2nd Kings chapter 11. And when Athaliah, the mother
of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed
all the seed royal, all of the descendants of David. She wanted them all dead. Jehoshaphat,
the daughter of King Joram, sister of Azahiah, took Joash, the son
of Azahiah, and stole him from among the king's sons, which
were slain. And they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the
bedchamber from Athaliah so that he was not slain. And he was
with her hid in the house of the Lord six years. and Athaliah
did reign over the land. The mother of the dead king,
she became the queen over all of Israel for six years. And
the seventh year, Jehoiada sent, he was the high priest, and fetched
the rulers over hundreds with the captains and the guard and
brought them to him into the house of the Lord and made a
covenant with him and took an oath of them in the house of
the Lord and showed them the king's son. And he commanded
them, saying, this is the thing you shall do. A third part of
you that enter in the Sabbath shall even be keepers of the
watch of the king's house. And a third part shall be at
the gate of Sir, and a third part at the gate behind the guard.
So shall you keep the watch of the house that it be not broken
down. He's giving them instructions on protecting. this young boy
that had been raised up in the Joash, that had been raised up
in the temple. And two parts of all of you that
go forth on the Sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of
the house of the Lord about the king. And you shall compass the
king round about every man with his weapons in his hand. And
he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain and be with
the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in. And the captains
over the hundreds did according to all the things that Jehoiada,
the priest, commanded. And they took every man, his
men, that were to come in on the Sabbath with them, that should
go out on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada, the priest. And
to the captains over hundreds did the priest give David spears
and shields that were in the temple of the Lord. Now, when
they defeated somebody, they'd take the spears and shields and
put them up in the temple. And there they were from the
past, and they used these weapons to fight and to protect the king. Verse 11, and the guard stood
every man with his weapons in his hand round about the king
from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of
the temple along by the altar in the temple. And he brought
forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and gave him
the testimony. This was a coup going on against
Athaliah, but he was the rightful heir to the throne. And he brought
forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and gave him
the testimony. And they made him king and anointed him. And
they clapped their hands and said, God saved the king. When
Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she
came to the people and to the temple of the Lord. And when
she looked, behold, the king stood by pillar as the manor
was and the princes and the trumpeters." Now remember this is only a seven
year old boy that's king at this time. And all the people of the
land rejoiced and blew with trumpets, and Athaliah rent her clothes
and cried, treason, treason. But Jehoiada the priest commanded
the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and
saith unto them, have her forth without the range, and him that
followeth her, kill with the sword. For the priest had said,
let her not be slain in the house of the Lord. And they laid hands
on her, and she went by the way by the which the horses came
into the king's house, and there she was slain. And Jehoiada made
a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that
they should be the Lord's people. Now they've been worshiping Baal
through this woman, but he made this covenant that they should
be the Lord's people between the king also and the people.
And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal and
break it down. His altars, his images, break
they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Maton, the priest of Baal,
before the altars, and the priest appointed officers over the house
of the Lord, the temple once again. And he took the rulers
over the hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people
of the land, and they brought down the king from the house
of the Lord, and came by the way of the gate of the guard
to the king's house, and he sat on the throne of the kings. And
all the people of the land rejoiced, And the city was in quiet. And
they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king's house. Seven
years old was Joash when he began to reign." Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for thy King, our Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you that even now
he's sitting on his throne, ruling and reigning. And we ask that
we might be enabled to worship him. Open your word to us. Give us grace to worship thy
son. Trust him only. Love him more
and give us grace to love one another more. And Lord, forgive
us of our sins. They're ever before us. We ask
that we might be cleansed. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now, Athaliah, the woman we just
read about, that became queen over Israel, was the daughter
of Jezebel. Now, you remember Jezebel and
Ahab. Jezebel represents wickedness. Whenever a woman is particularly
evil, even today, what do people call her? They call her Jezebel. Turn with me for a moment to
Revelation chapter 2. Jezebel was the woman who influenced
Ahab so greatly. And I think that this may have
been this woman's real name, but I think it's a representative
name. In Revelation chapter 2, verse 20, He says to the church
at Thyatira, notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee
because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself
a prophetess to teach and to seduce my servants to commit
fornication and to eat things sacrificed unto idols. Now, she
may have been teaching them to literally commit fornication,
but I seriously doubt that that's what that's talking about. This
is talking about finding some kind of pleasure outside the
marriage covenant, outside the covenant of grace. She was teaching
them to find comfort, to find assurance, to find joy somewhere
outside of the covenant of grace. And she was teaching them to
eat things sacrificed to idols. Now, Paul tells us that there's
nothing wrong with eating something sacrificed to an idol. I mean,
a piece of meat that was, don't ask any questions about it, just
eat it. It's just, there's no such thing as an idol. You know,
those idols are false. But what this is a reference
to is her teaching them that you can draw nourishment and
good from that which is false. And that's what's going on with
Jezebel. And she was, she had introduced bell worship into
Israel at that time, and Athaliah was her daughter. Athaliah grew
up with that, and she was a Baal worshiper. And all of Israel
at this time was given over to Baal worship. You think of how
wicked that is. But that was going on under the
influence of this woman. Now, when she saw, look in verse
1. And when Athaliah saw the mother
of Ahaziah, that her son was dead, he had been king for only
a year, she arose and destroyed all of the seed royal. Now this
is talking about all of David's descendants. She wanted to kill
them all because all of them had a right to the throne. And
she was going to kill them so she could reign. And she thought
she had everybody killed. But there was one that was not
killed. His name was Joash. He was hidden
in the temple for six years. Now, there's a couple of things
that strike me about that. Number one, the Lord said to
David, the sword is never going to depart from your house. And
here, generations later, the sword has not departed from his
house. Remember, because of Bathsheba
and Uriah, the Lord said, your sin is put away, but the sword
is never going to depart from your house. And it's going on
even now, all of his descendants being killed. But we also see
the promise of the son of David. Through David, this man is preserved,
this young boy, and hid for six years. Through David, this man
is preserved because the seed royal, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is going to come through this man. So we see God's promises
always take place. No, the sword's not going to
depart from his house. It goes on and on. But we also
see the promised Messiah through the son of David. The Lord is
going to preserve everything. Now, his sister had hid him in
the temple. And then we have all these instructions
regarding how he was to be protected. And he lived in the temple. for
six years, and he had a bunch of men protecting him, and I
think it's glorious how they're using the swords that David had
preserved that were in the temple to protect this young man during
this time. And Jehoiada, look at verse four,
and the seventh year, Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over
hundreds with the captains and the guard, and brought them to
him into the house of the Lord, and made a covenant with them,
and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord, and he showed
them the king's son. You know, that's what preaching
is, isn't it? Showing them the king's son. Oh, I want to do
that. I want to preach him so people
see the king's son. But Jehoiada, the high priest,
planned a coup. He was going to get rid of Athaliah,
and he was going to restore Joash as the true king. And that's
what takes place. Look in verse 10. And to the
captains over hundreds did the priest give King David spears
and shields that were in the temple of the Lord. And the guard
stood every man with his weapons in his hand round about the king
from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of
the temple, along by the altar in the temple. And he brought
forth the king's son and put the crown upon him and gave him
the testimony, the law, the scriptures. And they made him king and anointed
him. And they clapped their hands,
said, God save the king. And when Athaliah heard the noise
of the guard out of the people, she came to the people into the
temple of the Lord. And when she looked, behold the
king, a seven-year-old boy, but the son of David, in the line
of David, the seed royal. The king stood by a pillar, as
the manor was, one of those two pillars in the temple, and the
princes and the trumpeters by the king and all the people of
the land rejoiced and blew with trumpets. And Athaliah rent her
clothes and cried, treason, treason, this is wrong. This shouldn't
be happening, I'm the queen. She was the one that was guilty
of treason, wasn't she? She was accusing them of what she herself
was guilty of. Verse 15, but Jehoiada the priest
commanded the captains of the hundreds and the officers of
the host and said unto them, have her forth without the rangers.
And him that followeth her, kill with the sword. Anybody that
follows her, kill them all. The priest had said, let her
not be slain in the house of the Lord. And they laid hands
on her and she went by the way by which the horses came into
the king's house and there she was slain. You know, she's called
in the Chronicles account, that wicked woman, Athaliah, that
wicked woman. Indeed, that's what she was.
She was just like Jezebel. She promoted bail worship. Verse
17, and Jehoiada made a covenant. This is the high priest. between
the Lord and the King and the people, that they should be the
Lord's people, between the King also and the people." Now, Baal
worship had been introduced and he says, no more, no more. We're the Lord's people. Verse 18, look what they did
about Baal worship. And all the people of the land
went into the house of Baal. and break it down. His altars
and his images break they in pieces thoroughly. And they slew,
maimed the priest of Baal before the altars. Now this is what
they did with Baal worship. They destroyed it thoroughly. They put to death the priest.
Now, I'm not advocating putting to death somebody that is not
preaching the gospel, but we put to death all salvation by
works, don't we? In our own mind, we put it to
death. And I want you to look at the
zeal they had at this time to destroy this temple. They broke
it down. They killed the priest. Now,
what is it that makes someone zealous for the truth, for the
gospel? It's very important. Number one,
because it's the truth. Because it's the truth. And number
two, because we have such a vested interest. If it's not so, we're
in trouble. We won't be saved. You know the
reason, for instance, the reason we make such an issue of Christ's
effectual atonement for the elect. And somebody saying, well, he
died for everybody, and they might end up in hell if they
don't do their part. The reason we're so strong about saying
that's evil, that's not the gospel, the reason we're so strong about
that is because the only hope that every believer has is that
Christ died for their sins and accomplished salvation. There
is no other hope. And that is why, when someone
can kind of be lax with the truth, and be tolerant of that which
is contrary to the gospel and they don't destroy it and break
it down. It's because they really don't see that as their only
hope. That's the bottom line. They really don't see Christ
as their only hope. And therefore, they can tolerate
that which is just an intellectual assent. It's not real faith. It's just an intellectual assent. And they don't see the necessity
of this. But if I ever see the necessity
for my salvation, I'm going to be like them. I'm going to break
down bail. I'm going to kill everything that's contrary to
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ." Now, I admire them in
doing this, and this is because this covenant, it was kind of
a revival, I guess. This covenant was restored. They'd
been in Baal worship. Now they destroy it. Now let's
go on reading. And the priest appointed officers
over the house of the Lord. You see, this had fallen into
disuse, the house of the Lord, the temple, because Baal was
the one everybody was worshiping. But now this high priest puts
officers over the temple once again to restore scriptural worship. Turn with me to the Chronicles
account in 2 Chronicles 23. Verse 18. This is the same story in the
Chronicles account. Somebody says, why do we have
the same accounts, you know, in Samuel and Kings and Chronicles? I don't know. I don't know, but
we do. I mean, I read where one guy
said that the Samuel and Kings are man's perspective and Chronicles
are God's perspective. He said that. Maybe, maybe, I
don't know. But at any rate, here's the same
story in 2 Chronicles 23, verse 18. Also Jehoiada appointed the
offices of the house of the Lord by the hand of the priests, the
Levites, whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord to offer
the burnt offerings of the Lord. This had fallen into disuse.
And now they're once again offering up the sacrifices as it's written
in the law of Moses. with rejoicing and with singing
as it was ordained by David. And he set porters at the gates
of the house of the Lord that none which was unclean in anything
should enter therein." They were going to make sure that nothing
unclean entered the house of the Lord. And what that means
is they're not going to let anything that has human fingerprints on
it come into the house of the Lord. Anything that is associated
with man's works, man's will, it's unclean, and they wouldn't
let that come in. Now, back to our text in 2 Kings. You know that him appointing
guards, if there's not a carefulness
to keep away that which is unclean, That's me. That's anything that
has human fingerprints on it. That's anything. If there's not
a carefulness to keep away that which is unclean in the worship
of the Lord. Christ is all. If there's not a carefulness
about that. Truth will go away. It will. And so here they are
appointing these officers to make sure this takes place. Now,
verse 19. And he took the rulers over hundreds,
and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land.
And they brought down the king from the house of the Lord, and
came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king's house.
And he sat on the throne of the kings." Now, there's such typical
significance to seeing this. They bring the king, and he sits
down on the throne. Now, there are two things that
are significant about that. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he had
by himself purged our sins, he, what? Sat down on the throne. Now here's the two things that
are significant. Throne. That's the absolute sovereignty
of Jesus Christ. He's sitting, ruling, and reigning
on the throne. That means he is controlling
everybody and everything. Now, what do you think about
that? I'll tell you what I think about
it. I love it. He's in control of everybody and everything.
And I love thinking about this, the very thoughts that are going
on through your mind right now, he's in control of. He's in absolute
control. Now, he is completely sovereign
over the free and uncoerced actions of men. Everybody does what they
want to do. You do what you want to do. I do what I want to do.
Men do what they want to do. And Jesus Christ, the Lord, is
completely sovereign over that. He controls everything everybody
does. Somebody says, well, I don't
know about that. I do. Think about this. What about the alternative? What
if this is not right? What, that means somebody else
is in control. That means who can tell what'll happen, but
thank God he's in absolute control, sitting on a throne, controlling
and ruling and reigning over everything and everybody and
every event for his own glory. And the second significance of
him sitting on a throne, he sat down because his work was finished. He completely saved. everybody he died for. When he
said it is finished, my salvation, the salvation of everybody he
died for was completely accomplished. The king sets down on his throne. Now, what was the response of
the people and all the people of the land? Now, this is true
of every believer. All the people of the land, not
just some, not just the select more spiritual, all the people
of the land, every believer in response to the king setting
on his throne. What did they do? And all the
people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet. The city was at peace. Now, Christ sitting on the throne. There are two responses to a
believer. Number one, rejoicing. Rejoicing, it makes every believer
very happy that Jesus Christ is indeed Lord, controlling everyone
and everything. I can just relax. I tell you,
whenever I forget this, which is most of the time, I'm upset
about something. Why is this happening? But when
I'm enabled to believe that He is the first cause of everything
and everything that happens to me and everybody else is His
will being done. I rejoice. To think that he finished
my salvation, that he completed it, that there's nothing left
undone. He sat down because salvation
was accomplished. When he said it is finished,
all my sins were put away. I stand before God without guilt,
perfect in God's sight. I rejoice. I rejoice in that. And it says next, the land was
quiet. It was at peace. It was at peace. What is it that gives you peace? The only thing that gives me
peace are these two things, that Christ controls everything and
that my salvation is already accomplished. There's nothing
for me to do. Peace. Peace. The land rejoiced. And the land
was at peace. And you know what they did with
Athaliah? And all the people of the land
rejoiced and the city was in quiet and they slew Athaliah
with the sword beside the king's house. And seven years old was
Joash when he began to reign. Now, you'd think, and we're going
to get into this next time, you'd think that Joash would have ended
up being one of the good kings, wouldn't you? You'd think that,
wouldn't you? But look at the first few verses
of chapter 12. In the seventh year of Jehu,
Jehoash began to reign. And 40 years reigned he in Jerusalem,
and his mother's name was Zebiah of Beersheba. And Joash did that
which was right in the sight of the Lord all his days, wherein
Jehoiada the priest instructed him." The only time he did right
was while he was under the influence of Jehoiada. When Jehoiada dies, he goes bad,
as we're going to see in that next chapter. And that reminds
me, I want to have real personal, not just because I'm
influenced by somebody else. I want to really believe what
I believe. rather than just being influenced by what somebody else
said. I want to believe what I believe
because God has taught me, and I really believe this, and it's
my only hope. I mean, you look at all the advantages
Joe Ash had. I mean, he was miraculously delivered. He lived in the temple six years,
made king, was king 40 years. but he was only real while he
had Jehoiada, the high priest's influence. As soon as he died,
he went bad and did some terrible things, as we're gonna see. Okay.