What Peace Can There Be?

We have quite a passage in store to study today. We are in 2 Kings, and we're up to chapter 9. If you'd like to turn in your Bible with me there, or your journal, and by the way, for the next few weeks through the end of the year, you can bring a whole Bible with you, leave those Kings journals at home.

But for today, we're in Kings, chapter 9. And if you've been walking along with us on this journey through Kings, then you have some idea of what is coming today.

And if you haven't, well, either way, just buckle up, because it's going to be a rough ride. And because we're going to take the whole chapter in one fell swoop, all 37 verses, I think what will be most helpful for us is if we break it up into three parts, all right?

So we'll read part 1 or act 1, and I'll offer some background and explanation, and then we'll move into parts 2 and 3 and do the same thing before we finally take stock of the whole thing.

Sound good? We're doing it anyway.

Take a look at verse 1 as we get started with part 1, anointing. Verse 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 5. 5.

6. 6. 6. 7.

7. 7. 8. 9. 9. 9. 10. 10. 12. 11. Quote 7. 12. 12. 14.

14. 15. 15. 16. 16. 17. 17. 17.

And Jehu said,

For the whole house of Ahab shall perish, and I will cut off from Ahab every male bond or free in Israel. And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam, son of Nebat, and like the house of Basha, son of Ahijah.

And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and none shall bury her. Then he opened the door and fled. When Jehu came to the servants of his master, they said to him, Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?

And he said to them, You know the fellow and his talk. And they said, That's not true. Tell us now. And he said, Thus and so he spoke to me, saying, Thus says the Lord, I anoint you king over Israel.

Then in haste, every man of them took his garment and put it under him on the bare steps, and they blew the trumpet and proclaimed, Jehu is king.

Let's pray, shall we? Father, today we just ask for your guidance and your help, that you would open your word, that your spirit would speak.

And Father, we just pray that you would be glorified in this, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Well, as we've been alluding and saying for a couple of weeks now, it is now finally curtain call for the house of Ahab. Israel's most wicked king to date.

I think we have a family tree up here somewhere. This king Ahab, although dead himself, has left behind a very wicked family. It is a family that is complete with a son, the one still living and still reigning, Jehoram.

A wicked daughter who's actually married the king of the southern kingdom of Judah in a marriage alliance. And a very, very, and maybe we could throw a few more verys in there, very wicked queen by the name of Jezebel.

She is the source of this idolatrous Baal worship that has sprawled all over the land. Jezebel is the brains behind the extermination of so many of God's prophets and faithful followers.

That Jezebel. So in verse 1, Elisha now calls one of his sons. These are the sons of the prophets. One of his trainees, his assistants. And he says to them, Have I got a job for you?

I want you to get your loins girded up for a run. And you're going to go all the way to Ramoth Gilead. And you're going to take this flask of oil in your hand.

And there's someone there for you to anoint. Now Ramoth Gilead is, we've been talking about that. It's a border city. It's a border city that is disputed between the Syrians to the north and the Israelites down south.

We might remember that last week two of our kings teamed up. The king of Israel and the king of Judah both. Uncle and nephew, they teamed up to go try to retake Ramoth Gilead.

And it would appear that they've been successful. And this is where the army is stationed. So they assume that we presume them to be on guard.

Trying to keep hold of this city. This is where the commanders are. And this is where one particular commander is. Whom Elisha is sending his young prophet to find.

He says, you're looking for a man named Jehu, commander of the army. Only what I'm telling you to do to him, don't do it to him when you're in the company of all the other officers.

I want you to get him off somewhere private. Because you're going to anoint him king over Israel. That's a big deal when the existing king is still alive.

He says, you're finally going to execute the instructions that were originally given to my mentor Elijah back in 1 Kings 19. Let me just kind of take us back there, 1 Kings 19, verse 16.

1 Kings 19:16

This is one of the threefold commissions given to the prophet Elijah. And it was this, to anoint, and Jehu the son of Nimshi, you shall anoint to be king over Israel.

So that task had fallen to Elisha after Elijah was taken up. And now Elisha himself delegates and sends a young prophet to go do it. And although this is only speculation, I want to stress speculation, and we don't have the name of our young prophet,

according to Jewish tradition, they say it was Jonah, as in book of Jonah. Could very well be. He is off to the races. He's told explicitly who he's looking for, what he's to do, and most importantly, what he is to say.

And we'll notice how he's told to very explicitly bust free and run right out immediately after he's done. It's like, don't linger. Don't get caught in a conversation.

Don't have a debate. Don't stay for Jewish tea or whatever it is. You need to get out of there and flee. And why might this be important to not linger?

Well, again, this is treasonous behavior. And who knows how the other high-ranking officers around Jehu are going to respond. But there's also the fact that it will then put things into the hands of Jehu.

It will allow Jehu to exercise some of his own agency in deciding how and when the moment might be for him to go public. And so our young man is off.

Gets to the city in verse 5. He finds all the commanders of the army in council. And after figuring out which one he wants, he and Jehu are off in that private room.

Next thing, Jehu knows what's happening. The young man's pulling out a flask of oil and pouring it on his head. And he's telling him that he's anointing him king.

Which, again, is a pretty big deal when the present king is still alive. But as it happens, this anointing comes along with a commission. And it's a commission that actually involves him doing something about the present king and his whole evil house.

Verse 7. You shall strike down the house of Ahab, your master. As in the whole house. Every last male. This is one of the places where the English translations sanitize the Hebrew a little too much.

Verse 8. In the Hebrew goes a little junior high-ish, you could say. He is to literally cut off, quote, everyone who urinates against the wall.

That's how it says it in the Bible. Every male. No surviving male heirs. And that's because this dynasty is going to come to an end. Every bit as much as those two dynasties before him.

And there are two reasons why. Number one, it will annihilate and totally destroy the wicked house of Ahab. Wipe them all out and end the evil influence in the land.

But there's also a second reason given. And it's to avenge. Verse 7. So that I, the Lord, may avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants, the prophets, and on all the servants of the Lord.

The vengeance of the Lord. And just to drive it really home. That the seed of all this evil. The source. What you might say the ground zero person of all this evil.

That she is going to be utterly decimated. The prophecy goes on in verse 10. To tell Jehu that the dogs are going to eat Jezebel's remains. So that none shall bury her.

Well that's quite a word. He delivers it. Just like he's been told. This young prophet. And before Jehu can say, what? When? Or, are you sure?

Our young man opens the door and bolts his way right out of there. And what happens next, I think, is where the comedy really shows up. Because you've got all these ruffian lieutenants, right?

They're all gathered around Jehu. They've been watching this kind of crazy scene unfold. Watching this madman sprint out the door. And they come to their commander Jehu.

And they're like, what's up? What's happening? Verse 11. Is all well? Why did this mad fellow, this lunatic, come to you? It would appear that the fighting men don't think very fondly of the prophets.

They hold them in some kind of contempt. But I love how Jehu responds. It makes the Bible so relatable. He's like, oh, you know the fellow and his talk.

Which again leads a few scholars to wonder whether Jehu and his men might actually recognize this up-and-coming young prophet. Who, again, might be Jonah.

We don't know. So they're asking, like, what's with the nut job, Jehu? And I just imagine Jehu, like, you know, sitting down trying to ignore it.

And just, you know, pretending to look at his maps or whatever it is that he's doing. And he says, well, you know, the dude, he's a wacko. You know, all those prophets.

With all their funny talk. Their crazy talk. And these men are not buying it. Not for a second. They say to him in Hebrew, literally what they say is, A lie!

Tell us! All joking aside. I would imagine right now there are some very serious eyes glued to Jehu. These, again, would be Israel's most rough-and-tumble fighters.

Seasoned veterans. Men in combat.

And so Jehu, their commander, begins to mutter a little bit about what the prophet told him. He doesn't tell him everything. He's still got oil dripping off his head, I would imagine.

And he says, well, it was something about, thus says the Lord, I anoint you, king over Israel.

And as soon as these men hear that, the room gets really quiet. And then it gets really busy. Feet are shuffling. Garments are coming off. The men are outside.

They're taking their garments, every single one of them. They're dropping them over the bare stairs. They're dropping down on one knee. The shofar, the horn, is brought out.

And they are proclaiming in a way that looks almost a little bit like the triumphal entry. Jehu is king.

And we're ready for part two. Pick up with me in verse 14. Part two. We'll call this execution. Verse 14. Thus Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram.

Now Joram was with all Israel. With all Israel had been on guard at Ramoth Gilead against Hazael, king of Syria. But King Joram had returned to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds that the Syrians had given him when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria.

So Jehu said, if this is your decision, then let no one slip out of the city to go and tell the news in Jezreel. Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram lay there.

And Ahaziah, king of Judah, had come down to visit Joram. Now the watchman was standing on the tower in Jezreel. And he saw the company of Jehu as he came and said, I see a company.

And Joram said, take a horseman and send to meet them. And let him say, is it peace? So a man on horseback went to meet him and said, thus says the king, is it peace?

And Jehu said, what do you have to do with peace? Turn around and ride behind me. And the watchman reported saying, the messenger reached them, but he's not coming back.

Then he sent out a second horseman who came to them and said, thus says the king, is it peace? And Jehu answered him, what do you have to do with peace?

Turn around and ride behind me. Again, the watchman reported, he reached them, but he is not coming back. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.

Joram said, make ready. And they made ready his chariot. Then Joram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, set out each in his chariot.

And they went to meet Jehu and met him at the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. And when Joram saw Jehu, he said, is it peace, Jehu?

He answered, what peace can there be, so long as the whorings and sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? Then Joram reigned about and fled, saying to Ahaziah, treachery, O Ahaziah.

Then Jehu drew his bow with his full strength and shot Joram between the shoulders, so that the arrow pierced his heart, and he sank in his chariot.

Jehu said to Bidkar, his aide, take him up and throw him on the plot of ground belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite. For remember when you and I rode side by side behind Ahab his father, how the Lord made this pronouncement against him?

As surely as I saw yesterday the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons, declares the Lord, I will repay you on this plot of ground. Now therefore take him up and throw him on the plot of ground in accordance with the word of the Lord.

Pause right there. As we said last week, the stage has been set. Because here in this fortress city of Jezreel, we have two kings, and we'll learn in a minute, we also have a queen mother.

And Jehu doesn't waste any time, does he? He tells his men, back in Ramoth Gilead, he says, if this is your decision, if you're really down for this coup, then let no one slip out of the city.

I don't want anybody warning the king. Yes, we'll remember that uncle king Jehoram, in our last chapter, he had convinced his nephew, the southern king of Judah, Ahaziah, to join him in this battle here in Ramoth Gilead.

And given that, again, Jehu and his soldiers are stationed here, it appears they've had success. And they've been left to hold the city. But their king had been wounded, hadn't he?

And he had been medically evac'd to his winter palace in Jezreel. So, securing this city, Ramoth Gilead, now in a different kind of way, he says to his men, no one leaves, shoot any courier pigeons.

And he and what we would assume to be a pretty sizable contingent of the men, abruptly set off on the 40 plus mile journey to Jezreel. They come with the element of surprise, don't they?

And what happens next? Listen, it's like, it really is like a scene out of a movie. You know, all the good war movies with combat and intrigue, they all find their source in one way or another from the Bible.

Watchman's up there on the tower doing his job. He's a lookout. He calls down. He says, we've got a dust cloud. Ten clicks out. The ESV says accompany, but actually the Hebrew is less precise.

It's simply the word that means commotion. Something is coming. That's all they can see. All he can see. And so verse 18, they dispatch a man on horseback to go out and try to intercept whoever it is and find out.

I sometimes think, what would it be like to be that guy, right? You have no idea what you're walking into. You know, for all anybody knows, the last they see your face, your head might be rolling up to the gates.

The king wants to know. The guy gets there. The king wants to know, is it peace? What he's really asking is, you guys seem to be coming in kind of hot.

Is there a word from the battlefield? Is everything okay over in Ramoth Gilead? But Jehu doesn't even stop. He just keeps riding. Keeps driving.

And he says to him, what do you have to do with peace? Turn around. Fall in behind me. And Jehu must be a guy that's pretty imposing. He's got the respect of the entire army.

He is well known. He is greatly feared. And right here we can see he is quickly obeyed because this guy does exactly what he's told. He falls in behind.

Verse 19. The report comes to Joram that the first rider, he's not coming back. Joram's getting a little nervous. Decides he'll dispatch a second horseman.

Same question. The king says, is it peace? The same response from Jehu. Peace, what do any of you have to do with peace? Fall in. And the second rider does that too.

Probably right next to his friend. By verse 20. Jehu's company is getting close enough that now the watchman can report. Hey king, the second rider is not coming back either.

But I recognize the driving. The way this guy drives is kind of crazy. Call me crazy if it doesn't look like Jehu. For he drives furiously. Apparently Jehu had a reputation as a charioteer.

For driving like a madman.

And right about now maybe a few of the soldiers are getting nervous here in Jezreel. Beginning to wonder if their commander Jehu isn't coming with just news.

Or maybe even coming to negotiate at all. Maybe he's coming on a different kind of mission. In verse 21, Joram gives the order to make his chariot ready.

That tells us he's apparently healed enough that he himself can drive his own chariot. And that's what he and the other king, King Hezziah, you're coming too.

They both get in their own personal chariots and they go out to meet the party. And notice what our narrator purposely highlights. And that's the place, the location.

The infamous place, the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. That's where they all meet up, the three. This again would be the same Naboth who this king's father had murdered on the sinister advice of his mother Jezebel.

To defraud him and take his land.

Now we don't know, maybe there could be a small bodyguard with these two kings. But then again, this is his own army commander coming to meet him.

And the fact that our two kings are in their own private chariots. It really makes us wonder if they think something might be off. They probably do.

But they surely don't have any idea what's coming. The three finally meets. Again the question. Is it peace Jehu? And here comes Jehu's answer in verse 22.

He says, What peace can there be so long as the whorings and sorceries of your mother Jezebel are so many? Jehu wastes no time, doesn't he? He minces no words.

He goes right to talking about his mother. Right? And in this case it's very apropos. Because his wicked mama, Queen Mother Jezebel, really is the problem.

She really is the root and the heart and soul of everything wicked in the land. Idolatry because of her influence and her family's far-reaching tentacles has corrupted not just the northern kingdom of Israel, but now also the southern kingdom of Judah.

Well, Joram hears him talking about his mother and he knows what's happening. And we're told that he immediately reigned about and fled in verse 23, crying out to his nephew, treachery O Heziah.

But, verse 24, we learn that Jehu is a very skilled archer. He draws his bow as Joram is fleeing away in his chariot. He's got the stance. He's got the grip, the focus.

He draws that bow with his full strength, we're told. And he is not going to miss the release. He nails his target right between the shoulder blades, arrow piercing his heart.

And he, Joram, sank in his chariot, dead. One arrow shot, one king dead.

Jehu turns to his aide, a fellow soldier we learn now his name is Bidkar. And he says, alright, take his corpse and throw it on that plot of ground right there belonging to Naboth the Jezreelite.

Because, Bidkar, don't you and I remember? Don't we remember 12 years ago what happened right here? There we were side by side with his father Ahab.

And didn't we both watch what he and Jezebel did killing that innocent man Naboth and his sons? Yeah, we both remember what we saw. And you know what else?

We both remember what we heard. When Elijah showed up and delivered that prophecy against him. How the Lord would repay him on this very plot of ground.

1 Kings 21 verse 19. Elijah's prophecy. Thus says the Lord. In the place where dogs lick up the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick up your blood.

1 Kings 21:19

That's what happened to Ahab and Jezreel. He says, now take his son, throw his dead body right there on the plot of ground. That too will be a fulfillment of God's word.

Because Elijah went on to say in 1 Kings 21 verse 24. Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, the dog shall eat. And anyone of his who dies in the open country, the birds of the heavens shall eat.

1 Kings 21:24

And so there the body of Joram lies in the open country on the plot of ground.

Well speaking of in the city, let's get back to the story because we have our third act. Part 3 that we need to finish. We're going to call part 3, No Loose Ends.

Pick up with me in verse 27. When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled in the direction of Beth Hagen. And Jehu pursued him and said, shoot him also.

And they shot him in the chariot at the ascent of Ger, which is by Iblium. And he fled to Megiddo and died there. His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his fathers in the city of David.

In the 11th year of Joram, the son of Ahab, Ahaziah began to reign and stopped reigning over Judah. When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it.

And she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked out of her window. And as Jehu entered the gate, she said, is it peace, you Zimri murderer of your master?

And he lifted up his face to the window and said, who is on my side? Who? Two or three eunuchs looked out at him. And he said, throw her down.

So they threw her down. And some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses and they trampled her. Then Jehu went in and ate and drank.

And he said, see now to this cursed woman and bury her for she is a king's daughter. But when they went out to bury her, they found no more of her than the skull and the feet and the palms of her hands.

When they came back and told him, he said, this is the word of the Lord, which he spoke by his servant Elijah the Tishbite.

In the territory of Jezreel, the dog shall eat the flesh of Jezebel and the corpse of Jezebel shall be his dung on the face of the field and the territory of Jezreel so that no one can say this is Jezebel.

So the first king slumped over dead in his chariot, shot right there in Jezreel. Then that body is thrown out onto that plot of ground that demanded an accounting for innocent blood.

Ahaziah sees what's happening. And he remembers what's being said. Not only that, but remember what's being said is about Joram's mother. But that's also Ahaziah's grandmother.

And recognizing what's happening, seeing that first arrow fly, he wastes no time. He takes off and we're told that he flees in the direction of home, Samaria, by way of Beth again.

But Jehu tracks him down, doesn't he? Some other details in the Chronicles account. But Ahaziah himself meets his own end. He takes an arrow at the ascent of Ger.

And he flees up to the town of Megiddo where we're told that he succumbs to his wounds and he dies there. Two kings down. One queen mother to go, right?

Verse 30. Jehu is back in town, back in Jezreel again. Only this time Jezebel, she's in town all this time, but she's now apparently waiting for him.

Not that she can do anything about it. She doesn't have any recourse with the military. Jehu's got the loyalty of the army. But what she does have is all that Jezebel ever had.

And that's the powers of seduction and her looks and her position and her words. And in verses 30 and 31, she essentially musters all of that.

She puts on her full makeup, we're told. I don't know what that would be. You know, the Jewish version of Clinique or whatever makeup they had.

She's got her hair all dolled up, right? She's in her best dress. You could say she's dressed to kill or be killed. You know, scholars are divided on her intentions here.

What is she up to? One option says that she's trying to look seductive. So maybe she can seduce Jehu and maybe unite with him in a new dynasty.

She's a survivor. She's going to have him, Jehu, take over the harem. Because now, of course, there are no male heirs. After all, this Baal cult that she brought in, it is a fertility cult.

So is she channeling the Baal consort, Estart, as some scholars think? Is this seduction?

Another option. Some think she's just looking for a truce, for some kind of an agreement. And that she wants to present herself at her most distinguished.

I think it's a little more than that. But there is a third option. The third option is that she just wants to go out in style. In an act of queenly defiance.

She's making herself up like the proverbial woman in the window, as women of the ancient world would often do. When a husband or a son would go off to battle, they would prepare themselves for his return.

And wait in the window for good news. Awaiting the return of a loved one. Only her loved one's not returning, is he? His body's being picked at by birds over in Naboth's field.

I think it's probably a mixture of option one and three. I think it's probably both of those, if you ask my opinion. She is dawning herself to look like the literal incarnation of this wicked fertility cult that she brought into Israel.

But you know what's most telling are her words. What she says. Listen to the first thing out of her mouth in verse 31. She says, Is it peace, you Zimri, murderer of your master?

Zimri. It's quite a few chapters back in 1 Kings, but Zimri was a king way before this dynasty. He was actually an assassin who killed the sitting king and ended the dynasty of Basha.

Basha's son apparently had gotten himself drunk. And what Zimri did is he took advantage of that and walked into the house, found the drunken king, and murdered him.

Set himself up as king. Problem was, Zimri didn't last long. The nation of Israel didn't take too kindly to an assassin king. He lasted just seven days.

We're told back in 1 Kings that Zimri, when he knew his time was over, they were coming for him, he got inside the palace, set a fire, and burned the place down on himself.

He committed suicide. And just like that, the coup was over.

You see what Jezebel is doing. She is taunting Jehu. She's saying, You're going to be a seven-day wonder too, you usurper.

Verse 32, Jehu's on his horse down below. He looks up to the window. I don't know if there are two windows. Maybe Jezebel's in one, and then there's an empty window.

And he says, Who's up there? Who's with me? Who's on my side? Who? And we're told that a couple of eunuchs peer out, they peek out, two or three to be precise.

These would, of course, be court officials who have been conditioned in such a way that they could be intimately involved with the king's harem without being intimately involved with the king's harem, if you catch my meaning.

A couple observations here. I think what one scholar points out is true, that Jezebel is ironically about to meet her end, fittingly, at the hands of those who have been least able to benefit from or participate in her fertility cult.

Second, there's also the significance of what Israel's law said. about two or three when it came to capital offenses, capital punishment. Deuteronomy 17, verse 6 requires two or three witnesses for the enactment of a death sentence.

Deuteronomy 17:6

And that's exactly what Jehu calls for from these eunuchs. He says in verse 33, Throw her down. And they do.

And of course, our narrator is keen to give us all the gory details, isn't he? Of how some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses from the fall.

Of how they, or some manuscripts actually say, he, singular, Jehu, trampled her with this horse. Either way, whether from the fall or from all the trampling, ding dong, the wicked witch is dead.

I was reading one scholar this week that says that he recalled a time when he was telling this story, reading this story at night to his boys.

They were little. He was putting them to bed. He read them this story and the one boy prayed and he said, Dear God, thank you that Jezebel's dead.

He says at first it kind of shook him up like, that's terrible. And then he thought more about it. He thought, no it's not. No it's not.

Jehu immediately goes inside the palace, doesn't he? It's been quite a day. He's been running around shooting people, chasing people down. He's hungry.

He's thirsty. He goes in for some food and drink and it kind of looks like he's having a, maybe a covenantal meal with the city elders. You know, they're probably pretty alarmed at this point.

Like, what else is this guy going to do? And whether it's because his attitude softens a little bit or because he's listened to the city elders and he doesn't want to add insult to injury, he says in verse 34, all right, see now to this cursed woman and bury her for she is a king's daughter after all.

But the men come back empty handed. Almost. There's a skull. Apparently there's some feet. The palms of her hands and that's it. The dogs ate the rest.

See why I don't like dogs? No. I always tell people if I like dogs, I would love yours. I would love yours. But seriously, our queen who's been so worried about going out in style, here she is.

She's going out in anything but. she's leaving behind just a few spare parts.

And Jehu sees this. And at that moment, his mind seems to remember the prophecy. His mood turns somber. He remembers the Lord's word from Elijah about dogs, about Jezebel, about how no one would be able to say, this is Jezebel.

Yes, Jehu's words confirm to everybody that no one should have any doubt at all what this coup has really been all about. Not about Jehu's ambition or his will.

This is about God's will.

Someone once said that the violence in the Old Testament, and this is a lot, the violence in the Old Testament is sometimes easier to hear about in children's stories or to tell about in Sunday school lessons.

I mean, take the flood, right? It's colorful and look at all the animals on the ark and all the people died and we have a way of putting this into children's books.

It's a very violent story. And then when we as adults sit down and we really talk about it and really read it, we're like, oh, wow. I definitely think today is one of those.

This is violent stuff. This is disturbing stuff.

But then again, what Jezebel and her family have been doing, infecting the lands of Israel and now infecting Judah too with idolatry, that's pretty disturbing and destructive too.

Because what that means if we've read the law, if we've read the curses and blessings, what that means is that God's providential hand of protection on His people and these lands is lifted and that's when things turn very, very dark very fast.

So for a moment or two, let me offer a couple of insights that I think we see here. I want to give you two truths, two theological realities about our world because I would submit to you that the account of destruction here, the destruction of Ahab's family points to something much bigger

than just the wickedness of Ahab's family. Here's a first truth for us. Truth number one. Truth number one is this. Peace is only possible when sin has been judged and removed.

Peace is only possible when sin has been judged and removed.

Did you notice how many times the word peace is mentioned in this chapter? Is it peace? The king wants to know, Jehu, first rider. Is it peace?

The king's still asking, Jehu, second rider. And each time he says, what do you have to do with peace? And what do you have to do with peace?

And then the king himself, Joram, finally shows up along with Ahaziah and he's like, hey, is it peace, Jehu? And Jehu just unloads on him. He says, what peace can there be when this land is so full of sin and idolatry from the influence of your wicked mama?

Peace isn't possible. That's what we're seeing here. If sin is not judged and removed and make no mistake as if the prophet's anointing wasn't enough to show us, Jehu's actions, they are all divinely sanctioned.

This is not some renegade guy doing his thing. Everything that happens here is sanctioned by the Lord. And that's confirmed in the next chapter.

If we were to look ahead at 2 Kings 10 verse 30, we read this. The Lord says, because you, Jehu, have done well in carrying out what was right in my eyes and have done to the house of Ahab according to all that was in my heart.

2 Kings 10:30

That's the Lord speaking. It was his heart that sin be judged and removed because that's what a holy and just God does. He judges and removes sin.

I mean, think about it. Can you imagine what would have happened if Jehu would have just kind of stopped halfway in verse 26?

He's taken out Joram the king. He's got Israel's crown for himself. You know, maybe make nice with Ahaziah. I mean, he'll surely stay in line now.

Maybe take on Jezebel and her harem as your new consorts. And just tell everybody, you know what, we're done with Baal worship. We're going to serve God now.

We're going to get better. We're going to do better, everybody. Are you all in?

But it doesn't work that way.

We don't work that way. No, a wicked dynasty with tentacles of influence reaching now into both kingdoms, because that's what sin does, remember?

It infects and it spreads and it compounds. That wickedness must be removed and removed fully and completely. And that's not just true for this kingdom or these kingdoms back here in the 8th century BC.

I want to tell you it's true for God's kingdom today. I'm of course speaking spiritually of a spiritual kingdom and a spiritual removal. I'm not suggesting anybody takes up arms.

But it's true for us, if you're a believer, it's true for our lives to know that peace is only possible when all of our sin is judged and removed.

Because doesn't the Bible tell us that sin brings guilt, sin brings wrath, sin brings the just retribution of death? Doesn't Romans 6 say that that's what the wages of sin is?

Death? And peace is not possible when we make light of sin, ignore sin, mingle with sin, deal in some kind of negotiation with our sin, cut away only part of it, cooperate with it, partner with it.

And listen, what we're talking about, the world, the world outside will not like it. They will probably freak out and yell treachery.

It'll think that you're betraying it, the world, when you choose to no longer conform to its pattern. It may slap you with bad names, bad press, think you're too narrow, that you drive too furiously in your pursuit

to put sin to death in your own life. Oh, those conservative Christians are so prudish, you know, they're so obsessed with purity, they're so, you know, committed to their traditional view of marriage, they won't budge, they won't give an inch, so hateful,

they drive so hard.

But that's only because we know how God feels about sin. And when we know that peace is only possible when sin is judged and removed, we go to war with it.

And we drive hard to kill it and wipe it out from our lives. And that brings us to a second truth. Let me give you this one. And we'll finish with this, truth number two.

Truth number two is this, God ordains agents for judgment and they prepare the way for peace.

God ordains agents for judgment and they prepare the way for peace.

Of course, it's quite obvious this morning who his ordained agent of judgment is. it's this guy, you'll recognize him by the way he drives, right?

He drives furiously. He's fast and furious the way he drives. Jehu, ordained and literally anointed as God's agent for judgment here. And I've got to tell you, it's not done.

It's going to go on into chapter 10 quite a bit more. Because Jehu will not rest until all of God's prophetic word, all of God's will is accomplished.

His own words in just a few verses from now in 2nd Kings verse 10 is this, know then that there shall fall to the earth nothing of the word of the Lord which the Lord spoke concerning the house of Ahab, for the Lord has done what he said by his servant Elijah.

That's Jehu saying I'm committed to seeing this thing out through. I'll see it all the way through. Jehu was God's agent who meted out judgment on the house of Ahab and he had to do it to prepare the way for peace.

But you know, there was another agent ordained for judgment who prepared the way for a much greater, far more abundant and lasting peace. We're talking about God's perfect agent, his one and only son.

For while Jehu meted out the justice that was deserved on the house of Ahab, God meted out the justice our whole world deserved, not on a house but on a head, on the head of his son Jesus.

Yes, Jesus had it meted out on himself and it came upon him swiftly and violently and decisively and yes, even through betrayal.

And it happened not in the course of a few days or a week or two but in the course of just a few hours.

But it prepared the way for peace, didn't it? It ushered in a chance for peace, peace with God.

And unlike Old Testament Israel, the peace that Jesus prepares for and which angels announced on a starry night over Bethlehem, that peace would bring glory to God in the highest, wouldn't it?

And it would be extended and freely offered as it has been to all who are on earth, that if they receive it through the atoning work of Christ, God could be pleased with them.

Jehu draws his bow to bring peace today, but on Christ's faithful day, his peace wasn't brought by the drawing of a bow, but by the carrying of a cross.

But it brought us peace forever.

And so as we move into this season more fully, thinking about peace, decorating with scenes of the nativity, let's always remember that before a way for peace could be prepared, that God needed to ordain an agent for judgment.

And wouldn't you know, but only something that God could do, because in the very agent who brought peace, he also took on our judgment and removed our sin in the process.

I think that's something worth singing about once again. So let me ask if you'd stand with me as the team comes. Let's pray before we sing.

Heavenly Father, we know our peace was not cheap. The peace with you that we have was costly. costly to your son, costly to you yourself to send him, to have the plan that you had from the foundation of the world,

to offer the lamb to be slain.

Lord, we thank you that in Jesus all sin is dealt with, it is judged, it is removed, it is far from us so that we can have peace. And so Lord, Jesus is our hope.

And so we come and we praise you for him, we praise Jesus, we praise you for your sacrifice. And as we enter in this season where we celebrate the coming, the arrival, the advent of your son in the flesh as a baby, let us remember what that peace

cost and help us Father, to truly spread the peace and the news of what you've done in your son. In every opportunity, every sphere that we have, Father.

And we pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen. Amen.