ALIGNED WITH DESTRUCTION
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on January 30, 2011 under 2011 |
Preached Sunday, January 30, 2011
from
2 Chronicles 22:1-9
Theme: As God’s people, we must be sure that we do not align ourselves with that which God has appointed for destruction.
(Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture references are taken from The Holy Bible, New King James Version; copyright 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc.)
We come this morning in our study of the Kings of Judah to a very fascinating story. It concerns King Ahaziah—the son of Jehoram, the grandson of Jehoshaphat. He only reigned over the people of Judah for a short amount of time; but the lesson his story teaches us is great in significance.
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I believe his story will unfold to us a little easier if we begin with the lesson we should learn from it. As Christians, it’s one of the most serious principles we could think about; and it’s one that has the greatest possible relevance to our life in the world today. And it’s this: When we align ourselves with that which God has clearly appointed for destruction, we put ourselves in danger of being destroyed along with it.
If a man is foolish enough to sneak into a building that is scheduled for destruction and set up an apartment for himself in it, no one should be too terribly surprised if he—and everything he owns—is suddenly lost in a demolition explosion. And the same principle applies with respect to where we set up residence in God’s moral universe. The Bible warns us,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever (1 John 2:15-17).
The whole system of ungodly values and priorities and pursuits of this world that we’re all too easily caught up in—that is, the sensual lusts of the flesh that cry out to be gratified, the covetous lust of the eyes that seeks to be satisfied by more and more things, and the boastful pride of life that elevates self above all else—is “passing away”. It’s all scheduled for destruction. And if we align ourselves to the very system of values and priorities that God says is scheduled for destruction, should we be too terribly surprised if we suffer destruction along with it?
God offers to rescue us to the destruction that He has declared will fall upon this world system. He gave His Son Jesus in order to save us from that promised destruction; and invites us to become united with—and sharers in the glory of—His beloved Son. How important it is, then, that we invite the Holy Spirit to examine us often; and to reveal to us whether or not we’re aligning ourselves to the ungodly values and priorities of this world—the very things that God Himself says is scheduled for destruction; lest we suffer destruction along with them!
As God’s people, we must be very sure that we do not align ourselves with that which God has appointed for destruction. That, I believe, is the primary lesson to be learned from the story of King Ahaziah.
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Now; King Ahaziah was the ruler of the southern kingdom of Judah. But to gain the best understanding of his story, we need to go back in history—a generation before his time—to the time of Ahab, King of the northern kingdom of Israel.
Ahab was a profoundly wicked king. He had rejected the God of Israel; and was completely given over to the ungodly values and priorities of this world. What’s more, he had married the heathen daughter of the king of the Sidonians—the infamous Jezebel. Under her influence, Ahab spread the worship of the false god Baal throughout Israel; and utterly contaminated God’s land with it.
One day, Ahab demonstrated just how much he was given over to the values of this world. He became greedy for a piece of land that belonged to another man. That man’s name was Naboth; and he had a vineyard that Ahab wanted very badly. Ahab offered to buy it from him; but to sell it would have been contrary to God’s law through Moses. And Naboth—a God-fearing and law-abiding man—refused to do so. King Ahab pouted about it like a child; but his evil wife Jezebel told him to cheer up: “I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.” So, she arranged to have Naboth killed; so that Ahab could have what Naboth wouldn’t sell. Once Naboth was dead, Ahab went down to take possession of the vineyard.
Ahab may have thought that he managed to get away with it; but this evil act of murder and theft wasn’t hidden from the eyes of God. God sent His prophet Elijah to confront Ahab about it. When Elijah stood before him, Ahab said, “Have you found me, O my enemy?”. (That tells you a lot about Ahab, doesn’t it?—greeting God’s prophet as his “enemy”?) And Elijah answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD”. And it’s then that Elijah brought this stunning message to Ahab from God:
“‘Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity, and will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, both bond and free. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because of the provocation with which you have provoked Me to anger, and made Israel sin’” (1 Kings 21:21-22).
Jeroboam was a previous king of Israel whose entire lineage of reign—his entire ‘house’—was utterly destroyed by God through Baasha. Then, Baasha himself became another king whose house was likewise utterly destroyed by God. And God was now telling Ahab that He would make his house like theirs—utterly destroyed, with no one left from his house to rule Israel in his place.
And there was more. Elijah went on to say;
“And concerning Jezebel the LORD also spoke, saying, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.’ The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field” (vv. 23-24).
Now; Ahab truly was a very wicked and ungodly man. The next few verses go on to tell us even more of the wickedness he and his wife Jezebel had brought upon the land. But the Bible also tells us that, when he heard this word from God through the mouth of Elijah, Ahab sorrowed. It says;
So it was, when Ahab heard those words, that he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning. And the word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house” (vv. 27-29).
God was merciful. The promised destruction to Ahab’s house would not occur in his lifetime. It would occur during the reign of Ahab’s wicked son Jehoram. But the important point to notice in all this is that the house of Ahab—all his kingdom, all his possessions, all his offspring—were appointed by God for eventual destruction. And anyone who would align themselves with the house of Ahab would be aligning themselves to that which God had clearly appointed for destruction! They would have been—as it were—setting up their apartment in a condemned building that was about to be exploded and brought to rubble!
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Now; this brings us up to the time of King Ahaziah of Judah, and to his story.
Ahaziah was the grand-nephew of King Ahab; and his mother was the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. It’s true that Ahaziah had a godly heritage through his grandfather Jehoshaphat. But he didn’t follow after the ways of his godly grandfather. Instead, he followed after the pattern of his disobedient and unfaithful father. In 2 Chronicles 22, the Bible tells us that—like his father—
He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother advised him to do wickedly. Therefore he did evil in the sight of the LORD, like the house of Ahab; for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction (2 Chronicles 22:3-4).
And notice carefully how this destruction came about. It was by his becoming closely affiliated with that which God had already dedicated to destruction—the house of Ahab! The Bible says,
He also followed their advice, and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab king of Israel to war against Hazael king of Syria at Ramoth Gilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. Then he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which he had received at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Azariah [or Ahaziah] the son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to see Jehoram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick (vv. 5-6).
Even though God had set the house of Ahab King of Israel aside for destruction, Ahaziah King of Judah kept maintaining a very close affiliation with it. He went with Ahab’s son Jehoram (or, as the Bible sometimes calls him, Joram) into a foolish battle that had been started long ago by Ahab; and then, after Jehoram was injured, Ahaziah went to Jezreel to pay his wicked uncle a ‘get-well’ visit.
The next verse is truly ominous! Verse 7 says;
His going to Joram was God’s occasion for Zachariah’s downfall; for when he arrived, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Tsimshian, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab (v. 7).
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And so; this leads us to 2 Kings 9; and to the story of this man Jehu, whom the Lord anointed for the keeping of His dreadful promise long ago—and to cut off the house of Ahab.
Jehu was one of the commanders in the army of Jehoram King of Israel. It appears that while Jehu was busily engaged in the combat in which his master Jehoram had earlier been injured, God sent instructions to His prophet Elisha. Elisha faithfully acted on those instructions. The Bible tells us, in 2 Kings 9;
And Elisha the prophet called one of the sons of the prophets, and said to him, “Get yourself ready, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth Gilead. Now when you arrive at that place, look there for Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, and go in and make him rise up from among his associates, and take him to an inner room. Then take the flask of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I have anointed you king over Israel.”’ Then open the door and flee, and do not delay” (2 Kings 9:1-3).
It should be pretty obvious why he would need to flee, shouldn’t it? He would have anointed Commander Jehu to be king while Ahab’s son Jehoram was still reigning! The life of the prophet’s apprentice would be in danger, and he would need to get away immediately. But the young man did exactly as Elisha told him. He came to Jehu, asked to meet with him privately—away from the other commanders and into a house. And perhaps with trembling hand, he opened the flask of oil and anointed him with these words:
“Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘I have anointed you king over the people of the LORD, over Israel. You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. For the whole house of Ahab shall perish; and I will cut off from Ahab all the males in Israel, both bond and free. So I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah. The dogs shall eat Jezebel on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her’” (vv. 6-10).
And with that, the young man opened the door and fled away. When Jehu came out of the house, the other commanders asked him, “Is it well? Why did this madman come to you?” Jehu answered cryptically, “You know the man and his babble.” But they knew there was much more involved that Jehu was letting on. “A lie!” they said. “Tell us now.” And so, he told them “Thus and thus he spoke to me, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I have anointed you king over Israel”‘” (v. 12).
And there apparently wasn’t much love in their hearts for King Jehoram; because the Bible tells us,
Then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps; and they blew trumpets, saying, “Jehu is king!” (v. 13).
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It’s then that Jehu reign began as ‘the scourge of God’—appointed by God to ‘strike down the house of Ahab’. And he wasted no time. First, he road out to Jezreel, where Jehoram was recuperating from his injuries. Ahaziah was visiting Jehoram at the time; and they both road out together to meet Jehu. Jehoram must have sensed that something was about to happen; because he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” It wasn’t. Jehu answered,
“What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many?” Then Joram turned around and fled, and said to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!” Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram between his arms; and the arrow came out at his heart, and he sank down in his chariot (vv. 22-24).
In a display of God’s ironic justice, it turns out that this happened near the very vineyard that Jehoram’s father Ahab had stolen through murder. So, Jehu ordered that Jehoram’s dead body be cast onto the plot of ground that was purchased with the blood of Naboth.
Then, Jehu went on a campaign of complete destruction of the house of Ahab and everyone connected to it. It’s not a very pretty story. He road into Jezreel and ordered Jezebel to be thrown out a window to her death; and when he went back later to see to the disposal of her dead body, only a few parts of it could be found. He said, “This is the word of the LORD, which He spoke by His servant Elijah the Tishbite, saying, ‘On the plot of ground at Jezreel dogs shall eat the flesh of Jezebel; and the corpse of Jezebel shall be as refuse on the surface of the field, in the plot at Jezreel, so that they shall not say, “Here lies Jezebel”‘” (vv. 36-37).
He then killed the seventy remaining sons of Ahab; saying, “Know now that nothing shall fall to the earth of the word of the LORD which the LORD spoke concerning the house of Ahab; for the LORD has done what He spoke by His servant Elijah” (2 Kings 10:10). And then he drove his chariot into Samaria and slew the rest of Ahab’s family, saying; “Come with me, and see my zeal for the LORD” (v. 16). He then gathered all the worshipers of Baal into one building and killed them, burned down all their sacred pillars, and tore down their temple.
There’s no question that this all constituted judgment upon the house of Ahab from the hand of God Himself. When it was all over, we read these words:
And the LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in My sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in My heart, your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation” (2 Kings 10:30).
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This is a story that makes me shudder! I hope it makes you shudder too. But I hope that what we shudder at most of all is the righteous judgment of a holy God. Truly, as Hebrews 10:31 says, “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”
But the thing that I ask that we pay the greatest attention to is what happened to King Ahaziah in all this. He had chosen to align himself with the ungodly ‘house’ of Ahab—that house which the Lord had clearly appointed to destruction. So; when we come to the end of Ahaziah’s story in 2 Chronicles 22; we read these words;
And it happened, when Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, and found the princes of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah’s brothers who served Ahaziah, that he killed them. Then he searched for Ahaziah; and they caught him (he was hiding in Samaria), and brought him to Jehu. When they had killed him, they buried him, “because,” they said, “he is the son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” So the house of Ahaziah had no one to assume power over the kingdom. (2 Chronicles 22:8-9).
King Ahaziah had chosen to align himself with that which God had appointed for destruction. The warning signs were posted all around him; but he ignored them. Should we be too terribly surprised that he himself was also killed in the demolition blast?
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Now; I praise God that we live today in the age of His grace. None of us have to suffer the end that Ahaziah suffered. If we find that we’ve aligned ourselves too deeply with the sins of this world, there’s good news. God has provided a Savior—”even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thessalonians 1:10). The first way to apply what we learn from the story of Ahaziah is to make absolutely sure that we have placed our trust in Jesus and have begun to follow Him.
And for those of us who have done so, I don’t think any passage can better summarize what I believe God wants us to take away from the story of Ahaziah than Paul’s words to his beloved brothers and sisters who lived in the midst of the ungodly culture of ancient Corinth:
Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”Therefore
“Come out from among them
And be separate, says the Lord.
Do not touch what is unclean,
And I will receive you.”“I will be a Father to you,
And you shall be My sons and daughters,
Says the LORD Almighty.”Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
As God’s people, dear brothers and sisters—as those who, by His grace, have been appointed to life—let’s be very sure that we do not align ourselves with that which God has appointed for destruction.
