Do Not Think You Stand, Lest You Fall

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern

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Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

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And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. All right, for the reading portion today,

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I'm not going to read the entire text. We'll get some highlights, but unfortunately, we're going to end up reading a lot of even the highlights.

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And then during the sermon, I will actually walk through this entire text.

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We're going to be looking at portions of 2 Chronicles chapter 22, chapter 23, chapter 24.

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So in chapter 22, we remember last week Jehoram died after eight years of being the king and he had murdered every one of his brothers.

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And it says the inhabitants of Jerusalem then made Ahaziah his youngest son, the youngest son of Jehoram, king in his place.

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For the band of men that came with the Arabians to the camp had killed all the older sons.

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So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, reigned. Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign.

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He reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri.

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And he also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly.

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He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord as the house of Ahab, that's really how you pronounce it, as the house of Ahab had done.

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For after the death of his father, they were his counselors to his undoing.

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He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahab, king of Israel, to make war against Hazael, the king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead.

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And the Syrians wounded Jehoram and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that he had received at Ramah when he fought against Hazael, the king of Syria.

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And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahab, in Jezreel because he was wounded.

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But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit

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Jehoram. Or when he came there, he went out with Jehoram to meet

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Jehu, the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to destroy the house of Ahab.

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And when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he met the princes of Judah, the sons of Ahaziah's brothers who attended

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Ahaziah, and he killed them. He searched for Ahaziah and was captured while hiding in Samaria.

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And he was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him for they said, he is the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought the

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Lord with all of his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom.

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Now when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family of the house of Judah.

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But Jehoshaphat, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death.

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And she put him in and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Jehoram and the wife of Jehoiada, the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah, hid him from Athaliah so that she did not put him to death.

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And he remained with them for six years, hidden in the house of God while Athaliah reigned over the land.

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But in the seventh year, Jehoiada took courage and entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds,

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Azariah, the son of Jehoram Ishmael, the son of Jehananan, Azariah, the son of Obed, Maasaiah, the son of Adaiah, and Elashaphat, the son of Zichri.

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And they went about through Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel.

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And they came to Jerusalem. And all the assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God.

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And Jehoiada said to them, Behold, the king's son, let him reign as the

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Lord spoke concerning the sons of David. This is the thing that you shall do of you priests and Levites who come off duty on the

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Sabbath. One third shall be gatekeepers, one third shall be the king's house, and the one third at the gate of the foundation and all the people shall be in the courts of the house of the

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Lord. Let no one enter the house of the Lord except for the priests and ministering Levites. They may enter for they are holy, but all the people shall keep the charge of the

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Lord. The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand, and whoever enters the house shall be put to death.

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Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. Now when

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Athaliah, this is verse 12, heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she went into the house of the

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Lord to the people. And when she looked, there was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king and the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets and all the singers and their musical instruments leading in the celebration.

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Athaliah tore her clothes and she cried out, treason, treason. Then Jehoiada, the priest brought out the captains who were set over the army saying to them, bring her out between the ranks and anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword.

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For the priest said, do not put her to death in the house of Yahweh. So they laid hands on her and she went into the entrance of the horse gate of the king's house and then they put her to death.

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Chapter 24, Joash was seven years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 40 years in Jerusalem.

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His mother's name was Zibiah of Barashiba and Joash did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh all the days of Jehoiada, the priest.

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Jehoiada got for him two wives and he had sons and daughters. After this,

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Joash decided to restore the house of the Lord and he gathered the priests and the Levites and said to them, go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all of Israel money to repair the house of your

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God from year to year and see that you act quickly. Fast forwarding here, but Jehoiada later grew old and full of years and he died.

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He was 130 years old at his death and they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel toward God and his house.

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Now after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and paid homage to King Joash. Then the king listened to them and they abandoned the house of the

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Lord, the God of their fathers and they served the Asherim and the idols and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

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Yet he sent prophets among them to bring them back to Yahweh. These testified against them, but they would not pay attention.

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Oh Lord, have mercy on us. In the name of Jesus, Amen. Wow.

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Once upon a time, there was an evil, wicked, idolatrous woman who was the daughter of Jezebel and she murdered every one of her kids in order to reign in Judah.

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Holy guacamole. And here's the thing. This is, you'll note that the story of Ithalia is legitimately the prelude to the main part of our sermon and our text today.

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And that has to do with the reign of Joash. And so we're going to sort a couple of people out here ahead of time, because you kind of need to keep track of who is who, because otherwise you kind of get lost in some of the details because you'll note that these are all

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Jewish names and Israeli names. And as a result of that, let's kind of figure out who our who's who is.

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So Ithalia was the wife of Jehoram. That was the lady who married

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Jehoram, the crown prince in the time of Jehoshaphat, because Jehoshaphat had made a marriage covenant with Ahav, Ahav, the evil king who was married to Jezebel.

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Yeah, that didn't really work out very well, did it? And so we've got Ithalia, but then we have another main character and his name is

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Jehoiada. Now Jehoiada legitimately is also part of the royal family, but he's married into it.

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He's a Levite and he spends most of his time in our texts today as the chief priest of Israel.

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Okay, so you'll note he's got that and he's married to Jehoshabath, who was the woman who rescued

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Joash. Now, Joash is the king who was literally had his life saved, legitimately saved by Jehoshabath, who hid him away.

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And then you'll note, where do they hide him? In the temple. There's some really amazing things here that have connections to Christ and the types and shadows and it's spectacular.

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So we're going to learn about the fall of Ithalia. We're going to hear about Joash being absconded and living for seven years in hiding while Ithalia reigned, hiding in the temple, a good place to hide him.

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She was an idolater. There's no way she was going to church. And then after Joash becomes king, he has a fantastic start.

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Now, last week I noted that Jehoshabath, he suffered from a really bad case of simul justus et peccator, simultaneously justified and sinner at the same time.

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You and I suffer from the same thing. But here we're going to note with Joash, his reign and his fall is far more ominous because he doesn't die in faith.

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This is an example of the one who hears the word, receives it with joy, but during a time of testing or whatever, completely falls away.

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Remember, Jesus says the one who endures to the end will be saved.

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Which end? Yours. Okay. And that's the end that you got to keep in mind.

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And so that being the case, can any of you tell me when your end is going to be? I can't tell you when my end is going to be.

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You'll note that, as I said last week, we walk through this life backwards, okay?

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We can see in front of us when we're walking backwards, but everything we see in front of us is stuff that we've already experienced.

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And so that experience gives us strength, but we can't turn around to see what's coming tomorrow. None of us knows.

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And so all of that being said, we must heed the warnings of scripture. Do not think you stand lest you fall.

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You'll note that it is God who gives you faith. It is God who sustains your faith.

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And if you think, well, I've got this on my own, God, I can do this now without your help.

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You are destined for a terrible fall. You'll note that Christianity, biblical Christianity, isn't like learning how to ride a bike.

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When I learned how to ride a bike, I still am in therapy over this. My dad bought me a bike with training wheels, and I loved riding my bicycle with training wheels.

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But then my dad said, enough of the training wheels. It's time to take those things off.

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And I kid you not, I was terrified. And what did my dad think it was a good idea to do?

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Oh, we went out onto the street and then onto the sidewalk. He took the training wheels off, put me on the bike, and with all of his might, he shoved me down the street.

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And I was off like a rocket, but I didn't really know how to. Anyway, so I ended up crashing.

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My first experience without training wheels didn't go so hot. But you're going to note here, the

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Holy Spirit is not training wheels, okay? The Holy Spirit who sustains your faith is not training wheels.

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You will never get to that point in your life where you can say, thank you, Holy Spirit. I think

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I got this worked out now. Don't need your help anymore. I can do this all on my own.

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No, when that's your attitude, you are destined for a fall.

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And here's the thing. The kind of fall that comes with that kind of attitude is a fall straight out of Christianity and into paganism.

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And this is what the story of Joash is a firm and stern and sobering warning to us all.

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So all of that being said, you kind of see the shape of where we're going. Remember Athaliah, Jehoiada the high priest,

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Joash the king. And everyone else is a supporting character, but Jehoiada is amazing, by the way.

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So here's where we pick up. So Jehoram has died after eight years of being the king of Judah.

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And the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah the youngest son, because you'll know other princes where they were put to death by the

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Arabians. Ahaziah, Jehoram's youngest son, they made him king in his place.

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For the band of men that came from the Arabians to the camp had killed all of the older sons. So Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king, reigned.

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Ahaziah was 22 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem.

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His mother's name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri, daughter of Ahav and Jezebel.

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He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahav. Why? The text says, because his mother was his counselor in doing wickedly.

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Evil's a real thing, by the way. And we are all tempted by it.

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You'll note that we don't hypothetically sin. We don't hypothetically commit the sin of idolatry.

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We do it like whole hog, okay? And you'll note that there are legitimately evil people on planet

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Earth. And if it helps you here, because later we're going to see that Athaliah is kind of a stand -in for the

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Antichrist, I'm not making that up, by the way. You'll see it in the types and shadows.

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The revealing of the true king and her undoing is a type and shadow of the end of the world and the destruction of the

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Antichrist. That being said, think of it this way.

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Idolatrous feminism is always toxic to true faith in the one true

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God. And I mean that. She is like the ultimate idolatrous feminist.

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That's what Athaliah is. So, Ahaziah then, he did what was evil in the sight of Yahweh as the house of Ahav had done.

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For after the death of his father, they were his counselors to his undoing.

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Who were his counselors? Mami Athaliah and the court of Ahav of the

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Northern Kingdom. Idolaters, every one of them. Bad counsel, by the way. He even followed their counsel and went with Jehoram, the son of Ahav, the king of Israel, to make war against Haziel, the king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead.

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And the Syrians wounded Jehoram and he returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds he had received at Ramoth when he fought against Haziel, the king of Syria.

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And Ahaziah, the son of Jehoram, the king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram, the son of Ahav in Jezreel because he was wounded.

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Well, my cousin's wounded. I think I'll go and pay him a visit in the hospital and cheer him up, right?

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This is a hospital visit. So, he goes out, buys some balloons and get well cards and stuff like that, heads to the

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Northern Kingdom to go visit cousin Jehoram, right? But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit

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Jehoram. For when he came there, he went out with Jehoram to meet

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Jehu, the son of Nimshi. Now, by the way, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, this guy was anointed by God to destroy the house of Ahav.

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This is the guy who got rid of Jezebel and his getting rid of her was horribly glorious.

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Is that a concept? The details are, but at the same time, yeah, okay.

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She came to a horrible, horrible end. I mean, there wasn't even anything left of her corpse.

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I mean, she was eaten by dogs. But you'll note that Jehu is the guy who God anointed to get rid of the whole lot of them.

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And Ahaziah is on the list of people to knock off, okay? God wants him dead.

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He is acting in wrath against their sin and their wickedness. So when

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Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahav, he met the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers who attended

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Ahaziah and he killed them. He searched for Ahaziah and he was captured while hiding in Samaria.

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And he was brought to Jehu and put to death. They buried him for they said, well, he's the grandson of Jehoshaphat who sought

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Yahweh with all of his heart. And the house of Ahaziah had no one able to rule the kingdom.

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So Ahaziah is 23 years old when he dies. He's reigned for one year.

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And I don't know any 23 year olds with kids that are old enough to actually rule and reign.

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Okay? So all of his kids are tiny, okay? And there's also going to be, well, potential competitors within the family itself.

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You forget exactly how the machinations of the line of succession works in different kingdoms, but you get the idea.

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But now Athaliah, oh, that wicked woman, as evil as her mother and even more ambitious herself, when

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Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and she destroyed all the royal family.

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Well, this makes mommy dearest look like a nice lady, right? Okay. But so here's where we hear

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Jehoshaphat, the daughter of the king, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, stole him away from among the king's sons who were about to be put to death.

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And she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus Jehoshaphat, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest, because she was a sister of Ahaziah hid him from Athaliah so that she did not put him to death.

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So basically think of it this way. Jehoshaphat is the aunt of Joash. She is his aunt.

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And she springs into action and realizes if Athaliah gets away with all of this, there's going to be not a single person left within the line of the kings of Judah.

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Now you think that God's going to allow the line of Judah to be snuffed out? No. And here's the thing.

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Okay. So Jesus is the legitimate descendant of David. And you'll note that Athaliah in her wickedness came this close to getting rid of the line of David.

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And had she succeeded, no Messiah for you, no Messiah for me. All right. That's how close this got to snuffing out salvation for all of us.

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Okay. Don't tell me that wickedness isn't that wicked or that badness isn't that bad.

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We almost didn't have a savior because of how wicked this woman is. Okay. We missed it by that much.

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Okay. So Jehoshabed, aunt of Joash, she hides him away and his nurse.

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And the idea that is because of the sister of Ahaziah, she hid him from Athaliah so that she did not put him to death.

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And he remained with them for six years hidden in the house of God while Athaliah reigned over the land.

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Six long years of Athaliah reigning. Now I would note something.

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God created the heavens and the earth in six days. Yes. It's interesting stuff when you kind of consider the numbers here.

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But all of that being said, where is Joash hiding at this point? Here was the thing.

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They got to deal with a baby, a baby who needs his diapers changed, who needs to be burped and is going to learn how to walk and stuff like this.

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You think Athaliah might pay attention to all of this. So where does Joash end up hiding?

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The one place we know where Athaliah will never go church. Okay. And by the way, the only reason why she went to the temple was in order to steal all the gold and silver implements and to destroy the temple of God and take all the gold and silver implements and then donate them out of her generosity to the temple of Baal, which she had constructed in town.

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Okay. So once she did that, well, she would never darken the door of the temple ever again because it's of no use to her.

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And as a result of her wickedness and unbelief, the temple is falling into disrepair and has been looted and plundered and destroyed to an extent.

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All right. And you'll note that evil always hates the one true God and will do everything to undo true worship of the one true

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God. So six long years go by and in the seventh year of the reign of Athaliah, and notice she's never called a queen in the

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Bible. She doesn't get that title that she murdered all of her family in order to rule and to reign.

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And so in the seventh year, Jehoiada. Now, Jehoiada, again, is the husband of Jehoshabath, who is the aunt of Joash.

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So Jehoiada literally is Joash's uncle. So keep this in mind.

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I know the intrigue is kind of fascinating, but you kind of have to work this all out. So in the seventh year,

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Jehoiada took courage. And he says, like he says, enough is enough. And what he does next year is as far up there as anything in the annals of human courage that is ever written in any human history.

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What this guy did was amazing. So he took courage. He entered into a covenant with the commanders of hundreds.

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So he's got the military now. The heads of the military are in cahoots with him. They're all talking together.

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And none of them are loyal to Athaliah, right? In fact, her reign,

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I'm sure, was just devastating and awful, all six long, bleak years of it.

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And so he's working with the commanders of hundreds in the army. Azariah, the son of Jehoram.

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Ishmael, the son of Jehonanan. Azariah, the son of Obed. Maasaiah, the son of Adaiah.

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And Elashaphat, the son of Zichri. And excuse me, they went about through Judah and gathered the

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Levites from all the cities of Judah, the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel. And they came to Jerusalem.

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And all the assembly made a covenant with the king and the house of God. And Jehoiada said to them, behold, the king's son.

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Let him reign as Yahweh spoke concerning the sons of David, the one and only descendant of David.

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Man. So this is the thing that you shall do.

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Of you priests, you Levites, you who come off a duty on the Sabbath. One third shall be the gatekeepers.

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One third shall be the king's house. And one third at the gate of the foundation. And all the people shall be in the courts of the house of Yahweh.

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Let no one enter the house of Yahweh except for the priests and ministering Levites. They may enter for they are holy.

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And but all the people shall keep the charge of Yahweh. The Levites shall surround the king, each with his weapon in his hand.

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What? Okay. Have you ever heard of warrior priests? Okay. Forget that.

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You'll note, none of them said, well, I'm a pacifist. So, you know, each of these priests literally strap on a sword and they are the guard of the king.

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The boy is only seven years old. He's a second grader, right?

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Okay. Kind of working this all out. So, I mean, but this is just awesome.

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So, they surrounded the king, each with his weapon in his hand. Whoever enters the house shall be put to death.

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Be with the king when he comes in and when he goes out. And so, the Levites and all the Judah did according to all that Jehoiada the priest had commanded.

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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

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Sabbath. For Jehoiada the priest did not dismiss the divisions. And Jehoiada the priest gave to the captains the spears and the large and small shields that had been

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King David's, which were in the house of God. So, think of it this way.

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David is long, long dead. Okay. We're talking like he's ancient history at this point.

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And so, some of David's spears from his military time and some of his large and small shields were on a museum display in the house of Yahweh.

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And they looted the museum. And they armed themselves from these old armaments from the time of David.

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I mean, this, I kid you not, this is like the chronicles of Narnia.

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This is like the stories of the Lord of the Rings. It kind of has that same feel to it, right?

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But this is human history. This really happened. So, then they brought out the king's son.

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They put a crown on him, gave him the testimony, and they proclaimed him king.

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And Jehoiada and his sons anointed him. Now, a little bit of a note here. Notice it says Jehoiada and his sons.

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We're going to hear about one of Jehoiada's sons very soon here.

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And his name is Zechariah. And he was put to death. But we'll note here, this son of Jehoiada, Zechariah, was there.

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And he participated in the anointing ceremony of King Joash, okay?

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So, Jehoiada and his sons anointed Joash. And they said, long live the king.

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Well, you'll note when people say, long live the king. I recently heard these words for the first time in my life in the

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United Kingdom, when they had made Charles III king of England, right?

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And when they announced it, there was trumpeters and people who were saying, long live the king!

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And they shout. This is the kind of stuff. They're shouting, long live the king. Well, I can see

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Athaliah, that wicked feminist of an idolater, right?

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She's a stand -in for the man of lawlessness in the story and the types and shadows.

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There she is enjoying her morning cup of tea with the blood of a few saints in it,

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I'm sure. And while she's enjoying her tea, her ears hear words that she does not want to hear.

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She hears the words, long live the... And she's expecting queen and she hears the word king.

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And this is the moment when the cup breaks. She smashes things and she goes to investigate what's going on, right?

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Thinking that everybody's with her when in fact, nobody's with her, right?

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So when Athaliah heard the noise of the people running, praising the king, she went into the house of Yahweh to the people.

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And when she looked, I love this phrase, there was the king standing by his pillar.

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The drama here is amazing, okay? There was the king standing by his pillar at the entrance and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing the trumpets and the singers with their musical instruments leading in the celebration.

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And Athaliah in full Jadus mode screams out, treason, treason, right?

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A lot of good that's going to do you lady, right? A lot of good that's going to do you. And so Jehoiada the priest brought out the captains who were set over the army.

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So this is this wonderful moment here. Jehoiada says, hey boys, come on in here now.

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And what do they do? They show up and they've got spears from the time of David, shields from the time of David.

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And those Levites are armed with swords. Who would have known the sword goes so well with an ephod.

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And at this point, I'm wondering if Athaliah understood exactly what was happening.

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But that's the brilliance of this text in this history. And so Jehoiada the priest brought the captains who were set over the army and he said to them, bring her out between the ranks and anyone who follows her is to be put to death.

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The high priest is in charge, man. All right. So the priest said, by the way, don't put her to death in the house of Yahweh.

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We're not going to desecrate this holy ground, right? So they laid hands on her, the text says.

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And which you just know that this is brilliant. These men who are armed, these men, they just grab

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Athaliah, grab her arms, grab her legs, and they drag her out of the temple.

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And they went to the entrance of the horse gate of the king's house. And there they put her to death. And in the types and shadows,

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I kid you not, this sounds like a children's story. But this is the type and shadow of when

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Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead. The man of lawlessness himself will see

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Jesus with his own eyes, the true king. And Jesus will stroll over to him and kill him with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing him and the entire governmental system that he created that ruled the world and slayed the saints.

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This isn't fiction. This is history, man. And it will repeat itself, okay?

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Now, Jehoiada then, so the high priest Jehoiada made a covenant between himself and all the people and the king that they should be the

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Lord's people. Then all the people went to the house of Baal and they tore it down. Down comes the house of Baal.

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They tore it down, his altars, his images. They broke in pieces. They killed

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Matan, the priest of Baal before the altars. And then Jehoiada posted watchmen for the house of Yahweh under the direction of the

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Levitical priests and the Levites whom David had organized to be in charge of the house of Yahweh to offer burnt offerings to Yahweh as it is written in the laws of Moses with rejoicing and singing according to the order of David.

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So Jehoiada is basically making sure that there's no one faithful to Athaliah in the army who's going to come and avenge her death.

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And we don't know if there's going to be conflict going, but you have all these warrior priests ready, should that be the case.

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And by the way, they're praising God for what has just transpired. And so he took the captains, the nobles, the governors of the people and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of Yahweh marching through the upper gate to the king's house, and they set the king on the royal throne.

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Once a king in Narnia, always a king in Narnia. It kind of has that feel to it, right? It's such a momentous thing.

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And the thing we look forward to is when Christ himself creates the new heaven and new earth, and he, for the first time, sits on his throne in the new

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Jerusalem. And there's peace for eternity, right?

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So all the people of the land, they rejoiced and the city was quiet after Athaliah had been put to death with the sword.

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Ding dong, the witch is dead, the wicked witch, the witch is dead. Ding dong, the wicked witch is dead, right?

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Okay. It's got all of those elements to it.

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It's just that great of a text. Now, here's where we're going to steer into the story of King Joash.

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Joash now is seven years old. He's a second grader. And now watch the relationship between Joash and Jehoiada, his uncle, okay?

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Because this is critical. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. He reigned 40 years in Jerusalem.

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So he makes it to 47 years old. His mother's name was Zibiah of Barashiva. Joash did what was right in the eyes of the

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Lord, but listen to the phrase, all the days of Jehoiada the priest. If Jehoshaphat suffered from simul justus epicator, which we all suffer from,

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Joash's end is terrible. And it stands as a warning to all of us to not abandon the faith.

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We live in a day where people are deconstructing their Christian faith. And landing in full on paganism.

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That's exactly what Joash is going to do. And his reasons are not given. We just know who tempted him along those lines.

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So after this, Joash decided, and you'll note under the tutelage of his uncle,

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Jehoiada, Joash has a love for the word of God, legitimate love and a zeal for the temple of God, whom

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Athaliah had completely looted and destroyed and had gone into disrepair.

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After this, Joash decided to restore the house of Yahweh. He gathered the priests and the

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Levites and said to them, go out to the cities of Judah and gather from all of Israel money to repair the house of your

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God from year to year and see that you act quickly. But the Levites did not act quickly. Joash was not keen on this.

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So the king summoned Jehoiada the chief and said to him, why have you not required the Levites to bring in from Judah and Jerusalem the tax levied by Moses, the servant of Yahweh and the congregation of Israel for the tent of testimony for the sons of Athaliah, that wicked woman.

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I love how the Bible every time mentions her, right? That wicked woman, right?

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It's awesome. You know, and so she had broken into the house of God and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of Yahweh for the balls.

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So the king commanded and they made a chest and set it outside the gate of the house of Yahweh.

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And the proclamation was made throughout Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses, the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.

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Joash is reading the scriptures and he knows exactly what to do because God's word has instructed him on what to do.

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Temple has fallen to disrepair. Ah, the word of God says that the children of Israel have a tax exacted on them by God himself for the upkeep of the tabernacle while the tabernacle has a permanent facility in the temple.

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And he has put this into place. He's following God's word.

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He even has enough zeal for the house of God that he even put

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Uncle Jehoiada in his place by saying, why aren't the priests acting quickly on this?

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Right? So here's another thing. Joash in his early days sounds a lot like Jesus because you'll note that Jesus had zeal for the house of God.

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And in Jesus's day, there were people who had, well, desecrated the temple by changing it into a house of trade.

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And so listen to what the scripture says in the gospel of John chapter two, the Passover of the Jews was at hand and Jesus went up to Jerusalem and the temple.

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He found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons and money changers sitting there. Let me explain what's going on.

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Oh, the, the guys in charge of the temple came up with a great money -making scheme.

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All right. And it went something like this. Oh, take a look at that horrible money in your, in your pocket and in your, in your money bag.

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Look at whose image is on there. That's the Caesar. And look at on the backside of it.

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Oh, there's, there's an, there's an inscription and an image of an idol on the backside of your denarii.

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You can't use that evil idolatrous money to purchase the sacrifices and the things necessary for your duty and worship of Yahweh.

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But that's okay. What we'll do is we will allow you to exchange that pagan idolatrous money for our holy temple shekels.

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And of course, there's a nominal exchange rate. It's, it's just a small exchange rate.

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It's a small price to pay to get rid of that idolatrous money and get the holy shekel that we're offering.

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Right? And Jesus can see right through this nonsense, right? So, Jesus made a whip of cords.

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He drove them all out of the temple with the sheep and the ox, and he poured out the coins of the money changers, overturned their tables.

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And he told those who sold pigeons, take these things away. Don't make my father's house a house of trade.

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His disciples remembered that it was written, zeal for your house will consume me. And you'll note in the types and shadows, young King Joash, zeal for the house of Yahweh is consuming him.

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Oh, he's a, he's a wonderful foreshadowing of Christ in these early years.

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And you can see where the Messiah, how the Messiah is going to be when he comes.

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Joash exemplifies it beautifully. But if you pay attention to the next details, this is where the kind of the big, big pieces.

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So the Jews said to Jesus, all right, what sign, what miraculous sign do you do to show us that you have the authority to do these things?

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And then Jesus says this, tear down this temple and I'll rebuild it in three days.

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Tear down what? This temple. With these words of Christ spoke in defiance of those who would challenge his authority.

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These words reveal that the temple itself in Jerusalem, originally the tabernacle and Solomon's temple, and even the rebuilt temple of Herod, the temple itself is a type and shadow of Jesus.

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You'll note that it's in the temple where the animals are sacrificed for the sin offerings, but Jesus is the temple.

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And there are not animals and bulls and sheep and things like that, that are offered for the forgiveness of your sins and mine.

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Instead, Jesus himself is our sacrifice. He's the one who lays down his life in our place so that we can be forgiven of all of our sins and our idolatry.

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And Jesus is not only the sacrifice. He is the high priest himself, high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

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And you'll note that in the old Testament, when the, when people go into idolatry, the house, the temple of God goes into disrepair and falls into disuse.

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You'll note it gets destroyed, but you'll know God builds it back up and builds it back up in this wonderful cycle of it being destroyed and rebuilt and destroyed and rebuilt leading to the one and the one that really matters.

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When Jesus, our temple, our high priest, he was destroyed on the cross by godless men so that you and I can be forgiven.

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And his shed blood is the thing that atones for our sins and redeems us from slavery to sin, death, and the devil and reconciles us to God, the father.

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So all this talk of the temple, pay attention to it.

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It's rich in the themes of scripture. So Jesus says, destroy this temple and I'll build, I'll raise it up in three days.

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The Jews said to Jesus, it's taken 46 years to build this temple and you're going to build it up in three days, huh,

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Jesus? But the temple he was speaking of was what? The temple of his body.

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Back to Joash, okay? These connections to Christ are profound. So back to chapter 24, verse eight, the king commanded, they made a chest, set it outside the gate of the house of Yahweh and proclamation was made throughout

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Judah and Jerusalem to bring in for Yahweh the tax that Moses, the servant of God laid on Israel in the wilderness.

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And then verse 10, one of the most bizarre verses in all of the

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Bible, let me explain. And all the princes and all the people rejoiced and brought their taxes and dropped it into the chest until they had finished.

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This is the one and only time in all of human history where people praised God for paying their taxes.

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It's a miracle, right? Weirdest verse in all the

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Bible. Okay. But there it is. Okay. They rejoiced and paid their taxes.

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Okay. Can't wait to pay my taxes. Okay. We've got a month. We got a month before we got to do it ourselves.

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Alas, happy, happy, happy, joy, joy. Anyway, yay. Can't wait to pay my taxes. All right.

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So whatever the chest then was brought to the King's officers by the Levites, when they saw that there was much money in it, the

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King's secretary and the officer of the chief priest would come and empty the chest and take it and return it to its place.

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Thus they did day after day and collected money in abundance. The King and Jehoiada gave it to those who had charge of the work of the house of Yahweh.

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And they hired masons and carpenters to restore the house of Yahweh and also workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of Yahweh, a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Christ.

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And those who were engaged in the work labored and the repairing went forward in their hands and they restored the house of God to its proper condition and they strengthened it.

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And when they had finished, they brought the rest of the money before the King and Jehoiada and with it were made utensils for the house of Yahweh, both for the service and for the incense and the vessels of gold and silver.

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And they offered burnt offerings in the house of Yahweh regularly all the days of Jehoiada. But Jehoiada grew old and full of days and he died.

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He was 130 years old at his death and they buried him in the city of David among the kings because he had done good in Israel and toward God and his house.

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Don't let that sentence pass you by without really weighing its significance. I remember a few years back,

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I was traveling in Europe and visiting our congregations that were serving in Europe and spent a day at the

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Churchill bunkers and it was very interesting. If you ever get a chance to go to London and visit the

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Churchill bunkers, it's worth the experience. I mean, if you're somebody who really loves history and loves the history of World War II, this is worth the visit.

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But as part of the museum that they have there, they have on a continual loop the highlights of the funeral of Sir Winston Churchill.

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And Winston Churchill, despite the fact that he was a citizen, he received a state funeral and that is very unique.

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In fact, his state funeral, some of the major details of how he was laid to rest in the

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United Kingdom, those same elements showed up in Elizabeth's funeral. Her funeral was no different than Churchill's, with just a few exceptions.

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And you'll note, how did an ordinary citizen get such a state funeral, which is usually reserved for kings and queens?

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It's because this is the man who led the United Kingdom to the darkest days and hours of World War II.

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This is the man who defied Hitler and the one who Hitler feared, and rightly so.

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And so it is appropriate that he receive a state funeral. And note here, Jehoiada, at his death, although he's a high priest and he's not a king, they buried him with David.

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They buried him with Solomon. That's how important this man was.

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And you'll note that Jehoiada, he was really kind of like the prime minister. He was the counselor and the man who tootled

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Joash as king. But upon his death, something terrible happens.

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And I mean terrible. So, the story goes on. Now, after the death of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah came and they paid homage to King Joash.

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Then the king listened to them. And the seeds of idolatry that had been planted by Athaliah and by Jehoram have all taken root and are all growing in these kings and princes of Judah.

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And so they, all of them together, they abandoned the house of Yahweh, the God of their fathers, and they served the

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Asherim and the idols. Joash abandoned the faith altogether.

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He went into rank apostasy. And so, wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this guilt of theirs.

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Yet God sent prophets among them to bring them back to Yahweh.

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You'll note the real role of a prophet is not to predict that next week you'll have a suddenly. The real purpose of a prophet is to call you back to God from your backsliding, call you back from your idolatry, confront you with your sin, and call you back and assure you that there is forgiveness and mercy in God.

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So God sent prophets among them to bring them back to Yahweh. These testified against them, but they, including

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Joash, would not pay attention. Then the spirit of God clothed

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Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. And Zechariah was one of the sons of Jehoiada who was there and anointed

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Joash when he became king, but he's the son of Jehoiada. So the spirit of God clothed

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Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, the priest, and he stood above the people. And he said to them, thus says

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God, why do you break the commandments of Yahweh so that you cannot prosper?

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Because you've forsaken Yahweh, he's forsaken you. But they conspired against him.

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And by the command of the king, they stoned

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Zechariah with stones in the court of the house of Yahweh. Jehoiada wouldn't even allow

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Athaliah's blood to be spilled inside the temple complex. And now Joash's treachery is unmasked and is there to see.

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His fall is great. And he is the one who ordered the murder of Zechariah, who in love called him back to the true

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God. Thus Joash the king, he did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father had shown him, but he murdered his son.

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And when he was dying, Zechariah said, may Yahweh see and may he avenge.

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And at the end of the year, the army of the Syrians came up against Joash. They came to Judah and Jerusalem and destroyed all the princes of the people from among the people and set all their spoil to the king of Damascus.

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Though the army of the Syrians had come with few men, Yahweh delivered into their hand a very great army because Judah had forsaken

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Yahweh, the God of their fathers. Thus they executed judgment on Joash.

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And when they had departed from him, leaving him severely wounded, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the son of Jehoiada, the priest, and they killed him on his bed.

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So he died and they buried him in the city of David, but they did not bury him in the tomb of the kings.

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Those who conspired against him were Zabad, the son of Shammath, the Ammonite, and Jehazabad, the son of Shemrith, the

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Moabite, and accounts of his sons and of the many oracles against him and of the rebuilding of the house of God.

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They're written in the story of the book of the kings. And then Amaziah, his son, reigned in his place.

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Terrible end. Terrible. But again, heed the words of Christ.

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The one who endures to the end will be saved. And don't think for a second that either you or I are not capable of the same kind of treachery.

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Don't even think for a second that you're not capable of falling, each and every one of us, if it weren't for the grace of God and the power of the

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Holy Spirit, we would all fall. And so we are only made to stand by God himself and his strength.

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It is with the strength of God, the Holy Spirit, that we are to endure and to wage warfare and fight the good fight of faith.

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So brothers and sisters, let the story of Joash, this wonderful and terrible story, both, let this be a heeding warning to you that you are not capable of standing in this

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Christian faith on your own strength, and that you too are capable of being tempted and to be brought into, well, hell itself.

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Do not think you stand lest you fall, but note that it is Christ the one who sustains you.

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He sustains me. Keep coming, hearing the word of God, hearing that your sins are forgiven, hearing that Christ has bled and died for you.

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He will strengthen you. He will sustain you. And he will be the one who guides you and leads you into salvation.

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Do not depart from him. He will always be with you.

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In the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.