2 Chronicles 23:1-21

“Desperate times call for desperate measures.”  If there was ever a desperate time in Judah, this was it.  The nation had been thrown into idolatry by a king who had no fear of God and was now being ruled by a blood thirsty queen that considered herself to be god.  In the midst of this darkness, surrounded by spiritual and moral decay; there is a light of hope that flickers in the home of a courageous priest and his wife who have preserved the line of David in the person of a little boy named Joash.  Athaliah thinks that she has everything under control as she seeks to lead Judah down the path of idolatry that she learned from her wicked parents, Ahab and Jezebel.  But God has been faithful to His promise and preserved a king through a godly couple who were used as instruments of God to bring hope and light to a perverse generation.  I pray that God will rise up many more families like this one who will stand up against the tide of perversion in our culture and be a beacon of hope and light.  I pray that my family is and will be one of those beacons.

JEHOIADA EXPOSES JOASH: The infant Joash has been hidden in the temple for seven years while Athaliah was having her reign of terror over Judah.  The time has now come for Jehoiada to expose his plan to establish Joash as the rightful king.  He calls together the commanders of the army of Israel as well as the Levites and organizes them in shifts to constantly protect the young king and then he calls the people to declare that there is still a rightful king in Judah.  We can clearly see the hand of God preserving a righteous remnant in Judah who detested the path down which Athaliah was leading them.  In times of trouble it is important for the people who fear the Lord to unite and stand together for the glory of the Lord.  I can imagine the desperate feeling that the commanders, Levites and Jehoiada experienced when they were all alone.  Separated from one another they must have thought there was nothing that they could do about the plight of the nation.  When Jehoiada called them together and exposed the truth that there was still a king in Judah from the line of David, their hearts must have burst with joy and been cemented in resolved to take back their nation for the glory of God.  If we as believers are going to impact our cultures for the glory of God, we must unite around the truth of God’s Word and encourage one another as we seek to spread the fame of Christ in the world.

JEHOIADA EXECUTES ATHALIAH: Athaliah must have felt drunk with power as she lounged around the palace contemplating the position she had achieved through her treachery.  Imagine her shock and the immediate panic that shot through her entire body when she heard the singing and praising that was echoing down the streets and into the palace window.  Shouts of “long live the king.”  She storms out of the palace to try to squelch this “treason” only to find that the commanders, Levites and all of the people had turned against her and were rejoicing the fact that they now had a legitimate king.  In a matter of hours she went from basking in the glory of her own power to having her blood spilled on the streets of the city she thought she ruled.  Athaliah is a great example of how sin works and illustrates perfectly where sin leads.  Sin seeps into our lives promising pleasure and power and it delivers.  However, just when we think that we are safe and secure; the truth of God breaks through.  All the illusions of pleasure come crashing down and the sinner is doomed to death.  Sinners must be warned of this coming day of doom and destruction.  We must call them to repentance and faith in Christ so that they can experience the forgiveness that we enjoy through our faith in the work of Christ on the cross; so that they can join us in proclaiming “long lives THE KING!”

JEHOIADA EXPELS BAAL: The first order of business in this renewed kingdom is to rid the nation of the worship of Baal.  Athaliah had imported this idol from Israel to Judah and establish Mattan as the pries of Baal.  Mattan found himself dead and in the same eternal destination of the queen he had helped to lead the nation into idolatry.  Jehoiada and the Levites destroy the idol and then they charge the people to worship in the house of God bringing their burnt offerings and sacrifices to Him.  The people responded with obedience and their hearts were filled with the joy of walking with the Lord.  The light of God’s Word expels the darkness and floods our lives with the glorious joy of salvation.  For the first time in a long time the people were blessed with the prospect of peace and the city was at peace.  We all long for this peaceful rejoicing in our lives, but we must realize that it is only available as we turn from our sin to worship and the feet of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We must put off the idols of our lives and put on the righteousness of Christ that He made available to us through His blood.