A Tale of Two Kings (Part 2): How does God intervene?
Recently we looked at how bleak the situation was in Israel and Judah in 2 Kings 9-11; yet, no matter how bleak, the situation can never be
too bleak for God to intervene and fulfill His promises in Christ.
And God did intervene. He intervened in Israel and He
intervened in Judah.
In Israel God sent His prophet to Jehu. And the prophet took
the Word of the Lord. That was the catalyst: the Word of the Lord. And God
worked powerfully by His Word. God’s Word set everything in motion. God’s Word
caused people to act.
You see, only one thing had changed in Jehu’s situation, and
that one thing was that he heard the Word of the Lord. Jehu didn’t suddenly
increase in military might. He didn’t suddenly have opportunities that weren’t
there before. No, Jehu’s coup was fuelled by the only by the Word of the Lord.
That’s what God’s Word is like. It’s so powerful that it can
bring down kings and governments. And yet, we often don’t even trust it with
much less difficult things than that. God’s people need confidence in the power
of God’s Word, or rather, in the power of God in His Word. For it’s through His
Word that God brings life. It’s through His Word that He grows the Church. It’s
through His Word that He brings holiness.
And God worked by His Word to destroy the House of Ahab, the
evil king who had led Israel off after the Baals. The entire house of Ahab is
cut off (2 Kings 9:24-10:17). God’s new anointed king delivers his people from
their evil rulers. And this is the Lord’s work (2 Kings 10:10): God’s judgement
on the house of Ahab, God’s deliverance for his people, and God’s intervention
to turn things around.
And not only is the house of Ahab overthrown, but their foul
religion as well. The Baalists are killed (not a killing spree, but an
execution in accordance with the law of Moses), and Baal’s idols and temple
were destroyed (2 Kings 10:26-28). Not just destroyed, but turned into a
latrine – for that’s what Baalism was and that’s what it had done to Israel! ‘Thus
Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel’ (2 Kings 10:28).
And God didn’t just intervene in Israel, he intervened in
Judah too. In Israel God sent His prophet; in Judah God sent His priest. And
Jehoiada the priest and his wife Jehosheba, the baby king’s aunt, act to save
the life of the baby king and restore him to the throne.
This time we’re not told of any prophetic word, but that
doesn’t mean the word of the Lord was absent from the situation. No, the priest
and his wife were acting on God’s Word; they knew God’s promise in Scripture
and acted accordingly.
And as a result of their actions, Athaliah the daughter of
Ahab, the queen who tried to put an end to the Messianic line and the worship of
the YHWH, is killed and her evil reign comes to an end. And just like in Israel,
the priests of Baal are killed and the temple of Baal destroyed.
God intervenes in both nations to deliver his people. And he
intervenes in both in the same way. How? By His Word and His anointed one. He
sends his anointed prophet and priest and two anointed kings. And through the
Lord’s Word and the Lord’s anointed, everything is changed.
And that’s still where we find God’s intervention today: in
His Word and His Anointed One. God sends us His Word, the Scriptures, and as
the Scriptures are proclaimed we encounter God’s true Prophet, Priest and
King. When we need God’s intervention,
that’s where we need to look – to the Anointed One proclaimed in the Word – to the
Lord Jesus, God’s Prophet, Priest and King who has intervened and won the
victory on our behalf.
God can intervene to turn around any situation, no matter
how bad. And we can be certain of that, because He has already intervened to
turn around the worst situation of all; for while we were dead in our sins, God
intervened in His Anointed One, our Prophet, Priest and King, Jesus, to deliver us
from death, hell and sin.