope. That was

Jezebel not Jesus He rose from the dead right? That's it's it's it's unbelievable the level of blasphemy here.

You look kind of dumbfounded Dave Right Okay Okay, so So you ask the question why are they so twisted what are they on answer to your question?

They are under the sway of and I'm going to use the term, you know, kind of hyper hyperbolically here as a concept

They're under the sway of the Whore of Babylon That's why they're saying these things

Well, that's actually the the Washington DC is under the sway of the first beast not not not the second, okay

Yeah Yes Yes Yeah Yes Yeah The further you go

Yeah, no I think and that fulfills one of the aspects of the Word of God that their folly will be plain to all

You know that because of the strong delusion Yeah, of course because the news media they these guys are telling him what they want to hear

Marilyn your point No, it's Yeah, and that's the thing, you know,

I and I read I read Psalm 2 Why did the nation's rage and the people's plot in vain against the

Lord's anointed, you know? He set his Holy One on the hill you know and and has anointed his king and yet the kings of the earth have all conspired against King Jesus and they still do to This day and I I just don't know how they think it's things are gonna go well for them on the

Day of Judgment I just don't know, you know James Some people do there's a lot of people who don't

You know and it's I don't mind when the atheist does it I mind when somebody who claims to be a pastor or a

Bible scholar or a seminary professor does it that's where it's dangerous Okay You exactly

All right Now Eric says verse 35 Jezebel the cursed woman's skull feet and palms of her hands were left

Jesus who became a curse for us on the cross. Ah, Eric. I like that you picked that up. Okay?

She so you're gonna note here it With what's left of her her cult her skull in her hands in her feet.

She becomes like the a version of the Antichrist Okay, you know she rather than Christ taking, you know

The curse of her sins for her so that she could be forgiven She bears her own sins and becomes a curse in that sense great point, right?

Yeah. All right. Let's keep going here because I want to get to a Thalia. Hopefully we can get to here Now a hob had 70 sons in Samaria so J who wrote letters and sent them to Samaria to the rulers of the city of the elders and the guardians of the sons of Remember the king of Judah also has just been killed

So there's a political vacuum that's got to be filled in both the northern and the southern kingdom and wait till you hear how the southern

Kingdom gets that resolved now Then soon as this letter comes to you seeing your master's sons are with you and there are with you

Chariots and horses fortified cities also and weapons select the best and the fittest of your master's sons

Set him on his father's throne and fight for your master's house But they were exceedingly afraid and said behold the two kings could not stand before him

How then can we stand? so he who was over the palace and who was over the city together with the elders and the guardians sent to J who saying we

Are your servants and we will do all that you tell us we will not make any one King do whatever is good in your eyes

So then they wrote to them a second letter saying if you are on my side if you're ready to obey me Take the heads of your master's sons and come to me at Jezreel tomorrow at this time

Now the king's sons 70 persons with the great men of the city were bringing them up and as soon as the letter came to them

They took the king's sons and slaughtered them 70 persons put their heads in baskets and then sent and then sent them

Sent him to at Jezreel when the messengers came told him they have brought the heads of the king's sons

He said lay them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until the morning and then in the morning when they await

When he went out and stood and said to the people you are innocent It was I who's conspired against my master and killed him

But who struck down all of these now then there shall be there shall fall to the earth Nothing of the word of Yahweh which the

Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab For Yahweh has done what he said by his servant Elijah, you know

God never says something and it doesn't come to pass. It always comes to pass And I'm gonna fast forward just a little bit so we can see then what happened in the southern kingdom

Real quick here All right Fast forwarding here got to get to a

Thalia there's some other great things that happened, but Wiped out but all

Here we go So news then of the death of the king of Judah gets to the southern kingdom to Judah And then a

Thalia the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead. So she's the queen mother She rose and destroyed all the royal family

Athaliah is the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel so she's she's just a spitting image of her mother

So as soon as she heard that her son was dead, she killed everybody in the royal family But Jehoshabah the daughter of King Joram sister of Ahaziah took

Joash the son of Ahaziah Stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death and she put him in his and his nurse in a bedroom thus they hid him from a

Thalia so that he was not put to death and He remained with her six years hidden in the house of Yahweh while a

Thalia reigned over the land so here you have a beautiful picture here if you would this

I think the Thalia is like the the prototype of Jadus of you know of the

Queen of Narnia. She's she's not the rightful Queen This is a woman who has come up through the ranks and and taken seized control of things through murder and intrigue and Of course, you've got the real king

Hidden away, and where is he living in the temple? He's living in the temple

He's hiding in the house of the Lord for six years Yeah, that's the last place she'd look for a king because she never goes to church all right

Right Yeah So in the seventh year,

I like it See it's even got the numbers right six plus one is seven so that it was completed all in the seventh year

Jehoiada sent and brought the captains of the Karaites and of the guards and had them come to him in the house of Yahweh And he made a covenant with them and put them under oath in the house of Yahweh Showed them the king's son check out what we got we got the king

King's hiding in the temple Hmm isn't isn't Christ Jesus hiding in the temple today Uh -huh, right.

He's the rightful King. He's here today, right all right so he commanded them this thing that you shall do one -third of you those who come off duty on the

Sabbath and Guard the king's house another third being the gate at the gate sir And the third at the gate behind the guards shall guard the palace and the two divisions of you

Which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of Yahweh on behalf of the king Shall surround the king each with his weapons in his hands whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in so the

Captains did according to all the Jehoiada that priest commanded and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the

Sabbath with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath and came to Jehoiada the Priest and the priest gave the captains the spears and the shields that had been in King David's Which were in the house of Yahweh?

So they're even armed up in the temple That's just crazy man and the guards stood every man with his weapons in his hand from the south side of the house to the north side of the house and the altar and the house on behalf of the king and then he brought the king's son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony and they proclaimed him king and Anointed him and they clapped their hands and said long live the king

All right So the hidden King now becomes public he shows up and when a

Thalia heard the noise of the guards and of the people she went into the house of Yahweh to the people and when she looked there was the

King standing by the pillar according to the custom and the captains and the Trumpeters beside the king and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets and a

Thalia tore her clothes and cried treason treason No, it was not a confession, but it's a great story

So then Jehoiah the priest commanded the captains who were set over the army Bring her out between the ranks and put her to death with the sword anyone who follows her

For the priest said let her not be put to death in the house of Yahweh So they laid hands on her and she went to through the horse's entrance to the king's house and there she was put to death

Yeah, all right thus perishes the whole house of Ahab, right It's just it's a great story you when you consider it here and in the types and shadows then you'll note

This is these things kind of pull together What we're seeing in the book of Revelation that the real king will eventually appear and of course the one who has made himself

King of the earth will cry out treason, but will not be able to stand up against the one who's come. Yes But Yes Yes Yes Yep, exactly

I like like the way you're connecting that that this hidden child that you know the same way the dragon pursues pursues

Christ Okay, and so you'll note then that this this kid, you know, he's may get at this point got a quarter of his blood from Ahab, you know, but he is the direct descendant of Christ and Here in the types and shadows his his ascension to the throne depicts

Christ's glorious return. It's just Absolutely, just amazing when you consider the implications

James you're gonna have the last question and then we are going to have to wrap up Stupidly So the thing is is that charismatics have this really bizarre belief that that their job is to wage war against demons and They've come up with their own demon ology and part of its based upon Their their claims that they've interrogated demons during exorcisms and stuff like this

Right Yeah, it's it's it yeah, it's it's for another day, but that's the gist of it

They they really they listen to demons and think the demons are telling him the truth. So all right