Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 13; 2 Kings 14
In this message we will consider the reigns of Jehoahaz, Jehoash, and Jeroboam over Israel and the reign of Amaziah over Judah.
Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, began to reign in the twenty-third year of Jehoash (Joash) and reigned for seventeen years (13:1).
Jehoahaz did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and followed after the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat by which he caused Israel to sin. Jehoahaz did not turn away from them (v. 2).
The anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel, and He gave them continually into the hand of Hazael king of Syria and into the hand of his son Ben-hadad. They destroyed Israel and made them like the dust at the threshing, leaving to Jehoahaz not more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers (vv. 3, 7, 22-24).
Jehoahaz entreated Jehovah, and Jehovah gave Israel a deliverer. However, they did not depart from the sins of the house of Jeroboam but walked in them and kept Asherah in Samaria (vv. 4-6).
Jehoahaz slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria (vv. 8-9a).
Jehoash began to reign in the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah and reigned in Samaria for sixteen years (vv. 9b-10).
Jehoash did evil in the sight of Jehovah and did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin but walked in them (v. 11).
Verses 14 through 21 tell us of the glorious ending of Elisha's life and ministry. Elisha was a wonderful type of Christ.
Elisha performed miracles of divine healing for others, but, in the will of God, he himself was not healed by a miracle (v. 14a).
Elisha was recognized by Joash king of Israel as the chariots and horsemen of Israel (v. 14b). This means that he was recognized as the national defense of Israel.
Elisha prophesied to Joash by the parable of the shooting and striking of arrows that Joash would defeat the Syrians and consume them three times (vv. 15-19).
Elisha deceased in his body yet still ministered in the spirit to enliven one of the dead (vv. 20-21). When he died his body was buried in a tomb. One day a man was killed, and his body was cast into the tomb of Elisha. When the body touched Elisha's body, the man was enlivened. Even the dead Elisha could enliven people. This is a picture of Christ in resurrection. Whoever touches Him is enlivened. D. L. Moody once said that the greatest miracle is regeneration. Regeneration involves a spiritually dead people touching the dead and resurrected Christ. Whoever touches this Christ is regenerated, enlivened. I can testify that sixty-nine years ago I touched Him and was enlivened and became an altogether different person. Ever since, Christ's enlivening life has kept me in His hand.
By his threefold victory over the Syrians, Jehoash recovered the cities out of the hand of Ben-hadad which Ben-hadad had taken in war out of the hand of Jehoahaz (v. 25).
Jehoash slept with his fathers and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. He was succeeded by his son Jeroboam (vv. 12-13; 14:15-16).
Amaziah, the son of Joash king of Judah, began to reign in the second year of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz king of Israel, at the age of twenty-five and reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem (14:1-2).
Amaziah did what was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that Joash his father had done, yet not like David his father. The high places were not removed, and the people still sacrificed and burned incense in the high places (vv. 3-4).
When the kingdom was established in Amaziah's hand, he slew his servants who had slain the king his father (v. 5). However, according to God's commandment in the book of the law, he did not put to death the sons of the murderers (v. 6).
Amaziah smote ten thousand of Edom in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela (v. 7).
Amaziah fought against Jehoash king of Israel. He was defeated before Israel and was captured by Jehoash. Jehoash came to Jerusalem, tore down its wall, and took all the gold and silver, all the vessels of the house of Jehovah and of the treasuries of the king's house, and took hostages to Samaria (vv. 8-14).
Amaziah lived for fifteen years after the death of Jehoash king of Israel (vv. 17-18).
People in Jerusalem conspired against Amaziah, and he fled to Lachish. They sent men after him to kill him there (v. 19).
Amaziah was brought on horses and was buried in Jerusalem with his fathers in the city of David. All the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah (vv. 20-21).
Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel began to reign in the fifteenth year of Amaziah king of Judah and reigned for forty-one years in Samaria (v. 23).
Jeroboam did what was evil in the sight of Jehovah and did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, by which he caused Israel to sin (v. 24).
Jeroboam restored the border of Israel from the entrance of Hamath to the sea of Arabah, according to the word of Jehovah spoken through the prophet Jonah. Jehovah had seen the affliction of Israel, that it was bitter, for there was neither bond nor free left, nor was there anyone to help Israel. Jehovah did not say that He would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so He saved them by the hand of Jeroboam (vv. 25-27).
Jeroboam slept with his fathers, the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah succeeded him (vv. 28-29).
At this juncture I would like to say a word concerning the relationship between the Old Testament history and the fulfillment of God's economy in the New Testament. The history in the Old Testament is a type. The fulfillment of the type is in the New Testament.
Regarding this we need to see that the prophetic books go together with the history of Israel. For example, Isaiah helped Hezekiah. In Isaiah two verses are very striking. Isaiah 7:14 says, "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Immanuel means "God with us." This is the Triune God becoming a child. As Isaiah strengthened and helped the kings of Israel, he prophesied that the very God of Israel would become a human child born of a virgin.
Isaiah 9:6 says, "Unto us a child is born..and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father." This is God becoming man for the purpose of accomplishing His economy by making man God in life and in nature (but not in the Godhead). His becoming a man was for the purpose of making man God in life and in nature through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, an all-inclusive death, and resurrection. In resurrection He, as the last Adam in the flesh, became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This life-giving Spirit is the very God who became a man, lived on earth in humanity for thirty-three and a half years, died on the cross, and entered into resurrection, in which He became the life-giving Spirit.
This One is very wonderful. First, He was God becoming a human child. As a result, He was no longer just God but a God-man in the flesh. Paul calls Him the last Adam, meaning that He is the conclusion of mankind. As the last Adam in the flesh, He became a life-giving Spirit in resurrection. This all-inclusive Jesus Christ is the life-giving Spirit who regenerated us, who is God within us, and who is not only dwelling in us and living in us but also building Himself into our being to form a house for Himself within us. As believers in Christ, we should now live, move, and have our being in this Spirit and according to this Spirit (Rom. 8:4; Gal. 5:25; Col. 2:6).
Through all the steps in the process of transformation (Rom. 12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18) God is making us Himself in life and in nature. Even the Lord Jesus Himself passed through a transformation. His humanity was transformed into divinity through the steps of death and resurrection. Our transformation involves the same steps. The Lord Jesus went through death and resurrection in less than three days, but our transformation lasts our entire life. Whether we are transformed in this age or in the next, we will be transformed.
God is making us, His redeemed people, to be Him in life and in nature. He is making us His enlargement and His expression by transformation with the element of Himself as life. This means that the Triune God transforms us with His life, the divine life, as the element. Today this divine life is altogether the life-giving Spirit.
To be proper believers in Christ, we do not need to take care of many things. Rather, we need only to take care of living, walking, and having our being in the Spirit and according to the Spirit. The all-inclusive Spirit — containing all that Christ is, all that Christ has accomplished, and all that Christ has obtained and attained — is mingled with our regenerated spirit. We simply need to live, walk, and do things according to this mingled spirit.
