You should be turning your Bibles
back to 2 Chronicles 23. If you don't have your Bible, you
can use your outline. Senior Bulletin, 2 Chronicles
23. We are going through the kings.
We are down to the last few kings. And we have considered, beginning
last week, this very unusual event around a young king named
Joash. He was the youngest king in Israel
crowned and anointed. He was seven years old. There
was one king just a little bit older than him. You know who
that was? Josiah. And he was eight years old. That's
kind of young to be a leader, isn't it? Well, he didn't lead
by himself. 2nd Chronicles chapter 23 the
title of our message is Oh magnify the Lord with me you guys have
heard that before right Oh magnify the Lord with me David said that
over and over and over again in the Psalms Oh magnify the
Lord with me he said it in Psalm 33 Verses 1 through 4. He said I will bless the Lord
This is Psalm 34 verse 1 through 4. I will bless the Lord at all
times his praise shall be continually in my mouth and Then he said
in verse 2 my soul Shall make her boast in the Lord The humble
shall hear thereof and be glad And then he said, oh, magnify
the Lord with me and let us exalt his name together. Now, religious folk think magnifying
the Lord simply means to sing about it. And it does. But if you pay very careful attention
to the words, what David said was, he didn't say, let's sing
about the Lord together. He said, let's magnify the Lord. The word magnify means to exalt. It means to honor. It actually
means to make large in its agricultural relevance. It means to grow it,
to grow it, to cause it to grow, to cause it to abound. Literally,
it means to promote. It means to exalt him. It means
to spread his fame. So really, to magnify the Lord
is to preach him. For the term gospel, inherent
in the word gospel, is to magnify, it's to herald, it's to proclaim,
to exalt, to render abroad, magnify the Lord with me, tell everybody
about Christ, publish his name, let everyone know about the true
and the living God. Now that's the sort of active
form of it, but to magnify the Lord, saints, is more than just
to speak his name, it's to declare his glory. is to exalt him in
his person and his work. It's actually to make him known.
To magnify the Lord is to know who he is, what he has accomplished,
and why he has accomplished it. And then to declare to people
what this glorious God has done for the saving of our soul. Listen
to how David magnified the Lord in verse 4. He said, I sought
the Lord he heard me that's magnifying God a sinner will hear David
say I sought the Lord and then he'll hear that David heard him
and he'll say well maybe if I seek the Lord he might hear me see
what I'm saying now there are two people seeking the Lord because
they're confident that God might indeed hear them and then there
might be a third person that does this Seek the Lord being
confident that if he heard David and then he heard the fella that
heard David Had heard of God. They might also now seek the
Lord and all four of them are now magnifying the Lord together
and over time you've got 10 and 20 and 30 and 40 and 50 and a
hundred and a thousand and ten thousands of thousands of people
magnifying the Lord together See what I'm saying? Oh, magnify
the Lord with me. Oh, exalt his name with me together. God has called his people to
do that, hasn't he? But I want you to know that this
idea of magnifying the Lord didn't start with David. It started
actually in eternity past. Do you know God the Father said
to God the Holy Ghost about God the Son, Oh magnify the Lord
with me. In eternity past the Father purposed
to magnify the Son. And do you know that the Son
of God Himself came into this world with one purpose? And that
was to magnify the Lord. I came not to do my own will,
but the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. The work of the Son of God was
to magnify the Father. And He did that not only by declaring
His name, but accomplishing His will. In the accomplishment of
the will of the Father, the Son hath magnified the Lord. Not only did the Son, in assuming
a human nature, magnify the Lord, that is, the Father, the first
person of the blessed triune Godhead, but the Holy Ghost then
was sent in order to magnify the Lord. Because you see, not
only is God the Father Lord, but God the Son is Lord too.
And not only is God the Son, Lord, but God the Holy Ghost
is Lord too. So when we say, let us magnify
the Lord, we're talking about the glory of the triune God. And sinners cannot magnify God
unless the Spirit of God has indwelt them and revealed to
them the glories of Christ as it was purposed of the Father,
so that not only has the Father glorified the Son, Not only has
the Spirit of God glorified the Son, isn't that what the Spirit
came to do? He shall take the things of mine
and show them unto you, for he shall not speak of himself, but
he will what? Glorify me. But then his people do the same
thing. Why do we make much about Jesus? Because we're under commandment
to magnify the Lord. We're under commandment to exalt
His name together and we do that most fully in the proclamation
of the gospel of His free grace to redeem sinners so that the
world might know that God alone is Savior. Now I'm here to tell
you that our text is going to explicate that for us. 2 Chronicles
chapter 23 is an expression of what it means to exalt the Lord,
to magnify the Lord. There's a man in our text who
is really the The chief subject in our text in terms of the one
being the one doing the action, his name is Jehoiada. He's the
priest. Jehoiada the priest. It can be
said of Jehoiada the priest that he is declaring to all the people
of Israel and Jerusalem, that is Judah and Jerusalem, come,
let us magnify the Lord. Let us exalt his name together. We'll see that as we make our
way through the text. We do I want to press upon your
heart that commandment from God Almighty. Are you magnifying
the Lord? Are you exalting his name with
the people of God? That's the call of the spirit.
That's the call of the gospel That's the duty of the people
of God point number one in your outline the providence of God
in the protection of the Sun the providence of God in the
protection of the Sun you guys remember last week what happened
I There was this woman named Athaliah, who was the daughter
of Jezebel. They were both the two queens
in all of Israel. One was the queen of the ten
northern tribes. The other was the queen of the
two southern tribes, that is Benjamin and Judah. Neither one
of them should have been there. but they were both there to teach
us a spiritual lesson. We learned this last week that
the things that were written aforetime were written for our
learning, that we through patience and consolation of the scriptures
might have hope. And that there are a lot of things
that transpire throughout the history of time that cycle themselves
again into our culture and we begin to face the same challenges
that our forefathers faced. And at this particular time,
Israel had become dominated by what I shared with you last week
was feminism amongst the people of God. Feminism had dominated
the culture under the dominion of Ahab and Jezebel. When Ahab
and Jezebel took the throne and Ahab and Jezebel's reign was
somewhere between 874 BC to about 859 BC. Ahab having married Jezebel,
she was a Zidonian, she brought in all types of idolatrous worship
into Israel and she permeated Israel with false religion. In
the process of permeating Israel with false religion, she persecuted
the true preachers of the gospel. She put them to death, she drove
them out of towns, she tried to exterminate the truth of the
gospel. During her time, as the scripture
says, Ahab worked more wickedness, that is King Ahab, than all the
kings in Israel. During her time, idolatry was
rank. Murder was rank. Immorality was
rank. And then they had enough nerve
to have a daughter, and her name was Athaliah. Athaliah somehow,
in the indiscretion of Jehoshaphat, ended up marrying Jehoshaphat's
son, Joram. So that as I shared with you
last week, in the ten northern tribes, there was a queen. In
the two southern tribes, there was a queen. Both of these women
despised and hated the gospel of God's glory. They despised
it. They hated it. They rejected
it. And they despised and rejected
God's order. They rejected his law. They rejected
his precepts. And their goal was to exterminate
the fundamental principle by which God was going to lead Israel
into a reception of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the
Word of God. They were going to remove the Word of God. They
were going to stop this agenda on God's part to maintain leadership
being rooted and grounded in the 12 patriarchs. rooted and
grounded in the Davidic covenant. Remember we learned that the
line of Judah had a covenant and we're going to talk about
that here a little bit today. And that covenant was that God would
always have a seed of the loins of David to sit on the throne. Every child in the line of David
from David. David began his reign in 1007
BC. from David all the way through
all of the children that came out of his loins all the way
up to Christ pointed to Jesus Christ. But because in the kingdom
there was a division between the ten northern tribes and the
two southern tribes, there was conflict. And what you see running
through the scriptures as a theme is this, kill the seed. Isn't that true? Kill the seed. kill the seed. And so even before
God allowed this warfare to take place, he told the first woman,
Eve, in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, your seed shall crush the
head of the seed of the serpent, even though he's going to bruise
your heel. that set forth the prophecy of the conflict that
would take place throughout redemptive history. So over a period of
time you read through your Bible this constant battle between
the devil working inside the church in terms of false religion
and idolatry and apostasy and working on the outside of the
church in terms of politics either trying to kill the people of
God on a literal, physical, blood-letting level or trying to kill the people
of God and turning them away from the true and the living
God and the true gospel and therefore incurring the wrath of God upon
them. They were battling from the outside and they were battling
from the inside. Do you see that in the scriptures?
time and again and even within the framework of the prodigy
of the children of God you would have Esau and Jacob you would
have Isaac and Ishmael you would have Cain and Abel and on and
on and on blood brothers going to war with one another because
one was of the devil and one was of God are you hearing what
I'm saying that's the battle that is going on so this issue
of the seed as we've been learning in Romans 9 actually transcends
the flesh It actually transcends the flesh. So when you read your
Bible, do not get locked into a paradigm of thinking that the
godly seed was all of the children of Judah. I beg your pardon.
And that all the ungodly seed were the children of Israel.
The majority of them were. Some of them were of good seed.
The point being is that this was a spiritual battle that's
being waged. In fact, Jehoshaphat's compromise
brought about this situation where Athaliah is now in a position
to kill the seed royal. Isn't that right? When Jehoram
dies under the wrath of God, as we learned last week, according
to Revelation chapter 2, Jesus had purpose to kill her seed. Remember, isn't that what he
said? I will cast her and her children into a bed of tribulation
and I will kill her seed. So the battle between Christ
and the Antichrist is that which runs through the scriptures all
the time. And we remember looking back at chapter 22, the last
two verses. Look with me there as we set
forth our discourse, verses 10 and 11. But when Athaliah, the
mother of Uzziah, saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed
all the seed royal of the house of Judah. Do you see that? We
talked about this. This is remarkable. These are
her own children. What type of inordinate affection
must be latent in the heart of a woman who would destroy her
own children? Well, here's the reason why.
She had an insatiable desire to be queen. Just like the devil
who said in Isaiah 14, I will sit in the sides of the north.
I will be like the most high God. I will rule over the congregation
of God, even if it means kill everybody in his way. And so
Athaliah saw that this was a chance for her to usurp the throne.
So what does she do? Kill off all of her seed. Her
husband's dead now. It was fine while her husband
was alive because she told him what to do anyway. He was a wimp.
But once he died, it was necessary to kill the children. You know
why? Because one of those boys might have stood up for the truth.
So she sought to kill them. You know what the scripture tells
us and this is where we get into the providence of God and the
provision of the sun. It says over in verse 11 that
Jehoshabit actually in the book of Kings is in 2nd Kings it should
be Jehoshibah the daughter of the king that is Joram. took
Joash, the son of Ahaziah, that is Athaliah and Jehoram's son,
Ahaziah, the one who died, and stole him from among the king's
sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeth, the daughter
of the king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada, the priest, for
she was the sister of Ahaziah, look what she did, she hid him
from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. How many times do we
go through the scriptures and see that this last boy who is
subject to death is taken and hid? In order to be protected
from the wrath of the enemy. And so the point in our outline
is very clear. The providence of God and the
protection of the sun. I could say the providence of
God and the protection of the sea. I want you to mark though
in your outline how that providence underscores itself. It's in your
outline under point number one. A couple, two or three things.
One, she hid him. One, she hid him. But she had
the ability to hide him, ladies and gentlemen, because in God's
providence, prior to this event, God allowed her, that is, Ahaziah's
sister, to marry into the priesthood. She married the high priest.
Now, while Israel Was engaged in rank idolatry and many of
the priests were already corrupted by flattery By bribes they had
long ago departed from the true of the living god. They were
already worshiping bail over in other temples They had a primarily
abandoned the house of god. There was still a handful of
people who knew god That's always the way that's always the case
Even in the midst of gross darkness and great apostasy, listen to
me, there are few people who still know, love, and are committed
to the true and the living God. Am I making some sense? So it
was with Jehoiada. And so somehow this young lady,
Josheba, was able to marry into the high priest family and therefore
take one of the boys. Obviously, Joash was one of the
children of Ezra. He had many of them. And they
had nurses. You know how it goes with the
wealthy today? You have a baby and you give the baby to the,
what do you call it, the nanny. The nanny takes care of him.
You only see the child when it's time to eat dinner or when you
got to give him some money to go play soccer or something.
In any event, Joash was able to escape the judgment because
his father didn't know him well, his granddaddy didn't know him
well, and Athaliah, his grandmother, could care less. So his auntie
scooped him up under the auspices and purpose of God's providence
and sovereignty and hid him. I want you to notice the language
here. Listen to what it says in verse 12. He was hid with them. Who is that? The high priest
and his bride, watch this, in the house of God. That's a good place to hide.
That's a good place for a little brother to be hid. Now it's a
shame when your society is so bad that the only place you can
find safety is in the house of God. Particularly when your society
is supposed to be a godly society. That's bad. But what this signifies
is God still had his hand upon his ministry. He still had his
hand upon his church and the church was still a refuge for
sinners who were under the decree of judgment. Did you get that
little Joe ashes like you and I? We are under the decree of
judgment. We should die because of our
sin. We are under the curse of the law. We should die. But God
was pleased to hide us in the house of God. Keep us from the
judgment of God. Keep us from the wrath of God.
Do you see that? And I'm here to tell you that
those of you who have come to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
the reason you and I weren't slain from the moment we were
born is because God hid us in Christ. But the boy was hid. He was hid by the providence
of God. He was hid by his auntie. He was hid by his uncle-in-law
Jehoiada. Now I want you to know again,
Jehoiada is a very significant party in our context. In our
outline it says God hid him. It says she married into the
priesthood. Now I want to talk about point
number two, Jehoiada. In your outline it says the power of
the gospel. Drawing from our text, the typology
by way of application to us, little Joash points to whom? Christ. Christ must come, saints,
and God will do everything that's necessary to bring him forth.
He will protect the seed. He will destroy the wicked. He
will frustrate their purposes and plans. He also will strengthen
his people to continue to perpetuate the scheme of redemption so that
Jesus comes. And he will do mighty works through
people with whom you and I would have never considered. Jehoiada,
the high priest here, represents the Holy Ghost. Jehoiada the
High Priest here represents the Spirit of God operating in power
to preserve the seed to bring him forth in the fullness of
time. I want you to see how this works.
Jehoiada the High Priest. He didn't fear Athaliah. Jehoiada
the high priest continued to serve the true and the living
God in the face of all danger. Jehoiada the high priest successfully
secured the hiding of the son in the house of God from the
time that God determined him to be the redeemer of his people
in eternity past until the day the scripture says that he was
born of a virgin. named Mary, the Holy Ghost kept
him hid. Am I making some sense? Protected
him all throughout the eons of time, all the way up to the point
that he was born somewhere a couple of years before the first century
BC. God protected the seed, hid the
seed, washed over the seed, and kept the seed. That's Jehoiada.
want you to see how this worked for him he did a great and marvelous
thing looking your outline at looking your Bible chapter 23
verse 1 and in the seventh year of Jehoiada do you see that in
the seventh year I'm sorry and in the seventh year Jehoiada
strengthened himself and took captains of hundreds begin to
make names Azariah the son of Jehoram, and Ishmael, the son
of Jehoram, and Azariah, the son of Obed. Notice Azariah is
a very common name, isn't it? And Maaseah, the son of Adiah,
and Elishaphat, the son of Zechariah, and he covenanted with them.
What did he do? What was the objective of the
high priest? I'll tell you what he's doing.
He's strengthening himself by bringing together certain persons
critical to the objective of overthrowing Athaliah. So what
he does is act in wisdom and prudence to draw to himself a
man here, draw to himself a man there, draw to himself a man
over here. Gather these men together, I
want you to hear this now, and begin to speak to them the intimacies
and secrets of his objective and plans. These men know something
that the rest of the city don't know. They are aware of a plan,
a scheme of redemption that nobody else knows. They have been drawn
close to Jehoiada and Jehoiada has made known to them what he's
going to do. Once he made known to this group
of men here who are identified as warriors, they're soldiers,
they're warriors, captains. men who are prepared to fight
for the truth of the gospel men who are prepared to go to war
to overthrow the apostasy that's in the land men who are ready
to die for the cause watch this now of magnifying the Lord with
me see you can hear Jehoiada saying to these men Oh magnify
the Lord with come let us exalt his name together so they gathered
together and they devised a plan and I want you to see the stratagem
thereof point number three he was manifested in the fullness
of time do you see that verse one again and in the seventh
year Jehoiada strengthened himself All this happened within the
seventh year. Now, if you're not a Hebrew, the seventh year
means nothing to you. But a Hebrew understands the
significance of choosing the seventh year to act, to do exploits. It was six years that Athaliah
reigned. This woman reigned for six years. For six years, Israel had to
deal with her tyranny. Israel had to deal with a rebellion
Israel had to deal with her plundering the house of God didn't we learn
that last week look again at it so that you might be reminded
in chapter 23 over at verse 6 and 7 chapter 23 verse 6 or rather
verse 7 we need that verse 6 verse 7 of chapter 24 chapter 24 verse
7 for the sons of Athaliah that wicked woman had broken up the
house of God and also all the dedicated things of the house
of the Lord did they bestow upon Baal. Pastor what happened for
six years? For six years rank apostasy devastated
the Church of God. For six years she plundered the
temple. For six years, she ravaged the
temple. For six years, she made the worship
of the true and the living God obnoxious to the people while
she exalted Baal worship. She took the gold and she took
the silver and she took the precious things of the temple the things
that signify God's redeeming grace in the life of sinners
the things that signify God's presence gold represents deity
and it signifies the presence of God silver represents the
purification of sinners through the work of Christ we're like
silver tried in the fire isn't that right silver is purified
it represents the redemption sinners in Jesus Christ and precious
stones represent true believers we talked about this before God
shall make up his crown on the last day with jewels the jewels
will be redeemed sinners chosen in Christ who made it through
the fires of God's judgment because they have an eternal substance
within them and that eternal substance within them is Jesus
Christ Christ is our life, Christ is our substance, and he's the
reason we're gonna make it through the fire, if you're a true believer.
Now, if you're just a religious person, you're wood, hay, and
stubble, and you won't make it through. The only way you and
I are gonna make it through is if we're here in Christ. Am I
making some sense? you are dead Colossians chapter 3 verse 3
says and your life is here with Christ in God who is your life
and when Christ shall appear then you shall appear also how
am I gonna make it through the fire in Christ how are you gonna
make it through the fire only in Christ and then when we look
at Revelation chapter 21 that glorious picture of the New Jerusalem
coming down out of heaven As a bride adorned for a bridegroom,
we see that she's decked in gold and silver and precious stones.
She's just gloriously arrayed. Isn't that right? That's the
believer. That's the church that has passed through the fires
of this world, trusting in no one but Jesus Christ, his blood
and righteousness, relying fully upon his grace and can weather
the storms of life because they're not looking to their own works,
but the works of him whom God has sent. And so what we have
here in this 24th chapter is what I've said to you is a prophetic
truth that has been relevant over the last couple of hundred
years, and that's this. Feminism has emerged from time to time
throughout church history to try to destroy what God has set
up as part of his original design. God made the man first, and then
the woman. And the scripture tells us in
1 Corinthians chapter 11, he made the woman for the man, not
the man for the woman. And while the man is out of the
woman, the woman is by the man. And redemption comes through
a man. Although the man himself comes through a woman. So that
there is a connection. designed to be as we shared last
week. When we talk about the distinction
between male and female and the roles that God has given the
men in contradistinction to the women, we are not denigrating
women. We are not setting women aside.
We're not saying like some religious groups do that women are not
human beings. We're saying that women in their
essence, in their ontology are equal to men. When they were
created, they were created in the image of God just like man.
Man was created in the image of God and when God created Adam
he saw in Adam Eve already. This is what the Bible tells
us in Genesis chapter 126. In the image of God created he
them. So when he created man he had
already in his own purpose of grace created woman. In the fullness
of time that woman was to come out of him be brought back by
God to him and work the scheme of redemption so that God would
get glory through them. We call this a complementarian
relationship. You guys understand what I'm
saying? A complementarian relationship means that the man and the woman
are not button heads. They're not fighting. They're
not vying for equal power. This is not the kind of battle
that God's people are called to. We're called to work together
on the premise of God's Word, which tells us plainly what our
roles are. And when we follow our roles,
God blesses it. God blesses it. But from time
to time, the devil is able to break through and get a hold
to a woman and allow her to emerge through the weakness of the man.
I'm here to tell you, the only way the serpent can get to the
woman is through the weakness of the man. And in his compromising
of the gospel, women have been risen up to places of leadership
where they have no position. And this is prolific today in
the church. And you wonder how they get there? Because of weak
men! Men who have compromised the Word of God. We call them
sons of Athaliah and Jezebel. These are not sons of God. They're
not sons of God. These are sons of Athaliah and
Jezebel. And in order for Athaliah to have taken the throne, do
you know what she had to do? Kill the seed! Isn't that what
chapter 22 verse 10 says, and when Athaliah saw that her husband
was dead she went forth to kill the seed. Why? To take the throne. What do you mean take the throne?
Usurp the authority. So the Bible tells us in 1st
Timothy chapter 2 verse 10 through 12 this, I do not suffer a woman
to teach or usurp authority over the man. But to be in silence,
as also says the scripture, for the man was created first and
not the woman. The woman was in the transgression
and not the man. God has a purpose for the woman.
God has a purpose for the man. And whenever a woman is in a
place of authority, whether she wants to admit it or not, she's
usurping her authority. Now to usurp authority means
to take authority. Now watch this. When you take
authority, you have authority, but it's not rightful authority.
When you take authority, you have stolen that authority. You've
bribed your way into that authority. You have manipulated your way
into that authority. Even if you got there on the
auspices of others who've gone before you to destroy the valor
and the strength in the hearts of the men who should have kept
the authority principle established. Well, you know, there were no
men around and so, you know, somebody has to leave. No, no,
no, no, no. Go find a man or pray and wait
for a man. Pray and wait for a man. And
by the way, while I'm dealing with that, you know, in terms
of women and their ability to have influence and be effective
in the church, that's not the argument. The argument is not,
can a woman do something in the church? If the argument is, if
the woman can't preach, she can't do anything, that's a faulty
bifurcation. That's a faulty bifurcation. That's a faulty
division. That's a flawed dichotomy. That's a superficial argument.
It has no basis in logic. Because the woman is not called
to be in authority over the man doesn't mean that there aren't
tons of things that she can do that are germane, relevant, essential
to the benefit of the kingdom of God. Here's what I'll say
to a couple of you ladies who are wondering whether or not
this whole argument is relevant or should you buy into this Athelion
age and this Jezebelian age and find yourself in trouble with
God. If you want to teach, if you want to encourage, if you
want to be a guide to the blind, if you want to be ears to the
deaf, if you want to be understanding to fools, take up the monumental
task of training women to be godly. Take up the gargantuan,
chasm, vacuum, emptiness of our young sisters and our young daughters
and our young women who don't have the example, who don't have
the mentoring, who don't have the pattern of women, who know
what God's will is for women and set it down to the women.
You will find yourself more than busy if you immerse yourself
in seeking the agenda of helping your sisters. Because whether
you want to admit it or not, your sisters are in a warfare.
Your sisters are in a horrible warfare. They're being brought
into captivity. They're being manipulated. They're
being controlled. They're being deceived. They're
being cursed. They're being damned on every
hand. I guarantee you, if you immerse yourself in a ministry
that is targeting the raising up of our sisters into a status
of godliness, your work will be there for generations to come.
The warfare is massive. And our sisters are being used
and they're being slaughtered in the area of their role that
which God has called them to. And you can be very useful in
the capacity of bringing them back to a place of being substantive
in the purposes of God. You can do that. Now, I would
encourage you to go down that route. And here's what I'll say.
God will bless you if you do. God will bless you. Some of you
ladies, you want to be effective in the ministry? Study, pray,
seek God's face. on how to help the restoration
of families by teaching women how to be wise and good mothers
and keep their stations at home. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
You know, it has always amazed me. And they're ready to watch families
just get decimated so they can preach to a bunch of broken families,
broken homes, divorced and And just mangled in every manner
we can imagine. The goal of the gospel is restoration. The goal of the gospel is healing.
The goal of the gospel is the recovery of that which is broken. The goal of the gospel is not
for some woman to stand up here and pontificate to you something
that she believes you need to hear. What you hear most of the
time from your women who are calling themselves preachers
is not the gospel. I've said it more than once.
I haven't heard a woman yet preach the gospel. I've never heard
a woman preach the sovereign grace of God as it is in Jesus
Christ. I've never seen her set down
who he is and what he did and who he did it for and where he
is now. Never once. You see, it's a contradiction
for her to be here. So she can't have the gospel,
God won't give it to her. So her ministry will be politics,
Her ministry will be prosperity, her ministry will be personal
growth, and actually she's building an army against the men working
for the devil. And so what happens is there's
this continual generation gap or gender gap between the men
and the women. And I told you this before, this
is the principle of redundancy. Don't ever buy into the principle
of redundancy. Why should we have two of the
same thing? Why? Why do we need two of the same
thing? Why do we need a woman up here pontificating and setting
forth the word like a man? Because that's what happens.
They get very manly. And so you sisters are sitting
under manly women when what you can have is a man and give God
glory. Okay, so now be very clear to
understand that this is what was going on. So Athaliah cannot
be preaching the gospel when she's killing the seed. The ministry
of preaching is to exalt the seed. To give honor to the seed. To promote the seed. And that
seed is Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? And I
really do want to make it clear to you ladies, there's a radical
difference between godliness and religion. You've heard me
say it before. There's a radical difference
between godliness and religion. You may be a religious woman,
but you're not godly if you're opposing the truth of the gospel.
Athaliah was not godly. Jezebel was not godly. And so,
as a consequence, they made Israel horrible. Horribly wretched in
their idolatry. They perpetuated idolatry. They
increased the transgressions among men. Jehoiada had a plan,
though, and I want you to see this. His plan was in the seventh
year. Again, that's verse 1 of chapter
23. In the seventh year of Jehoradah. And my title I have, in the fullness
of time. The number seven is God's number,
isn't it? It's the number of perfection. The number six is
the number of man. Did you know that? In six days,
God created the heavens and the earth. What was he doing? Working.
And on that sixth day, he created man. He didn't create man on
the seventh day. He created him on the sixth day.
That man was created to work. So as long as you and I are part
of that first Adam principle, you and I are working. We are
working and working and working, and guess what? After the fall,
we're working under the curse. By the sweat of your brawl shall
you labor all the days of your life. You're going to bring forth
thorns and thistles, and from dust thou art to dust thou shalt
return. All the human race is under the curse of sin, under
the curse of working. And the Bible tells us there
is no rest for the what? Wicked. While as yet you and
I are part of that six-day system, you and I are working, toiling,
never able to enter into that rest which only comes on the
seventh day. Which only comes in that seventh
year period. That seventh year period is a
period of rest, which rest sinners find only in Jesus. So it's in
this seventh year that Jehoiada, a type of the Holy Ghost, is
about to bring forth the Son. In bringing forth the Son, the
people of God, who have been toiling under apostasy now, apostasy
for six years, are about to enter into their rest. Listen to what
it says. I love the strategy here. Point
number four, verses two and three. Point number four. And they went
out into Judah, that is, Jehoiada and his warrior gang of men,
and they gathered the Levites out of the cities of Judah. Do
you see that? And the chief of the fathers of Israel, and they
came to Jerusalem. Where did they go? They went
to Jerusalem. Why did they go there? Because
the house of God is there. Now I want you to notice the
strategy of Jehoiada. The first group of people that
he chose was his warrior group, the men that were ready to lay
down their life for the cause of the gospel, and then he went
to the priesthood. He went to the priesthood. He
went to the priesthood because the priesthood, as we've learned
long ago, had the ministry of preaching the gospel, didn't
it? The priesthood was the one who set forth the sacrifices.
The priesthood were the ones who dealt with the washings.
The priesthood were the one who dealt with the prayers. The priesthood
was the one who dealt with the atonement. The tabernacle or
the temple was the gospel in the Old Testament, was it not?
The Spirit of God, therefore, then, when he is about to bring
revival into a land, will take those men who are most committed
to the gospel, ready to die for that gospel, and then begin to
teach his preachers, teach his gospel preachers about what he's
gonna do. So he gathers the priests together.
He gathers the preachers together. And he makes a covenant with
them. See, the strategy is before he takes this thing public, he's
doing a very private work. He's bringing his intentions
of exalting the Son to the leadership of Israel. And I've said this
more than once. If your leadership is corrupt,
your people will be corrupt. If the princes do evil, the people
will do evil. If the priests are corrupt, the
people are corrupt. If in your churches your leadership
is corrupt, the people are corrupt. If you stand under them, you're
corrupt too. And you know they're corrupt.
You know they've gone contrary to the gospel. You know they've
departed from the word of God. You know they're immoral. You
know they're bankrupt spiritually. You know they've compromised
the truth of the gospel. And you stay there, you're corrupt
too. You're corrupt too. A body of people stands or fall
on the integrity of its leadership. A body of people stand or fall
on the integrity of its leadership. And when the Holy Ghost is working,
He's going to raise up leadership. that recognizes the preciousness
of the gospel as the grounds upon which his people are redeemed
and established. So the Levites are the ones who
are given the charge. I want you to see the beauty
of this. It's beautiful. Not only did Jehoiada gather
together the warriors, he gathered together the priests, and he
gathered together the fathers of Israel. That's what verse
2 says. And they came to Jerusalem. Now watch this, this is quite
interesting. Verse 3. And all that congregation, the warriors,
the preachers, the fathers, and all that congregation made a
covenant with the king in the house of God. And he said unto
them, behold, the king's son shall reign. Isn't that good?
Watch this now. The Holy Ghost said to the leadership,
behold, the king's son shall reign. What a promise. Even before the boy takes the
throne, what Jehoiada says is, the king's son shall reign. Now, how does Jehoiada know that
these men are going to actually go through with this job of exalting
Jehoiada as king? I'll show you how. Go with me
in your Bible to 2 Kings chapter 11. There's an alternative rendering
of this, and it gives us a nuance that's worthy of our consideration. 2nd Kings chapter 11 I want you
to see this this is quite interesting in our account in chapter chapter
23 of 2nd Chronicles it says that he gathered them together
and he declared that the king should reign and then he says
in that same verse as the Lord had said his of the sons of David
in other words he's reminding them of the covenant that God
made with David that of his seed should there be a man on the
throne in Jerusalem and in Judah he reminds him of what the word
of promise says but I want you to see this I'm in 2nd Kings
chapter 11 are you there listen to what it says in verse 4 this
is quite interesting and the seventh year Jehoiada sent and
fetched the rulers over hundreds with the captains and the guards
and brought them into the house of the Lord. Where did he bring
them? Into the house of the Lord. And he made a covenant with them.
Watch this now. He made a covenant with them
and took an oath of them in the house of the Lord. Now watch
this. And showed them the king's son. Do you see it? Do you know what
inspired these men to be ready to go to war against false religion? A revelation of the Son of God. A revelation of the Son of God. What Jehoiada as a type of the
Holy Ghost is doing here is taking the ordained leadership, bringing
them into the house of God and revealing Christ to them. Revealing
Christ to them. Now mark this now. No one knew
that Joe Ash was here. Six years apostasy reigned and
the ignorant said, ah we're through with that patriarchal system.
We're through with God ruling over us. We're through with the
gospel. We're through with Christ being sovereign Lord and that
message of redemption that they've been preaching for years and
years that God has a chosen people in Jesus Christ who shall be
saved in an everlasting salvation. We're through with that now.
We can swing the doors wide open and let everybody from all kinds
of religion come in now under the auspices of a liberal ideology,
this New Age liberalism that's tainted with this feminine agenda. It's a pagan doctrine. They thought
that they had destroyed God's plan. Didn't they? This is a
theme running through Scripture too. Give me a few more minutes
of your time. Every now and then throughout the Scriptures it
gets so dark. And when it gets dark, the wicked laugh. as if
they have triumphed over God's people. There are times throughout
church history when it was so bad that there was no Word of
God to be found anywhere. When we get to Josiah, the last
godly king, one of the things that I want to make known is
he was utterly surprised to find the Word of God hid in the temple.
That's what's going on today, folks. The Word of God is hid
in the temple. There is no real true preaching
going on hardly anywhere. You're hard-pressed to find the
preaching of the gospel in this generation. Show me. Show me.
I'm still asking. Show me where men are determined
to preach Christ and Him crucified to guilty sinners and shut them
up to Christ alone. I'm trying to find it now. you'll
find it far and few in between. Because the Word of God is here
today. Show me where there is a Christ-centered, God-exalting,
Bible-based exposition of the Word taking place in your churches
today. It's all entertainment. It's
all entertainment. Show me. And so it is here. They thought that they had destroyed
the gospel, but God had hid His Son for an appointed time. Isn't that true? Revelation chapter
11 it talks about the beast that rises up out of the bottomless
pit and he makes war with the two witnesses of Revelation 11
you hear some of our radio preachers calling the two witnesses Moses
and Elijah as Elijah as if they are going to be reincarnated
no no the book of Revelation is symbolic it doesn't even make
mention of Moses and Elijah it simply makes mention of their
work Moses turned the water to blood. Elijah caused it not to
rain for three and a half years. Remember that? Moses represents
the law. Elijah represents the prophet.
They both represent the word of God. The Word of God is that
stewardship that's given to all of God's people by which we are
called witnesses of God. So in the book of Revelation,
the two witnesses represent the church who are preaching the
Word, who are persecuted by the beast. And the scripture tells
us in Revelation chapter 11 that the beast ascended out of the
bottomless pit when the testimony of the two witnesses was done
and killed those two witnesses, left their bodies strewn in the
streets of Jerusalem. which the revelator said was
Sodom and Egypt. Remember that? Strewn in the
streets. They had so much vitriol and
hatred for the preaching of the gospel that they wouldn't even
bury the two men. Left them in the streets. You
know what the text tells us also? They had a party. They went around
sending gifts to one another rejoicing that the two witnesses
were dead. Now watch this. who tormented
them day and night with the preaching of the gospel. Oh, I hope the
gospel doesn't torment you. I hope God's word doesn't torment
you. I hope that you don't have a
hard time submitting to the true and the living God. I hope that
you understand it's a privilege to hear the truth as it is in
Christ today. I hope you don't think that hearing
the word of God is something you got to tolerate. You need
the Word of God. You and I live by the Word of
God. The Word of God is our only hope. Hearing Christ preach is
our only hope. And when the two witnesses are
dead, there is no hope. So they went around rejoicing
that the two witnesses were dead. Gave gifts to one another, had
parties, spread it on the internet, sent it around the world. Church
dead. No more gospel preaching. We
put them in jail, we've legislated against preaching the gospel,
so we don't have... All we got now is entertainment in our churches.
We're happy. Everybody can get along. You
know what the Bible says in Revelation chapter 11? After three days... After three days, literally three
and a half days, the two witnesses stood up on their feet. You know
what that's called? The resurrection! You know what
that means? You can't put to death a gospel
preacher! Not for long! If you kill one
here, God'll raise up another one there. If you kill him over
there, God'll raise up another one here. You kill the preaching
in America, it'll take off in Africa. You kill it in Africa,
it's gonna take off in China. You kill it in China, it's gonna
take off in Jerusalem. Wherever you kill one here, God'll
raise another one there. That is what Christ secured for
us by his death on Calvary Street. I am the resurrection and the
life. He that believeth on me, though he were dead, Yet shall
he live and he that liveth and believeth on me shall never see
death. You can't kill the gospel Am
I telling the truth You can't kill the gospel and in fact just
to help you out with the book of Revelation there The only
time people got saved in the book of Revelation is right there
Right there and the tenth part gave glory to God The only time
you hear of men giving glory to God in the book of Revelation
is when the church was resurrected. And then it ascended up in their
sight. And the nations were affrighted
at the ascension of the church. They were brought back to that
place that they had before they were killed. Where? Seated at
the right hand of God Almighty. Ruling with Jesus Christ. Operating
out of that power, that divine power that was given them through
Christ by which sinners are saved. And that is the power of the
Holy Ghost. If you're in Christ right now, you're seated at the
right hand of God the Father. Do you believe that? If you're
in Christ right now, you possess that authority which is of heaven
by which sinners can be saved if God's so pleased to use you.
Do you believe that? You and I are in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus having possessed all spiritual blessings in the
heavenlies by which we are able to accomplish the work that God
has called us to do. Even though our feet are down
here on the ground, my citizenship is in heaven. And men may kill
my body, but they can't kill my soul. And they might kill
Pastor Jesse, but I'm telling you, you gotta raise somebody
else up to preach this message of redemption. They killed John
the Baptist thought it was over with Christ started preaching.
They killed our Savior thought it was over with then the Apostles
started preaching They killed the Apostles and those whom the
Apostles priesthood started preaching and this gospel's been preached
for 2,000 years up to this very moment Why because Christ can't
lie Christ can't fail and he can't change he shall save his
people from their sins am I telling the truth I So what's going on
in our account is that they're feeling pretty secure, that is
the sons of Athaliah, feeling pretty secure. But what they
don't know is that in the house of God, the Holy Ghost represented
by Jehoiada has begun to reveal Christ to the leadership of the
church. Now do you know what happens when leadership has a
revelation of the glory of God in Christ? They get emboldened
to preach this message. See right now they're being taught
of God like the 12 disciples were taught of Christ Like Christ
taught his disciples the truth of the gospel and he began in
Galilee Revealing his glory to them when he turned the water
into wine And then he began to open the eyes of the blind and
heal the sick and raise the dead. And then Peter, James, and John
saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration when his imminent glory leaked
out. And it was so full and so bright that they could hardly
stand it. They knew that they were dealing with the true and
the living God. And when he began to walk on the water and to still
the water, and when he raised Lazarus from the dead, they knew
something was going on then, didn't they? then when they crucified
our Savior he rose again the third day he walked into the
room he didn't open the door he walked through the door and
he told his disciples don't fear it's me touch my hands feel my
side I'm here just like I told you I was gonna be and now I'm
going to my father when I go to my father the business will
be old it'll be your turn to go out and preach this glorious
redemption of Christ. Am I making some sense? It'll
be your turn to go out and say, oh magnify the Lord with me.
Let us exalt his name together. That's what our text is dealing
with. So Jehoiada is strategically working forth. Go back to our
text so we can wrap this up. Jehoiada is strategically working
forth, and our text tells us in verses 2 through 5 what happens. Verses 3 through 5, all the congregation
was gathered together. Chapter 23, 2nd Chronicles, a
covenant made with the king in the house of God. And he said
unto him, behold, the king's son shall reign as the Lord has
said of the sons of David. This is the thing that you shall
do. And what he did, What he did was strategically set up
a group of the priest by the king in the temple. He set up
one third by the king. He set up one third by the entrance
of the house of God. And then he set up another third
on the outside of the house of God. Why? Because he's about
to make the king known to the public. Do you hear me? So now watch what it says. I'm
in verse 8. So the Levite and all of Judah
according to all that did all according to what Jehoiada the
priest had commanded and took every man his men that were to
come in on the Sabbath with them that were to go out on the Sabbath
for Jehoiada the priest dismissed not the courses moreover Jehoiada
the priest delivered to the captains of hundreds spears and bucklers
and shields that David had already prepared left them in the house
of God. Isn't that good? David said,
you know, I'm going to prepare weapons of war for my downline
so that they can continue to protect the message of redemption.
Now, you and I know that the weapons of our warfare are not
carnal. We know that they're mighty through God. You and I
also know that the weapons of our warfare are not physical
shields, but there's a shield, isn't it? And there is a buckler,
isn't it? And there are spears and swords,
aren't they? All of these are the weapons of the Word of God,
the weapons of the Spirit of God, the weapons of the means
of grace by which we accomplish God's purpose. Isn't that right?
And this is why right before they came to take Jesus, Jesus
told his disciples, go get a sword. Go get a sword. And do you know
Peter was ready to go to work, wasn't he? See, Peter was one
of those warrior fellows with our Savior ready to exalt Christ.
He wasn't joking. The only reason he missed is
because his job was fishing and not being a warrior. That's the
only reason he missed. You got to have a little practice
with that big old sword. Only reason he cut off that ear
is because of the ear. But he meant it. He meant to
cut that head off. Lord, I meant to get him. Lord, you know I love you. Lord,
you know all things. You know I love you. Isn't that
right? Peter wasn't gonna let them take
his Savior without a fight, will you? You've sat in churches for
years and watched the gospel systematically get taken from
you. Without a fight. See what I'm saying? You just
sat there and watched it. And then you came in one day
and it was nothing but a vaudeville entertainment show. And you let
them take the gospel from you. I'm here to tell you if you can
let them take it from you, you never had it in the first place. so look at what happens I mean
verses 9 and following more of a joy that the priest delivered
to the captains of verse 10 I'm sorry and he said all the people
every man having his weapon in his hand from the right side
of the temple to the left side of the temple along the altar
of the temple and by the king round about then they brought
out the king's son there you go put upon him the crown gave
him the testimony and made him king. Do you see that? Jehoiada
and his sons anointed him and said, God save the king. Do you
realize what they just did? They just made all Israel know
that we defy Athaliah. We absolutely reject her authority. We reject her rule. We reject
her influence. Jesus is Lord. When they sat
him on his throne, they crowned him. And we are to crown him
king too, right? Crown him Lord. When they sat
him on his throne, they gave him the testimony. Isn't that
what the scriptures say? Now the testimony is the law
of God. You know that the king was the one who was to adhere
strictly to the law, Deuteronomy chapter 17. They gave him the
law of God so that the king would be obedient to the gospel too.
But the testimony in Jesus' hand is more than the law of God.
It's that covenant that his father made with him before the world
began, by which he said, I must work the works of him that sent
me and finish his work. We give Jesus the covenant because
we can't keep it. Did you hear what I just said?
We give him the covenant because only Jesus can keep the covenant.
We crown him Lord because only Jesus can save. We give him the
testimony because we need Jesus to fulfill his word in our place.
Am I making some sense? And that's what they did. They
exalted Jesus as Lord. They exalted Joshua as king and
then they anointed him. Now watch this verse 12 through
13. I thought this was so funny. Now when Athaliah heard the noise
of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people
in the house of the Lord. She hadn't been to the house
of the Lord in six years. She hadn't been there six years.
She was worshiping Baal. And she had all Israel worshiping
Baal with her. As far as she was concerned,
the house of the Lord, where the Gospels preached, where the
king is exalted, where men and women crown him Lord, give him
the testimony, anoint him. She thought that business was
done. All of a sudden she hears a shout. What does she hear?
She hears the people saying, oh magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
And then she comes running. Here, I'm here to tell you the
enemy will come out of the woodwork once you start preaching the
gospel. Is that true? He'll come out of the woodwork,
he'll try to find out what you're doing. I'll tell you what you
do, just keep preaching the gospel. That's all you do, just keep
preaching the gospel. Don't get into any conflicts with him.
He's doomed. He better bow the knee to Christ
too. When they come in here, all we do is keep preaching the
gospel. either you bow or you perish. One of the two. We're not negotiating, we're
not debating, we're not arguing, and we're certainly not compromising.
Either you bow or you perish. You got it? And so they kept
worshiping. Now watch this now, verse 13.
And she looked and behold the king stood at his pillar and
at the entering in, and the princes and the trumpets by the king
and all the people of the land rejoiced and sounded with trumpets
and also singers and instruments of music and such were taught
to sing praises. Then Athaliah ripped her clothes
and said, treason, treason, treason. That's crazy. How are you going
to say treason when you stole the throne? Isn't that crazy? But I'm here to tell you false
religion is maddening. It's insane. It's insane. How
are you going to cry treason when God didn't give you the
authority? You see how insane this woman was? But God led her
into the temple by virtue of the preaching of the gospel and
the exaltation of the Son to do what our next point says.
Look at it. The exaltation of the Son, point
number five, results in point number six. False religion is
destroyed when the gospel is established. Do you see? False religion is destroyed when
the gospel is established. This is a good rule of thumb,
too, before we wrap this up. You're not going to win people
from idolatrous religious notions by debates. You're not going
to win people from idolatrous religious notions by apologetics. The only thing you can do if
you want to go away with something is compromise. Or you'll go away
with nothing. There is no power in rationale
or intellect or arguments or debates to bring people out of
idolatrous theological positions. The only power that can break
them out of the delusion, the false delusion of their adherence
to false teaching and false doctrine is the glory of God in the manifestation
of Christ through the preaching of the gospel and that by the
Holy Ghost. That's the only way And so you
have to be determined whether or not you're going to believe
that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believes or not. But for you to argue with people
is futile. But now when Christ is exalted,
when Christ is crowned, when the covenant is given to him
and he's anointed by his people, I tell you what, Athaliah will
die. Watch it. Verse 14. Then the
Holy Ghost, do you see it? brought said he brought out the
captains of hundreds that were set over the host and said unto
them have her forth that is take her out of here out into the
open open place that's what the Rangers are and whosoever follows
her take them to watch this and let him be slain with the sword
for the priest said slay her not in the house of the Lord
take that woman out of here Get her and them out of here and
slay them with the sword. Why? Athaliah was part of Ahab's
family. They were under the curse. As
Jezebel was under the curse, so was Athaliah. She was part
of Ahab, isn't that right? Slay her as Elijah the Tishbite
had said. All your seed, Ahab, shall die. You know what's interesting about
this? We got one more point. that when
they killed Aphaliah they didn't even give her a burial. This
is significant because all of the men kings in Israel when
they were slain were given a burial. Even wicked Ahab was given a
burial. You know why? He was a man. Did you get it? When her mama
was killed a couple of weeks before She didn't get a burial either.
You know what she tried to do in chapter 11 of Second Kings?
I think it's chapter 9 of Second Kings. When Jehu came to wipe
out the house of Ahab, she hid in a tower. And she looked out
the tower window and saw Jehu coming. And you know what she
did? She tried to paint herself. She
put on makeup so she could look good for him. She was still trying
to deceive men. Isn't that right? still trying
to deceive men. Jehu looked up, saw that painted-faced
woman, and he said, who's on my side? Three eunuchs popped
their head out the window. And she said, did Zimri have
peace? Did the enemies of Zimri have
peace who slew their masters? She tried to throw an idle threat
at that point. But Jehu was nothing but judgment. He was unmitigated
judgment. He wasn't being charmed. His
mission was to destroy false religion. You know what he said?
Throw her down! They took her and threw her out
the window. She hit the ground, her blood
splashed on the wall, and Jehu trod her underfoot with his horses.
And it's not coincidental that this woman was destroyed, her
daughter Athaliah, in the horse's gait. She was trod underfoot
of the horses and didn't even have a burial because God didn't
honor her leadership. I hope you get the lesson. One
more point. The joyful effects of obedience. The joyful effects of obedience. This is verses 18 throughout
the rest of the chapter. Verse 21. Jehoiada appointed
the offices of the house of the Lord by the hands of the priests
the Levites whom David had distributed in the house of the Lord to offer
burnt offerings of the Lord as it is written in the law of Moses
with rejoicing and with singing as it was ordained by David and
he set the porters at the gates of the house of the Lord that
none which was unclean and anything should enter therein and he took
the captains of hundreds and the nobles and the governors
of the people and all the people of the land and Brought down
the king from the house of the Lord and they came through the
high gate Into the king's house now watch this and set the king
upon the throne of his kingdom. Do you see that? Pastor what's
going on? Here's what's going on Before
Christ will ever be received as Lord publicly by hell-bound
sinners, the church must receive Christ as Lord in the house of
God. Before sinners receive Christ
as Savior, the leadership must bow to Him as Savior. Christ
must be anointed king in the church before he's anointed king
in the world. Am I making some sense? Before
he's received publicly by the people, he better be received
privately by his own people. His own people better exalt him
as Lord. And I'm here to tell you, this
here is a prophetic word. As he is king in his church,
he shall be king one day over the whole universe publicly and
openly as sovereign Lord. Do you guys see that? see the
beauty of what Jehoiada did is seen in the last verse and all
the people of the land what so interesting because the proverb
says in Proverbs chapter 29 around verse 2 when the wicked rule
the people mourn when you have wicked leadership there's none
but trouble none but trouble there's no joy There's no confidence. There's no sense of security.
There's no sense of real divine purpose. Just trouble. The joy
is a facade. That's why in our churches they
try to, you know, they try to muster up joy. You know, you
under law to be happy when you come into the church. Why do
you have to be under law to be happy when you come into church?
Why you got to sing and dance and stand up and run around the
church when you come to church? Why are you going to be forced
to do that? If you know the Lord, wouldn't you be happy anyway?
Aren't you happy when Christ is preached? Aren't you happy
when the Lord is exalted and you're able to see a little bit
of his glory? You don't have to be compelled
to rejoice in Christ when Christ is preached. You don't have to
be taught to go through the show of religious happiness and zeal
when Christ is preached. It's nothing but perpetrating
a fraud when you force people. Come on now. You got to clap
now. Come on. You got to shout now. Come on now. Come on now. It's a shame when the people
of God can't give God glory. It sure is. It sure is. But it's even more shame when
the preacher doesn't preach Christ, who is the people's glory. And all the people of the land
rejoiced, and the city was quiet. It certainly was. This was the
seventh year. It was a year of rest. Christ was on his throne. Everything was set right. People
were happy. I'm happy. Are you happy? And
watch this. After that they had slain Athaliah
with the sword. Oh, the writer makes it very
clear, doesn't he? Close out the chapter that way. After they
had slain Athaliah with the sword, God's people, God's people were
happy. Amen. All right, let's stand
and sing our last hymn.