Server Outage Notice: TheSeed.info is transfering to a new Server on Tuesday April 13th
| > Sermon Archive > Sermons by Author > Dr. Wes Bredenhof > The Day of Judgment is coming, so get behind the King | Previous Next Print |
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Psalm 63:1,2 Psalm 65:2 (after the Law of God) Psalm 94:1,2,10,11 Hymn 67:1-3 Hymn 6 Scripture reading: Matthew 25:31-46 Text: 2 Kings 9:14-28 |
Beloved congregation of Christ,
Bumper stickers are a thing here, but not as big as in North America. I remember one I’ve seen several times, both in Canada and the United States. It said, “If you don’t want to stand behind our troops, feel free to stand in front of them.”
In our passage from 2 Kings this morning, we see a soldier at work. He’s on a mission. That mission has been given to him by God. As he encounters these messengers, he tells them to get out of the way and get behind him. Jehu isn’t only a soldier, he’s also the newly anointed King of Israel. This King has been called by God to clean up the mess caused by Ahab’s house. He’s been called to render justice, to make right what has long been wrong.
Jehu is pointing ahead to a greater Warrior-King. The greatest Warrior King is Jesus Christ. And he too is bringing a Day of Judgment. When that day comes, it’s far better to be behind him than in front of him. So I preach to you God’s Word this morning and this is the theme of the sermon: The Day of Judgment is coming, so get behind the King.
We’ll see how this Day is:
- Providentially ordained
- Justly executed
The last time we met Jehu he was in Ramoth-gilead. He’d been surprised by this prophet who appeared and anointed him king. The prophet told him that God had appointed him to bring justice for the innocent blood of the prophets. Jehu’s call as king included upholding and maintaining justice in the land. After the prophet left Ramoth-gilead, Jehu’s colleagues discovered what had happened and they gladly acclaimed Jehu as the new king.
Now the army of Israel and its commanders were out in Ramoth-gilead. This place is far out in the east. King Joram had been wounded in battle with the Syrians and so he decided to go back to Jezreel, safely within the boundaries of Israel. Now there are a few things to realize about Jezreel. It wasn’t the capital of the northern kingdom – that was the city of Samaria. But Joram had a palace in Jezreel as well and for some reason he chose to go there instead of Samaria.
Another interesting thing about Jezreel was its vantage point over a valley to the east. It was located on high ground. So it would be quite easy to spot anyone coming up the valley. There would be ample warning of approaching friends or foes.
The last important thing about Jezreel was something that happened there back in the time of Ahab. King Ahab was Joram’s father. In 1 Kings 21, we read about how Ahab coveted the vineyard of Naboth which was next to his palace in Jezreel. He tried to get Naboth to sell him the vineyard, but Naboth refused because it was part of his family’s inheritance in Israel. This made Ahab depressed. Jezebel his wife noticed how her husband was so grumpy and sad. She asked him what was the matter. He told her about his desire for the vineyard of Naboth. Jezebel said that she would get it for him. And she did. She arranged for a couple of scoundrels to make up a story about Naboth cursing God and the king. Naboth was stoned to death and Ahab took his vineyard. All of that happened right in Jezreel, right where Joram is recovering from his wounds. And it’s not by accident.
In verse 16 there’s something else happening that’s no accident. Not only is Joram in Jezreel, but so is Ahaziah, the king of Judah. This story takes place in the time of the divided kingdom. There’s a northern kingdom of Israel – Joram is the king of that. There’s a southern kingdom of Judah – Ahaziah is the king of that. Now at certain times of the divided kingdom, there was rivalry and even warfare between the north and the south. But not with Joram and Ahaziah. In fact, they were related. Second Kings 8 tells us that Ahaziah’s mother was a granddaughter of Omri king of Israel. Omri was Ahab’s father. So through his mother, there was a family connection. But 2 Kings 8:27 tells us that Ahaziah was also connected somehow to Ahab’s house through marriage. We don’t know exactly how. Maybe Ahaziah married a daughter of Ahab. The key point to remember is that both of them are from Ahab’s house and both of them are now together in Jezreel. As far as God’s providence is concerned, they’re at the right place at the right time.
So it happened that Jehu got in his chariot and made his way to Jezreel to carry out his mission from God. As he approached, there was a watchman on the tower who looked down the valley and saw him and his men coming. The watchman announced their approach and Joram commanded a messenger to be sent out to see whether it was friend or foe. Also here we see God’s providence. Because a couple of verses earlier, we read of how Jehu told his fellow military commanders to keep everything secret. And they did. The element of surprise was providentially preserved. Joram has no idea who or what is coming.
The first messenger goes out to Jehu and asks Joram’s question: “Is it peace?” And Jehu rebukes this messenger because he’s associated with Joram. This messenger can’t have anything to do with peace when he’s connected to a house of blood. So he tells him to get out of the way. Not just get out of the way, but “ride behind me.” In other words, change your allegiance. You’re no longer riding for Joram but for King Jehu.
The watchman sees all this unfold and he reports it. He sends out a second messenger with the same outcome. That messenger too ends up riding behind the new King. He sees that judgment is coming with Jehu and he knows that it’s safer to be with the true king, behind him.
The watchman sees this too. He tells the king that the second messenger isn’t coming back either. Moreover, they’re now close enough that he can see that the chariot is being driven in a characteristic manner. Jehu had a reputation for driving furiously. What that means exactly – I don’t know, what do you think when you hear that someone drives like crazy? Usually it means they’re reckless, reckless about speed, about control. At any rate, in God’s providence, Jehu was known for driving like crazy.
I say that because, at this point, Joram still doesn’t know what’s happening. In his mind, Jehu is still one of his military commanders. He’s bringing news from the front – maybe good news, maybe bad news. But it’s news he doesn’t want the messengers to bring, but him personally. As it turns out, there is a message, but it isn’t about the war with the Syrians. It’s about war against God and his prophets. It’s definitely bad news for Joram.
When Joram hears that his military commander Jehu is coming, he orders his servants to get his chariot ready. Then, not only Joram, but also Ahaziah, they both go out to meet Jehu. Notice that Ahaziah goes with. He didn’t need to, but he chose to and thus God’s judgment was going to fall on him too along with his relative.
The last bit of God’s providence we see in this story is where they happen to meet. It just so happens that they meet at the property of Naboth. It’s not a coincidence. This too has been divinely arranged. People sometimes speak about poetic justice. This is providential justice. Justice is being served through God’s providence. By God’s ordaining, Joram and Ahaziah encounter Jehu right at the scene of the crime.
God had providentially organized every single detail of this Day of Judgment on Ahab’s house. Everything lined up so Jehu could do what God had commanded him to do. He was going to avenge not only the blood of Naboth, but also the blood of all the prophets.
In the New Testament, we also read of a Day of Judgment. It was a day that had been providentially arranged in every single detail. It was a day God ordained to bring justice on the people with whom God had covenanted, but who had rebelled against him. When the greatest prophet of all came, instead of listening to him, they put him to death. The unbelieving Jews had Jesus crucified. Jesus warned that unless they would repent and believe, they would face a great Day of Judgment on this earth. By God’s providence that day came in AD 70. Like he ordained Jehu to be his divine fist against Ahab’s house, he organized the Romans to be his divine fist against the unbelieving Jews. What a horrible day that was! So many people suffered and died. All because of unbelief and rebellion against God.
But all of that pales in comparison to the greater Day of Judgment that Jesus warns about in Scripture. That too has been providentially arranged. Did Joram know that he was in God’s place at God’s time? No, of course not. He had no access to the mind of God. He had no way to know what God had planned for him. It’s similar with the final Day of Judgment. We don’t know the details. We don’t know how God has planned it. We just know he has and we know it’s coming. In his wisdom, he has a perfect plan for the end of time, for the final act. It’ll come when he says it’s time for it to come.
We know that, and we also know the best place to be is behind the King who is coming. Just like the messengers of Joram weren’t only supposed to just get out of the way, but actively follow Jehu, so with us and Christ. We’re not just getting out of his way, but we’re called to follow him. That means first to believe in him. It means to trust that he isn’t bringing judgment for you because he took the judgment in your place on the cross. But to follow Christ also means to obey him, to walk in his steps. It means to live like one of his disciples. When we’re behind the King as he brings judgment, we can be confident we’ll be safe.
Things weren’t safe at all for Joram and Ahaziah. But they didn’t realize it until Joram spoke to Jehu and asked him, “Is it peace, Jehu?” Jehu’s answer is so powerful. It’s straight to the point. He says, “How can there be peace when your mother Jezebel’s whorings and sorceries are so great?” When Jehu says “whorings” he doesn’t mean that she was necessarily literally a whore. Or that she was otherwise involved in sexual immorality. She could have been, but it’s not necessarily the case. “Whorings” here is more a way of speaking about her idolatry. Idolatry in the Bible is often portrayed as spiritual adultery. When you worship idols instead of God, it’s like you’re cheating on him. He’s your husband and he wants your exclusive love and devotion, but you’re giving some or all of it to idols. This is why God takes idolatry so personally – it’s an affront to his love and commitment as the husband of his people. His people are his bride and they’re supposed to be entirely committed to him. That goes for us too. But Jezebel was notorious for worshipping idols and leading the people of God to do the same.
Not only that, but she was also involved in sorceries, in witchcraft, in the occult. What did sorcery look like back then? One form involved the livers of animals. A sorcerer or diviner would cut open the liver and then look at the patterns within the liver. Then he would interpret these patterns to mean this or that about the future. In Deuteronomy 18, God strictly warned his people not to do these sorts of practices. Anyone who would do these sorts of things would be an abomination to God. Jezebel was an abomination to the LORD. She was a blight on God’s people.
As soon as Jehu said it, then Joram knew the game was up. He knew he was in trouble. He turned his chariot around and tried to escape. He warned Ahaziah too, “Treachery, O Ahaziah!” But Jehu was a powerful warrior. He drew his bow with all his strength and let the arrow fly. It says in Psalm 7 that if a person doesn’t repent, God will bend and ready his bow. He’ll make his arrows fiery shafts. Arrows were relatively fast and they were silent. If you had your back turned, you wouldn’t even know it was coming. Joram didn’t even see or hear the arrow that killed him. He just felt it go through his back and straight through his heart. He collapsed in his chariot and that was it for Joram. Justice was catching up to Ahab’s house. At that moment, you can be sure that those messengers riding behind Jehu were glad they weren’t in front of him.
Jehu wasn’t done with Joram. He told his assistant Bidkar to get down from the chariot and heave Joram’s body off his chariot onto the plot of land belonging to Naboth. Then Jehu explains why. Jehu had served Ahab too, along with Bidkar. Together they watched the Naboth episode. Together they heard God’s pronouncement against him that he would be repaid on this very same piece of land. Notice how it’s not only the blood of Naboth, but also Naboth’s sons. That tells us that Jezebel didn’t just kill Naboth, but his whole family. It had to be that way for there to be no one to inherit it and leave it wide open for Ahab. So there’s a lot of blood that was spilled for this vineyard. But now the Day of Judgment has come. The King is justly executing it and he’s doing so “in accordance with the word of the LORD.”
But there’s still Ahaziah. He too is part of Ahab’s family, part of his extended family at least. The bloodguilt extends to him. Besides, Scripture tells us that he walked in the ways of the house of Ahab and “did what was evil in the sight of the LORD.” Ahaziah knows he’s got a target on his back too. So he flees. And Jehu pursues. Jehu gave orders to kill him as well, and his men did. He was shot with an arrow and then died elsewhere. But unlike his relative Joram, he was given the honour of a royal burial.
When Joram and Ahaziah woke up that day, we can imagine they expected it to be just another day. They didn’t expect it to be their last day. They didn’t expect that a swift and silent arrow from the LORD’s King would bring justice and cut their lives short. When that Day of Judgment came, they were caught off guard and living in their sins. They weren’t behind the King, but in front of him and that was their fatal choice.
Similarly, when the final Day of Judgment comes, many will be caught off guard. When Christ returns to bring justice to the earth, there will be those who are ready for him. There will be those who’ve been anticipating him. Such people will have no fear or anxiety about meeting Jesus. They’re called Christians and if you’re a true Christian, then this Day of Judgment shouldn’t cause you any worry, at least not for yourself. But you might still have a care for those who don’t know the Lord in a saving way. They’re the ones for whom his day is going to be a day of weeping and gnashing of teeth, unless they repent and believe.
Jesus described that day in what we read from Matthew 25. The Son of Man will come in his glory and sit on his throne of judgment. And he will make a separation between what he calls the sheep and the goats. The sheep are those who will inherit the kingdom. But the goats are those who will go away into eternal punishment, suffering God’s just wrath into eternity. The sheep live in the new creation and the goats go to hell.
What makes the difference between the sheep and the goats? Ultimately it comes down to true faith. When someone has a true faith in Jesus Christ, their life bears real fruit. This passage is all about the kind of fruits that people bear, whether good or bad. Believers yield good fruit and unbelievers bad or none, which is just as bad.
Here in this passage, that fruit has to do with Christ. He says it has to do with whether you got behind him and supported him. Did you feed him when he was hungry? Did you give him something to drink when he was thirsty? Did you welcome him when he was a stranger? Did you visit him when he was in prison? Both sheep and goats will say, “When did all this happen?” And Jesus says to the sheep, “As you did it to the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” And to the goats, “As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.”
Now a key question is: who are the “least of these my brothers”? There are those who say this just means anyone. Or they say that this refers to the disadvantaged, the underprivileged. So if you help out a homeless person, you’re helping Jesus, because you’re helping one of the least of his brothers. The problem with that interpretation is that Jesus never refers to any one and every one as “his brothers.” He uses that term to refer to his disciples, particularly to those who would become apostles. For example, in Matthew 28:10, after his resurrection, he says his brothers should go to Galilee to meet him. Then in Matthew 28:16 it says “the eleven disciples went to Galilee.” So what Jesus is really referring to in Matthew 25 is how people treat preachers and their preaching, or you could also say, “prophets.”
Ahab’s house hadn’t given food to Christ’s prophets. Ahab’s house hadn’t given them drink or welcomed them. They didn’t clothe them and so on. Instead, quite the opposite. So Jehu’s execution of judgment in 2 Kings 9 was Christ’s way of saying in that time, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
So it will be at the end too. If you haven’t been behind the King, not only believing in him, but also supporting him and his cause, you’re going to be among the goats. Loved ones, it’s so much better to be behind him in every way. When the Day of Judgment comes, I urge you to make sure you’re behind King Jesus and not in front of him. Make sure you’re behind him right now through faith and following him faithfully as your Saviour and Lord. That means also supporting the cause of the gospel. There are different ways we can do that: encouragement, financial support for the church, just showing up and listening, and, of course praying.
Loved ones, when we’re behind the King, following him, he promises us something beautiful. He promises us we’ll hear these words, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” Could there be any better words to hear from the lips of our Saviour? AMEN.
PRAYER
LORD God our Father,
Thank you for giving us your Word to remind us again of your providence this morning. Everything is being managed by you, also whatever is happening to prepare for the great and final Day of Judgment. We praise you for that. Would you please help us with your Holy Spirit to look to Christ in faith so we can look forward to that day? When that Day of Judgment comes, Father, please let all of us be behind the King, rejoicing in his love, following him eagerly. We pray too for his cause in this world. We pray for the preaching of the gospel here and elsewhere. Let your Word continue to go out to the far corners of the earth. Let your Word be preached faithfully here in our church and in other churches too. We pray that more and more people would hear the good news and get behind the King before the Day of Judgment comes.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Dr. Wes Bredenhof, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
Please direct any comments to the Webmaster
