Please open your Bibles this evening to the Book of Kings. The Book of Kings, particularly 2 Kings, we'll be looking at chapter 8 tonight. That's page 363 in most of the Pew Bibles. The Book of Kings, 2 Kings, chapter 8, taking up again the ministry of Elisha the prophet. And with this episode, we enter into the final chapters of Elisha's ministry, a ministry that has been marked by great signs of mercy to those who would turn to the Lord in faith. But as we enter this final section of Elias' ministry, we come to realize that the Lord's patience with Israel's sin has worn thin. That he has grown weary of their worship of the false god Baal and their idols at Bethel and Dan. And the time of judgment has finally come. Judgment that would come from outside of Israel, as we will see tonight. And that would set the stage for judgment from within Israel, as we will consider next time. The story is short, but far from sweet. In it we hear of terrible and distressing things. The ravages of war, shame and grief, deception and murder. Why must we consider it? Why can't we just skip over it and find something a little happier to talk about? Well, we could, but we mustn't because this is the Word of God for us and it is written for our instruction. And there is something for us to behold here, something good for God's people. Not only does this story unveil a pivotal event in the history of redemption, it also serves as a case study for the wondrous and comforting doctrine of God's providence. It reminds us that there's more than meets the eye to this pilgrimage that we're on in this veil of tears through the valley of the shadow of death. We too encounter wickedness and circumstances that we don't understand. And we too can be pressed to despair until we remember and believe that Almighty God, our Father in Christ Jesus, our Lord, has everything under control. Everything, including what the preachers preach. Pastor Voss and I had no idea what we were preaching on this week, and I heard the sermon this morning that it's on providence. And that's what this is on tonight. In the Lord's providence, we both bring you messages of good hope and good cheer, of our God's good care. We confess our belief in God's providence most fully in our confessional standards, in the Belgic Confession, and I have you turn in your Psalter hymnals tonight, To the back to page 75 in the Belgic Confession. Article 13, the providence of God and his government of all things. Now we are not going to read that all at once here before we read our text. We will be referencing it through the sermon, so keep it open. We'll be reading directly from it several times during the sermon. So you should have your Bibles open to 2 Kings chapter 8 and your Psalter Hymnal to Belgic Confession, article 13. And tonight we come to know Hazael, a man who would be king by God's sovereign appointment through his own unjust acts to execute God's righteous judgment. Hear now the word of God from 2 Kings chapter 8, picking up in verse 7. Hear now the word of God. Elisha went to Damascus and Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, was ill. When the king was told the man of God has come all the way up here, he said to Hazael, take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Consult the Lord through him. Ask him, will I recover from this illness? Hazael went to meet Elisha, taking with him as a gift 40 camel loads of all the finest wares of Damascus. he went in and stood before him and said, Your son, Ben-Hadad, king of Aram, has sent me to ask, Will I recover from this illness? Elisha answered, Go and say to him, You will certainly recover. But the Lord has revealed to me that he will in fact die. He stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Then the man of God began to weep. Why is my Lord weeping? asked Hazael. Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites, he answered. You will set fire to their fortified cities, kill their young men with the sword, dash their children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women. Hazael said, How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat? The Lord has shown me that you will become king of Aram, answered Elisha. Then Hazael left Elisha and returned to his master. When Ben-Hadad asked, What did Elisha say to you? Hazael replied, He told me that you would certainly recover. But the next day he took a thick cloth, soaked it in water, and spread it over the king's face so that he died. Then Hazael succeeded him as king. Here ends the reading of God's word. May we be instructed by it. Well, the first thing we need to establish as we engage this text and we consider the events that we read here is that all these events and all these persons involved were set by God's sovereign appointment. And that's not just a general statement of God's providence. This is a very particular providence for which we are giving much evidence. This sovereign appointment was announced ahead of time during the ministry of the prophet Elijah. Remember when Elijah had the showdown between the Lord and Baal at Mount Carmel and the Lord prevailed and the prophets of Baal were killed. Elijah was ready to see the conversion of Israel and instead his life was threatened by Queen Jezebel. He ran away. He ran away to the mountain of God, sulking. And there God met him and he spoke to him and he sent him back. And he sent him back with a three-part commission that would bring judgment on Israel for their continued sin. And this judgment would be devastating, but it would not harm the remnant that were faithful to the Lord, that still had not bowed the knee to Baal. And so, if you remember, when we started our consideration of Elisha, we started in chapter 19 of 1 Kings, where that event took place. And in verses 15 through 18 of that chapter, we read this. The Lord said to him, that is to Elijah, Go back the way you came, and go to the desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael, king of Aram. Also anoint Jehu, son of Nimshi, king over Israel. And anoint Elisha, son of Shaphat, from Abel-Meholah, to succeed you as prophet. Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. Yet I reserve 7,000 in Israel, all those whose knees have not bowed down to Baal, and all whose mouths have not kissed him. And then the very next thing we read in chapter 19 is that Elijah went and found Elisha and he put his cloak around him anointing him as his successor as we have considered over the months. But you know we never read that Elijah anointed Hazael or Jehu. And we must ask why. He wasted no time in anointing Elisha. Well, the answer is because God showed mercy to Israel and he delayed the judgment that was announced to Elijah. In 1 Kings chapter 21, when Elijah declared God's judgment against Ahab and Jezebel, when they stole Naboth's vineyard, when they took from him not only his inheritance but also his reputation and his life, A vicious judgment was announced on the house of Ahab, and Ahab repented in sackcloth and ashes before the people of Israel. And therefore, in verse 29 of that chapter, the Lord said to Elijah, Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son. Justice was delayed, but justice was not denied. And shortly after Elijah was taken up to heaven, Ahab died. And the days of his son began. His son Joram, whom we've met over the months. The king of Israel to whom Elisha was interacting. And so when Elisha took up Elijah's mantle, remember at the Jordan River, he took up with it not only the authority that came with it, he took up with it the responsibilities that came with it, including this unfinished business to anoint Hazael and Jehu. And so finally, in our text today, the time has arrived for all that has been prepared to come to pass. The time has arrived for Elisha to fulfill these responsibilities. And so we read in the opening verse, verse 7, the unexpected news that Elisha is in Damascus, the capital city of his archenemy, Ben-Hadad, with whom he had fought many times over the years. The Lord had used Elisha to defeat and humiliate Ben-Hadad. over and over again, so much so that the king got so frustrated and angry he had sent an army to capture Elisha, to bring him back home, only to be embarrassed once again that his army was captured themselves and were released only by a show of mercy. And we know, not because of our text, but we know from what has come before why Elisha is there. He's there to anoint Hazael, king of Aram. He's there to fulfill the word of the Lord. Although there will be no pomp and circumstance, there will be no ceremony, there will be no oil poured, there will only be cryptic words that bring about the will of God. And in Damascus we have Ben-Hadad, sick in bed. Weak and therefore vulnerable. And when he heard that Elisha was in the city, he does the least expected thing. We think he would send out his troops to capture Elisha. Ha! A bird in hand. But no. He sent his servant to go to Elisha, bearing gifts on his behalf, to ask of the Lord through him. Will I survive this illness? And he sent Hazael in a way that clearly displayed that he was being humble before Elisha. He called on the God of Israel by his covenant name. He called him Yahweh, which is translated Lord in your Bibles. Hazael was to refer to Ben-Hadad as Elisha's son, as one who was subject to Elisha. And he was to present Elisha with great gifts, 40 camel loads of all the finest wares in Damascus. This wasn't like a run to Costco to fill up 40 carts. This was a parade of 40 camels decorated ornately and in much pomp and display, bringing one precious gift after another to Elisha in a public display that would make it clear to all the people that he was holding Elisha in high regard. And Elisha would know that the people knew that the king was holding him in high regard. And, of course, the goal was to get a positive and favorable response from this prophet of God. We're not told Ben-Hadad's motives. We don't know what he was after for sure. Perhaps he was desperate in the face of his illness. Perhaps it was political vulnerability that had him feel so helpless. Perhaps he was trying to manipulate Elisha to get what he wanted. Or perhaps he was truly humbled and turning in faith to the God who had healed his right-hand man. You remember Naaman, his general, his commander. But we're not told, and we cannot know, but we do know that he demanded nothing. And he asked only one simple question. Will I recover from this illness? And because of his weakness, the king had to send his servant, Hazael, the third participant in the events of this day. The man who attended him on his sickbed. Unlike Naaman, who was rich and powerful and a commander who accompanied the king in public, this man was a court servant who served the king in private. A man of no particular distinction. His name is just dropped, no details. And from what Litter will be told in the first part of the story, he appears to be a faithful and obedient servant of the king. And so as we consider the stage, if you will, the circumstances that have been put in play here, it's by God's sovereign appointment that the time of his judgment has come. It was announced in advance, it was delayed for a season, but now it has come at just the right time in the time of Ahab's son, at just the right place, the city of Damascus. And these three men, Elisha, Ben-Hadad, and Hazael, are bound up together in events that will accomplish God's holy will in a very important way. This is the essence of what we confess when we talk about God's providence. If you'll turn in your Psalter Hymnal to that page 75, We're going to read from Belgic 13 what it is we mean by God's providence. And you'll see it at play here in this story. There we confess that we believe that the same good God, after he had created all things, did not forsake them or give them up to fortune or chance, but that he rules and governs them according to his holy will, so that nothing happens in this world without his appointment. Not even what happened in Damascus that day. And what was true then is true for us today. It's always been true and it will always be true. Whether it be the regularities of life that we take for granted, like the rising and the setting of the sun, the cycles of the moon, the tides for usurpers, we depend on these things. Those are in God's sovereign control, but also the unexpected and the difficult twists and turns that come in life. Nothing in this world happens without God's sovereign appointment. That's what we believe about the providence of God. And we have evidence for it here right before us this evening. Now back to our story. Apart from the king's illness, all seemed well in Damascus. Who would ever suspect, as the king obviously didn't, that Hazael, a man who would be king by God's sovereign appointment, would become so through his own unjust acts? Children, you've heard the saying, you can't tell a book by its cover. And that, of course, means that to really know what a book is about, to really know what's in the book, you have to actually open it and you have to read it. And this saying is true not only of books, but it's also true of people. Because what we can see and hear on the outside is not necessarily what's happening on the inside. But unlike books, the hearts of people are closed to us. As the Lord told Jeremiah in chapter 17, verse 9, their heart is deceitful. above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? We can't. Indeed, who would ever have guessed that Hazael would be king or that he even desired to be king? The cover we see, the cover he displays, along with what the king saw and Elisha saw, is that of an obedient and humble servant who carried out the commands of his king to the letter. He went to Elisha bearing the forty camels of gifts and he inquired of Elisha as directed using the king's word verbatim. And when he asked this question, will I recover from this illness? Elisha did not hesitate to answer the king's question in verse 10. He said to God, go and say to him, you will certainly recover. That was the answer. But, then he went on to make it clear that he knew Hazael's secret. But the Lord has revealed to me that he will certainly die. And he stared at him with a fixed gaze until Hazael felt ashamed. Perhaps you've been the recipient of such a stare. Perhaps you've been the one who's given it. That you knew something that was not being expressed. Elisha would make it clear to this man that he had been given to see what the Lord saw inside his book. What he saw in the heart of this man. And in divine irony, the name Hazael means God has seen. And Elisha made it clear that God had seen his heart. And Elisha knew what it was. It's just as Samuel says from the Lord, the Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearances. But the Lord looks at the heart. And Elisha could see. And Hazael felt ashamed. He felt ashamed. He was mortified that he had been discovered. but I don't believe he was mortified of his murderous entreats in his heart. He'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar, so to speak. And the man of God was seeing what no other man had seen, what he had succeeded from hiding from everyone, especially the king. But the Lord revealed much more to Elisha. Revelations that made the man of God weep. And Hazael must have been relieved when the penetrating stare of this prophet melted away in tears. And he maintained his cover as a humble servant. And he asked Elisha, why is my Lord weeping? And Elisha answered, because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites. And then in horrific detail, he told Hazael how he would not only prevail over Israel on the battlefield, but that he would destroy her cities and destroy her people. His assault on Israel would be relentless and devastating, and the prophet grieved for the people of God. And in verse 13, Hazael responded, How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat? Now the NIV here is not nearly as specific as every other English translation that has to pick a direction of what Hazael means here. A few, like the New King James, let us conclude that Hazael too was horrified that what Elisha had said was going to happen and he was indignant that Elisha had said that he was going to do it. So the translation there would be, but what is your servant? A dog? That he would do such a gross thing? How dare you? But most translations like the English Standard Version are more helpful when they translate his answer this way. What is your servant who is but a dog? that he could do this great thing? Who is just this servant who is but a dog that he would do this great thing? And it is this translation, these words out of his mouth, that as Jesus said, express what is in his heart so that we, the reader, the hearer, can get a glimpse of what Elisa saw. Even as Hazael tried to maintain his cover as a humble servant, one so lowly and insignificant that he called himself a dog. The desires of his heart leaked out. For him to do such things to Israel would be a great thing. To him it would be a wondrous thing. And so then Elisha revealed to him how it was that, in fact, he would do these things. The Lord has shown me that you will be the king of Aram. It's through this subtle and cryptic dialogue that Elisha honestly answered Ben-Hadad's question. Will I recover from my illness? He said, you will certainly recover. You'll not die from your illness. And Elisha then told Hazael more than what he had asked for, giving him two additional facts, important facts. Number one, the king will certainly die. And number two, you will be king of Aram. But Elisha did not tell Hazael everything. He didn't tell him how these facts related. Now we know the rest of the story, so we make the jump. Hazael didn't have to make the jump. Think of King David, anointed by Samuel as to be king in Israel while Saul was still on the throne. David knew that in order to take the throne to become king, Saul would have to die. The same two facts. One day Saul would die, one day David would become king. But David never put these two together and took matters into his own hands so that the king would die and he would become king. And it's not for lack of opportunity. On more than one occasion, he stood over Saul in his sleep when he could have pinned him to the ground with a spear. And on one occasion, in 1 Samuel 26, verse 10, he said, As surely as the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him. Either his time will come and he will die or he will go into battle and he will perish. But the Lord forbid that I should lay a hand on the Lord's anointed. What would Hazael do with this knowledge? Well, his own evil desires become even more evident. He desired the throne of the king and these facts tempted him, tempted him and dragged him along. And unlike David, who would wait upon the Lord, Hazael was dragged away and enticed to take matters into his own hands. As James says in chapter 1, verse 15, After desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin. And sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death. And that's exactly what happened with Hazael. And thus we read in verses 14 and 15, That when Hazael returned to his king, he maintained his cover as a humble and obedient servant. He told Ben-Hadad what Elisha had said. he would certainly recover. Of course, this put the king at ease and Hazael decided to act before the king regained his strength so that the very next day he suffocated the king with a thick cloth soaked in water so that he died and then Hazael succeeded him as king. The wicked desires of his heart, the murder and treason that were there found expression that day. They were no longer hidden from the eyes of men. In fact, the Assyrians against who Hazael would fight for years to come. They knew exactly how he'd come to the throne. In fact, they gave him a name, the son of nobody. An insignificant man with no right to the throne who took what was not his. And it's in this part of the story that reveals the wicked acts of men that we bump up against the difficult side of God's providence. If God is sovereign over all things, even such things as these, is he not culpable? Is he not to be blamed? Well, in Article 13 of the Belgian Confession, we answer that question. So we turn back there again. After beginning with, we believe that nothing happens in this world without his appointment, we continue. Nevertheless, God neither is the author of nor can be charged with the sins which are committed. We might ask why. It goes on, For his power and goodness are so great and incomprehensible that he orders and executes his work in the most excellent and just manner, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly. This is indeed a mystery. It's beyond our understanding. But this is as it must be, as we heard the Lord declare of himself in our call to worship, that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And when we come face to face with the wicked persons in this world, and the difficult circumstances, not only in the Bible, the story we're reading, but in our day-to-day lives, we have to step back in faith. And get a bigger picture of what's going on. And remember that God is at work to accomplish his will. Not necessarily our will. And he is doing so in the most excellent and just manner. Well, Hazael, a man who would be king by God's sovereign appointment, who would become so through his own unjust acts, would become so for a greater purpose. A holy purpose. to execute God's righteous judgment against Israel. Israel was a nation in covenant with God, a covenant that included promises of blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. Blessings and curses that they had taken upon their own lips when they walked into the promised land. And the Lord had not only foretold Hazael's kingship in the commission to Elijah, as we've already seen, he foretold the purpose for which Hazael would serve long before the days of Elijah. Hazael was chosen by God to become king of Aram as his instrument of judgment against Israel for their continued sin against him, their blatant sin against him. In particular, for their continued worship of Baal, the false god, breaking the first commandment, and the second commandment by worshiping in idols at Bethel and Dan. They just wouldn't take them down. Moses himself, after reminding them of the law, the last words he spoke before he went to Mount Nebo and died, he told of this day. Of these days, I should say. He prophesied that this time would come in what we know as the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32. And there in verse 15, looking to the future, Moses said that Israel made the Lord jealous with their foreign gods and angered with their detestable idols. The Lord saw this and rejected them. I will hide my face from them, he said, and see what their end will be. I will heap calamities on them and spend my arrows against them. You see, Israel justly deserved what the Lord was going to bring against them through Hazael. God had his own holy purposes. Even Hazael had his own sinful purposes. He didn't know that he was serving God. He was serving himself. But God's purposes were accomplished. And it's very clear in 2 Kings 10, a little further down in the story. 2 Kings 10, verses 32 and 33 say that in those days the Lord began to reduce the size of Israel. He started to have them lose ground. Hazael overpowered the Israelites through their territory east of the Jordan and all the lands of Gilead. The Lord began to reduce them. Hazael did the work. And in chapter 13, verses 2 and 3, we read, The Lord's anger burned against Israel. And for a long time he kept them under the power of Hazael, king of Aram, and Ben-Hadad, his son. It can't be any more clear than that. This wicked king, who delighted to destroy Israel, was in service of a just and holy God. Hazael would commit grievous things, things of war that we can hardly imagine, things that when we hear what happens in the Middle East, at times they shock our sensibilities, but consistent with the history of mankind and warfare. We have a technological and far removed approach to war. These things were so grievous that Elisha wept for Israel. Even so, they served the righteous justice of God. God's judgment from outside of Israel that set the stage for judgment from inside Israel through the anointing of Jehu that we'll consider next time. And through Jehu, God would utterly destroy the household of Ahab. Utterly destroy the household of Ahab. And the worship of Baal that he had polluted Israel and Judah with. We don't, it's hard to appreciate how corrupt Israel and Judah had become under Ahab and his household. They infiltrated everything. And they were on the verge of destroying the house of David. They were on the verge of eliminating all the offspring. The poison of their apostasy threatened to cut off the line that would lead to Jesus Christ, our Lord. When all seemed lost, the justice of God that was set in motion through this pagan king, Hazael, served God's mercy by setting the stage for preserving a single heir, one man, a seven-year-old boy, by the name of King Joash, who emerged from the destruction in 2 Kings chapter 11. Now that's the bigger picture, but it gets even bigger. But as we sit here today, we need to know and we need to understand that your salvation and my salvation were impacted by Hazael, this Aramaic king who hated the people of God. A man who would be king by the sovereign appointment of God by his own unjust acts to execute God's righteous judgment against Israel. And thereby to extend mercy through the line of David to send his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, in whom we are saved. It's not often that we get to look at history and see how it affects us today. That's the nature of providence. We only get to see it in hindsight. Sometimes it's 2020. But in our lives, we rarely get that perspective. And when we're confronted with the interplay of persons and circumstances that God is pleased to use to fulfill His will, it doesn't take us long before we reach the limits of our understanding. We just don't know what to do with it all. And we know that we've arrived at the end of our understanding when all we can ask is questions like, Why this? And why that? And why not? And if only? And what are we to do then? When we can't comprehend what God is up to in our lives and in the lives of those around us, what are we to do? Back to the Belgic Confession. It does serve us a purpose. We confess the answer to this question as well, there. And we pick up where we left off. It's about two-thirds of the way down the left-hand column. And as to what he does surpassing human understanding, We will not curiously inquire into farther than our capacity will admit of. But with the greatest humility and reverence, adore the righteous judgments of God, which are hid from us. Contenting ourselves that we are pupils of Christ, to learn only those things that he has revealed to us in his word without transgressing these limits. Indeed, it is as is said in Deuteronomy 29, 29, the secret things belong to the Lord. But the revealed things, they belong to us and to our children forever. And that is where we go when we don't understand. But that's as far as we can go when we don't understand. And so people of God, as we consider the doctrine of providence today, how does this sit with you? Is it comforting? Is it troubling? Are you troubled that you cannot comprehend how the Creator God can rule and govern all things in the most excellent and just manner so that even, even when devils and wicked men act unjustly, He accomplishes His holy will? Does it trouble you? At times I know it can. And those are the times when we're too close to the problem. And we've lost our perspective. And so how do we get it back? Well, the answer to our trouble is found in the execution of Jesus Christ on the cross. The most evil and horrible sin in history. The most unjust act of men. The Apostle Peter made it clear in Acts chapter 2 beginning in verse 22 that Jesus of Nazareth was handed over to the Jews by God's set purpose and foreknowledge. and they with the help of wicked men put him to death by nailing him to the cross the man Jesus Christ who is the king of kings by God's sovereign appointment was put to death by wicked men who acted with extreme injustice and he was put to death for the greater purpose of satisfying God's judgment against your sin and against mine and opening the way of salvation to all who would repent and believe that Jesus Christ had done so for them. You see, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and you believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, then your only comfort in life and in death depends upon this pinnacle moment in God's providence where all these things come together. His excellent sovereign control and the extreme injustice of men that brought about the death of our Lord on the cross. God accomplished the greatest good through the most evil of acts at the cross. And when we remember that, how can any circumstance that we are in that we cannot comprehend that seems so evil and so devoid of good? How can we not, when we have that perspective, remember that God is in control for a good purpose, for a good end? You see, when we remember this, the truth of the cross and by it put our present trials in proper perspective, then the doctrine of God's providence will offer you comfort in the midst of your darkest trial. And this, people of God, is why we close our confession in Article 13 concerning the providence of God in this way. It starts in the first paragraph of the second column. This doctrine affords us unspeakable consolation, since we are taught thereby that nothing can befall us by chance but by the direction of our most gracious and heavenly Father, who watches over us with a paternal care, keeping all creatures so under his power that not a hair of our head, for they are all numbered, nor a sparrow, can fall to the ground without the will of our Father, in whom we do entirely trust, being persuaded that he so restrains the devil and all our enemies that without his will and permission, they cannot harm us. And when we draw that comfort, and when we know that comfort, we can only respond with Paul as he does at the end of Romans chapter 11. Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and the knowledge of God. How unsearchable his judgments and his paths beyond tracing out. Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen. Let us pray. O gracious God, we thank you for your word. And we thank you for capturing this moment in history. That we might learn from it, Father, of your work on behalf of your people. That we might see an example, Father, of your providence at work. Of how your sovereign appointments, even though they may involve the wicked and despicable acts of men and even the devil, are all under your control. and they all serve your holy will. And we thank you, Father, that in Jesus Christ, our Lord, we can know that you have accomplished our greatest good despite the most despicable evil that men have ever performed. And knowing such, Father, help us to remember that whatever the circumstances of this life that we face, as difficult as they may be, and the persons that we must deal with as difficult and wicked as they may be, That there is nothing in this world that is outside of your control. And that indeed you are working together all things for our good. For you have called us according to your purpose. And you have loved us that we might love you. And we pray, Father, that we would know the contentment that comes from this doctrine. That comes from your word. That we would live lives at peace in the midst of our trials. We ask this all in Christ's name. Amen. Thank you.