WEBVTT 00:00:02.763 --> 00:00:11.176 2 Kings, and we'll not be focusing on one passage only in 2 Kings. 00:00:11.176 --> 00:00:20.271 We'll be doing some soundings from different parts of this book as we continue on through the 66 books of the Bible. 00:00:20.271 --> 00:00:33.310 Last week, if you were here last week, bob did a fantastic job with 1 Kings, and in the original Hebrew collection of books, samuel and Kings were. 00:00:33.310 --> 00:00:35.500 Samuel was one book, kings was one book. 00:00:35.500 --> 00:00:36.804 It's got split up later on. 00:00:36.804 --> 00:00:41.101 So this is really to think of 1 and 2 Kings as one book, one story. 00:00:41.101 --> 00:00:50.325 We'd anticipate that what we read in hear in 2 Kings is very much in line with the theme and the progress of 1 Kings. 00:00:50.325 --> 00:01:04.608 So, as Bob brought out last week, when we come to the reign of King David in Israel's history, when we come to the reign of Solomon, in one sense, we're coming to the zenith of Israel's history. 00:01:04.608 --> 00:01:12.936 You've got God's people in God's place, under God's rule and blessing. 00:01:12.936 --> 00:01:19.430 You've got them at rest in the land. 00:01:19.430 --> 00:01:29.885 Partially, solomon, as great as he was, goes against Deuteronomy, as Bob brought out. 00:01:29.885 --> 00:01:37.784 Multiplying horses, multiplying wives yes, there's peace, and then the sons come and there's conflict and there's bloodshed. 00:01:37.784 --> 00:01:40.352 There's a divided kingdom of north and south. 00:01:40.352 --> 00:02:00.506 The failures of the kings, though, and the deaths of all the kings and the imperfections of the kings remind us that there's an anticipation of a greater king to come, jesus Christ, who is the one who is God in the flesh, who's come to provide rescue. 00:02:00.506 --> 00:02:08.002 He's come to provide true and lasting reconciliation for his people, rest for them and a future inheritance. 00:02:08.002 --> 00:02:14.740 And so we would expect second kings to continue on that theme, and it does. 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:21.549 There's a lot of partial kings and failed kings in the book of second Kings. 00:02:21.549 --> 00:02:24.192 There's a little bit of a seesaw. 00:02:24.192 --> 00:02:27.756 Not all the kings are as bad as possible. 00:02:27.756 --> 00:02:31.891 Bob mentioned this last week In the northern kingdom. 00:02:31.891 --> 00:02:35.846 Pretty much all those kings are described as bad, 20 of them. 00:02:35.846 --> 00:02:43.343 About 20 kings of the southern kingdom, that's the tribe of Judah, centered in Jerusalem, coming from David. 00:02:43.343 --> 00:02:53.727 So even there is an interesting geography that the kings that are all bad are farther removed from David geographically, but then also in their hearts. 00:02:53.727 --> 00:03:04.066 And yet even those southern kings, there's a lot of seesawing, and that's true of both north and south. 00:03:04.066 --> 00:03:05.028 I'll give you a few examples. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:07.568 2 Kings 12, verse 2. 00:03:07.568 --> 00:03:12.012 Joash did what was right in the Lord's sight, hooray. 00:03:12.012 --> 00:03:17.431 Yet the high places were not taken away, boo. 00:03:17.431 --> 00:03:20.326 2 Kings 13, verse 2. 00:03:20.326 --> 00:03:23.468 Jehoahaz did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 00:03:23.468 --> 00:03:25.064 2 Kings 14, verse 3. 00:03:25.064 --> 00:03:26.028 Amaziah did what was evil in the Lord's sight. 00:03:26.028 --> 00:03:26.570 2 Kings 14.3,. 00:03:26.570 --> 00:03:31.165 Amaziah did what was right in the Lord's sight, but not like his ancestor David. 00:03:31.165 --> 00:03:33.670 2 Kings 15.3,. 00:03:33.670 --> 00:03:39.747 Azariah did what was right in the Lord's sight, yet the high places were not taken away. 00:03:39.747 --> 00:03:42.493 You see, that seesaw back and forth effect. 00:03:43.260 --> 00:03:44.342 So where's the real king? 00:03:44.342 --> 00:03:49.653 Where's the eternal son of David is going to rule with perfect justice and wisdom from the river to the ends of the earth. 00:03:49.653 --> 00:03:51.907 There has to be a greater coming king, and there is. 00:03:51.907 --> 00:03:56.707 But what are the people supposed to do in the meantime? 00:03:56.707 --> 00:04:05.913 Jesus comes onto the scene hundreds of years after the events of 2 Kings. 00:04:05.913 --> 00:04:14.289 So what was going to sustain the people's hope, and particularly for the faithful remnant? 00:04:14.289 --> 00:04:17.642 I mean, it's all well and good that someone's coming eventually. 00:04:17.642 --> 00:04:19.788 What about what's happening now? 00:04:20.951 --> 00:04:23.504 Okay, we see this guy was kind of a failure. 00:04:23.504 --> 00:04:25.148 This guy was mostly a failure. 00:04:25.148 --> 00:04:36.951 This guy had some good things, like, okay, not so great, not so great, imperfect king, imperfect king, weak king, bad king, like it seems kind of this continuing pattern. 00:04:36.951 --> 00:04:43.446 The people had their hope. 00:04:43.446 --> 00:04:57.362 The faithful remnant and a God who speaks God's word was meant to be their sustaining hope and God's word is our sustaining hope as they were waiting for the coming Messiah. 00:04:57.362 --> 00:05:10.142 And we see that theme of God's word as the sustaining hope through another set of characters in the book of Kings, particularly second Kings. 00:05:10.142 --> 00:05:12.226 Those are the prophets. 00:05:12.226 --> 00:05:19.550 First Kings begins with a bunch of Kings, it ends with Kings and there's some Kings in the middle. 00:05:19.550 --> 00:05:29.548 Right in the middle of first and second Kings we have a lot of pages that are given over to prophets, especially Elijah and Elisha. 00:05:29.548 --> 00:05:34.831 The prophets are the people who carry God's word. 00:05:34.831 --> 00:05:42.910 They speak God's word and they stand as something of a counterpoint to the kings. 00:05:42.910 --> 00:05:50.081 The earthly hope, but that's not so fulfilling. 00:05:50.081 --> 00:05:53.509 But God's word is there all the time and God's providing his word to his people through the prophets. 00:05:53.509 --> 00:06:06.675 So I'm going to give us some encouragement, I hope and trust tonight about how God's word is our sustaining hope through the lens of these prophets, especially in 2 Kings. 00:06:07.660 --> 00:06:11.326 First, god's word always comes to pass. 00:06:11.326 --> 00:06:12.689 2 Kings 1. 00:06:12.689 --> 00:06:13.992 Turn there if you're not there yet. 00:06:13.992 --> 00:06:15.634 2 Kings 1. 00:06:15.634 --> 00:06:29.375 Verse number three the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, the Tishbite, that's the prophet Elijah. 00:06:29.375 --> 00:06:33.670 Go and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them. 00:06:33.670 --> 00:06:39.692 Is it because there is no God in Israel that you're going to inquire of Baal Zabub, the God of Ekron? 00:06:39.692 --> 00:06:51.879 Therefore, this is what the Lord says you will not get up from your sickbed, you will certainly die. 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:58.658 Now look down to verse 17. 00:06:58.658 --> 00:07:02.865 Ahaziah died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. 00:07:02.865 --> 00:07:08.502 You see how God's word is so much more certain and powerful than the fluctuating kings. 00:07:08.502 --> 00:07:09.485 The word of the Lord comes. 00:07:09.485 --> 00:07:11.411 The prophet speaks it and it happens. 00:07:11.411 --> 00:07:13.901 God's word always comes to pass. 00:07:13.901 --> 00:07:14.923 We can rely on that. 00:07:14.923 --> 00:07:17.125 Second. 00:07:17.125 --> 00:07:21.050 God's word overturns human expectations. 00:07:21.069 --> 00:07:26.956 I want to keep us in chapter 1 for a little bit here. 00:07:26.956 --> 00:07:33.853 So when that message comes to Elijah in verse number 3, we read that. 00:07:33.853 --> 00:07:39.596 Then verse number 7, the message gets delivered to the king. 00:07:39.596 --> 00:07:42.504 And look what the king says in verse number 7, 2 Kings 1. 00:07:42.504 --> 00:07:47.625 The king asked them what sort of man came up to meet you and spoke those words to you? 00:07:47.625 --> 00:07:54.862 They replied a hairy man with a leather belt around his waist. 00:07:54.862 --> 00:08:00.255 That's how they describe Elijah In the Bible. 00:08:00.255 --> 00:08:03.002 It doesn't describe people's appearance that often you notice that. 00:08:03.002 --> 00:08:05.206 So when it does, it's like you want to think about it. 00:08:05.206 --> 00:08:06.970 Like was this guy? 00:08:06.970 --> 00:08:13.577 Like you know, when we hear that hairy guy, leather belt, we're thinking like that's a man's man, like he's a. 00:08:13.577 --> 00:08:14.620 He's a Paul Bunyan. 00:08:14.620 --> 00:08:17.545 That's not really the point here. 00:08:17.545 --> 00:08:24.206 Remember someone else in the Bible that was described that way John the Baptist. 00:08:24.708 --> 00:08:38.054 Coming in the spirit and power of Elijah, he wore camel's hair, I guess he didn't have the natural hair so he had to go camel and he was out in the wilderness and listen to how Jesus describes John the Baptist. 00:08:38.054 --> 00:08:40.722 What did you go out to see? 00:08:40.722 --> 00:08:41.705 This is Matthew 11. 00:08:41.705 --> 00:08:42.967 What did you go? 00:08:42.967 --> 00:08:46.374 Got to see A man dressed in soft clothes. 00:08:46.374 --> 00:08:52.352 See, those who wear soft clothes are in royal palaces. 00:08:52.352 --> 00:08:54.924 What did you got to see? 00:08:54.924 --> 00:08:55.485 A prophet? 00:08:55.485 --> 00:09:00.907 Yes, the kings have luxurious clothes. 00:09:00.907 --> 00:09:03.011 They have wealth, they have power. 00:09:04.419 --> 00:09:07.811 Elijah was kind of a blue-collar nobody. 00:09:07.811 --> 00:09:17.342 He's almost like kind of this weirdo out in the wilderness Doesn't have the king's clothing, he just has what he has. 00:09:17.342 --> 00:09:20.948 But what he has is the word of the Lord. 00:09:20.948 --> 00:09:26.006 Even if it's sort of not the human expectation of what a great leader would do or call armies to himself, he's got the word of the Lord. 00:09:26.006 --> 00:09:28.115 Even if it's sort of not the human expectation of what a great leader would do or call armies to himself. 00:09:28.115 --> 00:09:31.557 He's got the word of the Lord and that's what's most important. 00:09:31.557 --> 00:09:33.604 That's so much better than human pomp. 00:09:33.604 --> 00:09:36.309 God's word overturns human expectations. 00:09:36.309 --> 00:09:41.106 Number three God's word brings us to God's great acts of redemption. 00:09:41.106 --> 00:09:45.804 Go to chapter two, and I'm going to speed up as we go. 00:09:45.804 --> 00:09:52.123 I'm not going to go chapter by chapter the whole way through 2 Kings, but the way even the book starts sort of brings us into some of these themes. 00:09:53.125 --> 00:09:57.214 2 Kings 2, verse number 4. 00:09:57.214 --> 00:10:06.373 Elijah is going to hand off the mantle of prophecy to Elisha, his successor. 00:10:06.373 --> 00:10:14.854 Verse number four Elijah said to him Elisha, stay here. 00:10:14.854 --> 00:10:18.970 The Lord is sending me to Jericho. 00:10:18.970 --> 00:10:24.130 But Elisha said as the Lord lives and as you yourself live, I will not leave you. 00:10:24.130 --> 00:10:26.828 So they went to Jericho. 00:10:28.802 --> 00:10:29.826 What happened at Jericho? 00:10:29.826 --> 00:10:32.042 Remember? 00:10:32.042 --> 00:10:34.590 God's word spoke and the walls came tumbling down. 00:10:34.590 --> 00:10:38.869 Look down to verse number six. 00:10:38.869 --> 00:10:45.850 Elijah said to him stay here, the Lord is sending me to the Jordan. 00:10:45.850 --> 00:10:49.807 What happened at the Jordan? 00:10:49.807 --> 00:10:53.910 The people of Israel crossed over the Red Sea. 00:10:53.910 --> 00:10:57.467 Look over at verse number eight. 00:10:57.467 --> 00:11:05.312 Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water, which parted to the right and the left. 00:11:05.312 --> 00:11:08.306 Then the two of them crossed over on dry ground. 00:11:08.306 --> 00:11:11.940 Where's the water parting and people crossing over on dry ground. 00:11:12.039 --> 00:11:20.019 When Israel comes out of Egypt, god's word brings us to God's great acts of redemption the king's. 00:11:20.019 --> 00:11:21.601 It's almost like Elijah and Elisha, almost like retracing the steps of Israel. 00:11:21.601 --> 00:11:28.869 And it's almost like Elijah and Elisha are almost like retracing the steps of Israel, like to Jericho, to the Jordan, striking the water at parts. 00:11:28.869 --> 00:11:35.475 Those were mighty acts of God's deliverance through his word, and the kings don't get to do it. 00:11:35.475 --> 00:11:50.001 It's the prophets that get to take those steps and remind people of God's past redemption through our record of what they did here, of God's past redemption through our record of what they did here, number 11. 00:11:50.001 --> 00:11:53.424 As they continued walking and talking, this is Elijah and Elisha still. 00:11:53.424 --> 00:11:55.547 That's it, number 11, verse number 11. 00:11:55.547 --> 00:11:58.027 Sorry, chapter 2, verse number 11. 00:11:58.027 --> 00:11:58.448 Number 11. 00:12:10.623 --> 00:12:17.339 Now we get caught up in the like that must have been amazing to just kind of skip death and get to go on a personal escort ride to heaven. 00:12:17.339 --> 00:12:23.597 And it is amazing you have chariots and horses when you're a king with armies. 00:12:23.597 --> 00:12:27.816 They didn't have that, but God gave it to him. 00:12:27.816 --> 00:12:30.648 And there's a contrast here with the first chapter. 00:12:30.648 --> 00:12:37.956 I didn't go into the detail of the first chapter, but what's happening in the first chapter is when the message comes and this guy comes. 00:12:37.956 --> 00:12:39.519 They said who's the hairy guy? 00:12:39.519 --> 00:12:39.980 Elijah. 00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.613 Yeah, go get some troops and bring him in, I'll talk to him. 00:12:42.613 --> 00:12:50.350 And a captain goes out with troops and chariots and Elijah calls down fire from heaven and they all die. 00:12:50.350 --> 00:12:51.534 And the second comes out. 00:12:51.534 --> 00:12:53.580 He calls down the fire from heaven and they die again. 00:12:53.580 --> 00:12:57.664 And finally the guy's pleading for his life and God says all right, go with him back. 00:12:58.489 --> 00:13:05.284 So there's already a contrast of the king and his power and this weirdo out in the wilderness just has the word of God and he's just ripping through these soldiers. 00:13:05.284 --> 00:13:10.797 Now it's the army of the Lord coming to bring Elijah up to his reward. 00:13:10.797 --> 00:13:18.139 He's, in a sense, not himself somehow this great person, but he's got God's word and he's got the acts of redemption of the Lord. 00:13:18.139 --> 00:13:22.375 God's word is personal, it's number four. 00:13:22.375 --> 00:13:23.921 If you happen to be taking notes, god's word is personal, it's number four. 00:13:23.921 --> 00:13:26.592 For if you happen to be taking notes, god's word is personal. 00:13:26.592 --> 00:13:28.619 Go over to chapter four. 00:13:28.619 --> 00:13:42.636 So so much of this book is taken up with events that relate to the whole of the nation, or the northern kingdom, of the southern kingdom, and yet there are these episodes within the book, these stories. 00:13:42.636 --> 00:13:51.336 They're individualized and they don't seem to have any obvious referent to the progress or success or not of the nation as a whole. 00:13:52.238 --> 00:13:54.302 And there's a widow in chapter 4. 00:13:54.302 --> 00:14:02.043 And look what happens here as we just I'll look at verse 14 of chapter 4. 00:14:02.043 --> 00:14:07.009 I'll look at verse 14 of chapter 4. 00:14:07.009 --> 00:14:10.195 So he asked her what should be done for her. 00:14:10.195 --> 00:14:12.259 Gehazi, this woman has helped out. 00:14:12.259 --> 00:14:23.243 Elisha Gehazi answered well, she has no son and her husband is old. 00:14:23.243 --> 00:14:23.443 Call her. 00:14:23.443 --> 00:14:28.394 Elisha said Sounds a little bit like Abraham and Sarah when the word of the lord came, call her. 00:14:28.394 --> 00:14:30.578 So gehazi called her and she stood in the doorway. 00:14:30.578 --> 00:14:36.772 Elisha said at this time next year you will have a son in your arms. 00:14:36.772 --> 00:14:42.736 Then she said no, my lord, man of god, do not lie to your servant. 00:14:42.736 --> 00:14:48.721 This son doesn't grow up to become the king of the southern kingdom or northern kingdom. 00:14:48.721 --> 00:14:59.498 It's just a sign, just a boy, just a story. 00:14:59.498 --> 00:15:01.309 But God's word is personal. 00:15:01.309 --> 00:15:06.894 God doesn't just care for the group he reaches into this widow, just care for the group he reaches into this widow's life through the prophet. 00:15:06.894 --> 00:15:12.705 Even though God's word is personal, it's also universal. 00:15:14.410 --> 00:15:15.933 Go over to chapter 5. 00:15:15.933 --> 00:15:19.602 Chapter 5. 00:15:19.602 --> 00:15:30.299 And just look at if you've got a Bible that has maybe a heading over chapter 5, you'll see something about Naaman. 00:15:30.299 --> 00:15:32.157 You might remember that story. 00:15:32.157 --> 00:15:49.022 But notice how chapter 5 begins Naaman, commander of the army for the king of Aram, this is not one of David's right-hand men and yet God's word comes to this outsider and he experiences cleansing. 00:15:51.510 --> 00:16:04.482 Bob brought out last week how the kings are built off of this promise in 2 Samuel 7 that God's going to bring a descendant of David to rule and reign from his throne. 00:16:04.482 --> 00:16:07.576 And God says it's instruction for mankind. 00:16:07.576 --> 00:16:11.913 It's not only for Israel, it's going to eventually be for all kinds of people. 00:16:11.913 --> 00:16:21.620 And we see hints of that here, where God's word comes not just to those that are right, near and dear to David, but those that are even outside. 00:16:21.620 --> 00:16:29.393 Someone like Naaman to David, but those that are even outside. 00:16:29.393 --> 00:16:29.894 Someone like Naaman. 00:16:29.894 --> 00:16:37.072 Interestingly, naaman's servant inherits his leprosy because he's greedy for silver and gold, which is the problem of a lot of the kings. 00:16:37.072 --> 00:16:39.738 They're greedy for money and prestige and fame. 00:16:39.738 --> 00:16:42.522 They're not willing to accept simply God's word and his blessing. 00:16:42.522 --> 00:16:58.995 Number six God's word brings judgment to mockers. 00:16:59.015 --> 00:17:03.280 Let's go back to chapter two, verse 23. 00:17:03.280 --> 00:17:07.765 From there elisha went up to bethel. 00:17:07.765 --> 00:17:17.419 As he was walking up the path, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting go up baldy, go up baldy. 00:17:17.419 --> 00:17:24.060 He turned around, looked at them and cursed them in the name of the Lord. 00:17:24.060 --> 00:17:28.701 Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of the children. 00:17:28.701 --> 00:17:33.178 From there, elisha went to Carmel and then Mount Carmel. 00:17:33.178 --> 00:17:34.201 Then he returned to Samaria. 00:17:35.309 --> 00:17:36.654 Now I hesitated to give this story. 00:17:36.654 --> 00:17:37.719 I don't want to be distracting. 00:17:37.719 --> 00:17:39.457 I knew we would have like tons of visitors here. 00:17:39.457 --> 00:17:41.176 They would have been like taken aback by that. 00:17:41.176 --> 00:17:48.951 But I don't think we have tons and tons of visitors here tonight and it's not a personal thing, so don't think I'm going at it from that angle. 00:17:48.951 --> 00:17:52.978 But don't lose the fact. 00:17:53.538 --> 00:17:55.442 The prophet is the man of God. 00:17:55.442 --> 00:17:57.151 He's the one that has the word of God. 00:17:57.151 --> 00:17:59.596 It's not about being nice to people or not. 00:17:59.596 --> 00:18:08.031 Fundamentally, it's about when you disregard the word of the Lord embodied in this prophet. 00:18:08.031 --> 00:18:09.596 Judgment's coming. 00:18:09.596 --> 00:18:13.105 That's what happened scoffers. 00:18:13.105 --> 00:18:15.750 In Noah's day, peter talks about scoffers who will come again. 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:24.122 It's part of that pattern of God judging people who simply don't have respect for his word. 00:18:24.923 --> 00:18:28.731 Go over to chapter 9, 2 Kings, chapter 9. 00:18:28.731 --> 00:18:33.580 And while you're turning there. 00:18:33.580 --> 00:18:47.760 So the prophets are not just counterbalances to the kings in some kind of American political sense, like well, there's the president, he's in charge, but you got to have the Congress to kind of keep checks and balances on them. 00:18:47.760 --> 00:18:52.381 You got like the kings, ahaziah and them, but the prophets kind of keep a check on them. 00:18:52.381 --> 00:18:53.090 It's not really. 00:18:53.090 --> 00:18:55.375 They're not meant to balance each other out. 00:18:55.375 --> 00:19:09.760 There's both prophetic elements in both offices, but the prophets are a confrontational rebuke in many ways to the king and they're the ones that actually bear the word of God. 00:19:09.760 --> 00:19:12.032 That's going to push things through. 00:19:12.694 --> 00:19:17.403 So in 2 Kings 9, we see the death of Jezebel. 00:19:17.403 --> 00:19:30.472 She doesn't even get a proper burial, even being a queen, and yet what happens is it fulfills God's word. 00:19:30.472 --> 00:19:37.484 So if you just turn over to chapter 10, look at verse number 10. 00:19:37.484 --> 00:19:49.603 Know then, that not a word the Lord spoke against the house of Ahab will fail, for the Lord has done what he promised through his servant Elijah. 00:19:49.603 --> 00:19:52.673 So Elijah had prophesied about this in the past. 00:19:52.673 --> 00:19:54.637 Given God's word, now it's coming to pass. 00:19:54.637 --> 00:19:56.923 Verse 17 of chapter 10. 00:19:59.031 --> 00:20:05.393 When Jehu came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained from the house of Ahab in Samaria until he had annihilated his house. 00:20:05.393 --> 00:20:12.313 According to the word of the Lord spoken to Elijah, verse number 19,. 00:20:12.313 --> 00:20:17.833 Now, therefore, summon to me all the prophets of Baal, all his servants, all his high priests. 00:20:17.833 --> 00:20:21.501 None must be missing, for I have a great sacrifice for Baal. 00:20:21.501 --> 00:20:25.459 Whoever is missing will not live. 00:20:25.459 --> 00:20:35.221 However, jehu was acting deceptively in order to destroy the servants of Baal, because that's what God had said would happen. 00:20:39.750 --> 00:20:41.675 Over to chapter 19. 00:20:41.675 --> 00:20:42.857 Go to chapter 19. 00:20:42.857 --> 00:20:54.698 So we're going back and forth just a little bit Chapter 19, and we're actually introduced to Isaiah. 00:20:54.698 --> 00:21:02.698 So Elisha and Elijah are the two main prophet pillars in the kings. 00:21:02.698 --> 00:21:05.642 But Isaiah comes out 19, verse number 20. 00:21:06.143 --> 00:21:10.153 Then Isaiah, son of Amaz, sent a message to Hezekiah. 00:21:10.153 --> 00:21:14.311 The Lord, the God of Israel, says I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib. 00:21:14.311 --> 00:21:16.957 This is the word the Lord has spoken against him. 00:21:16.957 --> 00:21:23.512 So who's going to prevail, isaiah or Hezekiah? 00:21:23.512 --> 00:21:28.682 Prophet or king Got to be the prophet, because the prophet actually has the word of God. 00:21:38.778 --> 00:21:43.328 One of the best kings that's described in this book of 2 Kings is Josiah, your namesake, and he gets a lot of good mentions in this book. 00:21:43.328 --> 00:21:57.394 He's one of the best perhaps even the best, depending on how you read it after Solomon. 00:21:57.394 --> 00:21:58.695 But he gets hold of the word of God and he has it read. 00:21:58.695 --> 00:22:00.357 He consults the prophetic word. 00:22:00.357 --> 00:22:01.599 That's what makes him such a great king. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:08.017 And when you get to the end of the book of second kings, there's exile and judgment. 00:22:08.017 --> 00:22:11.084 Go ahead and turn over to chapter 25. 00:22:11.084 --> 00:22:44.390 It's the punishment is delayed in one sense through Hezekiah's prayers, but eventually God allows the kingdom of Babylon to come in and destroy Jerusalem, to destroy the temple, to take people captive Chapter 25, verse 21,. 00:22:44.390 --> 00:22:52.565 The king of Babylon put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. 00:22:52.565 --> 00:22:58.741 So Judah went into exile from its land. 00:23:02.443 --> 00:23:07.546 Why does god's word of, why does god's judgment come on the people? 00:23:07.546 --> 00:23:14.131 It wasn't because babylon's military was greater than israel's military, wasn't because their kings were greater than israel's kings. 00:23:14.131 --> 00:23:19.480 It's because they didn't grab hold of the word of god. 00:23:19.480 --> 00:23:33.394 They, by their actions, by their idolatry, including the kings, by their dismissal of the word of god, they, by their actions, by their idolatry, including the kings, by their dismissal of the word of God, they were in one sense like those young people, foolishly mocking the prophet, foolishly mocking the word of God. 00:23:33.394 --> 00:23:34.917 He said no, think about it later. 00:23:34.917 --> 00:23:36.803 And judgment came. 00:23:36.803 --> 00:23:43.803 And judgment rightly came for God's, zealous for his own name and his own character. 00:23:46.691 --> 00:23:47.653 Now you might be saying, well, wait a minute. 00:23:47.653 --> 00:23:50.101 Here you said God's word is our sustaining hope. 00:23:50.101 --> 00:23:55.651 At the beginning I mean there was some hope in there, but I'm hearing a lot of heavy things about God's word. 00:23:55.651 --> 00:23:58.836 If there's hope, where does hope come in? 00:23:58.836 --> 00:24:01.520 And there is hope in 2 Kings. 00:24:01.520 --> 00:24:13.934 Despite the canopy of imperfect kings, despite the people and the kings not always really grabbing hold of the prophets and the word of God like they should, there is still some hope here. 00:24:13.934 --> 00:24:23.892 So if you look at the way this book ends verse 27 of 2 Kings 25. 00:24:23.912 --> 00:24:42.844 On the 27th day of the 12th month of the 37th year of the exile of Judah's King Jehoiakim in the year of Evel-meradach, in the year he became king of Babylon, he pardoned King Jehoiakim of Judah and released him from prison. 00:24:42.844 --> 00:24:42.923 Why? 00:24:42.923 --> 00:25:15.730 Just because there's hope even amidst exile, there's mercy even amidst exile and there's really hope sprinkled throughout the book. 00:25:15.730 --> 00:25:17.436 And this is last point for tonight. 00:25:17.436 --> 00:25:22.094 So if you're kind of tracking along so far, god's word always comes to pass. 00:25:22.094 --> 00:25:25.345 Number two God's word overturns human expectations. 00:25:25.345 --> 00:25:27.400 Number three God's word brings us to God's great acts of redemption. 00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:28.016 Number four God's word overturns human expectations. 00:25:28.016 --> 00:25:29.146 Number three God's word brings us to God's great acts of redemption. 00:25:29.146 --> 00:25:31.492 Number four God's word is personal. 00:25:31.492 --> 00:25:33.198 Number five God's word is universal. 00:25:33.198 --> 00:25:36.594 Number six God's word brings judgment to mockers. 00:25:36.594 --> 00:25:40.346 And number seven God's word brings resurrection life. 00:25:40.346 --> 00:25:48.440 And if you've got, if you're holding on to that, that'll sustain you, go back to chapter 4. 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:54.996 We'll just trace this theme as we start drawing towards a close for tonight. 00:25:56.018 --> 00:25:56.739 2 Kings 4. 00:25:56.739 --> 00:26:11.932 That child that the widow had, he dies. 00:26:11.932 --> 00:26:15.980 Verse 32 of chapter 4,. 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:18.954 When Elisha got to the house he discovered the boy lying dead on his bed. 00:26:18.954 --> 00:26:24.374 The king didn't, really isn't, going to be able to do much about that. 00:26:24.374 --> 00:26:28.635 So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them and prayed to the Lord. 00:26:28.635 --> 00:26:30.590 Then he went up and lay on the boy. 00:26:30.590 --> 00:26:33.252 He put mouth to mouth, eye to eye, hand to hand. 00:26:33.252 --> 00:26:37.536 While he bent down over him, the boy's flesh became warm. 00:26:37.536 --> 00:26:41.453 Elisha got up, went into the house and paced back and forth. 00:26:41.453 --> 00:26:43.345 Then he went up and bent down over him again. 00:26:43.345 --> 00:26:48.575 Then the boy sneezed seven times and opened his eyes. 00:26:48.575 --> 00:26:50.739 Resurrection life. 00:26:50.739 --> 00:26:54.711 Verse 40, same chapter. 00:26:56.625 --> 00:27:00.596 They served some for the men to eat to pot a stew. 00:27:00.596 --> 00:27:03.670 But when they ate the stew. 00:27:03.670 --> 00:27:07.750 They cried out there's death in the pot, man of God. 00:27:07.750 --> 00:27:09.997 I don't know how they knew. 00:27:09.997 --> 00:27:15.208 Somehow they knew what it was. 00:27:15.208 --> 00:27:16.369 They ate was poisonous and they were unable to eat it. 00:27:16.369 --> 00:27:17.432 Then Elisha said get some flour. 00:27:17.432 --> 00:27:20.298 He threw it into the pot and said serve for the people to eat. 00:27:20.298 --> 00:27:29.647 And there was nothing bad in the pot. 00:27:29.647 --> 00:27:30.089 Here's a newsflash. 00:27:30.089 --> 00:27:30.913 The prophets don't go to culinary school. 00:27:30.913 --> 00:27:31.876 All right, he wasn't somehow able to concoct. 00:27:31.876 --> 00:27:32.298 He's the man of God. 00:27:32.298 --> 00:27:35.748 Yeah, there's death in the pot for you, but God's word is life, it's not death. 00:27:35.748 --> 00:27:40.676 Chapter 13 of 2 Kings. 00:27:40.676 --> 00:27:41.739 Flip over there. 00:27:46.046 --> 00:27:56.435 Strange little story in the middle of second Kings, second Kings 13, verse 20,. 00:27:56.435 --> 00:28:00.174 Elisha died and was buried. 00:28:00.174 --> 00:28:04.776 Now, moabite raiders used to come into the land in the spring of the year. 00:28:04.776 --> 00:28:12.496 Once, as the Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a raiding party, so they threw the man into Elisha's tomb. 00:28:12.496 --> 00:28:18.375 When he touched Elisha's bones, the man revived and stood up. 00:28:18.375 --> 00:28:28.971 The word of God brings resurrection, hope, just like Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones, where what causes the bones to come together and have sinos and bands? 00:28:28.971 --> 00:28:34.930 It's when God says preach over the bones, prophesy over the bones, speak, prophet of God, and there's resurrection, life. 00:28:36.424 --> 00:28:40.087 And then last story this is one of my favorite stories in the Bible, actually 2 Kings 6. 00:28:40.087 --> 00:28:47.313 Not as well known, but I really enjoy it. 00:28:47.313 --> 00:28:49.272 I'm just going to try to summarize it. 00:28:49.272 --> 00:28:56.318 It extends from 2 Kings 6, 24, down into chapter 7. 00:28:56.318 --> 00:29:01.468 This is Northern Kingdom. 00:29:01.468 --> 00:29:11.605 There's a terrible famine and it's so bad that they're selling donkey's heads and dove's dung, trying to just survive off of it. 00:29:11.605 --> 00:29:13.029 And it's going for a high rate. 00:29:13.029 --> 00:29:20.131 And the prophet comes and says you know, tomorrow barley and wheat is going to be cheap. 00:29:20.131 --> 00:29:26.146 And the king per the kings in this book, king's kind of like. 00:29:26.146 --> 00:29:27.932 Well, I'll believe it when I see it. 00:29:27.932 --> 00:29:28.965 I don't know about that. 00:29:28.965 --> 00:29:31.431 King's attendant, his representative, does that. 00:29:32.794 --> 00:29:42.256 And then the story shifts to these lepers that are at the gate of Samaria, and they're very logical lepers. 00:29:42.256 --> 00:29:47.111 They say everyone's starving, we're starving, we're going to die. 00:29:47.111 --> 00:29:49.576 There's an army there that's sieging in the city. 00:29:49.576 --> 00:29:52.813 Let's go out and throw ourselves at the mercy of the army. 00:29:52.813 --> 00:29:54.298 They might kill us. 00:29:54.298 --> 00:29:55.862 What difference is that going to make? 00:29:55.862 --> 00:29:56.805 We're going to die anyway. 00:29:57.506 --> 00:30:12.406 So they wander out and they find tents that are abandoned, supplies and food, and God had miraculously caused this sound like many chariots and armies. 00:30:12.406 --> 00:30:16.836 And the troops thought oh no, they've hired the Egyptians to come help them. 00:30:16.836 --> 00:30:18.147 We're in trouble, we got to get out of here. 00:30:18.147 --> 00:30:21.467 And they just leave all their supplies and their food and everything. 00:30:21.467 --> 00:30:24.598 So you've got these lepers who are as good as dead. 00:30:24.598 --> 00:30:28.830 Well, they're starving, but they're also lepers, so they're outside of God's covenant people. 00:30:28.830 --> 00:30:31.415 They're insufficient of themselves. 00:30:31.415 --> 00:30:33.728 They're like stumbled on buried treasure. 00:30:33.728 --> 00:30:34.830 They're just having a ball out there. 00:30:34.830 --> 00:30:37.217 And then they say you know what? 00:30:37.217 --> 00:30:38.147 This is a day of good news. 00:30:38.147 --> 00:30:39.612 We've got to go back and tell everybody else. 00:30:39.612 --> 00:30:40.954 And they do. 00:30:40.954 --> 00:30:59.128 And just like the word of God said, barley and grain flowed freely, but out of the city that's bound for starvation and death, out of lepers that are having their own skin eaten away, all of a sudden God's word comes and there's hope, there's life, and so that's happening. 00:30:59.269 --> 00:31:11.288 All throughout this letter, as we think about our own lives, we can look back at Jesus's first coming, just like the faithful remnant could look ahead to Jesus's coming. 00:31:11.288 --> 00:31:13.353 But he's not present. 00:31:13.353 --> 00:31:16.486 He's not visibly present with us. 00:31:16.486 --> 00:31:20.940 We're still, as we heard this morning, we're still awaiting his second coming. 00:31:20.940 --> 00:31:23.386 But God's word is our sustaining hope. 00:31:23.386 --> 00:31:25.692 We don't just wait kind of apathetically. 00:31:25.692 --> 00:31:29.608 We grab hold of God's word, and we know that you know what the kings of this world. 00:31:29.608 --> 00:31:31.394 That's not, ultimately, where our hope is. 00:31:31.394 --> 00:31:34.490 Our hope is in resurrection. 00:31:34.490 --> 00:31:37.736 Our hope is that God can do things amazing in our midst. 00:31:37.736 --> 00:31:46.011 He can bring dead sinners to life, and he can do amazing things among us, and then what's to come is eternal life and glory. 00:31:46.011 --> 00:31:50.056 So be encouraged. 00:31:50.056 --> 00:31:51.438 Tonight. 00:31:51.438 --> 00:31:55.321 God's word is our sustaining hope. 00:31:57.166 --> 00:31:59.048 Let's pray Lord. 00:31:59.048 --> 00:32:05.759 So much is in scripture, so much is valuable and profitable for us and we're so thankful for it. 00:32:05.759 --> 00:32:20.837 Oh Lord, give us a hunger to know and see all the stories of your word and how they bring us to Christ, who is indeed the living word from heaven, who is the very prophet of God, who has spoken to us in the grandest and greatest sense. 00:32:20.837 --> 00:32:39.209 Lord, don't let our hearts be so easily disturbed or troubled by death and, in a sense, exile around us, but we know that, having the Word of God, we have the seed of the gospel that springs up and gives fruit and life and mighty trees. 00:32:39.209 --> 00:32:43.180 Lord, give us this resurrection, hope through your Word. 00:32:43.180 --> 00:32:48.795 Thank you that our Christ reigns and rules as all the things that we so desperately need. 00:32:48.795 --> 00:32:50.400 In Jesus' name, amen.