The Final Passion and Compassion of Christ - Day 162 Through the Bible

Rose and buds from the garden of a friend - near Mt. Celo Church

My Lessons, Applications, Contemplations - Today's Readings 

Joash (Jehoash) as the Only Remnant in the Line of the Messiah - 2 Kings 11, 12, 13 - The names become as confusing in these chapters as the responses of various family members to God's covenant - shades of our own lives and families, I think.  Athaliah, mother of murdered King Ahaziah, retaliates on all male royal heirs and has them exterminated.  She reigns for 6 months as queen.  Her grandson, Joash (later spelled Jehoash according to explanations I read), is hidden away by his aunt (the daughter of Athaliah?) in the house of the LORD.  The child's uncle (another son of Athaliah?) is high priest and makes a covenant with guards in the house of the LORD to protect the young royal until he is anointed king at the age of 7.  He follows the commands of the LORD as long as the high priest lived.  After that, his heart is turned away.

My Lessons/Applications/Contemplations:  God saves this one son in the lineage from which the promised Messiah will come (though he is omitted in the named lineage in Matthew - perhaps because of his apostasy after the death of the high priest.)  God will always save a remnant of His people.  Matthew 12:25:  But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand." "Some historians believe Jehoash brought about God's judgment on the land because of his turning to other gods.  Zechariah, the son and successor of the high priest in this story, was murdered for his warnings to Jehoash."  Matthew 10:34-36: Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to ‘set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law’; and ‘a man’s enemies will be those of his own household.’  Isaiah 8:10:  "Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted; propose your plan, but it will not stand, for God is with us."

Elisha Dies (2 Kings 13) Jehoahaz is king of Israel and pleads with God to relieve Israel from the oppression of Syria.  The Lord listens to him and gives Israel a deliverer.  Joash, king of Judah, goes to the dying Elisha and falls before him pleading, "O my father, my father, the chariots of Israel and their horsemen!" Elisha, in his final miraculous act before dying, tells Joash to shoot his arrows out the window and into the ground.  Joash partially obeys - shooting some of them.  Elisha becomes angry with him saying that his partial obedience will give partial relief from Syria.

My Lessons and Applications: Had Joash obeyed the full command of the prophet, the oppression of Syria over Judah would have ended, according to the commentary from Charles Stanley on this.  Full obedience is necessary in our Christian walk. It is also noteworthy that God listened to the "pleading" of Jehoahaz and to the cry and humility of King Joash to His prophet.  1 Thess. 5:17 "Pray without ceasing" and the the parable of the persistent widow in Luke 18 come to mind here:  "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart. Psalm 34:17 "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears them; He delivers them from all their troubles." Am I persistent in my prayer life? How do I honor God with the grace He shows me through His answers?

The Final Passion and Compassion of Christ - John 19 - Christ has finished His mission.  He has completed the work of the cross - dying for our sins - to restore us to fellowship with holy God.  Yet, before His death, hanging on the cross, having endured unimaginable pain, He commends the care of His mother to the apostle John. The cruelest form of death, humiliation, rejection, and degradation were His legacy from the His own people, looking into and suffering the torments of hell and separation from His Father while suffering our penalties was His mission, yet His thoughts were not on Himself but on us and for us, on His mother and for Her care, and above all for Our Father and for His glory, "It is finished!"

My Lessons and Applications - The work is done.  The price is paid.  We have only to believe to partake of His salvation work.  Then our mission and commission...are we fulfilling this?  Matthew 28:18-20: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen