License to Kill (Part B)

He knows what he's doing. Verse 21, Then Jo-ram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. Then Jo-ram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his chariot.

And they went out to meet Jehu, and met him on the property of Naboth the Jezreelite. Well again, too arrogant to suspect that he was the target of Mr. Overthrow, his subordinate.

He's going to be assassinated. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2nd Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio. Specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will continue his study called License to Kill in 2nd Kings Chapter 9. So, in the days of persecution, what do you tell people that you're trying to lead to Christ?

You're doing the same thing, do you not? Are you sure you're called to Christ? Because once you cross this line and get baptized, you're going to be a target. And we saw that and we're seeing that in the book of Acts. In the days of persecution, people coming to church was magnified and multiplied.

It's just being real with things. Verse 9-11, Then Jehu came out to the servants of his master, and one said to him, Is it well? Why did this madman come to you? And he said to them, You know the man in his babble. Then Jehu came out and the servants of the master, and one of them said to him, Is it well? Well, they knew something was afoot. I mean, it just wasn't okay. You met with one of the sons of the prophets.

Okay, that was enough to stir them up. But also, the way he looked. His countenance was likely thinking, trying to process all of this, and he had that oil on him somewhere. So, again, the prophet's assistant arrives.

He speaks with the commander in private. He leaves in haste. They would have noticed that. Did you see that guy move?

And then, of course, some visible changes from when he got up from the car table or whatever it was that they were doing. Why did this madman come to you? Said with a nervous laugh. You know, there are those that mock spiritual things with a nervous laugh. Jeremiah, Hosea, Paul, they were charged with insanity by the spiritually insane. The wicked don't appreciate people noticing and disliking their wickedness. They don't want you to call it what it is. You know, a liar hates being called a liar, even when he's caught lying. A thief hates being called a thief when they're caught stealing. I mean, those who are really just impenitent. Anyhow, and he said to them, you know the man in his babble. So he's trying to brush it off. They were all nervous. They all knew something big was happening.

I mean, you don't just go to a four-star general and meet with him in private and run out the room, and then the general comes out with a little oil in his hair and just go, well, whose deal was it? I mean, you just don't go back to playing cards or again whatever it was they were doing, likely not cards because they hadn't perfected making cardboard like that yet. I think the cowboy days, right? I don't know. Okay, back to this. Don't correct me.

I just saw something on this. I don't remember and I don't care. Verse 12, and they said, a lie.

Tell us now. So he said, thus and thus he spoke to me saying, thus says Yahweh, I have anointed you king over Israel. That's all they heard, king over Israel. But it's funny how they were comfortable enough with him to call him out and say, ah, come on, Jehu. You know something's happening.

Don't come out here telling us nothing happened. So he says, okay, he told me I'm going to wipe out Ahab's family and do all of this stuff. I have a license to kill.

See, here it is. And then, you know, oh, by the way, I'm the king now. Well, this makes it clear that they knew the prophet was no madman. Because if they thought he was a madman, they would have said, who cares what he's meeting in there about? But they knew.

They knew these prophets were the real thing. And so when they showed up, that was a nervous laugh. He's just crazy. Oh, you know, he babbles. Yeah, right.

You wish. They do that. The evolutionists do that. It's just, you know, they talk about that creation stuff.

Like, this stuff is more hokey than anything. And as I said before, Carl Sagan, the pagan, he came out and said, you know, we've abandoned evolution of the species. And now we're into evolution of the, like the Martians or something.

We were brought to earth by alien life forms. And it's just a shame to see otherwise highly intelligent people be so absolutely dumb. And that arrogance makes you stupid. We'll see that when we get to Jezebel in a moment. But anyway, verse 13, then each man hastened to take his garment and put it under him on the top of the steps. And they blew the trumpet saying, Jehu is king. I would like somebody to do that to me just once in my life and not be like a four-year-old. I was a bunch of adulte. Rick is king.

Anyway, no, I really wouldn't. They act upon the word of the prophet because it suited them. I should add that. Had he convicted them, they would have mocked him and insulted him. But they liked what he had to say because Jehu was the kind of guy that you just could get behind and serve. He was certainly a man's man and evidently an upstanding man. And we meet many of these types of people that are admirable throughout scripture. Lydia is one, you know, she had her own business and she just, you know, she pressed upon Paul and his party with Luke and just to stay with us. Don't just preach us and do us and go.

And it's exciting, we'll come to her and act. Anyway, an attestment to his leadership ability, verse 14. So Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram had been defending Ramoth Gilead, he and all Israel, against Hazael, king of Syria. Well, it's about 45 miles from Jezreel to Ramoth.

Jehu is in Ramoth Gilead, Joram the king, who he's going to kill, is in Jezreel, 45 miles away. And so he's processing this with his men. But I have to point out, whenever I come to that name Nimshi, isn't that like a cute little name for a cat or, you know, a little puppy or something? Look at my little Nimshi. Anyway, some of these names, it was not a biker name, you know.

Nimshi out of Cleveland or something, it just doesn't fit. Unless he's got a sword with him. Well anyway, back to this, verse 15. So they're at the battle line with the Syrians, that's what he's pointing out, because the king was injured, verse 15. But King Joram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds which the Syrians had inflicted on him when he fought with Hazael, king of Syria. Jehu said, if you are so minded, let no one leave or escape from the city to go tell it in Jezreel.

So the king is in sickbay back in Jezreel. That meant Jehu was the overall commander. And he tells the under commanders, if you're with me, if you have a mind for this, if you're with me, don't let anybody out of here. I'll take my guys with me, but don't let anybody go back and tell what's going to happen.

This is top secret. And again, he's averting a civil war. Because if Joram gets word, Jehu's coming for you, then he's going to arm himself, then it's going to be ugly. So during this 45 mile or so trek back, he's processing all the killing he's going to do. He's got a lot and he aims to do it all. He's that kind of a man. What he has in mind is a swift assassination at the head. The top dog goes first and then he begins to work his way around. He doesn't go right to Jezebel, but he gets to her and she provokes him, thinking she, I don't know, maybe she thought she was captivating him.

We'll come to that. Verse 16, So Jehu rode in a chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was laid up there, and Ahaziah king of Judah had come down to see Joram. Well, Jehu's rise to ranks is probably also because he knew how to handle a chariot in war. We get to verse 20, he was evidently legendary at how he drove that chariot. King Ahaziah here in verse 16 is mentioned, he was the reigning king in Judah.

He's a rat too. Spiritually these guys again were just causing so much harm and physically too. This Ahaziah, he cherished his family of devils, his wicked mother Athaliah.

She's going to wipe out her grandchildren so she can be queen. His in-laws were Joram who's up here in sick bay, Ahab who's dead now but stole the vineyard of Naboth, and of course Jezebel who needs no introduction. Their god was Baal. They imported this god, this man-made god, and had no interest in Yahweh or his claims unless it suited their purpose. It says here in verse 16, for Joram was laid up there and Ahaziah the king of Judah had come down to see him.

This visit is going to cost him his life. They are related through marriage and also allies in war, but because he's mixed up with this wicked Joram and his judgment, he's going to be collateral damage. 2 Chronicles, which also chronicles this event, in the seventh verse says about Ahaziah, his going to Joram was God's occasion for Ahaziah's downfall.

We pause there. So the historian in Chronicles is saying God was killing two kings with one stone. Jehu was the stone. And he says because he was wicked. He continues, for when he arrived, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu, the son of Nimshi, who Yahweh had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.

Again, that license to kill. So now we're back to Kings, chapter 9, verse 7. Now a watchman stood on the tower in Jezreel, and he saw a company of Jehu as he came and said, Be a company of men, and Joram said, Get a horseman and send him to meet them, and let him say, Is it peace? Well, he's probably thinking this moves from the battle front, that either the Syrians have penetrated their defenses or they have pushed them out. So he's not even thinking that he's going to be killed in a few minutes or however long it takes. Oblivious to Jehu's intentions, with this word, a company of men, that Hebrew word speaks of like a flood of people.

It's used elsewhere to speak of floods. So Jehu has a sizable force with him. Verse 18, So the horseman went to meet him and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu said, What have you to do with peace? Turn around, follow me. So the watchman reported, saying, The messenger went to them, but he's not coming back.

This is comical almost. The first of eight mentions of peace, the first of five, Is it peace? in this chapter.

Again, the wicked are the ones that are pressing the question. Jehu says, Close your mouth, you know nothing about what you're talking about, and get in formation. What do you say to a four-star general and you're a private, or a sergeant or something. He's like, Aye, aye. You don't want to mess with Jehu. Joram watching this, here's the other lookout, the lookout say, The messenger you sent has now joined them. And he goes, Hmm.

But he's still so arrogant, he has not a clue what's coming. Verse 19, Then he sent out a second horseman, who came to them and said, Thus says the king, Is it peace? And Jehu answered, What have you to do with peace? Turn around and follow me.

So same thing, be quiet and get in line. Impressive character. He could have, you know, you would think, No, I'm the king, the king's representative. Is it peace?

I have to take it. No, he doesn't do any of that. It's just okay, he says, Shut your mouth, you better shut your mouth. His hand is on that sword and his thumb is tapping it. Verse 20, So the watchman reported saying, Huh. He went up to them, and it's not coming back.

You lost two guys, king. He doesn't say that part, but. And the driving is like the driving of Jehu, the son of Nimshi, for he drives furiously.

It's legendary. So after he gets this second guy with him, Jehu turns it on now. And he's just, you know, you can just see him ripping that team of horses on his chariot.

And this is before radial tires. So he's a tough guy, man. Obviously his reputation of handling a chariot comes from the battlefield. And it portrays his character as a man of action and a man of means.

I mean, you can want to do things and be a person of action and don't know what you're doing. He knows what he's doing. Verse 21, Then Jo-ram said, Make ready. And his chariot was made ready. Then Jo-ram, king of Israel, and Ahaziah, king of Judah, went out, each in his chariot. And they went out to meet Jehu, and met him on the property of Naboth, the Jezreelite. Well, again, too arrogant to suspect that he was the target of Mr. Overthrow, his subordinate.

He's going to be assassinated. It says he met him on the property of Naboth, the Jezreelite. So the land that he and Jezebel conspired to steal using God's law is never recognized by God or the righteous as being Ahab's land. It's still Naboth's land. And remember, not only was Naboth killed, all of his sons were killed also, because they would be heirs.

If he just was dead, then they would assume the land. So he had to get rid of them too. And that he did. So this was, incidentally, the stealing of Naboth's land was the initial reason for the curse on Ahab and Jezebel.

But they did other stuff too. And so what we're looking at is prophecy in motion. If you were there that day, the prophecy is unfolding, and it's going to unfold over several days. Verse 22. Remember, the book of Revelation unfolds over seven years, and then there's life.

It's unfolding over centuries, millennium. Verse 22, Now it happened when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu? So he answered, What peace?

As long as the hollow trees of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are so many. Oh man, talk about his mama. That's what he just did. Right to the king. This is, you know, you just want Jehu to be another King David.

So close. So he rode all the way out there to ask him, well, he's like a stubborn fool. You would think if he was a wise king, he would have said, you know what, I smell a rat here. You know, something's not right.

My messengers aren't coming back. No, he and the two, you know, arrogant kings go flopping out there to the wrong guy. So he answers, What peace? As long as the hollow trees of your mother Jezebel. He names her and her witchcraft are so many. He calls her a witch. Blunt trauma to the mood. That's what I would say. Spiritual indictments.

This is spiritual. He's not saying, you know, she's stealing from the treasuries of the kingdom. That would have been a crime.

She might have been doing that too. But he goes right to the spiritual crimes. The hollow trees refer to Jezebel's idolatrous worship that she imported through Ahab. But still, Jehu has this disposition that's more like Esau than David. He's just a man's man and doesn't really go much farther. He's gotten too good at being capable of getting his will done. That's the majesty of the authority of Christ. A man under authority and therefore of authority.

And that is something that should be attractive to us. Verse 23, Then Jo-ram turned around and fled and said to Ahaziah, Treachery Ahaziah. Oh, now they figure it out.

Too late now. So Jo-ram, let me ask you a question before this arrow pierces your heart from the back. It's treachery against you because he's not loyal to you. But you've not been loyal to Yahweh. Is that treachery too? No, it doesn't work that way with evil. Evil's one-sided.

Yahweh did not deserve the disloyalty. His subjects were devoted to showing him. And that's what this is all about.

All of this is about that very thing. There are other kings and other nations that weren't being troubled this day this way. These two were because of their unfaithfulness.

We'll get to at the end why I think it took 15 years to execute this. But verse 24, Now Jehu drew his bow with full strength and shot Jehoram, which is Jo-ram, the king of the north, between the arms and the arrow came out his heart. And he sank down in his chariot. I bet he did, the coup de gras.

That's done. Without hesitation, full intent to kill, instant kill, Jo-ram got the point. And somebody walked over and looked and said, Look at that, right in the bull's eye.

You couldn't ask for a better shot. When it says he drew in full strength, somebody's eyes caught that. Somebody saw the face on Jehu when he pulled, strung that bow and let that thing go. He said, Pull that thing back with all he had.

He got the target just like that. Verse 25, Then Jehu said to Bitkah, his captain, Pick him up, throw him into the track of field of Naboth, the Jezreelite. Remember when you and I were riding together behind Ahab, his father, that Yahweh laid this burden upon him? Jehu has this epiphany.

The lights turn on. I remember this. He doesn't say it that way because it's not his style. He says to Bitkah, who again came up in the ranks with him as a high-ranking officer now with Jehu, he says, Remember, we were there. When Elijah came out and said, you know, this was going to happen. The great prophet said it would be so, and it is so, and neither one of us knew at the time we were just low-ranking officers then.

You know, we were lieutenants or something. Now, here we are, part of the prophecy itself, and he attributes these events to the fulfillment of God's word, and yet he will be disloyal to Yahweh nonetheless. Evil, it reaches a point where there is no explanation. You know, criminologists can try, but they can only go up to a point you can go no further. There's no explanation except it is demonic. You're dealing with spiritual forces that are smarter than you. They are evil, and they must be dealt with. I mean, who can explain the evil that the Japanese unleashed on the Pacific in the Second World War and, of course, the Nazis or Stalin?

I mean, you just, the evil, the level. Stalin would wipe out whole villages for daring to criticize. Mark Anthony, and they speak similar to Jezebel. When Cicero criticized in his speeches and writings Mark Anthony, they had him killed, then they cut off his head and his hands, and they pinned the hands in the public, you know, forums so everybody could see that's the hand that rode against me and gave his head to his wife, and it is said when she got the cadaver, the head, that she pulled out the tongue and kept sticking it with her hairpin. Who are these people? Freedom of speech wasn't something that they were very interested in. Wickedness, it is, we are in spiritual war, and we shouldn't be surprised when it behaves like war, but when Ahaziah, king of Judah, saw this, he fled by the road to Beth Hagan, so Jehu pursued him and said, shoot him also in the chariot, and they shot him at the ascent of Ger, which is by Iblim, when he fled to Megiddo and died there.

Some people pronounce these Megiddo and I think they show off some of them. I don't know, my way is right for me. Jehu doesn't fire this arrow, had he fired it, it would have been probably a kill, but it's not an instant kill, but he felt obligated, the moment lended itself to him and he knew he had to strike Ahaziah also, they shot him at the ascent of Ger, which is by Iblim, this is a major trade route, in fact there's a movie, The Kingdom of Heaven, I think, and one of the crusaders, he inherits Iblim, but it's on a trade route, and that's a major defending point, that's where the roads were, so whoever did the playwright for that also did their research. So anyway, an Iblim will lead to Samaria, Samaria leads to Jerusalem and he's trying to get back home. It says, then he fled to Megiddo and died there. Again, doesn't die instantly, he makes it to Samaria, 13 miles up, north again, no actually south, but then he gets caught, Jehu's men catch him there. We pick this up in 2 Chronicles 22 verse 9, then he searched for Ahaziah after he was wounded, and they caught him, he was hiding in Samaria, and brought him to Jehu when they had killed him, they buried him because they said he is a son of Jehoshaphat and sought Yahweh with all his heart, that is Jehoshaphat sought Yahweh.

So they eventually get him back to Jerusalem, his corpse, and they bury him because of Jehoshaphat, not because of himself, which to me he's like, he shouldn't have gotten in then, he's disqualified. But anyway, this is just how it happened. Thanks for joining us for today's edition on Cross-Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 2 Kings has been something to remember. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series, go to crossreferenceradio.com. Once more, that's crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too, so you'll never miss another edition. Just go to your favorite podcast app to subscribe. Our time is about up, but we hope you'll tune in again next time as we continue on in the book of 2 Kings. We look forward to that time with you, so make a note in your calendar to join Pastor Rick as he teaches from the Bible right here on Cross-Reference Radio.