Ushering In the King

The time of 2 Kings 11 is desperate. Athaliah is queen and the nation languishes awaiting deliverance from her wickedness. On top of this, the promise of God guaranteed a son of David to sit on the throne of Judah forever and it seems Athaliah has killed all the king's sons and there is no heir to the throne. Are God's ways nullified by mankind's wickedness? NO!

There was a faithful priest named Jehoida who conspired with the Queen's step-daughter Jehosheba to hide one of the queen's grandsons for 6 years with a nurse in a bedroom until the proper time for him to be revealed. But how would this revelation take place?

2 Kings 11:4 (NLT) In the seventh year of Athaliah’s reign, Jehoiada the priest summoned the commanders, the Carite mercenaries, and the palace guards to come to the Temple of the LORD. He made a solemn pact with them and made them swear an oath of loyalty there in the LORD’s Temple; then he showed them the king’s son.

In a covert operation, Jehoiada gathers men together to make the plans for the king's hiding and revealing. Notice the details we are given in the text:
2 Kings 11:5–8 (NLT) Jehoiada told them, “This is what you must do. A third of you who are on duty on the Sabbath are to guard the royal palace itself. 6 Another third of you are to stand guard at the Sur Gate. And the final third must stand guard behind the palace guard. These three groups will all guard the palace. 7 The other two units who are off duty on the Sabbath must stand guard for the king at the LORD’s Temple. 8 Form a bodyguard around the king and keep your weapons in hand. Kill anyone who tries to break through. Stay with the king wherever he goes.”

What do you think this is telling us for our time? Why the details about their stationing and times on duty? Do you know why? Because this is a picture of us. We are the church on duty in OUR time for our generation to stand guard and keep the Gospel going forward until the King comes.

This passage reminds me that in every age and in spite of incredible wickedness in some of them - God has for Himself a people reserved who are ready to make way for the true King to come. Notice how the passage describes the men's work at the instruction of Jehoiada:
2 Kings 11:9 (ESV) The captains did according to all that Jehoiada the priest commanded, and they each brought his men who were to go off duty on the Sabbath, with those who were to come on duty on the Sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest.

Right now, our world is in a time of utter chaos. The darkness on the streets of our cities seems overwhelming. If we pay attention only to what we see on the screen we can be certain the end of the world is near. But we need to rather pay close attention to the instructions of our TRUE great high priest, Jesus Christ who is right now preparing us for what we need to do in order to usher in His Kingdom here. 

The second thing this passage reminds me is that we, who love the TRUE king are not anxious to escape the world. We want to change it. Looking further at the text we see images of the spiritual realities that are provided us by our High Priest:
2 Kings 11:10 (ESV) And the priest gave to the captains the spears and shields that had been King David’s, which were in the house of the LORD.
Isn't that poetic for us? The PRIEST gave the weapons of DAVID to the servants of the True King. So too, Jesus Christ our High Priest has given us the weapons of warfare that are not carnal but mighty through God. 
2 Corinthians 10:4 (ESV) For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Notice as well how the coronation goes down:
2 Kings 11:12 (ESV) Then he brought out the king’s son and put the crown on him and gave him the testimony. And they proclaimed him king and anointed him, and they clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

The servants of the TRUE King SANG and rejoiced even though the wicked queen was still technically in charge. Why did they sing? Because they knew her reign was coming to an end. So too our singing is a sign to the world that the wicked age we see will end and the King we KNOW will soon come.  

Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory!

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