When we turn again this morning to the book of 2 Kings, the book of 2 Kings in the Old Testament, it's been a few months since we've been here. Please turn to chapter 11, which you will find on page 367 in most of the Pew Bibles, chapter 11, where we take one final look at events set in motion when Elisha anointed Hazael in chapter 8, king of Aram, and Jehu, king of Israel, in chapter 9. and as we approach the events of chapter 11 we must bear in mind the promise of which we just sang about the promise that God gave to David that there would be someone from the line of David on the throne forever that promise was given to David in 2 Samuel chapter 7 beginning in verse 12 where the Lord said when your days are over and you rest with your fathers I will raise up your offspring to succeed you who will come from your own body and I will establish his kingdom. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. We need to be reminded of this because we don't live at the time when this book of Kings was first written. But that promise was lively and vital and ever-present in the minds of the Jews. You know, that promise was initially put into motion when Solomon came to the throne. And under Solomon, the Lord established the twelve tribes of Israel as one united kingdom. It reached its height when Solomon built the temple of God. The temple that we'll read about today in our text. But because Solomon sinned by worshipping the false gods of his many wives, the Lord took the kingdom away from him, but not completely. And he did so for the sake of his servant David, because of this promise. So in 1 Kings chapter 11, which kind of leads into all these kings we've considered, the Lord told Jeroboam, I will take the kingdom from his hands, that's Solomon's hands, and give you ten tribes. I'll give one tribe to his son, so that David, my servant, may always have a lamp before him in Jerusalem, the city where I chose to put my name. The one tribe was Judah. The descendants of David, the lamp of Israel, ruled in Judah, ruled in Jerusalem for seven generations. When the Lord struck down Ahaziah, the king of Judah, at the hand of Jehu, which is what we considered in chapter 9 and 10. And so it was then, as we see in our story, that the lamp of Israel, the descendants of David on the throne, was apparently extinguished. Before being raised up as promised and established in covenant once again. And that's the subject of our story this morning. So we read from the Word of God, chapter 11 out of the book of 2 Kings. Hear now His Word and may the Holy Spirit apply it to us. When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. But Jehoshabah, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash, son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah, so he was not killed. He remained hidden with his nurse at the temple of the Lord for six years while Athaliah ruled the land. In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of units of a hundred, the Karaites and the guards, and had them brought to him at the temple of the Lord. He made a covenant with them and put them under oath at the temple of the Lord. Then he showed them the king's son. He commanded them, saying, This is what you are to do. You who are in the three companies that are going on duty on the Sabbath, a third of you guarding the royal palace, a third at the surrogate, and a third at the gate behind the guard, who take turns guarding the temple. And you who are in other two companies that normally go off duty are all to guard the temple for the king. Station yourselves around the king, each man with his weapon in his hand. Anyone who approaches your ranks must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes. The commanders of units of a hundred did just as Jehoiada the priest ordered. Each one took his men, those who were going on duty on the Sabbath and those who were going off duty, and came to Jehoiada the priest. Then he gave the commanders the spears and shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the Lord. The guards, each with his weapon in his hand, stationed themselves around the king near the altar and the temple from the south side to the north side of the temple. Jehoiada brought out the king's son and put the crown on him. He presented him with a copy of the covenant and proclaimed him king. They anointed him and the people clapped their hands and shouted, Long live the king! When Athaliah heard the noise made by the guards and the people, she went to the people at the temple of the Lord. She looked and there was the king standing by the pillar as the custom was. The officers and the trumpeters were beside the king and all the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her robes and called out, Treason! Treason! Jehoiada the priest ordered the commanders of units of a hundred who were in charge of the troops, Bring her out between the ranks and put to the sword anyone who follows her. For the priest had said she must not be put to death in the temple of the Lord. So they seized her as she reached the place where the horses entered the palace grounds, and there they put her to death. Jehoiada then made a covenant between the Lord and the king and the people, that they would be the Lord's people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. All the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Matan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. Then Jehoiada, the priest, posted guards at the temple of the Lord. He took with him the commanders of hundreds, the Karaites, the guards, and all the people of the land, and together they brought the king down from the temple of the Lord and went into the palace, entering by way of the gate of the guards. The king then took his place on the royal throne, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, because Athaliah had been slain with the sword at the palace. Joash was seven years old when he began to reign. Here ends the reading of God's Word. Another piece of Israel's history that we need to understand in itself, and also how it relates to us, God's people. Verses 1 through 3 set the stage for what this story has to tell. And it tells us how for six years the lamp of Israel was apparently extinguished. Our text begins by telling us the time when Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead. With the arrival in Jerusalem of King Ahaziah's body in his war chariot came the news that we considered from chapters 9 and 10. All that had been done, that Jehu, a commander in the army of Israel, had risen up and he had destroyed the entire house of Ahab in Israel. Most notably her son, but also her brother, Joram, who was the king in Israel, and her mother, Jezebel. Not to mention all the rest of her family in Israel, as well as those from Judah who had gone up to visit. You remember the devastation that Jehu brought. Most of us would be paralyzed by shock or incapacitated by grief to receive news of such staggering loss, but not Athaliah. The sight of her dead son and the news that came with him prompted her, motivated her to immediate and vigorous action. With no more sons to whom she could cling if they rose to the throne, she had no more people that she could attach herself to. she knew that as soon as the new king was claimed or named, she would be out. She would lose her position. She would lose her power in the court of Judah. We must remember that she married into the house of David for a purpose. The purpose to bring the house of Judah under the influence of the house of Ahab. And under her influence, two kings of Judah, her husband, Jehoram, and her son, Ahaziah, did not walk in the ways of their father David, but they walked in the ways of the house of Ahab. She had accomplished much. And she had much more that she wanted to do. And so, there could be no more king in Israel, in Judah. And therefore, in the second half of verse 1, we hear the severe and unsettling announcement that to the people of Judah was received as the undeniable truth that she proceeded to destroy the whole royal family. She seized the throne to become the only queen in the history of Judah. To be the only ruler who was not a descendant of David. To all appearances, she had destroyed the seed of David. Each and every descendant of the house of David, even her own grandchildren, she had destroyed them all. The promise of the Lord seemed to have failed, for she had apparently extinguished the lamp of Israel. The false god Baal seemed to have triumphed in Judah. And the people followed Athaliah in his worship. And not only was the temple of the Lord neglected and in disrepair, its walls had been breached so that its sacred articles could be plundered and used in this temple to Baal, in the city of Jerusalem, the city where God had set his own name. It appeared that the Lord was powerless to stop her and that he was absent from his people. It was a time of darkness. But appearances can be misleading, don't we know? Athaliah did not know and the people of Judah did not know what we know from reading verses 2 and 3. We're given a behind-the-scenes look at what was going on at the same time for these six years. There we read that Jehoshabah, the daughter of King Jehoram and sister of Ahaziah, by a different mother, She took Joash, the son of Ahaziah, and stole him away from among the royal princes who were about to be murdered. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom to hide him from Athaliah. So he was not killed. See, contrary to all appearances, Athaliah had not destroyed all the seed of David. She had not extinguished the lamp of Israel. The promise of the Lord had not failed. There was an heir to the throne, but he was hidden away from the eyes of all except for a very few. Jehoshaphat initially hid Joash and his nurse in a bedroom of the palace this was not a sleeping chamber this was a storage chamber for excess furniture and mattresses you might call it a king size linen closet and in due time she sneaked them out of the palace and took them into the temple grounds where she lived with her husband Jehoiada the high priest we're not told that connection in this story you'd have to turn to 2 Chronicles chapters 22 and 23 which tells a parallel account with additional detail. Therefore we read that he remained hidden in the house of the Lord, the temple of the Lord for six years. He didn't remain in the palace while Athaliah ruled the land. But those days were dark days for Israel. But there were darker days yet to come. We know the end of the story of kings. We know how Israel is banished among the nations and how Judah is carried away into exile into Babylon. We know how Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord are destroyed and the line of David is cut off, or so it seems. The Lord returned them to the land. They repaired their walls and they built a second temple, but the seed of David didn't take the throne. Through the prophets, the Lord reminded them of his promise that one day David's seed. His greater son would sit on the throne and he would rule forever. But the prophets had quit speaking and for 400 years they had darkness. And into that darkness came the lamp of Israel, the light of the world, the greater son of David, Jesus the Christ. You know the story of how he was born in Bethlehem and he fulfilled a promise of the prophets It's given to Micah in chapter 5, verse 2 of his prophecy. But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will rule over Israel. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord and the majesty of the name of the Lord is God. And they will live securely. For then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth and he will be their peace. Indeed, the light had come. But no sooner had he appeared on the scene that the darkness struck back. Children, you know the story of how King Herod tried to kill Jesus. You know the story of how the Magi were sent to find him out and to come back with the news. And when they didn't come back, King Herod sent the command to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and all the vicinity so that he could catch this one, that he could snuff out this light, that he could cut off the line of David. But like Joash before him, Jesus was taken away and hidden, wasn't he? He went down to Egypt. And after a while, he came back to live in the land, to live in hiding, in plain sight, if you will, a carpenter's son in the city of Nazareth. So you see where I'm going with this sermon, not only to consider Joash and his place in the history of Israel, his significance to the nation, but also his significance and his relationship, his pointing forward to the greater son of David, Jesus the Christ. And that's where we'll go as we work through this passage. So we look back again at the story to the second part, and we see how the lamp of Israel, that had apparently been distinguished, was now raised up as promised. How this was accomplished is set forth with great detail in verses 4-16, the heart of this passage. There's incredible detail here. And the bottom line point is that Jehoiada was going to make sure that this king made it to the throne. It happened in the seventh year of Athaliah's reign and Joash's life. Jehoiada, the high priest, started by recruiting a few key men that he believed would be loyal to the seed of David. And he had them brought to him at the temple, the commanders of the units of a hundred, over two groups. These were commanders of groups of men, the Karaites and the guards. And the Karaites appeared to be highly trained mercenary bodyguards that started the reign of David. They were specifically hired and trained to protect the king. The guards were the Levite temple guards, over which there were five commanders, according to 2 Chronicles. So he gathered this handful of men in the temple and he made a covenant with them and he put them under oath. We're not told what he said, but from what follows we can know that they vowed to at least three things. First, their allegiance to a rightful heir to the throne, that they would be allegiant to a seed of David. Second, their silence regarding his existence. And third, their submission to Jehoiada, the priest, that he would direct their actions. And it was then, once he had secured their cooperation, their vow before him, that he showed them the king's son. And he did so according to Chronicles, saying, the king's son shall reign as the Lord promised concerning the sons of David. And can you imagine how they responded? Shocked? Disbelief? Maybe a sense of relief, and I'm certain by the end of the meeting, a sense of excitement. For they had served a treasonous queen for six years because they thought there was no seed of David. And here was this boy who would be king and they would be serving him. In verses 5 through 8, Jehoiada gave these leaders their orders and in verses 9 through 12, they carried them out. When the appointed day arrived, it was a Sabbath day and the temple courts were full of worshippers of the Lord And we know it's full because 2 Chronicles tells us that they sent around the nation, around Judah, to gather Levites and the heads of families from all the towns so that there would be representation of all the people in the temple that day. The people didn't know why it was so important to be there, but they were there and it was full. And when the temple guards arrived to begin their normal week-long duty in the temple, their commanders set up a perimeter around the temple. Each commander stationed his men to guard three positions. One of three positions, the royal palace, the surrogate, and the guards gate. These were on the north, the south, and the west side of the temple grounds. They were stationed there to protect the temple from attack through these places. And the two commanders of the temple guards who were due to go off duty stayed on duty. And they took up positions to the east of the temple, in front of the temple, forming ranks that arched from corner to corner as far out as the altar of sacrifice. They formed a barrier so that when Joash was presented to the temple grounds, he would be protected. And to these men, Jehoiada issued special armor reserved only for official ceremonies of state, the spears and the shields that had belonged to King David and that were in the temple of the Lord. He gave them this order. Anyone who approaches your ranks must be put to death. Stay close to the king wherever he goes. And when everyone was in position, the stage was set. Jehoiada revealed the rightful heir to the throne, the seven-year-old boy, Joash. The seed of David. The lamp of Israel. In verses 12 through 16 tell what happened then. In a nutshell, Joash was raised up and Athaliah was cast down. Jehoiada proclaimed Joash king with a crown on his head to signify his office and with a copy of the covenant to identify his purpose as commanded in Deuteronomy chapter 17. The priests anointed him with oil to signify that his authority and his power came from the Lord and the people received him and rejoiced, shouting, Long live the king! Joash took his place on the king's platform by one of the pillars, which was the custom, so that he stood up above the crowd. The trumpeters blew a coronation of fanfare, and the people rejoiced and clapped their hands, and together they made such a great noise that Athaliah heard it. And as we've seen, Athaliah was a woman of action. We don't know whether she went to the temple alone or with an entourage, but we do know that when she got there and she saw what was happening, she knew that her days were over. In vain, this illegitimate queen who had committed treason to take the throne of David tried to gather support by calling her the heir of the throne, the rightful heir, and his entourage treasonous. It fell on deaf ears. Jehoiada made it clear she's not to be put to death in the temple of the Lord. So they ushered her out between the ranks, meaning they escorted her off the temple grounds. And when she had reached the place where the horses entered the palace, they put hands on her and they killed her. And the house of Ahab died with her. You see how this ties in with what happened in Israel. What Jehu accomplished. This was the last domino to drop. Athaliah is dead. Chapter 12 of 2 Kings records the reign of Joash that introduced over 100 years of four consecutive kings that are called good kings in Judah. They weren't perfect kings, but they were good kings. The longest continuous span of God-approved leadership in the history of Judah. So this was a momentous day in the life of Israel. As momentous as it was, and what good it brought the people, Joash was not David's greater son. He failed. He started off well. He rebuilt the temple. But by the end, he let idol worship come back into Judah. And he plundered the temple treasury and the palace treasury to pay off an invader. And this is an invader that you know. You remember Hazael, the man who would be king in Aram that Elisha anointed and the Lord appointed to bring judgment on Israel? He made it all the way to Jerusalem and he exposed Joash's lack of faith. Joash was buried as a disgrace. And yet, through him, great good was accomplished for the nation of Judah. And more importantly than that, in the history of redemption, Joash provided a unique link in the chain. A one-man bridge for the line of David to survive the destruction that the house of Ahab brought through Athaliah. Through him runs the unbroken lineage in Matthew chapter 1. The lineage that leads to Christ. The lineage from Abraham down through David down to Joseph, the husband of Mary, to whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Joash is there in verse 8. But his name is not written, for we see the name of his grandfather, Jehoram, and his son, Uzziah. But he was the one that the Lord God used to preserve the line that leads to the Messiah, to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, the descendant of Joash, is David's greater son, the true lamp of Israel. He too remained hidden in plain sight, as we said, until the time of his coronation arrived. The people didn't recognize him when he was anointed by the Holy Spirit and announced by his Father at his baptism. And even when they got a glimpse of who he is through the words that he taught and the things that he did, they misunderstood his kingdom. The Apostle John tells us how after he fed the 5,000, Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew. His disciples, James and John, asked to be seated at his right and at his left when he took his throne. They had no idea what they were asking. Peter rebuked him when Jesus told him that he was going to Jerusalem to be killed. And on the third day to be raised to life. This didn't fit their picture of what a coronation should be. The picture they have is the picture of Joash and the other kings of Judah. When Jesus arrived at Jerusalem, a great crowd gathered to line the roads with palm branches and to shout aloud, Blessed is the King of Israel, thinking that he had come to take the throne of Judah, to claim his place as heir of David, and to rule and to bring security and peace to their nation. That's what they wanted. That's what they'd longed for. That's what they hoped for. But they didn't understand. No one understood that he would wear a crown of thorns, not of gold. That his entire life had been and would be a fulfillment of the book of the covenant. And that instead of being anointed with oil, he would be spat upon and beaten. They did not expect that when he was raised up, it would not be near the pillar of the temple. Surrounded by an honor guard and the fanfare of trumpets and the praise of people who loved him. but outside the city on a cross surrounded by Roman centurions the groans of dying men and the ridicule of men who hated him. They did not expect that he would not be hailed as David's greater son as the lamp of Israel but that he would be derided as the so-called king of the Jews. Even so, this was his coronation. Through it, he was lifted up and his enemy was cast down, the devil. He promised as much to John in chapter 12, beginning in verse 31. He said, now is the time for the judgment on this world. Now the prince of this world will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself. He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die. We've seen how the lamp of Israel has been apparently snuffed out, apparently extinguished, and how it's been raised up according to promise. But there's more to becoming a king than a coronation ceremony. The one who is named king, proclaimed king, still has to take the throne. And so it was with Joash. Having raised up Joash in the temple courts and cast down the pretender to the throne, Jehoiada went on to see the lamp of Israel established again in covenant. The apostasy of Judah that began with her husband and her son was complete when Athaliah took the throne. She severed all relationships for the people of God with the Lord. The covenant was radically broken with her in a way that no one else ever broke it. Therefore, in verse 17, we read that Jehoiada then made a covenant it's more specific than that he cut the covenant between the Lord and the king and the people that they would be the Lord's people the covenant we find a more complete picture of what this means when we look to the coronation of King Josiah which was many years later again after a period of apostasy when they rediscovered the book of the covenant we read there in chapter 23 that Josiah went up to the temple of the Lord with the men of Judah, the people of Jerusalem, the priests and the prophets, all the people from the least to the greatest, and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant. The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord to follow the Lord and keep his commands, regulations and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, thus confirming the words of the covenant written in the book. Then all the people pledged themselves to the covenant. You see, both the king and the people renewed the original covenant which the Lord made with Israel at Mount Sinai. We read the first two commandments of that covenant this morning. That they should love only the Lord their God and they should not worship any idols. And the next verse in our text inserts here a testimony to their obedience, a testimony to their commitment to the covenant. The first thing we read about them doing is that all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed the altars and idols to pieces and killed Mathan, the priest of Baal, in front of the altars. It's very likely this took place later, but it is tied directly to their being renewed in covenant with the Lord their God and their King. In verse 17, it goes on to say that Jehoiada also made a covenant between the king and the people. And by this we're to know that he made explicit to them what was implicit when they received him with rejoicing when Joash was presented. That the king promised to govern the people according to the book of the law and that the people promised to him their obedience and their allegiance. Having reestablished the lamp of Israel in covenant with the Lord and with his people, Jehoiada secured the temple and then led a procession from the temple to the palace where the king then took his place on the royal throne. And all the people of the land rejoiced and the city was quiet. Peace was restored. Security established. A happy ending to our story. And we must remember that this also points us forward again to Jesus Christ, the true lamp of Israel, who took his place on his throne by his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven. It wasn't enough to be proclaimed king. It wasn't enough that he lived and died and was buried. He had to be raised and he had to ascend to the right hand of God. Paul explains in Ephesians chapter 1 that God exerted His mighty strength in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly realms. Far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age, but also in the age to come. And God placed all things under His feet and appointed Him to be the head over everything for the church, which is His body, The fullness of Him who fills everything in every way. For the church, as members of the body of Christ, there's no need for us to renew the covenant made with Moses. Jesus Christ has already fulfilled all that it required. And thereby, He merited, He earned the grace that is poured out on all who believe in Him and are joined to Him in the new covenant. in His blood. And in 1 Peter chapter 2 we're told that all who come to Him who are joined to Him in this covenant relationship are like living stones who are being built into a spiritual house. That's a picture of a temple. There's no longer any need for an earthly temple. We are part of the temple of God in which He dwells by His Spirit. See, in Christ we are God's chosen people. In Christ we are a royal priesthood. In Christ we are priests who serve Him, but who are already enthroned with Him in the heavens. Christ has ascended to His throne. He has taken His seat. And people of God, we are to know that in Him we have been seated. Yet we must wait for Him to return in glory that we might appreciate the fullness of what that means. But in the meantime, like the people of Israel, we are to rejoice. We are to rejoice. Our King, the Lord Jesus Christ, the true lamp of Israel is on His throne and He is reigning. And He is our peace. And He is our security. He is our happy ending today. Tomorrow. and forever. People of God, rejoice in your Lord and be reminded that He is the one who has redeemed you and has brought you with Himself into the very presence of God. Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, we are thankful this morning for the wondrous work of your providence in the plan of redemption that is displayed for us in the story about King Joash. How you were at work from beginning to end to fulfill your promise to David that you would indeed raise up his seed to take a throne that lasts forever and extends over all things. We thank you for the lessons that we've learned from what happened to Joash. We thank you for the images and the experiences that prompt us to think of Jesus Christ who also was hidden away for most of his life to man an ordinary man. And yet, Father, when the time was right, he came to the fore and he took his place and he ascended the cross. He was lifted up. He was crowned the king, our king. And we thank you, Father, that you followed through to place him on the throne where he rules us as his people, where we are joined to him by faith and in whom we experience peace and security for this age as well as the age to come. Thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you for the work of Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.