Waiting on the Lord's Timing

INTRO

We’ve all heard of road rage and how one action behind the wheel from someone else can set off another driver until the situation escalates out of control. When we talk about returning evil for evil, it’s easy to say we would never do such a thing. But it’s possible when anger spirals out of control. Jehu, the king of Israel, had killed Ahaziah, the king of Judah. His mother Athaliah would take over her son’s throne by killing off all the heirs to the throne. But this is also the story of the Surviving Seed.

TEACHING

2 King 11:4–16: Jehosheba was the wife of Jehoiada, the high priest. In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada brought together five commanders, who were over a hundred men each, and the five temple guards. He presented the young king to them and swore them to an oath to protect Joash.

Jehoiada gave this group of 510 men instructions for how to continually protect the life of Joash (vv. 4–8). He instructed three divisions of one hundred men each to each be stationed at the entrances around the king’s palace. The other two divisions were to be stationed at the gates of the temple. The divisions were to be rotated at the palace and the temple. They were also told to keep the soldiers armed and to instruct them to kill anyone who approached the king.

The commanders did everything Jehoiada commanded (v. 9). The commanders gave out the spears and shields of King David that had been dedicated and stored in the temple to use in protecting Joash (vv. 10–11). These weapons had been dedicated to the temple after the campaign against Hadadezer (2 Samuel 8:11). Then Jehoiada brought out Joash, put a crown on him, and proclaimed him as king (v. 12) (Hebrews 6:12).

When the queen heard the noise from the temple, she went out to see what was going on (v. 13). She looked into the temple and saw the newly crowned king standing by the pillar according to the custom (v. 14). Although Athaliah screamed that it was treason, Jehoiada ordered the commanders to arrest her, take her out of the temple, and to kill anyone who followed her (v.

15). She was put to death outside the king’s palace (v. 16).

2 Kings 11:17–21: Jehoiada then made a covenant between the Lord, the king, and the people, and another between the king and the people, renewing the covenant that had been broken (v. 17). The people tore down the temple of Baal and broke all the altars and images (v. 18). And King Joash was placed upon the king’s throne in the palace (v. 19). The Davidic covenant was reestablished, and the people rejoiced (v. 20). Joash became king at the age of seven (v. 21).

CLOSING

The group that Jehoiada brought together was a remnant who believed in the promises of God. Their actions brought about revival in Judah. Wiersbe wrote, “Revival is simply obeying God’s Word and doing what He commanded our fathers to do. We don’t need the novelties of the present; we need the realities of the past.”²

2 King 11:1–3: When Athaliah, King Ahaziah’s mother, found out her son was dead, she had all the royal heirs killed (v. 1). But Jehosheba, Ahaziah’s sister, rescued Ahaziah’s baby son Joash and hid him and his nurse from Ahaziah’s mother (v. 2). Joash remained in hiding for six years while his grandmother Athaliah ruled Judah (v. 3). Wiersbe describes Joash’s hiding places as “a room where old bedding was stored and then in a room in the temple.”¹This next king of Judah had to wait upon the Lord’s timing.