Lord, we thank you that we have service on a Friday night.
We're so grateful for this, Lord, and we pray that it would
only continue because we've been blessed over the weeks, months
and years. As our brother and as Pastor
Mark mentioned at the opening of the service, this will have
generational consequences, generational blessings.
We have no doubt about that. And so, Lord, we pray that you
would equip us, that You would fuel our faith, our zeal, our
passion for you, that You would sharpen our perception of who
You are. So, Lord, we ask that every step
throughout the study, You would guide us by the Spirit, that we
would genuinely sense the empowering work of your Spirit
in our hearts. Lord, remove all the clutter in
our thoughts and our emotions. Let there be no obstacle for
Your Word to be planted deeply in our hearts.
We give you glory and praise in advance for what you have done
and what you're going to do this evening.
And we pray that everything and everyone would disappear except
for the Lord Jesus Christ. May He occupy the forefront of
our imaginations, of our thoughts, of our affections.
Take over Lord, for we long to give him all the glory.
In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
Meet me in Second Kings chapter 3.
As we are planning to finish this chapter together, I believe
it is helpful to read the text that we are planning to delve
into so that we can have an understanding of the framework
that we are going to be working with.
And so let us begin in verse 13 and finish this chapter in one
reading and then we will explain these verses carefully.
By the grace of God, Second Kings 3/13 And Elisha said to
the king of Israel, What if I to do with you, go to the prophets
of your father, and to the prophets of your mother?
But the king of Israel said to him, No, it is the Lord who has
called these 3 kings to give them into the hand of Moab.
And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,
were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of
Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.
But now bring me a musician. And when the musician played,
the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus says the
Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.
For thus, says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but
that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall
drink you your livestock and your animals.
This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
He will also give the Moabites into your hand.
And you shall attack every fortified city, every and every
choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all
stop up all springs of water, and ruin every good piece of
land with stones. The next morning, about the time
of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the
direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.
When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight
against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the
youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at
the border. And when they rose early in the
morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the
water opposite them as red as blood, and they said, This is
blood. The kings have surely fought
together and struck one another down.
Now then, Moab to the spoil. But when they came to the camp
of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till
they fled before them. And they went forward, striking
the Moabites as they went, and they overthrew the cities.
And on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it
was covered. They stopped every spring of
water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were
left. And Kir, Harishet, Seth and the
slingers surrounded and attacked it.
When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against
him, he took with them 700 swordsmen to breakthrough
opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.
And he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and
offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.
And there came great wrath against Israel, and they
withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
Let's get straight into it. We have 3 kings, a coalition,
the king of Israel, the king of Judah, the king of Edom.
They're working together to fight against the Moabites.
As they make their way towards the Moabites, they get
themselves in trouble. They have no water.
They are in a perilous position and so they find their way
towards Elijah the prophet to receive some divine guidance.
And as they approach Elijah, what we read in verse 13 might
be quite staggering. Elijah said to the king of
Israel specifically, what have I to do with you?
Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of
your mother. Now, some Christians might look
at this and feel like this was a little insensitive, maybe
lacking courteous attention and love unbefitting for a man of
God. But I make the case, and I
believe that what Elijah is doing here by reprimanding the
king of Israel is more gracious than we might think.
What's happening here? You again have these kings who
are in trouble. They need water and they're
looking for some help, specifically from the Lord.
But what we see Elijah doing here is that he's touching on an
underlying problem. He could have solved the issue,
the immediate problem at hand, but instead he points the finger
and he highlights a greater issue, something that is
actually contributing to the very problem that they are
facing, namely Jeho Ram's idolatry and his wicked ways.
We learned at the opening of this chapter that Jeho Ram, the
king of Israel, was an evil man. He abandoned the worship of the
true God. He clung himself to the idols of
Jeroboam. And as he approaches Elijah,
he's seeking guidance from God, but he doesn't want to be
devoted to God. And Elijah discerns this.
He knows about this, and he wants to confront it.
And I find valuable truth in this for us as well, that if you
and I truly want to help people, then we must be willing to
address and challenge the sins of people.
People that are harboring certain ways, trespasses,
iniquities, disobedience. Even if they are hurting, we
must be loving enough to point out the things that are
contributing to their pain, whether that's self destruction
or destroying others. And to fail to do so only treat
symptoms, and it never promises the long lasting cure that
repentance offers. I was reading Lamentations the
other day and I stumbled upon a passage that revealed one of the
strongest characteristics of a true prophet.
And the traits of a true prophet can be applied to ministers,
leaders, and pastors today. I want you to see it with me.
It's in the book of Lamentations chapter 2.
It's after the book of Jeremiah and most people believe
Limitations was written by the prophet Jeremiah.
But look at verse 14 as he spells out one of the traits of
a true and faithful man of God, Prophet of God, messenger of
God, Limitations 214. Your prophets have seen for you
false and deceptive visions. They have not exposed your
iniquity to restore your fortunes.
But I've seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
Did you see it? One of the signs of a false or
unfaithful prophet is that they refuse to uncover iniquity.
What this means is that they're willing, unwilling rather, to
acknowledge sin as sin. They are refusing to call people
to repentance and point out the trespasses in people's lives
that are clearly violating God's law.
And the condemnation of this kind of cowardice is highlighted
by the fact that uncovering 1's sins is connected to a blessing.
So what does he say? Look back.
They have not exposed, not exposed your iniquity.
And he follows that with to restore your fortunes.
Other translations would say to push away captivity or to return
your captives. It's so obvious, right?
There is a level of restoration that can only be realized with
repentance. And to refuse to call people,
whether it's on an individual basis or from the pulpit or in a
counseling session, to refuse to discern the obvious sins in
people's lives and not call them to turn away and to pursue
holiness and righteousness and forgiveness, but not just a
forgiveness that cleanses your record, but empowers you to
overcome the very things that shackled you.
To refuse to do that of selfishness or fear or whatever
the case may be, is devastating. And depending on the situation,
sometimes that call, that instruction, requires loving but
stern rebuke, just like what we see here with Elijah and Jerome.
Jerome was a king. His influence was toward the
nation. He was long standing in his
rebellion. It deserved this kind of
confrontation. So remember, if you and I are
wanting to help people, whether Saints who are struggling or
sinners who have not yet put their trust in Christ somewhere
in that equation. We must be willing to have an
honest, bold, wise, compassionate conversation about
sin and to not do so would bring us on the the indictment of
Jeremiah 614, where Jeremiah also says a false prophets there
that they heal the wound of my people lightly lightly.
There are many places, many churches, many services, many,
many pastors, unfortunately, that are attempting to heal the
wounds of people. But it's surface level.
And how does Jeremiah finish that verse saying peace, peace
when there's no peace? So there's a way of dealing with
people's sins and the bruises and the hurt that comes from
their disobedience. There's a way of doing it
lightly and there's a way of doing it surgically.
And I would say that this, the scalpel of repentance, is what
really digs out the root of sin. So Elijah here makes it clear
that he wants nothing to do with an idolater.
And, and perhaps this was really a indirect rebuke to
Jehoshaphat, who was what he was always linking himself to those
who are unrighteous, right? So he says, I don't want to, I
don't want to have anything to do with you.
But before walking away, General Ram says something to him in
verse 13. At the end of it he goes, no,
no, listen, this isn't just dealing with me.
You have two other kings here who are also going to suffer
great loss if we don't get your help.
So Elijah is willing. But notice what he says here in
verse 14. As the Lord of hosts lives
before whom I stand where not that I had regard for
Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor
see you. Ouch.
Elijah here wants to remind Joram that he is not doing this
because of him. He's doing this because of
another. Now, Jehoshaphat is not the most
exemplary standard of righteousness, right?
We've seen him compromise with the same problem over and over
again. Nonetheless, the Bible does
refer to him as a righteous man. The Bible does show him to be a
devoted man. He had his problems, but he was
still linked to the true God. And one of the greatest
demonstrations of that is in Second Chronicles 20.
You don't have to turn there, but that's a reference for you
to consider. And So what Elijah wants to do
here is he wants to make sure that everybody in this scene
understands that he is only willing to help because he has
respect for Jehoshaphat, ultimately, because Jehoshaphat
worships the true and living God.
And I meditated on this and I thought, what what point can we
draw from this? And I believe we have something.
And it is this that we should never underestimate the blessing
of the company of the righteous. Jairam would be blessed not
because of Jairam, but because of another of another man in his
life, another man who was associate with him.
And I've mentioned on so many occasions Psalm 7328 where Asaph
says, But As for me, it is good to be near God.
But we can also make another statement based on plenty of
evidence in the Bible. Not only is it good for me to be
or not God, it is also good for me to be near those who are near
to God. There's so many examples and so
many instructions that highlights that blessing the
company of the righteous. You know, I have different
people that come up, you've probably heard this, I've heard
it plenty of times. They genuinely inquire, how can
I be more passionate for God? And I guess there are many
answers to that. And one of my go to answers is,
well, why don't you hang around people who are passionate for
God? How do I get excited about the
Bible? Well, I think it would help if
you go to a church that's excited about the Bible.
How do I learn how to pray? Get around people who pray.
That's not the only remedy, but it's a major one.
And we see it even here, that Jehoshaphat's association with
Jeharam would bless Jairam. And so you and I should never
underestimate the company of the righteous.
My mind even went to a particular passage in First
Corinthians Chapter 7 where Paul is giving instructions to
spouses who are married to unbelieving spouses, and he
emphasizes the sanctifying benefits of a believing spouse,
what they have on the household, even if the household outnumbers
the one who was saved. So let me read this to you in
First Corinthians 714. For the unbelieving husband is
made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made
holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be
unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
That is so profound. So one of the incentives that
Paul's gives to people in the church who are married to those
who don't come to church because they don't believe in Christ is
don't underestimate what your presence in close proximity to
those who are intimate with you can do for those people.
What he is not conveying is that because you're saved, those in
your household are automatically deemed saved whether they
believe or not. That's erroneous.
There is no family package for salvation.
You have to make a personal choice of crowning Jesus Christ
as Lord. So what does he, what does he
mean here by making them holy? There's an influence that
happens. There are there are blessings
that overflow from the righteous in the household of unbelievers.
They they receive something indirectly because of your close
proximity, because of your shoulder rubbing with them,
because of your interactions. And so will you.
And I have to rediscover what we can provide to those who don't
love God, who don't know God and what those who love God can even
do for us. Do not underestimate the company
of the righteous. Now, let me say this because
somebody might hear this and get very excited and now get
licensed to missionary date and find somebody who's not a
believer and say I heard a Bible study that I shouldn't
underestimate the company of the righteous.
So here I go. There's a difference between
being saved and marrying somebody who's unsaved and being
unsaved while you're marrying and then being saved and now
being unsaved married to an unsaved person.
Big difference. OK, so don't misunderstand
Paul's words here. Now we continue.
We read here in verse 15 that Elijah made and very interesting
inquiry. But now bring me a musician.
And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon
him. I have two questions reading
this verse #1 why did Elijah ask for a musician #2 Why did the
hand of the Lord come upon Elijah after the musician
played? Let me start off by saying that
this is not an isolated instance of prophecy and music working
together. One reference that comes to mind
is First Samuel chapter 10. And you don't have to turn there
unless you want to see it with your own eyes in verse 5, where
we're told they're of a company of prophets who are coming from
the high place and they were coming with harps, liars, flutes
while they were prophesying. And so this is not unique.
There are other examples in Scriptures that inform us that
there's a clear marriage between the assistance of music and the
effectiveness of spiritual activity.
And the reason is quite clear. Music possesses powerful
properties, and its influence is undeniably spiritual.
So you recall, I'm sure, when David was instructed to play for
Saul when he was tormented by a harmful spirit.
The music was the means to provide remedy to his troubled
soul. And I believe that what we see
here is something similar. There are no evil spirits at
work in the scene, but the context suggests that Elijah is
agitated. He's disturbed.
Does anybody have an idea why Elijah is disturbed?
One of the clues of discovering a meaning of a passage is to
read what came before it and to read what came after it.
Anything that we've read up to this point that might give us a
clue to why Elijah needs for his mind and his heart to calm down.
Yeah. Notice that he wasn't too
excited about the presence of the king of Israel.
And not just the presence of the king of Israel, but what the
king of Israel said. What was the last thing he said?
Look at the end of verse 13. He says, no, it is the Lord who
has called these three things, these 3 kings to give him to the
hand of Moab. What is he doing there?
He's blaming God for their predicament.
Elijah didn't like that. And so here's this man who.
Is disturbed Elisha, even as a prophet.
And so before he even ministers, before he's really able to serve
this purpose and his irritation, he calls for the presence of a
gifted musician that would come to his aid.
So in order to be in the right frame of mind, this man, before
he hears from God, before he speaks on behalf of God, he asks
for a musician to play in a manner that would wash away all
inner commotion and would posture them in a manner to be
greater, a greater focus for the task ahead.
I'm not sure if you notice, but this is the reason why we even
have some of our gifted musicians play music, tunes of
praise before the service starts.
Have you ever noticed why we do that?
In great part so that as people come in, no matter how they come
in, they would sit under beautiful God honoring music so
that they would be soothed, they would be calmed, and they would
be even realigned to better give and receive from the Lord.
The Bible is so emphatically clear that music is powerful.
And not only is it powerful, we must recognize that it's a gift
from God that carries the ability to enhance other aspects
of our worship. But please know this, if music
can help us spiritually, then it can definitely harm us
spiritually. To think that you and I, in the
privacy of our homes or in our cars with our friends, be at
liberty to listen to absolutely anything with no standard, with
no filter, is extremely naive. You're making an impact whether
you realize it or not, and that's true for even the church
service. The music, what we sing is not a
secondary component to our gatherings and that is why we
make it a serious thing when it comes to the selection, our
songs, the melodies, the singability of what we sing
because we know that it can enhance the other aspects of our
worship or it can hinder it. It can distract.
Hey, I've been in meetings and conferences where it killed the
meeting. I'm telling you, I've been to
enough of those kind of meetings were because there wasn't a
discerning and spirit LED selection and not just
selection, but the spirit, the spirit in which such things were
performed and done before and after the message.
Oh, devastating effects, devastating.
So let us realize together that this is 1 instance among many
that music has been granted us by God to bless the people of
God, to help the people of God and many other things with it.
So he asked for a musician. The musician comes, and he is
ready now at last to give a word from the Lord.
Look at verse 16 again. And he said, Thus says the Lord,
I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.
For thus says the Lord, you shall not see win or rain, but
that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall
drink you, your livestock, and your animals.
Now so many things stand out to me about these verses here,
especially the way in which God said He would provide this water
to quench the thirst of these armies.
Notice that He says here that He would do so and they would not
see what? They would not see wind, they
would not see rain. Now here's me thinking, OK, if
God is going to provide water in the desert, then it has to be
through rain. Obviously there's no other
source of water near, or else they would have taken advantage
of that. So how else is God going to
provide these waters? And that's exactly the point in
the Lord's provision. He can give, and He does give
through ordinary means, but He's not bound by those methods.
We must be aware and open to His extraordinary ways.
He can use things that you and I interact with on a daily basis,
and from time to time He can blow our minds.
I'm reminded of how He provide daily for the Israelites in the
wilderness, providing bread. Bread.
It would arrive in due form and then they would go out and fetch
for it. But then when you read Joshua
earlier in the chapters of that book, they arrived to the
promised land the moment they plant their feet there and they
benefit from the fruit of the land, it says.
And there was no more mana given to the children of Israel.
So they went from extraordinary to ordinary.
Now they would have to farm and now they would have to trust God
for seasonal rain. Now they would have to work so
God can go from extraordinary to ordinary and he can go from
ordinary to extraordinary. Just be open for anything.
And in this case it would be a miracle.
And I love what Elisha states, the beginning of verse 18, this
statement after telling them what was going to happen.
This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
Don't you love that? I love that.
I kicked back and I thought to myself, what do I consider to be
easy in my life? I won't say it, but you can just
use your imagination. What's easy to you in this life?
What's easy for you on a day-to-day basis?
You know what's easy to the Lord?
Making water appear in the desert to feed kings and armies
and their livestock, That's easy.
You making a bowl of cereal in the morning is like God doing
this to give you a very poor illustration.
And I began to think, because you see this phrase worded
differently throughout the Scriptures, is anything too hard
for the Lord? There's nothing too difficult
for the Lord. Nothing's impossible for the
Lord. And I began to just reflect on
all the things in the Bible that God considers easy.
That would be a wonderful Bible study, wouldn't it?
All the things the Lord that for the Lord that are not too
difficult for him at all. Can I give you one of my
favorite ones? It's actually similar phrase
used here. It's an Isaiah.
And look at this in Isaiah 49, verse 6.
This is concerning the Messiah. And at verse 6 of Isaiah 49 he
says it is too light a thing, that you should be my servant to
raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of
Israel. I will make you as a light for
the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the
earth. You understand what he's saying
here. It's too easy for Messiah just
to redeem and renew and restore the Jewish people.
I'm going to have you win the world to my Kingdom.
I'm going to have your message reach to the ends of the earth.
And we're seeing it happen, right?
We are the we are the consequences of this.
You and I here are enjoying this where He is building His church
and He is gathering people from all tribes and tongues because
it was too easy to just rescue one nation, one people group.
You know why it's important to consider what's easy for the
Lord because it will help you stay tranquil and trusting and
filled with praise. Whenever you endure anything
that is difficult or what you consider to be hard, just
reflect on what's easy for Him, what He can make appear, who He
can save, what He can provide that will do something to your
soul. I promise you.
And that's why we continually
have to come to the Word because our default is to make something
of God that likens to us. And what this word does is it
reminds us and it cleanses us and it sharpens our
understanding so that we realize just how transcended He is.
Put it there under a list of what's easy for the Lord.
He can make water appear out of nothing, and He can save anyone
in any part of the world. This is a light thing in the
side of the Lord. Let's finish verse 18.
He will also give the Moabites into your hand.
Oh, there you go. Not only is he going to provide
water, He does more than what we asked.
He's going to provide the Moabites because He's good and
He loves to give more than what we ask, but he also tells them
what they're going to do. Look at verse 19.
And you shall attack every fortified city and every choice
city, and shall fell every good tree and stop of all the springs
of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.
So I'm going to do something and it's going to energize you to do
something. So this is a pattern that we see
in the Bible that God's supernatural provision never
encourages passivity. It never justifies our lack of
participation. It never makes us in our waiting
on the Lord inactive. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever.
He says you're going to receive water and that's going to give
you the necessary strength to finish the job.
In fact, if you have any other word for word translation, King
James, New King James NASB, the beginning of verse 16 is
actually worded as a command. So look back at verse 16, the
ESV it writes and he said thus says the Lord, I will make this
dry stream bed full of pools. But when you look at other
translations, it says make this valley full of ditches or
trenches. You've probably seen that in
your Bible if you don't hold the ESV, which would mean that even
before the water came, these kings had to play a part in
preparing themselves for the blessing.
They had to do something before the Lord would do something.
And what this means for us again, is that we can never
justify God willing to come through for us to not do
something. In the meantime, you and I must
do what we can as we trust God to do what only He can do.
That is always the blueprint of how we see God move.
Verse 20 The next morning about the time of offering the
sacrifice, behold, water came from the from the direction of
Edom to the country was filled with water.
Something struck me after my first reading of this passage in
this verse, the timing of when the miracle came.
You know, the Holy Spirit could have just told us the next
morning, behold, water came from the direction of Eden.
But He doesn't do that. He writes to the next morning
and then he adds about the time of offering the sacrifice.
Why include that? If this is just purely about
timing, then we could have just OK the next morning.
But He wants to include and bring to our attention that this
miracle came at the same time as when a particular offering was
made, most likely at the Temple in Jerusalem.
You remember that there are many offerings that were given to the
people of Israel as instructions for their worship, but there is
one that happened every single day.
It was a perpetual burnt offering twice a day, in the
morning and at night. According to Exodus 29, there
would be a one year old lamb that would be given on the altar
at the entrance of the Temple. So one would be there placed, it
would be completely consumed, and then another would be placed
at twilight and then it would be repeated the next day and the
following day. It would be an unending act of
worship. And what did that symbolize?
It was a means of expressing to God and a reminder for the
nation of their constant consecration unto the Lord that
it was every day, every night. That is what this sacrifice
symbolizes. And I find it so interesting
that it's this sacrifice that is mentioned when it came to this
miracle. And here's what I believe the
Holy Spirit is trying to teach us.
It's not a coincidence, but it's meant to show here that the
miracle coincided with the moment of Israel's leadership
showing and exhibiting their complete devotion to the Lord.
Could it be that there is a lesson here that God's blessings
are connected to our total devotion to Him, yet He's
gracious even to those who are severely inconsistent in their
walk with Him? That is true.
But what do we open ourselves up to?
What kind of blessings do we open ourselves up to as we daily
give ourselves to Him? I think this is what the reader
is supposed to come to terms with.
The sacrifice took place and that's when the miracle came.
That's when God's favor came. That's when his light came.
That's when his power came. Surely to encourage us and to
remind us, readers of this time and readers of of our day, that
there is particular blessing unlocked when we choose to live
as living sacrifices unto Him. Because the burnt offering is,
yes, a picture of Christ, but it's also a picture of our
devotion to Him. From top to bottom we are set
apart. Every part of us is consumed to
be a pleasing aroma to Him. And in this case, that is what
leads the way for God to do wonderful things in US and
through US. Verse 21.
When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight
against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the
youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at
the border. And when they rose early in the
morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the
water opposite them as red as blood.
This is wonderful. Why would the Moabites conclude
that what they saw in the horizon was blood, when in fact
it was water? What would lead them to that?
Let me let me pose it this way. Why wouldn't the Moabites
conclude that the substance they were beholding was, in fact,
water? Any idea?
It's a desert one. What else?
It hadn't rained. It didn't rain.
There was no indication. There was no clues.
There was no evidence that this could potentially be water.
Do you see the wisdom of God now?
Did you catch it? So he tells the Israelites,
tells the southern Kingdom and the Kingdom of Edom, I'm going
to give you water, but you're not going to see wind, you're
not going to see rain. And you know, here's what I love
about this. He doesn't explain why.
He just tells them I'm going to do this.
And yes, he's demonstrating his sovereignty.
And when you go back here, verse 20, it says that it came from
the direction of Edom. What this means, most likely, is
that there was a torrent, there was rain upon the mountains of
Edom, and then there was this silent but abundant stream of
water that was led precisely to the location of these kings in
the wilderness. He doesn't explain the whole
thing, but we get the explanation.
We get at least another dimension to this whole story
that He doesn't allow it to rain so that the Moabites would not
perceive that there was water out there and this would lead to
their own demise. And thinking that this is
actually blood, there's a turning on each other that
happened. Let's just go get the spoil.
So here you and I are thinking that God is solving one problem
when in fact He's solving 10 of them at the same time.
And you might not even know about it.
And This is why this is in our Bible, so that we can rejoice
and we can take these truths and we can use them as filters for
our own lives and realize God might be doing one thing here,
but He is surely doing much more that we may not perceive it.
And even in the unknown we should worship God because we
have timeless things presented to us to remind us of just how
glorious He is. So when there is no answers,
when things seem to be moving steadily, when things seem to be
moving at only one step at a time, you have no idea the other
factors that are at work, the things that are being
positioned, the things that got us in mind.
And I see that clearly here. I hope you do as well.
But I also learned something about the Moabites when they
look out and they see blood instead of water.
It's a striking illustration of how dangerous it is to operate
purely by our senses, isn't it? Read again with me the end of
verse 22. The Moabites saw the water
opposite them as red as blood and verse 23 and they said this
is blood. No it isn't.
It's a mass body of water and the early sun rising and shining
and reflecting on it to make it look like something else.
Quick analysis, hasty action mingled with lack of discernment
is a lethal combination, very dangerous, and this is just one
of many examples of that in our Bibles.
The answer to how we can avoid pursuing things, believing
things, adopting things, rejecting the right thing,
accepting the wrong thing, the way we can protect ourselves
from that is found in this very story, I believe.
What did the Moabites lack in their misunderstanding of what
they saw? Here's what I believe.
Scroll back to verse 12 of the same chapter and Jehoshaphat
said the word of the Lord is with him.
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom
went down to him being Elijah in essence.
The Israelites and the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of
Eden, they understood it was water.
Yes, they were in close proximity, but they understood
what God was going to do for them, what this was all about.
The bull bites were left in the dark.
And I make the case that the word of the Lord for them would
have helped them understand and perceive rightly.
And it's no different for us what we've been given access to
That, that precious treasure that you are holding in your
hands is the means by which you will be protected from
deception, is the means by which you enhance and strengthen your
discernment. So while the world and the
church are looking at the same thing, the world might say this
is righteous and this is permissible.
But because we have the word of the Lord, we are told this is
actually sinful and wrong. The world might look at
something and we're looking at the same thing and they will say
this is evil and it will hinder you.
While the word reminds us this is holy and it will bless you.
While the world says this, what we have in our hands will tell
us otherwise. So whenever we look upon the
same things and make our own judgments void of the word of
God, it is hear me deadly. And in this case it would be
physical and in our day could be physical but is primarily
spiritual. So if two groups looking at the
same thing and perceiving it differently, the difference
maker is that God gave insight to one and left others in the
dark. You don't have to be in the dark
because God has blessed our generation with the Bible unlike
any other generation. Look at verse 23.
And they said this is blood. The kings have surely fought
together and struck one another down.
I just think it's sad. Edom is one thing, but for
Israel and Judah to be perceived by the world as capable of
killing each other is a sad testimony for the people of God,
don't you think? Yeah, it's a sad testimony for
the world to look in the church and to believe that it's
possible for us to turn on each other to devour one another,
that that should never come to mind for the unbelieving world.
Now then, Moab to the spoil. When they came to the camp of
Israel, the Israelites rose and struck down the Moabites till
they fled before them. And they went forward, striking
the Moabites as they went, and they overthrew the cities.
And on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it
was covered. They stopped every spring of
water and felt all the good trees.
And then we read something interesting.
We read here that the slingers surrounded and attacked at the
end there, verse 25. But that's not where the story
ends. Verse 26, when the king of Moab
saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him
700 swordsmen to breakthrough opposite the king of Edom.
But they could not. So now they're getting
surrounded. The Moabites are are realizing
that they're not going to they're not going to win this
war. And so with the last attempt of
breaking through, they look at probably the weakest link, the
Edomites, and they try to overtake them to no avail.
But the king of Moab won't give up.
He won't surrender so easily. And so there's this very
disturbing verse provided to us in verse 27.
Then he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and
offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.
And there came great wrath against Israel, and they
withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
So out of sheer desperation, he gets above the armies, he stands
on the wall, and he makes this public act of abomination.
He takes his oldest son, the one who's supposed to take his place
as king. He slaughters him, and he makes
him into his sacrifice to his false God.
But what's more interesting is this phrase that follows it.
And there came great wrath, you would think, against Moab, but
we're told that it came against Israel.
And then after this, we're told that they withdrew the
Israelites, the Kingdom, the southern Kingdom, and the
Kingdom of Edom. They withdrew and they went back
home. And you get the sense that this
was a incomplete victory. What's happening here, this
verse is, is up for much debate. And the primary question is,
what is the source of the origin of this wrath that came against
the people of Israel? So there are many, many, many,
many answers because it's not clear there were some who would
believe that this is the wrath of Hemash, the war God of Moab.
We've seen him reference in the Bible before so that when the
king of Moab makes this sacrifice, he is in essence
enables the God of Moab to fight and resist against this
coalition and they won. Some would say that this wrath
is coming from the true God, and the reason why it came from the
true God is because Israel took it too far with Moab.
And there are incidents in the Bible where you find God using
human agents to discipline or to overtake another nation or
another people group. And they abused that.
Where He wanted little, they did far more.
So many references to that. That's why God later condemns
Assyria and Babylon, because they abused the opportunity that
was granted them. So you have the transcendent
explanation and then it boils down to the human explanation.
Could it be that the wrath that came against Israel was the
wrath of the Moabites? That they were put in a position
of such desperation that they sacrificed?
Though they did offer child sacrifice in this case it was a
precious one because they gave up the succeeding king.
And so in their wrath, they were so angry with Israel for what
they were led to do. Or could it be actually the
wrath of Judah and Edom? Because notice that it's very
specific. There came great wrath against
who? Israel.
Could it be that this gross savagery created disgust in
Judah and Eden where they looked at Israel and they thought you
caused this? In a sense you you led it to
this and they retracted and decided to end the operation
here. Could it be a mixture of many
things? Sure it could be.
We're not explicitly told so we can't be dogmatic.
But one thing is for certain, it is a foolishness of this
despicable crime. What is the king of Edom or
rather Moab? Do he sacrifices his son?
Can anybody remind me what is the reason for this war to begin
with? You can say it if you know the
answer. What's the reason for this war?
What, why? Why is Israel and Judah and Edom
partnering to come against Moab? The answer is in this chapter.
You just have to go to the first few verses.
But does anybody know why? Why are we even doing this?
What causes what triggered this? It's in the single digits of
Second Kings chapter 3. They rebelled.
How did they rebel? Very good.
Look at verse 4. Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep
reader, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs
and the wool of 100,000 Rams. But when Ahab died, the king of
Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
Do you know what could have very likely solved this whole thing?
If Moab had just went back to giving and sacrificing those
lambs and those Rams, right? What does he do instead?
He sacrifices his son. How do you explain this?
You are willing to give up the life of your boy instead of some
lambs and Rams. Behold the destruction of pride.
Pride causes us to be foolish. It's it's ugly, it's hideous,
and it can blind us and lead us to do devastating things.
Unrestrained pride, unchallenged pride over time can destroy the
most precious things, the most beautiful relationships, the
most vibrant ministries, most abundant resources.
Pride has a way of driving things to the ground and the
most things that don't even make sense following somebody's
arrogance because they refused to humble themselves.
Here's a man who wanted to fight tooth and nail, who would not
give in. And so he gave up arguably one
of the most valuable things to him.
And so this is how this ends. It ends with a very gross, vivid
example of what pride can do. It kills, kills us, it kills
others, and it's meant to in some way encourage us to remain
humble, to remain humble. And that's what I pray we would
leave this Bible study with that kind of exhortation.
Lord, keep me low and help me just give in and surrender where
you call me to give in and surrender.
More importantly, if there is a blessing that is linked to
complete and total sacrifice, then let me be a complete and
total sacrifice. I don't want to hold anything
back because when you and I hold anything back, no matter what we
think we gain, we ultimately lose.
We always lose. We refuse to give what God asks
of us. I think that's enough for
tonight. Let's pray.
Let's thank Him together. Is it possible, like Elisha, the
call for the musicians to come up here?
Please come. We'll pray in a moment here.
I praise God for our praise team.
They take their ministry very seriously, and we all are
blessed because of it. Why don't we calm our hearts?
Why don't we allow even a soft tune to just assist us?
Well, we thank you for this Bible study.
Oh Lord, our words fall short of ascribing to you the praise and
the glory and the honor that you deserve.
We pray, Lord, that the the meetings here at NBC would
always create the atmosphere necessary for us to receive it.
To give unto You what you deserve and what we need.
May this place always be holy ground.
May those who serve in their giftings, especially the gifting
of music, be led by Your Spirit always, Lord.
Surely there is more to unpack in this passage, but we trust
that what was granted to us suffices for this evening.
Oh Lord, it's so easy to hear a Bible study and to just gather
knowledge. Please speak to our hearts,
Lord. Soften us.
Make us tender again, Lord, help us the hunger for your ways,
or for anybody in this place that is waiting on you.
May they believe that as they trust you, and as they lay that
need before you, that you are magnificent in your plans.
And though we may see one thing, you're doing a multifaceted
work. Help us believe that.
Help us believe that for this church, as we are waiting on you
for a big need. And we may not understand the
timing. We may not know where resources
will come from below, we trust you.
We trust that as we continue with you, You will give us maybe
a glimpse of why you did what you did, how You did it, and
when You did it. We believe You, we trust in You,
we rest in You, and we believe Your Word provided us the means
to rest tonight. Lord, help us be loving enough
to call out sin when we need to, with the right tone, the right
words. May that be true of this pulpit.
May that be true of our relationships with those that we
care and love for. We just want to say thank you
Lord for tonight. We bless you and we want to
worship you with gratitude for what you have given to us.
In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Why don't we stand and worship
the Lord? Thank Him for the spiritual food
that we ate of tonight.