Introduction
Back in chapter 5 there was the story of the healing of Naaman. Do you remember? He was the commander of the Syrian army. He was a mighty warrior and people admired him. But he had leprosy. However, he heard from his wife’s servant that there was a prophet in Israel who could heal him. And so, with his king’s permission, he set off to Israel and arrived at the home of Elisha, who told him to wash himself seven times in the River Jordan. At first he refused to do what the prophet said, but his servants persuaded him and he went and washed and was healed.
And when we studied that story, I said that it illustrates God’s willingness to restore the world, which God created and which he loves, but which has been spoiled because of Adam’s sin in the beginning. Because of Adam’s sin, sin came into the world and spread to all of us. And sin leads to misery so that the world is now filled with sorrow and sadness and disease and death. But God has not abandoned the world he made, and the story of Namaan’s healing illustrates God’s willingness to restore his fallen world to the way it’s supposed to be.
And when we studied that chapter together, I said that we see God’s willingness to restore his fallen world in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus, who is God the Son and who went about healing the sick and driving out demons. He restored the lives of people who were suffering. And what he did for some people in those days, he will do for all his people fully and completely when he comes again in glory and power to bring his people into a renewed heaven and earth where they will be no more sorrow or suffering or disease or death, but only perfect peace and rest and happiness forever.
That’s what we were thinking about when we studied chapter 5. Today’s chapter is, in a sense, the reverse of what we saw in chapter 5. If chapter 5 was about God’s willingness to restore, chapter 9 is about God’s willingness to destroy. In chapter 5 he restored Namaan’s life and health, but in chapter 9 he destroys the lives of his enemies.
And therefore, these two chapters — chapter 5 and chapter 9 — make clear to us that there are two sides to God’s power. There’s his power to restore and there’s his power to destroy. The Lord is the Almighty God. He is omnipotent. He is all-powerful. There is nothing he cannot do. And he uses his great power in two ways: to restore and to destroy; to save and to punish. The focus of chapter 5 was on his power to restore and save. The focus of today’s chapter is on his power to destroy and punish.
The chapter can be divided into two main parts. In verses 1 to 16, Jehu becomes king of Israel in place of Joram. And in verses 17 to 37, Jehu destroys God’s enemies.
Verses 1 to 16
And so, we read in verses 1 to 3 of a time when Elisha the prophet sent a man from the company of prophets to anoint the man Jehu as king of Israel. If you glance down to verse 5, you’ll see that he was a commander in the army. And we’ve come across his name before. Back in 1 Kings 19, the Lord announced to Elijah that three things were going to happen. One, Elisha would one day succeed Elijah as the Lord’s prophet. That’s already happened. Two, Hazael would become king over Aram. That’s already happened and we read about it last week. Three, Jehu would become king over Israel. And that’s about to happen in today’s chapter. And, according to the Lord in 1 Kings 19, God would use Hazael and Jehu to punish his enemies. They would be the agents of God’s wrath.
And so, when the time was right, Elisha sent this young man to anoint Jehu. Take a flask of oil with you, Elisha said, and when you arrive, take him away from his companions and pour the oil over his head and declare to him that the Lord has anointed him king over Israel. And those words tell you that this is the will of the Lord. The Lord made Jehu king of Israel in place of Joram.
Elisha then told the young man to open the door and run away. Anointing Jehu king will be like lighting a fuse. You don’t want to hang around, lest you get caught up in what’s about to happen.
And in verses 4 to 10 we see that the young man did what Elisha told him to do. He went to Ramoth Gilead, where Jehu was staying. He found Jehu and made clear that he wanted to speak to him privately. And when they were alone, the young man poured the oil on Jehu and declared that the Lord had anointed him king over Israel. And it turns out that the Lord’s message to Jehu is longer than we first thought. So, the Lord has anointed him king over Israel. And now that he’s king, he must destroy the house of Ahab. When he refers to the house of Ahab, he’s not referring to a building, but to Ahab’s descendants: all the heirs to his throne. God wants Jehu to destroy them so that none of Ahab’s descendants will ever rule again. And in this way, the Lord will take revenge on Ahab for the blood of his servants, who were killed by Ahab and his wicked wife Jezebel. Do you see that in verse 7?
And so, it was the Lord’s will for the whole house of Ahab to perish. By the hand of Jehu, God will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel: slave and free. That is to say, he will cut off in Israel every last male from the line of Ahab. They will become like the house of Jeroboam and the house of Baasha. Those are the names of kings whom we read about in 1 Kings and who were destroyed. And as for Jezebel, dogs will devour her and no-one will bury her. Ahab’s wicked wife was still alive at that time, but not for long.
So, that was the Lord’s message to Jehu. And after anointing Jehu and passing on the Lord’s message, the young man opened the door and got out of there as quickly as possible.
In verses 11 to 16, Jehu went back to his fellow officers, who, of course, wanted to know what was going on. Jehu at first tried to keep it to himself, but they insisted that he should tell them. And so, he did. And look at their reaction in verse 13: They hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under Jehu. Just as the people of Jerusalem made a carpet for the Lord Jesus when he entered Jerusalem, so these men made a carpet for Jehu to walk on. It was a sign of respect. And they blew a trumpet and proclaimed that Jehu is king. Since it was the will of the Lord for Jehu to become king, the Lord ensured that his fellow officers would give him their support. The Lord did not leave him on his own, but gave him these men to support him.
And so, when we read in verse 14 that Jehu conspired against King Joram, we should understand that it was the will of the Lord for him to conspire against Joram, because Joram was Ahab’s son. He was part of Ahab’s house, which the Lord said must be destroyed.
And our narrator then reminds us of what we read at the end of chapter 8 and how Joram and his men had gone out to fight against Hazael, king of Aram. And Joram had been wounded in the battle and had gone back to Jezreel to recover.
And after reminding of us that, the narrator then tells us that Jehu got in his chariot and headed for Jezreel, where Joram was staying and Ahaziah the king of Judah was with him.
Verses 17 to 37
We come now to verses 17 to 37 which are about how Jehu began to destroy God’s enemies.
In verse 17 the narrator takes us to Jezreel and to the lookout, who was standing on the tower in the city. And the lookout could see troops approaching. So, Jehu didn’t go off on his own, but he brought an army with him. From what we read in verse 20, it seems that the troops are still too far away for the lookout to see them clearly. So, he told the king that he could see some troops coming. But who are they? Are they friend or foe? Are they coming to attack the city or are they coming for some other reason?
The king wanted to know in advance so that he could prepare for war if necessary. And so, he sent a horseman to ride out and to meet them on the way to see what they wanted. And the horseman went out and asked, ‘Do you come in peace?’ And Jehu replied: ‘What do you have to do with peace?’ And he commanded the man to join them. The lookout saw this and told the king that the horseman was not coming straight back. So, the king sent another. And the same thing happened. But the riders are close enough now for the lookout to recognise Jehu. And when the king hears who it is, he got on his chariot and rode out to meet him. It seems he’s not alarmed. After all, as far as the king is concerned, Jehu was commander of the king’s army. He has perhaps come to report on the battle against Hazael. And Ahaziah king of Judah also went out with him.
And when they met, it became clear straightaway that Jehu had not come in peace. How can there be peace, said Jehu, as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound. He mentions idolatry because Jezebel introduced the worship of Baal to Israel.
When Joram heard this, he tried to turn around and get away, but Jehu drew his bow and shot him between the shoulders so that he died. And take a look at verse 25, where Jehu told one of his servants to take Joram’s body and throw it on the field that once belonged to Naboth. Remember Naboth from 1 Kings 21? With Ahab’s approval, Jezebel arranged for Naboth to be falsely accused of blasphemy so that he was stoned to death. And according to verse 26, she not only had Naboth killed, but his sons as well. And once Naboth and his sons were dead, Ahab was able to take over his vineyard. Killing Naboth and his sons was one of the wicked things which Ahab had done. And, according to verse 26, the Lord foretold that the day would come when the Lord would repay Ahab on Naboth’s land for what Ahab had done to Naboth. Ahab had already been killed. But now the Lord was taking vengeance on his son, who was just like Ahab.
And when Ahaziah the king of Judah saw that Jehu had killed Joram, he fled up the road. But Jehu chased after him with his men and managed to wound him fatally. And Ahaziah was caught up in this, because do you remember what it said about him in chapter 8? Turn back to chapter 8 and verse 27 where it says about Ahaziah that he walked in ways of Ahab and did evil in the eyes of the Lord, as the house of Ahab had done. Ahaziah was just like Ahab and therefore he too deserved to die.
And after killing Joram and after fatally wounding Ahaziah, Jehu turned his focus on Jezebel who was in the city of Jezreel. And Jezebel comes across as defiant, doesn’t she? Instead of humbling herself in sackcloth and ashes, she puts on her make-up and does her hair and we can imagine her standing at the window in her royal robes. And she calls down to Jehu, calling him ‘Zimri’. We read about Zimri in 1 Kings 16, where it says he killed an earlier king of Israel. And so, she’s saying that Jehu is just like Zimri. Well, Jehu called for help. And two or three eunuchs, who presumably once served Jezebel, threw her off the tower. And she died.
Jehu went in to eat and drink. But presumably his conscience began to bother him and he decided it was only right to give Jezebel a proper burial. Even though she was wicked, she was still part of the royal family. But they were too late and the dogs had already eaten most of her body. And this too had been foretold by the Lord, who said back in 1 Kings 21 that dogs would devour her.
Explanation
It’s an unpleasant chapter, isn’t it? Joram was killed. Ahaziah was killed. Jezebel was killed and her body was eaten by dogs. It’s an unpleasant chapter. But it’s a chapter which shows us the other side of God’s power.
Back in chapter 5, we saw God’s power to restore. In this chapter, we see God’s power to destroy. Just as God worked through Elisha to heal Naaman, so God worked through Jehu to destroy the house of Ahab. In chapter 5, we saw the wonderful grace of God, because God was willing to use his power to heal Naaman, who had done nothing to deserve God’s kindness. God graciously and freely restored his skin. But in this chapter, we see the terrifying justice of God, because God was willing to use his power to destroy his enemies who had done evil in his sight.
And we see the same two things in the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus. When he was on the earth, God worked through the Lord Jesus to restore the sick. Lepers came to him and he healed them. Blind Bartimaeus cried out to him for mercy and the Lord restored his sight. He made the lame walk and the deaf hear. He even raised the dead and gave them back to their loved ones. People came to him in their misery and he took their misery away. Again and again he demonstrated his willingness and his power to restore and to renew this fallen world.
But then, when he came across demons, it was a different story, wasn’t it? This evening we’ll be reading Luke 4 which includes the story of the time when the Lord was in a synagogue and a man who was possessed by a demon was there. And the demon cried out, ‘Have you come to destroy us?’ That demon knew that the Lord Jesus has the power, not only to restore, but to destroy. And in Luke 8, there’s the story of the man who was possessed with a legion of demons. And when they saw the Lord, they begged the Lord not to torture them and not to send them into the Abyss. So, demons and evil spirits were terrified of the Lord Jesus, because they knew that he is God and that he has the power to destroy as well as to restore.
And in Matthew 10 and Luke 12 the Lord Jesus warned us not to fear those who can kill the body, but not the soul. That’s what people can do. One person can kill another person’s body. And when that happens, the dead person’s body is buried in the ground, but their soul remains alive and it returns to God who made it. So, don’t fear those who can only kill the body. Instead, said the Lord Jesus, you should be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. He’s referring to himself — to God. God is the only one who has the power to destroy us in body and soul.
The Lord said in Matthew 25 that when he comes in his glory and with his angels to judge the living and the dead, he will separate the righteous from everyone else. The righteous — all his people who believed in him and who are therefore declared right in God’s sight — will be invited to take their inheritance, which is eternal life in the presence of God, which God prepared for them since before the creation of the world. But then he will send the rest away into the eternal punishment, which he prepared for the Devil and his wicked angels. He will destroy them in body and soul in hell.
And then, right at the end of the Bible we read about the new heavens and earth, where all of God’s people will live with him forever in perfect peace and rest. So, when Christ comes again, God will renew the whole world. He will renew the heavens and the earth completely. And he will renew his people completely too and bring them into his presence. And the former things — all the sorrow and sadness and disease and death of this life — will pass away and be no more. And God’s people will be happy forever and they will drink from the water of life and live forever. That’s God’s power to restore and renew.
But at the end of the Bible we also see God’s power to destroy, because we read of a great white throne in heaven. And God is seated on the throne. And everyone who ever lived will be made to stand before the throne. And books will be opened: and these books contain a record of everything we have ever done: everything we have done; everything we have said; everything that we have thought. And it says that each person was judged according to what he had done.
And the record of what we have done will show that all of us have done wrong. All of us are sinners from the moment we’re conceived; and everyday we sin against the Lord and we disobey him in thought and word and deed. And so, the record of what we have done will show that all of us have done wrong. All of us have offended the Lord by the things we have thought and said and done.
And since that’s true, then all of us deserve what happens next, which that they were thrown into the lake of fire to be punished forever for all that we have done wrong. The Lord Jesus said: Do not be afraid of those who can kill the body and not the soul, but be afraid of the one who can kill both soul and body in hell. The Lord is not only able to restore, but he’s also able to destroy.
And yet, right after telling us about the record books of all that we have done, we read about another book. It’s called the book of life. And it says in Revelation 20 that only those whose names are not written in the book of life will be thrown into the lake of fire. So, we all deserve to be thrown into the lake of fire, because the record will show that all of us have done wrong and we have offended God by the things we have done wrong. We all deserve to be destroyed. And yet, because God is gracious and merciful, not everyone is destroyed. Those whose names are written in the book of life will live. They will live with God in the new heavens and earth.
So, what is this book of life? It’s the book containing the names of everyone for whom Christ died. No-one deserves to have their name written in that book, because all of us have sinned and deserve to die. But because the Lord is gracious and merciful, the book of life will be filled up with name after name after name. So many names, they’re like the stars in the sky and they’re like the sand on the seashore, because they are too many to count. They are the names of those for whom Christ died. So, he came into the world for them; and he suffered and died on the cross for them; he laid down his life for them to pay for all that they have done wrong; his blood washes away the record of what they have done wrong; and it washes away their guilt. And because of what Christ did for them, they will not be destroyed. Instead they’ll be restored and renewed completely and made perfect and they’ll live with God forever and forever.
And how can anyone tell whether their name is written in the book of life? It’s simple really. Anyone can tell. So, how can you tell? Well, do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you trusting in him and in him alone for peace with God? That’s the sign that your name is written there, because faith in Christ is the sign of belonging to Christ. Before the world was made, God chose those who would belong to Christ and who would live with him for ever. And then, he sent his Spirit into their lives to enable them to believe in Christ. And so, if you believe in the Saviour, it’s because you name is written in that book of life. And whoever’s name is written in that book will never, ever be thrown into the lake of fire. Even though you deserve to be destroyed, you will receive eternal life in the presence of God.
Conclusion
Today’s chapter is an unpleasant one. Joram was killed. Ahaziah was killed. Jezebel was killed and her body was eaten by dogs. It’s an unpleasant chapter. But it’s a chapter which shows us the other side of God’s power: God not only restores, but he also destroys.
But thanks be to God, because there are two sides to his power. He not only has the power to destroy, but he also has the power to restore and to renew and to give eternal life to all who believe in his Son.
Sermons and Stuff 