SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 9
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD’s servants shed by Jezebel. [2 Kings 9:7]
In today’s passage we witness a military coup, and through deception and treachery, Jehu seizes the throne that God intended to give him.
Jehu is appointed by God to punish the line of Ahab, for his idolatrous, brutal reign, for the many servants of God that were killed as well as many innocent Israelites (like Naboth the Jezreelite, see 1 Kings 21:1-26].
God uses the justice system of the day (no law, human rights, court system, police, judges, etc.) to bring Ahab to justice.
Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. [Matthew 13:47-50]
God is working in a sin-twisted world.
This world is a net that includes all kinds of fish, good and bad.
Even the church contains examples of good and bad fish.
God works through the good and the bad and the ugly to execute justice and establish His kingdom.
And whether or not we accept this, the day is coming when those who are wicked will be judged, separated, and cast away.
Whatever the final judgment is like (a place of burning, weeping, gnashing), it will not be good.
Jesus did not come to eliminate justice, but to open a way for those who repent to survive the final judgment.
He takes the place of Ahab, Jezebel, Jehu, etc., and endures the curse in our behalf – and He survives it!
Through His resurrection, He overcomes the final judgment and opens the way for all to find forgiveness of sin and freedom from sin, death and hell.
The day is coming when God’s patience will run out; until then, He grants us daily opportunities to admit our sin and change our ways.
He is patient with all people, but His patience will not last forever.
The day of separation is coming…
PRAYER:
Lord, remind me how I depend on Your mercy, just like everyone else.