2Ki 23:19-37  The pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night

[Study Aired April 27, 2023]

2Ki 23:19  And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 
2Ki 23:20  And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:21  And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 
2Ki 23:22  Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 
2Ki 23:23  But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:24  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him. 
2Ki 23:26  Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 
2Ki 23:27  And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 
2Ki 23:28  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 23:29  In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 
2Ki 23:30  And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 
2Ki 23:31  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 
2Ki 23:32  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 
2Ki 23:33  And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 
2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. 
2Ki 23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh. 
2Ki 23:36  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah.
2Ki 23:37  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 

Christ’s body will be “the pillar of the cloud by day” and “the pillar of fire by night” before the people throughout the thousand-year reign which God will not take away (Exo 13:22). 

Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

That witness of God’s pillars (Rev 3:12) will have the same effect the parables of Christ have had on all of us in our time of ignorance and blindness not discerning the word correctly, not having been given the eyes or ears to see and hear the truths (Mat 13:13) which were always right in front of us (Act 17:27) like the pillar in the wilderness.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Mat 13:13  Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:

Flesh has no excuse regarding what God has physically witnessed to us about His existence (Rom 1:20), but without the spirit of God within (Rom 8:9), we can’t be anything other than blind and ignorant to what He is showing us His word means spiritually. Therefore, we can say with apostle Paul concerning doing evil that we did it in ignorance and were blind Babylonians in our thinking (Mat 13:16, Eph 4:18, 1Ti 1:13, 1Pe 1:14, Eph 1:11).

This section of 2 Kings highlights for us this blindness God can cause to fall upon us, demonstrated in type and shadow via the nation of Judah who, after the death of their zealous king Josiah, a type of Christ, go back into their same idolatrous ways. God has to make us a pillar and witness to us that we cannot become that new creation without His deliverance: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar [1Jn 4:17, Joh 5:30, Joh 15:5] in the temple of my God.

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

Joh 5:30  I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Remembering that the example of Lot’s wife is an admonition to us that our natural mind wants to go back to a pattern which fashions ourselves “according to the former lusts in your ignorance”, and, God willing, our hearts will be as Lot who lost his wife who represents Babylon out of which we come as we are scarcely saved (1Pe 4:17-18) by being given the power to keep our eyes on the pillar of light set before us, actions typified by Lot who forsook all to ‘come out her my people’ and not look back (Rev 18:4).

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 

Our labor in the Lord is never in vain, even if it does not produce the immediate effect we are hoping. We need to be encouraged and not discouraged by the failure of the nation of Judah and their ultimate captivity into which God brought them. Their captivity and all the events that unfolded were to admonish God’s elect today that we can become more that conquerors through Christ, overcoming in this life, but we must go through the fiery trials of this life; the judgment that will purify the bride and make it possible for us to discern good and evil (Heb 5:14). This is another way of saying we will be able to be used by the Lord as “a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night” because we have been blessed to be judge and become those pillars by the hand of the Master Potter, of whose workmanship we are (Eph 2:10).

Heb 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. [“a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night“]

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

God is seeking an occasion against the world who are being witnessed to (Rev 11:3) through the church that they are blinded (Rom 11:7) and cannot see the light side of that pillar unless they are dragged to Christ (Joh 6:44), which for Christ’s body today is a lifelong process of being dragged to Him. We are being blessed to have Christ as our hope of glory within who can give us the power (Rev 11:3) to go from glory to glory and unto perfection on the third day (Heb 12:2, Php 4:13, Exo 26:31, 2Co 3:18).

Exo 26:31  And thou shalt make a vail of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen of cunning work: with cherubims shall it be made: 

2Co 3:18  But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

In this week’s study, we will look at more of the cleansing process of the land of Judah that typifies a work of the saints that will set the stage for the lake of fire, or great white throne judgment. All mankind must be baptized with water and with spirit as Christ told us in John 3:5. True spiritual baptism is what the elect of God must go through first (Rom 6:1-3, Act 14:22) if we are going to be made meet for the master’s use (2Ti 2:21, 2Ti 2:12) and given the honor to work with the world and bring them into the knowledge of God’s judgments and truth (Isa 26:9).

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

2Ti 2:21  If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. 

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: 

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

2Ki 23:19  And all the houses also of the high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel. 

The words of the law cannot be performed if we are double minded and unstable (Jas 1:8, Jas 4:8). A cleansing of evil spirits must take place in order for true worship to happen as we draw near to Christ, to whom we are dragged (Joh 6:44), in order to cleanse our hands and purify our double minded hearts so we become stable in Christ (1Pe 5:10, 2Ti 1:7). 

Jas 1:8  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

Jas 4:8  Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

This cleansing process Josiah put the nation through typifies what Christ is doing in the lives of His children today, making the bride ready. “The high places that were in the cities of Samaria, which the kings of Israel had made to provoke the LORD to anger, Josiah took away, and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel” represent Christ destroying our pride-filled hearts that contended with God for so long, provoking Him to anger. The Lord takes that spirit away which He caused to be there in the first place (Isa 63:17). This section that reads: “and did to them according to all the acts that he had done in Bethel” reminds us that our strength to overcome comes from God, from the house of Bethel, which means bread, which we know represents the true bread from heaven, Jesus Christ our savior (Psa 104:15, Luk 18:1).

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Psa 104:15  And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. [Luk 21:26]

Luk 18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

2Ki 23:20  And he slew all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem. 
2Ki 23:21  And the king commanded all the people, saying, Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant. 
2Ki 23:22  Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah; 
2Ki 23:23  But in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem.

It is only through the strength of Christ that we can slay “all the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars, and burned men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem” within us and burn “men’s bones upon them, and returned to Jerusalem“. After we destroy those things by the grace and faith of Christ, we return to Jerusalem, which typifies our being raised in heavenly places where we are seated together in Christ Jesus (Eph 2:6). 

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

“The passover” is a meaningless event if we partake of it unworthily (1Co 11:27-29), and in these verses we’re reading we see an example of the passover being taken worthily as a result of the diligence of king Josiah, who represents Christ, who destroys “the priests of the high places that were there upon the altars of our hearts and minds.

1Co 11:27  Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28  But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29  For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

Christ commands us, as Josiah did the people, to “Keep the passover unto the LORD your God, as it is written in the book of this covenant.” This statement given to all the people of Judah to keep the passover typifies for us today the need to keep our lives undefiled and holy before God which we know is impossible without Christ delivering us from our sins (Joh 8:36) by His body and blood, which represent His word that is the true bread from heaven, the true passover we keep spiritually. The flesh and bones is also part of the passover and represents Christ’s body, the scapegoat (Eph 5:30, Lev 16:21) that is being preserved through the life of Christ within each of us, each member being a joint that supplies in love what we need from one another (Eph 4:16).

Joh 8:36  If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Eph 5:30  For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 

Lev 16:21  And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: [Php 2:12-13]

Eph 4:16  From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Christ is our passover, and we labor to enter into that communion (1Co 10:16), that rest which is found in Him (Heb 4:11). When we confess our faults, He is faithful to forgive all our sins, all our iniquities, so that “Surely there was not holden such a passover from the days of the judges that judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel, nor of the kings of Judah.”  This statement typifies for us today what only Christ is able to do through the body of Christ that is strengthened by His life working in us (Php 4:13, Col 1:27). 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 
1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

What a wonderful blessing to know that the bride will be made ready, and that readiness will come as a result of Christ, who is typified by Josiah, who judged the nation. It is “in the eighteenth year of king Josiah, wherein this passover was holden to the LORD in Jerusalem” which numbers add up to nine (1+8) that represents judgment. The number one (1) represents the day of the Lord and the eight (8)  represents the new man formed out of that judgment which happens on the day of the Lord.

2Ki 23:24  Moreover the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, did Josiah put away, that he might perform the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

The words of the law that the land of Judah was called to perform cannot be accomplished unless “the workers with familiar spirits, and the wizards, and the images, and the idols, and all the abominations that were spied in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem” are put away by Josiah, who represents our faithful High Priest who cleanses us of all our sins and iniquities (1Jn 1:9). He is our advocate to that end and is greater than our conscience which condemns us and is easily beset by the sin in our lives (1Jn 2:1-2). When we are washed and cleansed of our sins, God is merciful to renew a right spirit within us (Psa 51:10), typified by “the words of the law which were written in the book that Hilkiah the priest found in the house of the LORD“; a type of the law of Christ that quickens us (Gal 6:2, Joh 6:63, Rom 5:5).

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:
1Jn 2:2  And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. 

Psa 51:10  Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.

This section, “And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him“,  reminds us that God is a jealous God and with His spirit within us, we are going to experience that jealousy regarding keeping the temple undefiled as we become consumed for the temple of God we are by the life of Christ within us (Col 1:27). That makes us a peculiar people who are zealous of good works, typified by the actions of zealous king Josiah (Tit 2:14-15). Those works are clearly connected to cleansing the temple, which then brings forth fruit and true spiritual worship which our Father seeks out and finds in His people (Joh 4:23).

Col 1:27  To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 

Tit 2:14  Who gave himself for us, that he [Joh 8:36] might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works
Tit 2:15  These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

2Ki 23:26  Notwithstanding the LORD turned not from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal. 
2Ki 23:27  And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there. 
2Ki 23:28  Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

The conclusion of the matter is to fear God and work righteousness as we learn that God will not be mocked (Ecc 12:13-14). So we have this section of scripture reminding us that God puts us through severe trials so we don’t sin any longer (1Pe 4:1). He does not turn away “from the fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations that Manasseh had provoked him withal“ because he loves us and is receiving us through those corrections (Heb 12:6) that make us one with Him as He gives us the power we need through Christ (Php 4:13) to overcome and endure the much tribulation of this life necessary in order to enter into the kingdom of God (Act 14:22).

Ecc 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
Ecc 12:14  For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. 

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. 

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.

What we are being told is that if God can remove a nation, or nations, and cast off His chosen city Jerusalem, then we can be sure He can also do this to us, and will do this and receive us back in this age if we are His (Psa 37:28, Psa 94:14, Psa 138:8, Psa 119:8). We don’t avoid this captivity is what we’re being told, and at the same time we also are being reminded that the same God who has the power to bind and bring us into captivity can also deliver us and reinstate us, if it is His will to do so in this life.

Psa 37:28  For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.  captivity can also deliver us from ourselves each one of us at our appointed time.

Psa 94:14  For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.

Psa 138:8  The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

Psa 119:8  I will keep thy statutes: O forsake me not utterly.

2Ki 23:29  In his days Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and he slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 
2Ki 23:30  And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead. 

Pharaohnechoh, king of Egypt, coming up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates, a place that means “break forth”, reminds us that our enemy is given to break forth at times and prevail against our flesh (Job 1:12). That does not mean that our spiritual life is going to be destroyed. Rather, it becomes a testimony for us, and eventually all the world, that nothing will ever be able to separate the body of Christ from the love (Rom 8:35-39) of God that receives us through those severe Job-like trials in our lives which are needful to try the faith of Christ in us (Luk 21:18, Rev 13:7-11).

Job 1:12  And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD. 

Rom 8:38  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Rom 8:39  Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Luk 21:18  But there shall not an hair of your head perish.

Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 
Rev 13:9  If any man have an ear, let him hear. 
Rev 13:10  He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 13:11  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 

This period of time in 2 Kings has an is-was-and-will-be application, as do all the words of God. Looking at the sum of God’s word and considering that God is working all things according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11), helps us understand this principle and frees up these stories that were written for the elect’s sake today (2Co 4:15).

Satan, who is the god of this world (2Co 4:4), is figuratively represented by “Pharaohnechoh king of Egypt.” All of the cleansing of the land, which Josiah accomplishes from a physical standpoint, may seem futile to us seeing the kingdom went right back to its evil practices after Josiah is killed. However, the lesson is twofold for God’s elect; one side showing us that our flesh and blood being ruled over by Christ, who is typified by Josiah, cannot inherit the kingdom of God (“according to all the law of Moses” of v25 above), and that it is through that death of the flesh we will inherit eternal life (1Co 15:50). That’s the present way we can look at this section of 2 Kings, but it also has an outward dispensational way of looking at it, knowing that the saints’ rulership during the thousand years will not change anyone’s heart, as was typified by king Josiah’s rule, which is why the corrupt kings kept coming after Josiah was no longer ruling.

2Ki 23:25  And like unto him was there no king before him, that turned to the LORD with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses; neither after him arose there any like him.

Being slain at Megiddo is another way of telling all mankind that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, but all men will be saved each man in his own order. If we are predestined to be in the first resurrection, then we will have been tried and tested in this life, which is what it takes to keep our garments, otherwise our Megiddo moment will be in the great white throne judgment (Rev 16:14-16).

Rev 16:14  For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 
Rev 16:15  Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
Rev 16:16  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon^G717.

ArmageddonG717
– Original: Ἀρμαγεδδών
– Transliteration: Armageddon
– Phonetic: ar-mag-ed-dohn’
– Definition: Armageddon = the hill or city of megiddo

• In Rev 16:16 the scene of a the struggle of good and evil is suggested by that battle plain of Esdraelon, which was famous for two great victories, of Barak over the Canaanites, and of Gideon over the Midianites; and for two great disasters, the deaths of Saul and Josiah. Hence in Revelation a place of great slaughter, the scene of a terrible retribution upon the wicked. The RSV translates the name as Har-Magedon, i.e. the hill (as Ar is the city) of megiddo. 

– Origin: of hebrew origin H2022 and G4023
– TDNT entry: 08:48,8
– Part(s) of speech: Noun Location 
– Strong’s: Of hebrew origin [H2022] and [H4023]; Armageddon (or Har-Megiddon) a symbolical name: – Armageddon. 

These physical locations discussed (Megiddo [2Ki 23:29] and Armageddon [Rev 16:16] which are the same location) remind us that the one thing common to all men is judgment. Gog and Magog is another physical type of judgment that represents the lake of fire judgment that will come upon all the world in the second resurrection when those who have not been blessed to be judged in this age (1Pe 4:17) will be judged by God’s fiery words in the great white throne judgment (Joh 5:29, Rev 20:13-15).

Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 
Rev 20:15  And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 

2Ki 23:31  Jehoahaz was twenty and three years old when he began to reign; and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. 
2Ki 23:32  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done. 
2Ki 23:33  And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem; and put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold. 
2Ki 23:34  And Pharaohnechoh made Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there. 

Notice who is running the show here. It is Pharaohnechoh who takes the twenty-three year old evil king Jehoahaz in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath, that he [Jehoahaz] might not reign in Jerusalem, “And Pharaohnechoh put him in bands at Riblah in the land of Hamath.” Pharaohnechoh is a type of Satan who keeps this king in bands just as the devil has kept the world in the bondage of corruption (Rom 8:21) until this day. Also, “that he might not reign in Jerusalem” means taking away all possibility for righteous rulership which typically can only manifest from Jerusalem, which typifies Jerusalem above, the mother of us all. Pharaohnechoh was the vehicle God used to stop grace [Jehoahaz was 23 years old when he began to reign. 2+3=5] from abounding in the king’s life which spiritual bondage prevented fruitful growth [Riblah: H7247]. Part of that bondage is expressed by the “tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold“, symbols of God’s word which is being peddled making merchandise of the brethren (2Pe 2:3, 2Co 2:17). A talent is worth 3000 shekels, and one hundred talents would be worth 300,000 shekels. Again we see the process of grace being taken away from the nation with these symbolic numbers reminding us that the way the world is being taxed today is by not being judged, which keeps the world in the bondage of sin, and that is what God has caused Satan to do until this day (2Co 4:4).

Riblah H7247  riblâh rib-law’

From an unused root meaning to be fruitful; fertile; Riblah, a place in Syria: – Riblah.

Total KJV occurrences: 11

Then Pharaohnechoh, who is type of Satan, made “Eliakim the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah his father, and turned his name to Jehoiakim, and took Jehoahaz away: and he came to Egypt, and died there.” This is telling us that the god of this world has the power God gives him to put the basest of men in charge and elevated to positions of power (Dan 4:17), even as others are taken away and destroyed as Jehoahaz was.

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men. 

It is significant that Pharaohnechoh changes the name of Eliakim the would-be predecessor of king Jehoahaz to Jehoiakim as a negative shadow of the devil giving someone who is elevated a new name in this world, unlike the positive rendition of that written in Revelation regarding the new name God’s elect are given in Christ (Rev 2:17, Rev 3:12). 

Rev 2:17  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Jehoiakim is also given “the room of Josiah his father” by Pharaohnechoh, a type of the devil who gives people power in places where they ought not to be, symbolizing the man of perdition being on the heart of our thrones until he is not (2Th 2:8). The father’s bed is to be undefiled, and Josiah, who typifies Christ, had a bed that was undefiled, and now with this latest king Eliakim whose name was changed to Jehoiakim (H3079) there was going to be defilement in the nation of Judah once again, symbolized by where Eliakim rested, whom God raised up to defile the bed of his father, Josiah.

H3079 yehôyâqı̂ym BDB Definition:

Jehoiakim = “Jehovah raises up”

1) son of Josiah and the third from the last king of Judah; subject vassel of Nebuchadnezzar who reigned for 11 years before he died a violent death either in combat or by the hands of his own subjects

2Ki 23:35  And Jehoiakim gave the silver and the gold to Pharaoh; but he taxed the land to give the money according to the commandment of Pharaoh: he exacted the silver and the gold of the people of the land, of every one according to his taxation, to give it unto Pharaohnechoh.

This is how the business of religion is run in this world, and these verses are clearly showing us that it is the god of this world, represented by Pharaohnechoh, who is pulling the purse strings of those who promise us liberty in Babylon but are actually in bondage, revealed by those very actions of putting a tax on the people, symbolizing their wanting dominion over the faith of others (2Pe 2:19, 2Co 1:24).

2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 

2Co 1:24  Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith ye stand. 

2Ki 23:36  Jehoiakim was twenty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Zebudah, the daughter of Pedaiah of Rumah. 
2Ki 23:37  And he did that which was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his fathers had done.

This chapter ends by revealing the fruit of Satan’s world with its false version of grace, symbolized by the age of Jehoiakim who was twenty five (5×5) when he began to reign. He reigned for eleven years [“The Ruin and Disintegration of the Perfection of the Flesh”] telling us that no stable foundation of righteousness was ever established, reminding us that the so-called foundation of Babylon must come crashing down, first in the lives of the elect, and then in the whole world which will be judged by the saints who will bring “lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail” to wipe away the refuge of lies in this world (Rev 18:2, Rev 11:19).

Rev 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 

Rev 11:19  And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.

That is when the world will begin to see a new version (2Co 5:17) of Exodus 13:22 “the pillar of the cloud by day” and “the pillar of fire by night.”

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 

Exo 13:22  He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

2Ki 11:1-21  “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Col 3:3)

[Study Aired November 17, 2022]

2Ki 11:1  And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. 
2Ki 11:2  But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. 
2Ki 11:3  And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land. 
2Ki 11:4  And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son. 
2Ki 11:5  And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; 
2Ki 11:6  And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down.
2Ki 11:7  And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king.
2Ki 11:8  And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in. 
2Ki 11:9  And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that should go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 
2Ki 11:10  And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:11  And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple. 
2Ki 11:12  And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king. 
2Ki 11:13  And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:14  And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason. 
2Ki 11:15  But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges: and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:16  And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there was she slain. 
2Ki 11:17  And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD’S people; between the king also and the people. 
2Ki 11:18  And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:19  And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. 
2Ki 11:20  And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house. 
2Ki 11:21  Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign.

King Jehoash was only seven years old when he began to reign over Judah, and he reigned forty years. This youngest king to ever rule over Judah is a symbol of the manchild we read of in Revelation 12:5 and 13, which child is a symbol of the elect who are kind of first fruits (Jas 1:18) whose reign while we are on the earth will be over all the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15).

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne.

Rev 12:13  And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. 

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

The forty-year reign of King Jehoash is a symbol of that time of rulership during the symbolic thousand-year reign of the saints who will rule over the whole [whole 4 x  flesh 10=40] of humanity (Rev 20:6), and at the end of that physical reign all flesh will be destroyed. Another part of the significance of the number forty is connected to trials, which God uses to put off our carnal fleshly thinking [“The Number of Trials“] (Eze 29:12, Heb 3:17).

Eze 29:12  And I will make the land of Egypt desolate in the midst of the countries that are desolate, and her cities among the cities that are laid waste shall be desolate forty years: and I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and will disperse them through the countries. 

Heb 3:17  But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

Chapter twelve of Revelation parallels very well with King Jehoash who typifies the manchild. The comparisons are many, and they all point to the reality that those who “keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev 12:17) are also those who were begotten “of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures” (Jas 1:18). One very strikingly obvious comparison with King Jehoash and the elect bride of Christ is how he was hidden as we are hidden in the Lord (Col 3:3), only to be revealed when the seventh trump sounds and we are all changed in a moment and in a twinkling of an eye. The young King began his reign at seven years old,which is a symbol of the arrival of God’s kings and priests on this earth who have been hidden from the world until this time (1Th 4:16-17, Rev 10:7, Rev 11:15).

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 
1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Rev 10:7  But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets. 

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

2Ki 11:1 And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. 

In this first verse we see Athaliah taking vengeance on “all the seed royal” for the death of her son, which symbolizes for us the wrath of Satan through Babylon and the churches of this world against the body of Christ (Act 4:26-29). Another story in God’s word that parallel’s this wrath against the manchild is found in Matthew 2:16 where Herod killed all the children two years and younger. However, Christ was protected by Joseph and Mary (Mat 2:11-15). Moses was also hidden, also typical of the elect as was “Joash” (Heb 11:23). “All the seed royal” (Rom 11:16) represents the many called and not the chosen of the royal seed typified by Joash, a type of the elect (Mat 22:14).

Act 4:26  The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. 
Act 4:27  For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, 
Act 4:28  For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. 
Act 4:29  And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness they may speak thy word,

Mat 2:16  Then Herod, [typifying Satan’s spirit] when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, [typifying God’s elect (Mat 7:24, Rev 1:3)] was exceeding wroth (Rev 12:12), and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently enquired of the wise men.

Heb 11:23  By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment. 

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

Moses being hid for three months is a parallel thought to Joash being hid for six years “And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years” (2Ki 11:3). Three months represents the time of the elect’s judgment while in these vessels of clay (1Pe 4:17), and the “six years” is also a witness to this same point that we must be hid in the Lord for six years [number of man] and be revealed on the seventh year as the manchild of God who is brought forth to rule. When we die daily in the Lord (1Co 15:31), we are telling that fox “Herod” within our deceitful and desperately wicked hearts (Jer 17:9), that we must go onto perfection, or completion [7], on the third day through Christ (2x3=6 Joash hidden, 3 months Moses as a child hidden) after we have been judged in this life (Luk 13:32). When we read the passages about this soon-to-be-boy-king, it is most encouraging to see how protected he was prior to his anointing and after it as well, demonstrating God’s love and care for the elect, from the foundation of the world (Luk 12:32, Rom 8:35, Eph 1:4).

1Co 15:30  And why stand we in jeopardy every hour? 
1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. 

Luk 13:32  And he said unto them, Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to day and to morrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

2Ki 11:2  But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain.
2Ki 11:3  And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.

It is Jehosheba, who is the aunt of Joash, God used to hide Joash from Ahaziah. This event is described with these words: “and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain” showing us that “Jehosheba”^{H3089 = ‘Jehovah’s oath’} is a type of the church which is the bride and the body of Christ (Col 1:24) who comes upon us like a thief in the night and whom God has promised or sworn that He will use to save His elect first in this life (1Th 5:2,  Joh 18:9). 

2Ch 22:11  But Jehoshabeath^{H3089 = ‘Jehovah’s oath’}, the daughter of the king, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons that were slain, and put him and his nurse in a bedchamber. So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of king Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest, (for she was the sister of Ahaziah,) hid him from Athaliah, so that she slew him not. [Exo 12:22-23]

H3089 yehôsheba‛ yeh-ho-sheh’-bah  From H3068 and H7650; Jehovah-sworn; Jehosheba, an Israelitess: – Jehosheba. Compare H3090.

H7650 A primitive root; properly to be complete, but used only as a denominative from H7651; to seven oneself, that is, swear (as if by repeating a declaration seven times): – adjure, charge (by an oath, with an oath), feed to the full [by mistake for H7646], take an oath, X straitly, (cause to, make to) swear.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church: 

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 

Joh 18:9  That the saying might be fulfilled, which he spake, Of them which thou gavest me have I lost none.

It is in her bedchamber [Jehosheba’s] where Joash and his nurse are hidden so that he is not slain. The bedchamber represents where we rest in the Lord and are protected, “him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain“, even while we are in the midst of Babylon, in the world but not of it (Joh 17:16, 1Co 5:9-11). 

Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

1Co 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 
1Co 5:10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 
1Co 5:11  But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

The “nurse” who accompanies Joash can also be seen as a type of the church where every nurturing joint contributes in the forming of the life of Christ in each other (Eph 4:16). The nurse protects and cares for the child as we do for each other. This love and care we have for each other is what strengthens us as we bear each other’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ that witnesses to our discipleship in Him (Gal 6:2, Joh 13:35). If not for our coming together often (Heb 10:25), where we partake of our communion in the Lord (1Co 10:16) [symbolized by the blood that is struck on the lintel (“strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason”)] (1Co 10:16), we would be “slain” of the devil and sifted like wheat (Luk 22:31). It is through the faith of Christ working in the faith-filled prayers of His saints that are fervent and continual that we will be able to overcome the wicked one and keep ourselves unspotted from this world, enduring to the end (Jas 5:16, Jas 1:27, Mat 24:13).

Jas 5:16  Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

Jas 1:27  Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

It is by God’s power and might that this work of faith in His little flock, who are “hid in the house of the LORD six years“, will be finished. This is all happening throughout our lives while Satan continues to be the god of this world ruling over mankind, symbolized by Athaliah who “did reign over the land” for those six years which is the number for mankind. Christ uses Athaliah, who is a woman, as a type of Satan who rules over the flesh of mankind for six years. During God’s reign over flesh during the thousand-year reign, Christ is the head, and the body of Christ is the woman directed by the head.

2Ki 11:4  And the seventh year Jehoiada^{H3077=”Jehovah knows” (PNB)} sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son. 
2Ki 11:5  And he commanded them, saying, This is the thing that ye shall do; A third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house; 
2Ki 11:6  And a third part shall be at the gate of Sur; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down. 
2Ki 11:7  And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king.

This very influential priest of Judah by the name of Jehoiada typifies Christ who, at the appointed time of God, “sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king’s son.” This part of the story is a parable of how Christ builds His church (Mat 16:18) using those who are sent (Joh 20:21) to do this work that began on Pentecost (Eph 4:10-13). The “apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” of Ephesians 4:13 is what is required for us to grow and mature and be shown “the king’s son” who, when we see Him face to face, we know Him as a result of coming into the unity of the faith. It is what Christ does through us that will bring about “the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”, and the commands that Jehoiada gives to the “keepers of the watch of the king’s house” is symbolic language telling us of the progression of judgment (the ‘thirds’) we must go through in order to come to this unity of faith, this mature mind of Christ.

It is “a third part of you that enter in on the sabbath shall even be keepers of the watch of the king’s house”, the ‘third part’ symbolizing the judgment upon the house of God which leads to maturity in Him, in his house, in His temple that we are (1Co 3:16).  Also, there is “a third part…at the gate of Sur^{H5495 = “degenerate”, “turn aside”, “deteriorated”}; and a third part at the gate behind the guard: so shall ye keep the watch of the house, that it be not broken down”. These thirds being spoken of remind us that our judgment is going to be progressive and ongoing so that the house “be not broken down” (Act 14:22). These areas represent points of entry where sin can enter into our life. Yet through Christ we will be more than conquerors and rule over sin that will no longer have dominion over us (Gen 4:7, Rom 6:14).

Act 14:22  Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God. 

Gen 4:7  If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Rom 6:14  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

All members of the whole body of Christ are called to do our part as shepherds who look well to His little flock at the “gate of Sur” and “at the gate behind the guard” (Act 20:28), as God teaches us through these captains and guards who were “rulers over hundreds” what is required of us to overcome our carnal, fleshly nature typified by the “hundreds“. The whole world is in covenant with God, but it is only those who are being judged (Heb 9:27) by the Lord today who will benefit from the “rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard” that represent the judgment which brings us “into the house of the LORD“. There, through Christ, we are able to experience this new covenant agreement or oath with Him that makes it possible for us to be shown “the king’s son” in each other (1Co 11:1).

Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. 

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 

1Co 11:1  Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ.

“And two parts of all you that go forth on the sabbath, even they shall keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king” also represents the elect who go forth “on the sabbath” meaning in Christ who is our Sabbath rest and the true witness within us, “two parts“, Who gives us the power and ability to “keep the watch of the house of the LORD about the king” “both to will and to do” (Php 2:12-13). He teaches us to make war against our number one enemy who we see in the mirror every day (Psa 18:34-36, 1Ti 6:12). Finally, those different positions that keep guard of the house of the LORD (the three ‘thirds’ above plus this ‘two parts’) add up to five telling us that it is by grace through faith [#5] that we will be saved and able to endure until the end of this life.

Psa 18:34  He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. 
Psa 18:35  Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation: and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great.

1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 

2Ki 11:8  And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in. 
2Ki 11:9  And the captains over the hundreds did according to all things that Jehoiada the priest commanded: and they took every man his men that were to come in on the sabbath, with them that should go out on the sabbath, and came to Jehoiada the priest. 
2Ki 11:10  And to the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:11  And the guard stood, every man with his weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.

Jehoiada represents Christ, our high priest, who gives us our commands in this life as we go about wrestling, not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities and the rulers of the darkness of this age (Eph 6:12). This section of kings shows us what is required to battle for the life of Christ within us (Col 1:27) typified by Joash. This section also demonstrates how we must always be ready to do battle against sin when it is near the gate, which we know it always is (Gen 4:7). What we are being shown in these verses is what the body of Christ must do to protect Christ in each other, and the story of Gideon also reminds us of this readiness of mind which is a gift from God and has nothing to do with our own might or power (Jdg 7:7, Zec 4:6). 

Jdg 7:7  And the LORD said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place (from the 32,000 originally called – see verse 3).

Zec 4:6  Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 

So what must we do to protect our crown of life (Rev 3:11) is what is in discussion here, King Joash representing our hope of glory within, “And ye shall compass the king round about, every man with his weapons in his hand: and he that cometh within the ranges, let him be slain: and be ye with the king as he goeth out and as he cometh in.” Any false doctrine that comes “within the ranges, let him be slain” because a little leaven will leaven the whole lump, the whole body (1Co 4:5-6, Gal 5:9). Our love for each other is demonstrated by our obedience to God’s commands which tells us to go to your brother alone and tell him his fault between you and him. That is another way in which we protect our many members, represented by king “Joash” (Mat 18:15-17).

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God. 
1Co 4:6  And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

Obedience to the commandments of God is the second point being stressed regarding overcoming, and it took all the captains over the hundreds to accomplish what “Jehoiada the priest” commanded. The words coming in “on the sabbath with them that should go out on the sabbath” is again typical of how it is only through Christ, who is our sabbath rest (Psa 121:5-8, Heb 4:8-10), that we can be obediently directed through this whole life and be subject to one another as unto Christ who is typified by Jehoiada (Eph 5:21-28).

Psa 121:5 Yahweh is your Guardian; Yahweh is your Protecting Shade at your right hand.
Psa 121:6  By day the sun shall not smite you, Nor the moon by night.”
Psa 121:7  Yahweh Himself shall guard you from all peril; He shall guard your soul.
Psa 121:8 Yahweh Himself shall guard your going forth and your coming in, Henceforth and unto the eon.”(CLV)

Heb 4:8  For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 
Heb 4:9  There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 
Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 

Eph 5:21  Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 
Eph 5:22  Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 
Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
Eph 5:24  Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 
Eph 5:25  Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 
Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 
Eph 5:27  That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 
Eph 5:28  So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.

These two verses (2Ki 11:10-11) also have to do with protecting Christ’s spirit, not quenching it, but rather stirring it up and being on alert always as the body of Christ (1Th 5:19, Luk 21:36). We protect the body together with the Word on which we all stand and use to defend any that would come up against us; this being a spiritual statement for God’s elect today but a literal readiness which was required of “the captains over hundreds did the priest give king David’s spears and shields, that were in the temple of the LORD“. The spears (Hab 3:11-13, 1Sa 17:47) and shield (Eph 6:16) both represent the word of God (Eph 6:10-11). The shield is for defense, and the spear is for when we need to overcome an enemy within or without (2Co 10:4-5) that would come up against the “temple of the LORD” which temple we all are (because of Baal worship at Peor we read of these acts of Phinehas which stayed the plague on Israel – Num 25:7-8, Heb 12:15).

Hab 3:11  The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.
Hab 3:12  Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.
Hab 3:13  Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. 

1Sa 17:47  And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD’S, and he will give you into our hands.

Eph 6:16  Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

2Co 10:4  (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 
2Co 10:5  Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 

Verse eleven explains when we “Fight the good fight of faith, [and] lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called”, we do it together as the body of Christ (Rom 12:5, 1Ti 6:12), and every man must have his spiritual “weapons in his hand, round about the king, from the right corner of the temple to the left corner of the temple, along by the altar and the temple.” Our best place of protection and power is among the body, in the temple (Heb 10:25), “round about the king“, which symbolizes our being round about Christ having been raised in heavenly places together (Eph 2:6). The right corner and the left corner are referencing the power of Christ [right] and His Christ [left–positive use of left given to those who have been given power (Psa 110:1, Rev 11:3)] who is the cornerstone in our life who keeps us strong and bound to the altar, which is the cross (Mat 21:42, Psa 118:27). The cornerstones are “by the altar and the temple” where we present ourselves a living sacrifice unto God and partake of Christ’s life (Rom 12:1-2).

Psa 118:27  God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

2Ki 11:12  And he brought forth the king’s son, and put the crown upon him, and gave him the testimony; and they made him king, and anointed him; and they clapped their hands, and said, God save the king. 

The “testimony” was given to “the king’s son” and they “put the crown upon him“, both of which are symbols of what must happen to God’s elect if we are to be made kings and priests. We are “anointed” when we are blessed to read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecy of His words (Rev 1:3), and that is what this testimony, along with the crown upon him, represents. It also typifies the unction or anointing that God’s elect have been given to know the truth, to have eyes to see and ears to hear these mysteries that are hidden from the world today in Christ (1Jn 2:20-21, Mat 13:16, Col 3:2-3).

1Jn 2:20  But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 
1Jn 2:21  I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 
Col 3:3  For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

After this coronation the people “clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.” Our joy cannot be taken from us if God is saving the king as His workmanship in this age which we believe (Joh 6:30) we are (1Pe 2:9, Joh 16:22, Eph 2:10). We will suffer through this life (2Ti 2:12), and be able to endure that suffering through Christ (Php 4:13), and in the morning there will be great rejoicing, inexpressible joy (1Pe 1:7-9, Psa 30:5), which is being expressed with this sentence, “[they] clapped their hands, and said, God save the king.” Yes, please, God save the king within each of us!

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 

Joh 16:22  And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:
1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, [Joh 6:30] ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. 

Psa 30:5  For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

2Ki 11:13  And when Athaliah heard the noise of the guard and of the people, she came to the people into the temple of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:14  And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets: and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.

At the return of Christ, “the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains” and say “to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand” (Rev 6:15-17)?  Athaliah will be coming into this realization of who she is and who is really standing and able to stand in the Lord symbolized by the pillars – “the king stood by a pillar.” Standing by the pillars symbolizes our safety in the church as we look to the leadership God ordains to keep us strong and standing in the Lord (1Ti 3:15, Rev 3:12).

1Ti 3:15  But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

She heard the noise of the guard of the people, and she came to the people into the temple of the LORD to witness what God had started and finished during her evil six-year reign over the kingdom of Judah. What she saw, “And when she looked, behold, the king stood by a pillar, as the manner was, and the princes and the trumpeters by the king, and all the people of the land rejoiced, and blew with trumpets” and what she did  “and Athaliah rent her clothes, and cried, Treason, Treason.” The question that comes to mind is “who shall be able to stand” when Christ returns? The answer of course is that it will be those who have inwardly heard “the trumpeters by the king” and have rent their hearts and not their garments (Joe 2:13) having been crushed under the stone that was rejected by the builders (Act 4:11).

Joe 2:13  And rend your heart [crushed by Christ by judgment (Mat 21:44)], and not your garments [crushed but not changed inwardly through that experience (Rev 6:16)], and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 

Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

These verses in Revelation 6:15-17 represent the time when the world will begin to understand the great gulf that is between Christ’s Christ and themselves (Luk 16:26). God’s elect will have already been crushed under those rocks that represent His judgment and wrath that have already been poured out upon our old man (Mat 21:44, Rev 15:8).

Rev 6:15  And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; 
Rev 6:16  And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 
Rev 6:17  For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? 

Mat 21:44  And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

2Ki 11:15  But Jehoiada the priest commanded the captains of the hundreds, the officers of the host, and said unto them, Have her forth without the ranges: and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD.

Vengeance is God’s (Rom 12:19) and it is being executed through Jehoiada, who is a type of Christ who will command his people during the thousand-year reign to rule with a rod of iron, expressed in this sentence: “Have her forth without the ranges: and him that followeth her kill with the sword. For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD.”

“For the priest had said, Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD” typifies the elect during the thousand-year reign who know that any death during this period will not be in the Lord, and therefore in this story it reads “Let her not be slain in the house of the LORD” which is where the prophets of God would die, symbolizing our baptism into Christ’s death that cannot happen until the lake of fire for the rest of humanity (Luk 13:33-34, Rom 6:3).

Luk 13:33  Nevertheless I must walk to day, and to morrow, and the day following: for it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem.
Luk 13:34  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

2Ki 11:16  And they laid hands on her; and she went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house: and there was she slain. 

This verse tells us that God is going to clear the land of all evil first within His people who will only learn to run with horses (Jer 12:5) after the land is cleansed of all its idolatry and corruption (Gen 49:16-17). Athaliah “went by the way by the which the horses came into the king’s house“, meaning she was operating in her flesh being controlled by powers and principalities in the heaven, which is where we all start, not able to run with horses, not able to have dominion over those powers and principalities. The Lord will take vengeance on Babylon, and that will come by way of judgment when the world begins to come “into the king’s house“. This is where our old man is slain by the Lord “and there was she slain“.

Jer 12:5  If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan? 

Gen 49:16  Dan^{H1835 = judge}  shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 
Gen 49:17  Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

2Ki 11:17  And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD’S people; between the king also and the people. 
2Ki 11:18  And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD. 
2Ki 11:19  And he took the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land; and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings. 
2Ki 11:20  And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house. 
2Ki 11:21  Seven years old was Jehoash when he began to reign.

Everything is done by the church which is the body of Christ (Eph 3:10), and Jehoiada making a covenant “between the LORD and the king and the people, that they should be the LORD’S people; between the king also and the people” is symbolic of this relationship which the Lord will accomplish with all the world “by the church”.

Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

The end result of this relationship is then described for us in detail as it typifies the world putting an end to all the idol worship that fills the earth today: “And all the people of the land went into the house of Baal, and brake it down; his altars and his images brake they in pieces thoroughly, and slew Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. And the priest appointed officers over the house of the LORD.“

Jehoiada taking “the rulers over hundreds, and the captains, and the guard, and all the people of the land” symbolizes Christ overcoming within us first, all the giants of the land removed so that Christ sits on the throne of our hearts (Jer 3:17, Rev 3:21), and secondly it also symbolizes Christ taking the church to accomplish His purpose during the thousand-year reign, which will be to come in the name of the Lord to speak of our great King and fill the earth full of His knowledge and judgments so men can learn righteousness, “and they brought down the king from the house of the LORD, and came by the way of the gate of the guard to the king’s house. And he sat on the throne of the kings” (Isa 26:9, 1Ch 16:14).

Jer 3:17  At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. 

Rev 3:21  To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

1Ch 16:14  He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. 

The fruit of having Christ rule and reign through His elect during the thousand-year reign will be undeniably great, symbolized by this sentence “And all the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was in quiet: and they slew Athaliah with the sword beside the king’s house.” There is an acknowledging going on of all the wrongs Babylon has done, and her time of falling is coming and great will be the fall of it, typified by the death of Athaliah “with the sword beside the king’s house“. Take the word ‘beside‘ out and the picture becomes clear that Athaliah and all of Babylon’s wicked ways will be purged and destroyed “with the sword the king’s house“. In other words, we are God’s sword, His threshing instrument, and the king’s house, His inheritance that will be used to judge the world. Nothing that is hidden will not be revealed (Luk 8:17-18), both negatively and positively. The world will come to see God’s workmanship in full force and how Christ was hidden from them, just as the elect will expose all the lies and hidden evils of this world, which purging will culminate in the lake of fire. We are blessed to be hidden in Christ now and to know that His judgment upon us is the great blessing we are receiving today (Rom 2:4) that will make the bride ready (Rev 19:7) and able to judge the rest of the world in great white throne judgment.

Luk 8:17  For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. 
Luk 8:18  Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.

[Study Aired October 27, 2022]

2Ki 8:16  And in the fifth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel, Jehoshaphat being then king of Judah, Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah began to reign.
2Ki 8:17  Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
2Ki 8:18  And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 8:19  Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children. 
2Ki 8:20  In his days [“Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah”] Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves. 
2Ki 8:21  So Joram went over to Zair, and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents. 
2Ki 8:22  Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah revolted at the same time. 
2Ki 8:23  And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 8:24  And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. 
2Ki 8:25  In the twelfth year of Joram [“speaking of the other Joram now of Israel”] the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign. 
2Ki 8:26  Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the daughter of Omri king of Israel. 
2Ki 8:27  And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab. [1Co 15:33] 
2Ki 8:28  And he [“Ahaziah”] went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram. 
2Ki 8:29  And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

In last week’s study we read of how Hazael killed king Benhadad by suffocating him with a thick wet cloth so he could become king of Syria in Ramothgilead, and in this section of Kings we will start to see the effect his leadership is having on the warring nations around him and his own kingdom. We will also be reading about two kings with the same name, Jehoram or Joram for short, the first one who was the son of King Jehoshaphat who ruled in the southern kingdom of Judah and the other King Jehoram who is the son of King Ahab who ruled in the northern kingdom of Israel. These Jehorams were brothers-in-law to each other. 

Jehoshaphat was a godly king of Judah (2Ch 17:3-4), and yet his son Jehoram did not follow in his footsteps. Jehoram married Athaliah, who was the daughter of King Ahab king of Israel and the sister of Ahab’s son King Joram, making them brothers-in-law. Jehoram followed the way of the kings of Israel that were corrupt, a symbolic action meaning he followed his flesh. In this case we see the negative example of ‘the Israel of God’ as he did not follow after his father Jehoshaphat the king of Judah who represents Christ our head.

2Ch 17:3  And the LORD was with Jehoshaphat, because he walked in the first ways of his father David, and sought not unto Baalim; 
2Ch 17:4  But sought to the LORD God of his father, and walked in his commandments, and not after the doings of Israel.

King Jehoram was a wicked king, and yet despite that wickedness God kept his covenant with David and did not destroy Judah as we read in 2 Kings 8:19. This idea of God preserving Judah because of King David is woven in and out of the stories we read in the books of kings and elsewhere in God’s word, all for our sakes (1Pe 1:12). It is a type and shadow reminder for God’s elect that the work God has started in the Israel of God is going to be completed through Jesus Christ who is typified by King David (Gal 6:16, Php 1:6).

2Ki 8:19  Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children [Mat 5:14]. 

1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Gal 6:16  And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. 

Php 1:6  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Jehoram’s heart was not like his father’s, “Jehoshaphat”, who was a circumspect king, whose influence of good leadership did not affect Jehoram who led his kingdom into idolatry. It resulted in both Edom and Libnah revolting against Judah, nations God used as His sword against Judah (2Ch 21:8-11).

2Ch 21:8  In his days [Jehoram] the Edomites revolted from under the dominion of Judah, and made themselves a king.
2Ch 21:9  Then Jehoram went forth with his princes, and all his chariots with him: and he rose up by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him in, and the captains of the chariots. 
2Ch 21:10  So the Edomites revolted from under the hand of Judah  unto this day. The same time also did Libnah revolt from under his hand; because he had forsaken the LORD God of his fathers. 
2Ch 21:11  Moreover he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication, and compelled Judah thereto.

This is where Elijah comes on the scene demonstrating to God’s elect that when we are led into sin, God makes a way for us to be set free from that sin through Christ, who is typified by Elijah. Jehoram’s actions of leading the nation of Judah into idolatry was the catalyst to bring an attack on Jehoram’s house that would include him getting an incurable bowel disease (2Ch 21:12-15).

2Ch 21:12  And there came a writing to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, Thus saith the LORD God of David thy father, Because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa king of Judah, 
2Ch 21:13  But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thyself: 
2Ch 21:14  Behold, with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods:
2Ch 21:15  And thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.

God’s judgment brought the Philistines and Arabs who attacked Judah, invading and carrying off all the goods found in the king’s palace. His sons and sons’ wives were taken captive as well, and King Jehoram was left with no one except “Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons” (2Ch 21:17). Finally this disease in Jehoram’s bowels caused him to die at the age of forty, and he was not an honored king in life or in death, as he typifies the man of sin who must be destroyed by Christ’s coming into our lives (2Ch 21:17-20).

2Ch 21:17  And they came up into Judah, and brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
2Ch 21:18  And after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable disease. 
2Ch 21:19  And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two years, his bowels fell out by reason of his sickness: so he died of sore diseases. And his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers.
2Ch 21:20  Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

The other Jehoram, the son of Ahab, took the throne of Israel five years before his brother-in-law’s reign in Judah, and he was just as corrupt. Wicked king Ahab had turned the people to idolatry and the worship of Baal, his wife’s Jezebel’s god of choice, and all these evil communications to which Jehoram was exposed no doubt played a part in corrupting him (1Co 15:33). All these events tie into and weave in and out of the scriptures we will look at today that will hopefully serve as some groundwork for future studies in this second book of kings. As a result of the rebellion of Moab, Joram king of Israel sought out help from Jehoshaphat the king of Judah and the king of Edom so they could attack Moab together (2Ki 3:7-8).

2Ki 3:7  And he went and sent to Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, saying, The king of Moab hath rebelled against me: wilt thou go with me against Moab to battle? And he said, I will go up: I am as thou art, my people as thy people, and my horses as thy horses. 
2Ki 3:8  And he said, Which way shall we go up? And he answered, The way through the wilderness of Edom.

Another intervening moment occurs with Elijah’s successor Elisha, who saved the armies from a lack of water, and as mentioned earlier these actions were again another type and shadow of how God will provide all our needs through Christ. These deliverances are type and shadow events for Christ’s body’s sake assuring us that His body will be provided what we need in our daily spiritual battles that have us dying daily to self. In this instance, Elisha did not want to help, but God’s mercy prevailed, as it will for His people (2Ki 3:14-18).

2Ki 3:14  And Elisha said, As the LORD of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, surely, were it not that I regard the presence of Jehoshaphat the king of Judah, I would not look toward thee, nor see thee. 
2Ki 3:15  But now bring me a minstrel. And it came to pass, when the minstrel played, that the hand of the LORD came upon him.
2Ki 3:16  And he said, Thus saith the LORD, Make this valley full of ditches. 
2Ki 3:17  For thus saith the LORD, Ye shall not see wind, neither shall ye see rain; yet that valley shall be filled with water, that ye may drink, both ye, and your cattle, and your beasts.
2Ki 3:18  And this is but a light thing in the sight of the LORD: he will deliver the Moabites also into your hand (Joh 8:36, Rom 8:37, 2Co 4:17, Rom 8:18).

Another important lesson with Joram the king of Israel is that no amount of miracles is going to change his wicked heart, just as no amount of works on the earth or physical miracles are going to change someone whose heart is not converted by the Lord. In fact, it is those miracles that create the strong delusion in our lives to not see that we ‘are the man’ who needs to change from within and that the outward miracles are only a type and shadow of the greater miracle of spiritual healing we need in order to see and hear the voice of the true shepherd (Mat 13:16, Mat 24:24, Rev 13:13), which in type and shadow both Jehorams were not able to experience.

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

Rev 13:13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 

In chapter nine of 2 Kings, king Joram of Israel is injured in battle against king Hazael in Syria (2Ki 9:15) and returned to Jezreel in Israel to be healed. After this event, God charged “Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi^H5250” to destroy the entire house of Ahab. Judah and Israel are intrinsically linked as a type of the head and the body of Christ, so when Israel is being cleansed of idolatry and the house of Ahab is being destroyed in Israel, Judah will also be blessed by ridding the land of this idolatry within Israel (2Ki 9:1-11). These actions of God were another demonstration of how “Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.“

2Ki 9:1  And Elisha the prophet called one of the children of the prophets, and said unto him, Gird up thy loins, and take this box of oil in thine hand, and go to Ramothgilead: 
2Ki 9:2  And when thou comest thither, look out there Jehu the son of Jehoshaphat the son of Nimshi^H5250, and go in, and make him arise up from among his brethren, and carry him to an inner chamber; 
2Ki 9:3  Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not. 
2Ki 9:4  So the young man, even the young man the prophet, went to Ramothgilead. 
2Ki 9:5  And when he came, behold, the captains of the host were sitting; and he said, I have an errand to thee, O captain. And Jehu said, Unto which of all us? And he said, To thee, O captain. 
2Ki 9:6  And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel. 
2Ki 9:7  And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel. 
2Ki 9:8  For the whole house of Ahab shall perish: and I will cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall, and him that is shut up and left in Israel: 
2Ki 9:9  And I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah: 
2Ki 9:10  And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her. And he opened the door, and fled. 
2Ki 9:11  Then Jehu came forth to the servants of his lord: and one said unto him, Is all well? wherefore came this mad fellow to thee? And he said unto them, Ye know the man, and his communication. [When we are blessed to have eyes to see and ears to hear as typified by this anointing of Jehu then our communication can begin to cease from being evil (1Co 15:33)].

Nimshi H5250 = “rescued” (BDB); Probably from H4871; extricated (Strong’s)

H4871 =  A primitive root; to pull out (literally or figuratively): – draw (out).

Psa 18:16  He sent from above, he took me, he drew^H4871 me out of many waters.
Psa 18:17  He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me.
Psa 18:18  They prevented me in the day of my calamity: but the LORD was my stay.

2Ki 8:16  Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat was the king of Judah. Jehoram began to rule in the fifth year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel. (ERV)
2Ki 8:17  Thirty and two years old was he [Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat] when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 
2Ki 8:18  And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD. 
2Ki 8:19  Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.

The name Joram’s^H3141 root meaning is “Jehovah-raised“, and Jehoram was raised by the Lord from wicked king Ahab to accomplish God’s purpose (Psa 127:3, Pro 16:4), which purpose is understood for God’s elect to be unfolding for our sakes who are given to believe and know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).

Psa 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

H3141 yôrâm yo-rawm’ A form of H3088; Joram, the name of three Israelites and one Syrian: – Joram.  Total KJV occurrences: 20

H3088yehôrâm yeh-ho-rawm’  From H3068 and H7311; Jehovah-raised; Jehoram, the name of a Syrian and of three Israelites: – Jehoram, Joram. Compare H3141.  Total KJV occurrences: 29

Wicked men are God’s sword (Psa 17:13), and within us this means that our own iniquities will chasten us and be that sword (Jer 2:19), as these wicked kings and their sons typify what is in us until it is burned out of us through judgment.

Psa 17:13  Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.

With these concepts in mind, it becomes clear why “Jehoram (son of Jehoshaphat in Judah) began to rule in the fifth year that Joram son of Ahab was king of Israel” (ERV), the fifth year showing that a typical process of grace through faith is going to begin to unfold and be revealed in this story of different rulers and their sons. Just to witness to that fact, we are told that the age of Jehoram is thirty two (3+2=5), and he reigned eight years in Judah to signify the new man that is produced out of the grace and faith relationship to which we are called: “Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.“

This stage of Jehoram’s life however represents our time in Babylon when God’s chastening is not resulting in any spiritual increase within us, which only comes from God (1Co 3:6), and so we read of Jehoram king of Judah’s walk, his communication or way of life, with these words at this time: “And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.”

The daughter of Ahab, who is Jehoram’s (king of Judah) wife, is a type of Babylon as women represent churches in the bible, and “he did evil in the sight of the LORD” in this relationship with her as a type of the churches of this world out of which God’s elect are called (Rev 18:4).

The hope-filled promise (Tit 1:2) is in the next verse which reads, “Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children.” (Mat 5:14)

Tit 1:2  In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; 

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

God’s children are the light of the world, but we don’t start off that way and our former conversation (Eph 2:2) is judged by God so that we can ‘come out of her my people’ and no longer receive of her plagues (Rev 15:8). It takes God’s plagues upon the kingdom of our old man in order to no longer have to receive the plagues or cup of God’s wrath or judgment God promises every man will have to drink at their appointed time (Jer 49:12, 2Co 6:17, Rev 18:4).

Eph 2:2  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Rev 15:8  And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Jer 49:12  For thus saith the LORD; Behold, they whose judgment was not to drink of the cup have assuredly drunken; and art thou he that shall altogether go unpunished? thou shalt not go unpunished, but thou shalt surely drink of it.

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

2Ki 8:20  In his days Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves.
2Ki 8:21  So Joram went over to Zair^H6811, and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents. 
2Ki 8:22  Yet Edom revolted from under the hand of Judah unto this day. Then Libnah^H3841 revolted at the same time. 

We know that Edom represents our flesh that does not change and cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Co 15:50), and this is why our flesh revolts “from under the hand of Judah, and made a king over themselves“, which is another way of saying how we naturally reject God and need flesh to be in control (1Sa 8:7). It’s only a wood, hay and stubble venture (1Co 3:12) for king Joram of Judah at this point as he “went over to Zair^H6811 where the day of small things is not to be despised (Zec 4:10), and all the chariots with him: and he rose by night, and smote the Edomites which compassed him about, and the captains of the chariots: and the people fled into their tents.” 

1Sa 8:7  And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. 

1Co 15:50  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

I underlined the words “all the chariots with him” to remind us that the flesh does not go down easily and requires powerful horse-drawn chariots to accomplish the task at hand. The people who were able to flee this attack “fled into their tents” which symbolizes our taking solace in our own temporal fleshly abodes instead of trusting in the heavenly abode that can be found in Christ (Pro 3:5-7, Eph 2:6).

Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. 
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

Eph 2:6  And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 

H6811  tsâ‛ı̂yr tsaw-eer’  The same as H6810; Tsair, a place in Idumaea: – Zair.

Total KJV occurrences: 1

H6810  ts  ̂‛ı̂yr    tsâ‛ôr tsaw-eer’, tsaw-ore’  From H6819; little; (in number) few; (in age) young, (in value) ignoble: – least, little (one), small (one), + young (-er, -est).

Total KJV occurrences: 22

The sentence “Then Libnah^H3841 revolted at the same time” is a witness to the corroding effect sin has, as a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Gal 5:9).

Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

H3841 Libnah  libnâh  lib-naw’  The same as H3839; Libnah, a place in the Desert and one in Palestine: – Libnah.  Total KJV occurrences: 18 (Joe 1:7)

H3839 From H3835; some sort of whitish tree, perhaps the storax: – poplar. (Hos 4:13)

H3835 A primitive root; to be (or become) white; also (as denominative from H3843) to make bricks: – make brick, be (made, make) white (-r). (Lev_13:3)

Lev 13:3  And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when the hair in the plague is turned white^{H3836 = from H3835 “white}“, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of leprosy: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean. 

2Ki 8:23  And the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 
2Ki 8:24  And Joram slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. 

When we read “the rest of the acts of Joram, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?“, it is an all-inclusive statement that reminds us that every book was written by God, and this particular book is “of the chronicles of the kings of Judah” which is important for God’s elect to notice as it tells us these books are instructive for us to look at in order to grow in the mind of Christ (2Pe 3:18, 1Co 10:11). 

2Pe 3:18  But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

2Ki 8:25  In the twelfth year of Joram the son of Ahab king of Israel did Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah begin to reign.

Now Joram (the son of Ahab) who is first mentioned as being in his fifth year of reign (2Ki 8:16) is now in his twelfth year, and this foundational point is contrasted with Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah who is about to begin his reign in Judah. These numbers tell us that there is a progression the body of Christ goes through in order to establish a proper foundation in the Lord by grace through faith [5] that leads to a Godly foundation in time [12]. Now the focus is turned to Ahaziah (in Judah) who began to reign in the twelfth year of Joram (in Israel).

2Ki 8:26 Two and twenty years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign; and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah^H6271, the daughter of Omri^H6018 king of Israel.
2Ki 8:27  And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.
2Ki 8:28  And he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.

Ahaziah’s reign began when he was twenty-two years old to signify that this reign was a negative witness of when we are serving another Jesus. His mother’s name “Athaliah^H6271” and her father’s name “Omri^H6018 king of Israel” also bring out this point. Ahaziah typifies a place of spiritual constraint, which is what we have when we are in Babylon and serving her.

H6271 Athaliah‛ăthalyâh    ‛ăthalyâhû ath-al-yaw’, ath-al-yaw’-hoo  From the same as H6270 and H3050; Jah has constrained; Athaljah, the name of an Israelitess and two Israelites: – Athaliah.   Total KJV occurrences: 17

H6018 Omri ‛omrı̂y om-ree’  From H6014; heaping; Omri, an Israelite: – Omri.  Total KJV occurrences: 18

H6014‛âmar aw-mar’  A primitive root; properly apparently to heap; figuratively to chastise (as if piling blows); specifically (as denominative from H6016) to gather grain: – bind sheaves, make merchandise of. Total KJV occurrences: 3

God is the one who gives Satan his marching orders to constrain us by the devil’s spirit until he begins to be destroyed by the brightness of Christ’s coming into our lives (2Th 2:6-8). While we are in that bondage, God has in mind for the elect how this gathering of tares within us (“Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them“) is going to begin (1Pe 4:17) so the increase of wheat He is giving us (1Co 3:6) can be gathered into His barn, “but gather the wheat into my barn” (Mat 13:27-30). 

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 
2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: 

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 

Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?
Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.
Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Ahaziah reigned only one year in Jerusalem, and “he went with Joram the son of Ahab to the war against Hazael king of Syria in Ramothgilead; and the Syrians wounded Joram.” As a result of this battle and wounding of his uncle Joram, “Ahaziah the son of Jehoram” went down to see “Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel” which demonstrates that Ahaziah was yet in alliance with this wicked king (Mat 10:39).

Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

2Ki 8:29  And king Joram went back to be healed in Jezreel of the wounds which the Syrians had given him at Ramah, when he fought against Hazael king of Syria. And Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel^H3157, because he was sick.

God is the one who is going to sow all the details in our lives (Eph 1:11), the battles, the spiritual growth, the much tribulation, the eventual death of the carnal old man within. It is all that which affects the inner workings of His workmanship which we are (Eph 2:10), and through the whole process we are promised He will never leave or forsake us, from start to finish, as the author and finisher of our faith (Heb 12:2). 

H3157 Jezreel yizre‛ê’l yiz-reh-ale’  From H2232 and H410; God will sow; Jizreel, the name of two places in Palestine and of two Israelites: – Jezreel.  Total KJV occurrences: 36

Ahaziah, the son of “Jehoram king of Judah“, who “went down to see Joram the son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick” shows the alliance that Ahaziah had with the wicked king of Israel, but this also was done for “Judah for David his servant’s sake”, preserving these lines and all their stories to bring us comfort that God’s remnant will be preserved, regardless of what wicked men (within and without) do along the way (Rom 11:5).

Rom 11:5  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Next week we will be shown how and why flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom, and we’ll continue to see in these stories that it is through Christ [the Lion of the tribe of Judah] and his Christ [the Israel of God] that we receive the strength and the faith to endure and overcome so we can continue to believe these words of hope which apply to His little remnant flock, “Yet the LORD would not destroy Judah for David his servant’s sake” (2Co 1:3-5, Php 4:13).

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

[Study Aired July 14, 2022]

In this last chapter we’ll look at the order of events with these various kings, and their sons in question, in hope of discovering what the spiritual message is for God’s elect today who know that all these kings, good or bad or somewhat good or bad, represent the spiritual wrestling matches we have in our heavens Christ has caused so that we are brought to our wits’ end (Psa 107:6) bringing us to cry out in this weak flesh that constantly needs deliverance from “the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” against which we wrestle (Eph 6:12).

Psa 107:6  Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

If we are blessed to read, hear and keep the sayings of the prophecies in God’s word in this life (Rev 1:3), our depth of appreciation will grow for all these characters we will read about in scripture as well as every person we have ever known directly or indirectly in this world.

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

With God’s spirit within us and a determination that comes from Him to endure until the end of this life, being faithful to what we have been shown, we are given, through our Lord, an ability to continue to make sense of those things that we now read with eyes that see and ears that hear (Mat 13:16), along with a hunger and thirst to keep these sayings (Mat 5:6). This is why it is possible that we can take heed to the word of God in which we labor and cherish, knowing these are the words of eternal life God has given His elect to hold onto like a crown (Joh 6:68, Rev 3:11, Joh 8:31-32).

Mat 13:16  But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 

Mat 5:6  Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled [keep].

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

Rev 3:11  Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Joh 8:31  Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
Joh 8:32  And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

In this last chapter of the first book of Kings, the scriptures tell us how Ahab went out to battle with Jehoshaphat against the king of Syria (1Ki 22:30-34), resulting in his death and Elijah’s prophecy being fulfilled that the dogs would lick up his blood (1Ki 22:35-38). Ahab would then sleep with his fathers, and his son Ahaziah would reign in his stead (1Ki 22:40).

Then we’re given a review of the timeline that Jehoshaphat the son of Asa ruled over Judah in relation to the then yet alive king of Israel, Ahab. It was in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel that Jehoshaphat began to reign over Judah, and he was thirty five at this point when he began to rule (1Ki 22:41-44).

For the most part, Jehoshaphat was spoken of as being a good king of Judah who did not turn aside from doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord as did his father, Asa. Jehoshaphat also made peace with the king of Israel, Ahab, and as we read in the previous verses they fought together against the king of Syria (1Ki 22:39-44).

We then see the son of Ahab, whose name was Ahaziah, trying to make alliance with the king of Judah, but Jehoshaphat refused to let that happen. Then we’re told of Jehoshaphat’s death and learn of his son, Jehoram, who would reign in his stead (1Ki 22:45-50).

The chapter ends by letting us know the year that Ahaziah began to rule over Israel in Samaria, which was the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat’s reign over Judah. Ahaziah only reigned two years over Israel, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord as did his father and mother, for he served Baal, and “worshiped him, and provoked to anger the LORD God of Israel, according to all that his father had done” (1Ki 22:51-53).

Last week’s study was about taking heed, and this last chapter of 1st Kings is about recognizing how we can and should take heed against the powers and principalities that we are wrestling against. The history of these kings is laid out for our sakes to give us a clear symbolic picture of how prophecy is fulfilled in war. These wars typify for God’s elect the powers and principalities we war against daily and can only be overcome through Jesus Christ through whom we are more than conquerors (Eph 6:10-13, Rev 3:12, Rom 8:37).

Eph 6:10  Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 
Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Rev 3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name [Eze 36:26].

Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 

1Ki 22:30  And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle. 
1Ki 22:31  But the king of Syria commanded his thirty and two captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel. 

These opening verses of our study discuss one of the key ways Satan tries to deceive and conquer God’s people, by having us don the king’s robes so that there is an outward appearance of righteousness when in fact our actions are anything but: “I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself, and went into the battle.” This is akin to saying ‘Lord, Lord’ but not doing the things that He commands us (Luk 6:46).

This temporary illusion is soon seen through, and nothing is going to stop the king of Syria’s marching orders to “Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel” who was trying to blend in as a common soldier without his kingly robes on. These three verses, (1Ki 20:42, 1Ki 21:19, 1Ki 22:17), address prophetic events written to our old man, typified by Ahab whose days are numbered, and no amount of scheming is going to stop God from accomplishing the goal of having no flesh inherit the kingdom of God, no carnality, no old man of sin (1Co 15:50):

1Ki 20:42  And he [“a certain man of the sons of the of prophets” of verse 35] said unto him [Ahab], Thus saith the LORD, Because thou hast let go out of thy hand a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his people. 

1Ki 21:19  And thou [Elijah] shalt speak unto him [Ahab], saying, Thus saith the LORD, Hast thou killed, and also taken possession [of Naboth’s vineyard]? And thou [Elijah] shalt speak unto him [Ahab], saying, Thus saith the LORD, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine. 

1Ki 22:17  And he [Micaiah] said [to Ahab], I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills, as sheep that have not a shepherd: and the LORD said, These have no master: let them return every man to his house in peace.

Let’s not forget that this war’s outcome, spoken of by all three prophets here, was, as are all battles, a foregone conclusion, all according to the will of God (2Pe 1:21, 1Jn 2:17).

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: 
2Pe 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 
2Pe 1:21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Syria represents our own sins chastening us (Jer 2:19) by the grace through faith process which God has ordained and is symbolized by the “thirty [a multiple of 3] and two [2] captains that had rule over his chariots, saying, Fight neither with small nor great, save only with the king of Israel” that the king of Syria commanded be sent. (30 is a multiple of 3 which denotes the completion of the process of judgment, the (link here to that study) completion of the process of judgment, along with the number 2 that symbolizes a (link here) witness of that judgment: 3+2 = 5 which symbolizes grace through faith (link).) As we will see in the next verses, (1Ki 22:32-33), Ahab’s cover is blown which represents our sins that will be found out (Num 32:23).

Jer 2:19  Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts. 

Num 32:23  But if ye will not do so, behold, ye have sinned against the LORD: and be sure your sin will find you out.

1Ki 22:32  And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, that they said, Surely it is the king of Israel. And they turned aside to fight against him: and Jehoshaphat cried out. 
1Ki 22:33  And it came to pass, when the captains of the chariots perceived^H7200  that it was not the king of Israel, that they turned back from pursuing him. 

Our old man of sin, represented by Ahab here, is discovered once we are able to see^H7200 a situation for what it is through grace and faith, represented by the 32 captains.

H7200 perceived râ’âh  raw-aw’  A primitive root; to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitively, intransitively and causatively): – advise self, appear, approve, behold, X certainly, consider, discern, (make to) enjoy, have experience, gaze, take heed, X indeed, X joyfully, lo, look (on, one another, one on another, one upon another, out, up, upon), mark, meet, X be near, perceive, present, provide, regard, (have) respect, (fore-, cause to, let) see (-r, -m, one another), shew (self), X sight of others, (e-) spy, stare, X surely, X think, view, visions.

It also only became clear that this was not the king of Israel because the king of Judah “cried out” to God, which is revealed in the other recounting of this story in 2 Chronicles 18:32. We cry out to God to spare our spiritual lives, and we are heard in that we fear, and so Jehoshaphat represents that Godly fear we desire (Heb 5:7) “doing right in the eyes of the LORD”  (1Ki 22:43).

2Ch 18:31  And when the captains of the chariots saw Jehoshaphat, they said, It  the king of Israel. Therefore, they compassed about him to fight; but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him; and God separated them from him.

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears [“but Jehoshaphat cried out“] unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; 

1Ki 22:34  And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.

Every single event of our life is written in His book. All our days are numbered (Psa 139:16), all our successes and failures, all our joy and hurt, all the increase of Christ in our life that comes from God (1Co 3:6), and all the humbling of our old man and the ultimate destruction of him is of the Lord as we decrease and He increases within us (Joh 3:30). This is the lesson behind this particular arrow that was shot at a venture^H8537 which perfectly went where the Lord wanted it to go to wound Ahab “between the scales where his armor breastplates joined” or “between the joints of the armor“.

The positive example of ‘breastplate’ as we will see is found in the breakdown of the word “venture” [H8537 venture, H8552 tâmam, H8550 tûmmı̂ym] telling us that all fiery darts are quenched by the faith of Christ and the righteousness of Christ found within his bride (Eph 6:14, Rev 19:8).

H8537 venture tôm tome   From H8552; completeness; figuratively prosperity; usually (morally) innocence: – full, integrity, perfect (-ion), simplicity, upright (-ly, -ness), at a venture. See H8550.

H8552 tâmam taw-mam’ A primitive root; to complete, in a good or a bad sense, literally or figuratively, transitively or intransitively: – accomplish, cease, be clean [pass-] ed, consume, have done, (come to an, make an) end, fail, come to the full, be all gone, X be all here, be (make) perfect, be spent, sum, be (shew self) upright, be wasted, whole.

H8550  tûmmı̂ym  toom-meem’  Plural of H8537; perfections, that is, (technically) one of the epithets of the objects in the high priest’s breastplate as an emblem of complete Truth: Thummim.

The vanity of man’s flesh tries to hide from the Lord via our own strength like Adam and Eve in the garden among the trees (Gen 3:8), but no amount of subterfuge with these two kings within us is going to thwart God’s plan from destroying Ahab, by sending His word, which is represented by this arrow that was shot at a venture^H8537.

The gates of hell are really the deceitful and desperately wicked heart that wants to save itself, but God will overcome those gates within us as He told Peter (Mat 16:18). All that was left to do now that the king was severely wounded was to flee from the battle scene, “Wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.” Like Adam and Eve in the garden though, there was no place to hide from the Lord and the forthcoming punishment which was soon to unfold perfectly (Jer 23:18-20, 1Th 5:2-3, Gen 4:13-14, Job 18:17-18, Jer 10:10).

Jer 23:18  For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
Jer 23:19  Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
Jer 23:20  The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.

1Th 5:2  For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 
1Th 5:3  For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

Gen 4:13  And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 
Gen 4:14  Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. 

Job 18:17  His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. 
Job 18:18  He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. 

Jer 10:10  But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

1Ki 22:35  And the battle increased that day: and the king was stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians, and died at even: and the blood ran out of the wound into the midst of the chariot.
1Ki 22:36  And there went a proclamation throughout the host about the going down of the sun, saying, Every man to his city, and every man to his own country. 
1Ki 22:37  So the king died, and was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria.
1Ki 22:38  And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and the dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armour; according unto the word of the LORD which he spake.

This situation demonstrates for us that we can’t make war against the beast, symbolized by being “stayed up in his chariot against the Syrians” (Rev 13:4). It is only through Christ that we can become more than conquerors over all our enemies (Rom 8:37). Ahab was taken “out of the host” as he represents our old man that cannot continue to battle to enter into the kingdom by his own strength (Heb 6:3-6, Eze 31:14).

Heb 6:3  And this will we do, if God permit.
Heb 6:4  For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 
Heb 6:5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 
Heb 6:6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 

Eze 31:14  To the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height, neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs, neither their trees stand up in their height, all that drink water: for they are all delivered unto death, to the nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit [Gen 3:8].

God is a just Father, and this is the verdict for all flesh that we are privileged to perceive being played out in the life of Ahab (1Co 15:50) our flesh, cornered by his enemy where our own iniquities are chastening us to the point of death. The adamic blood running into the midst of his chariot symbolizes how there is no strength in the first man Adam who is destroyed, bringing about the proclamation that goes throughout the host about the going down of the sun (Mal 4:2), saying, “Every man to his city, and every man to his own country“, and that would include Ahab who “was brought to Samaria; and they buried the king in Samaria“, his own city, his own country, (Heb 11:10, Heb 11:14) where his own strength failed after residing and ruling for 22 years (1Ki 16:29).

Heb 11:10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. 

Heb 11:14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country.

The events that unfolded were for our sakes to remind and admonish us that our own strength, our armor, or our chariot, all of our flesh and heart that is so wicked, at the end of the day is all covered with our own blood that is washed by our own means and licked up by dogs who have no regard for our life. This is all telling us (1Co 10:11) that we must die, and are as water spilled on the ground, “which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him” (2Sa 14:14), each expelled man in his order.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

1Ki 22:39  Now the rest of the acts of Ahab, and all that he did, and the ivory house which he made, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 
1Ki 22:40  So Ahab slept with his fathers; and Ahaziah his son reigned in his stead. 

As usual, we have these closing words about the king found in “the chronicles of the kings of Israel” where, in this case we learn that Ahab was an industrious king who had an “ivory^H8127 house which he made, and all the cities that he built“, symbols which remind us that Ahab was an industrious beast (Ecc 3:18). Ahaziah, Ahab’s son would now reign in his stead and set out to be like his father and “did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in the way of his mother, and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin“.

H8127 ivory shên 
BDB Definition:
1) tooth, ivory
1a) tooth
1a1) of man, lex talionis, beast
1b) tooth, tine (of fork)
1c) ivory
1c1) as material
1c2) of commerce
1d) sharp pointed rock

1Ki 22:41  And Jehoshaphat the son of Asa began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel. 
1Ki 22:42  Jehoshaphat was thirty and five years old when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 
1Ki 22:43  And he walked in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD: nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places. 
1Ki 22:44  And Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel. 

Jehoshaphat began to reign over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel and was thirty-five years old when this happened. He reigned for twenty-five years in Jerusalem, and “his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi“. God’s timing is always perfect, so the symbolism of Judah having a new king who came in at the fourth year of Ahab’s reign tells us that this new king, Jehoshaphat, was going to be wholly instrumental in the outcome of the years of Ahab’s rule over Israel.

Starting to rule at thirty-five years as the king of Israel tells us something about how he was going to rule, along with the point that it was for twenty-five years in Jerusalem. Both of those numbers are multiples of five which is the number that symbolizes grace through faith.

Living by grace through faith (Eph 2:8) is typified by walking “in all the ways of Asa his father; he turned not aside from it, doing that which was right in the eyes of the LORD“.

We are told however that “nevertheless the high places were not taken away; for the people offered and burnt incense yet in the high places“, which symbolizes our inability to completely put sin out of our lives and our need to constantly be vigilant against the little leaven that can leaven the whole lump (1Jn 1:8-9, Gal 5:9).

1Jn 1:8  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 
1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

Gal 5:9  A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. 

It was Jehoshaphat who made peace with the king of Israel, which typifies our need to make friends with the unrighteous mammon of this world (Luk 16:9), and at this point in our walk we are allowed to return in peace to our house (1Ki 22:17). However, if God is working with us in this age, that is not the end of the story for us, and these following verses (2Ch 19:1-3, 1Ki 22:17, 2Ch 20:30) remind us that Jehoshaphat, who is a type of overcomer, still has things that have to be worked on and purged out of his life, just as Christ told several of the churches in the book of Revelation, showing us that our battle against powers and principalities will be to our last breath (Rev 2:20, Rev 2:14, Eph 6:12-13).

2Ch 19:1  And Jehoshaphat the king of Judah returned to his house in peace to Jerusalem. 
2Ch 19:2  And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the LORD? therefore is wrath upon thee from before the LORD. [Rev 2:20]
2Ch 19:3  Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God. 

2Ch 20:30  So the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet: for his God gave him rest round about. 
2Ch 20:31  And Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah: he was thirty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Azubah the daughter of Shilhi. 
2Ch 20:32  And he walked in the way of Asa his father, and departed not from it, doing that which was right in the sight of the LORD.
2Ch 20:33  Howbeit the high places were not taken away: for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts unto the God of their fathers [Rev 2:14].

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities^G746, [Rev 2:14, Rev 2:20] against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 
Eph 6:13  Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

G746 principalities  archē  ar-khay’  From G756; (properly abstract) a commencement, or (concrete) chief (in various applications of order, time, place or rank): – beginning, corner, (at the, the) first (estate), magistrate, power, principality, principle, rule.

1Ki 15:1-34 “For David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem”

[Study Aired April 21, 2022]

1Ki 15:1  Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah. 
1Ki 15:2  Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 
1Ki 15:3  And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father. 
1Ki 15:4  Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: 
1Ki 15:5  Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 
1Ki 15:6  And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life. 
1Ki 15:7  Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 
1Ki 15:8  And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:9  And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah. 
1Ki 15:10  And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 
1Ki 15:11  And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.
1Ki 15:12  And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 
1Ki 15:13  And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. 
1Ki 15:14  But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days. 
1Ki 15:15  And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels. 
1Ki 15:16  And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 
1Ki 15:17  And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah. 
1Ki 15:18  Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 
1Ki 15:19  There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 
1Ki 15:20  So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 
1Ki 15:21  And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. 
1Ki 15:22  Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. 
1Ki 15:23  The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet. 
1Ki 15:24  And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:25  And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years. 
1Ki 15:26  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 
1Ki 15:27  And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. 
1Ki 15:28  Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:29  And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: 
1Ki 15:30  Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger. 
1Ki 15:31  Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 
1Ki 15:32  And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 
1Ki 15:33  In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years. 
1Ki 15:34  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 

The books of Kings, like all of God’s Word, hold out hope for those who are blessed to understand that the message which has been written is to be read and heard and kept within us (Rev 1:3).

Rev 1:3  Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. 

This history of Israel and Judah is very often just violent and a witness of what we can’t do without Christ in our midst, whose presence in our life (Rom 8:9) is typified by the life of king David. So, we will often read such interjected and interspersed verses such as this one: “Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem” (vs 4). These words were inspired for our sakes to remind us that the wars going on in our heavens, the kings being destroyed, the nations being conquered, the inevitable idolatry, and punishment of those kings who acted badly, are all written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come (1Co 10:11) and are a somber reminder of how we must continually keep under ourselves (1Co 9:27). We know it is only possible by the life of Christ within us, represented by “a lamp in Jerusalem“, the life of Christ within us that raises us up into heavenly Jerusalem above the mother of us all (Eph 2:6, Gal 4:26).

Rom 8:9  But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. 

The bible is written in such a way that the natural man looks for the natural fulfillment of the covenants of promise (Eph 2:10-18) that were made to Abraham, Moses and through the prophet Jeremiah, through physical blessings (Gen 17:4-6, Exo 19:1-24:18, Jer 31:31-33), not understanding those promises are typical of the life of Christ that initially would be given to the few (Mat 22:14). These few would then inherit eternal life becoming the heirs of many children as was promised to Abraham, who is a type of Christ, the father of many nations within and outwardly, who is preparing the bride (Rev 19:7) and making her ready to inherit eternal life as His wife who will be used to save the world, bringing forth many spiritual children (Oba 1:21).

Gen 17:4  As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 
Gen 17:5  Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 

Exo 19:3  And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; 
Exo 19:4  Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. 
Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: 
Exo 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. 

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: 
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: 
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 
Jer 31:34  And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. 

Eph 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. 
Eph 2:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; 
Eph 2:12  That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: 
Eph 2:13  But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. 
Eph 2:14  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 
Eph 2:15  Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 
Eph 2:16  And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 
Eph 2:17  And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 
Eph 2:18  For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. 

Rev 19:7  Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

If we consider that God is our Father and the children are the words of God which come from the Word, who is the son of God, then it becomes clear that this statement in Malachi 4:6 is telling us the world within us, along with the outward world one day, will understand that partaking and knowing and being part of that right relationship with our heavenly Father and Christ is obedience to His word (Joh 6:68) and is what eternal life is (Gal 4:27-31, Joh 17:3).

Mal 4:6  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

Joh 6:68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 

Gal 4:27  For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. 
Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 
Gal 4:29  But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. 
Gal 4:30  Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. 
Gal 4:31  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free. 

Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1Ki 15:1  Now in the eighteenth year of king Jeroboam the son of Nebat reigned Abijam over Judah.

This first verse sets the stage for what is going to come upon Jeroboam and the nation of Israel, and that ‘something’ is judgment which occurs while Jeroboam is in his “eighteenth year” of reign [1+8=9]. It was at that time that “the son of Nebat reigned AbijamH38 over Judah”. Abijam typifies our flesh and the sins of humanity within us seeing his name means “father of (the) sea” or “seaman”, and more specifically he is ruling over our religious beast represented by being “over Judah“. This is not Christ walking on the sea, but rather typifies the antichrist walking on the sea of humanity and ruling over them via powers and principalities against which we wrestle (1Jn 4:1-4).

1Ki 15:2 Three years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 
1Ki 15:3  And he walked in all the sins of his father, which he had done before him: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father.

The man of sin has us typically in bondage “for three years”, and the most discouraging part of judgment is when we realize that we cannot set ourselves free from the bondage of sin even when we can clearly see it ruling over us. It confirms the fruit of our life at this point in our walk which is just like that of our father the devil, “walk[ing] in all the sins of [our] father“. In fact it is oppression/pressure which is what Maachah^H4601 the mother of Abijam’s name means, and yet the end result of that judgment or “bruising” will bring  peace and happiness as we come to know and believe that we are the apple of God’s eye, “the daughter^H1323 of Abishalom^H53.

H4601
ma‛ăkâh ma‛ăkâth
mah-ak-aw’, mah-ak-awth’ 
From H4600; depression; Maakah (or Maakath), the name of a place in Syria, also of a Mesopotamian, of three Israelites, and of four Israelitesses and one Syrian woman: – Maachah, Maachathites. See also H1038.

H4600  
mâ‛ak
maw-ak’
A primitive root; to press, that is, to pierce, emasculate, handle: – bruised, stuck, be pressed.

H1323
bath
bath 
From H1129 (as feminine of H1121); a daughter (used in the same wide sense as other terms of relationship, literally and figuratively): – apple [of the eye], branch, company, daughter, X first, X old, + owl, town, village.

H53
‘ăbı̂yshâlôm    ‘abshâlôm
ab-ee-shaw-lome’, ab-shaw-lome’  
From H1 and H7965; father of peace (that is, friendly); Abshalom, a son of David; also (the fuller form) a later Israelite: – Abishalom, Absalom.

1Ki 15:4  Nevertheless for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem: 
1Ki 15:5  Because David did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. 
1Ki 15:6  And there was war between all the days of his life. 
1Ki 15:7  Now the rest of the acts of Abijam, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. 

Christ, and more specifically the words of God that bring healing to us, is the “lamp in Jerusalem” that leads our steps through this life (Psa 119:105), and in this verse we are being shown that “to set up his son after him, and to establish (1Pe 5:10) Jerusalem” is the end result of the righteousness of Christ working within us, symbolized by David who did what was “right in the eyes of the LORD, and turned not aside from any thing that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Jerusalem is again being a type of the new Jerusalem within our heavens that is being established (Gal 4:26, 1Pe 5:10). That matter of having Uriah^H223 the Hittite^H2850 murdered to cover his own sin of adultery represents the judgment against us regarding the death of Christ of which we are all guilty, and it is by acknowledging our part in the death of Christ that we then have Bathsheba as our wife, who typifies the church (Rom 5:10).

Rom 5:10  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 

1Pe 5:10  But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.

The wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam, and Abijam and Jeroboam, are a witness to us of the constant war that is in our heavens which can only be overcome through Christ (Eph 6:12). The sword will not depart from our house while we are in flesh (2Sa 12:10), and we are meant to struggle through this life of much tribulation for the reward of being in the first resurrection (Rev 21:7-8). All these wars were chronicled, or “written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah“, so we always know where we came from as we continue to get where we’re going by the grace of God.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 
Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

1Ki 15:8  And Abijam slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Asa his son reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:9  And in the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel reigned Asa over Judah.
1Ki 15:10   And forty and one years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom. 
1Ki 15:11  And Asa did that which was right in the eyes of the LORD, as did David his father.
1Ki 15:12  And he took away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made. 
1Ki 15:13  And also Maachah his mother, even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron. 

The next king in line is Asa, who is the son of Abijam^H38 whose name  means ‘seaman’, and his son did that which was right before the Lord even to the extent that he was compared to king David who was a man after God’s own heart. The number of years of Asa’s reign reflect what is required for one to become a good king and ruler, the ‘forty’ symbolizing much tribulation and the ‘one’ representing the day of the Lord, the judgment that is upon the church (1Pe 4:17). The process of judgment is hard on the flesh, but the end result is the peaceable fruit of righteousness expressed with these two names mentioned a second time in this chapter for our encouragement: “his mother’s name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom” [“Maachah^H4601 the daughter^H1323 of Abishalom^H53“].

When we acknowledge our natural tendency to want to rule over others and confess our fault before God, and our need to be humbled in this life by his chastening grace, we are in fact, by the power of God, being given to “[take] away the sodomites out of the land, and removed all the idols that his fathers had made.” We can’t be respecters of persons and think we’re showing love by letting a little leaven remain in the body of Christ, and so the Corinthian fornicator must be put out of our midst as well, and the idol of his heart must be exposed (1Co 5:12-13), which is typical of what Asa did with his mother: “even her he removed from being queen, because she had made an idol in a grove; and Asa destroyed her idol, and burnt it by the brook Kidron.

1Ki 15:14  But the high places were not removed: nevertheless Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days. 
1Ki 15:15  And he brought in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels. 

Asa’s heart was perfect with the LORD all his days, and that was mostly reflected by his many wonderful works of bringing “in the things which his father had dedicated, and the things which himself had dedicated, into the house of the LORD, silver, and gold, and vessels“, along with the previously mentioned ‘taking away of his father’s and mother’s idols along with the sodomites of the land’.  This all happened as a first stage of overcoming or coming out of the sea or world which his father’s name represents. However, now that he is raised a little higher onto the earth so to speak, and having done all these wonderful works, there is still this issue of “the high places were not removed“. We will lose our “first love” before we are done (Rev 2:4). This tells us that the higher places can only be removed through the deeper trials of our life that expose these ‘high places’ in our heavens where we harbor idols of our hearts (1Co 3:12-14).

1Co 3:12  Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; 
1Co 3:13  Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. 
1Co 3:14  If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. 

1Ki 15:16  And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 
1Ki 15:17  And Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah, and built Ramah^H7414, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

Whenever we read of a physical war in this manner, “and there was war“, the mind of Christ shows us the only war that God wants us to be mindful of is taking place within ourselves of which war Christ is fighting for us (Rev 12:7, Eph 6:12). All wars, in the negative sense of using the word ‘war’, come from a self-righteous greedy place that stinks [Baasha^H1201] in God’s nostrils as we want something but don’t initially ask in faith (Jas 4:3); and instead of asking, we go after what we want without waiting on the Lord, as we consume whatever idol of our heart God grants to our own destruction. God marred us in the Potter’s hand for that very reason to show us that we are beasts who need to be delivered from these bodies of death that, like Baasha who is the king of Israel, go “up against Judah, and built Ramah^H7414 [same as ^H7413 a height, a high place], that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.

H1201
ba‛shâ’
bah-shaw’
From an unused root meaning to stink; offensiveness; Basha, a king of Israel: – Baasha.

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, 

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

1Ki 15:18  Then Asa took all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants: and king Asa sent them to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, 
1Ki 15:19  There is a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me. 
1Ki 15:20  So Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali. 

Asa’s response to what Baasha the king of Israel is doing reveals to us today how we are to deal with that corrupt king within us who wants to circumvent worship by going up “against Judah, and built Ramah^H7414, that he might not suffer any to go out or come in to Asa king of Judah.” Asa’s plan of action against this stranglehold Baasha is trying to obtain by not allowing any to have an audience with the king is typical of what Babylon does to us where we are introduced to another Jesus, in this case represented by what was built in “Ramah^H7414.

The solution to this problem that Asa is facing is to take “all the silver and the gold that were left in the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house, and delivered them into the hand of his servants” and by doing this he leveraged his position as king to have his servants sent “to Benhadad, the son of Tabrimon, the son of Hezion, king of Syria, that dwelt at Damascus, saying, a league between me and thee, and between my father and thy father: behold, I have sent unto thee a present of silver and gold; come and break thy league with Baasha king of Israel, that he may depart from me.” These actions of King Asa are reminiscent of these verses that talk about the wise steward who gave credit where credit was due and in so doing was similar in Asa’s situation (Luk 16:1-11, Rom 13:6-10). The positive end result was that “Benhadad hearkened unto king Asa, and sent the captains of the hosts which he had against the cities of Israel, and smote Ijon, and Dan, and Abelbethmaachah, and all Cinneroth, with all the land of Naphtali.” God is showing us with this story how we are to wage spiritual warfare in our heavens by not giving the devil advantage, as we humble ourselves under God’s mighty hand by using the resources He has given us to His glory and honour (Luk 16:1-11, Rom 13:6-10).

Luk 16:1  And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. 
Luk 16:2  And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. 
Luk 16:3  Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. 
Luk 16:4  I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. 
Luk 16:5  So he called every one of his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much owest thou unto my lord? 
Luk 16:6  And he said, An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. 
Luk 16:7  Then said he to another, And how much owest thou? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
Luk 16:8  And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
Luk 16:9  And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
Luk 16:10  He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
Luk 16:11  If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

Rom 13:6  For for this cause pay ye tribute also: for they are God’s ministers, attending continually upon this very thing. 
Rom 13:7  Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour. 
Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. 
Rom 13:9  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 
Rom 13:10  Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 

1Ki 15:21  And it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah. 
1Ki 15:22  Then king Asa made a proclamation throughout all Judah; none was exempted: and they took away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded; and king Asa built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah. 

Over time, or through a process, “it came to pass, when Baasha heard thereof, that he left off building of Ramah, and dwelt in Tirzah“, which is a shadow of what Satan does once he is resisted by those who have cleaved unto God and resisted him (Jas 4:7). Christ was tempted to eat bread [false doctrine], Christ was tempted to tempt God, and Christ was tempted to receive glory in his flesh, if he would only bow down and worship Satan, and after resisting each situation by God’s power, by using the word of God, the devil then left him (Mat 4:11).

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 

Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. 

The spiritual spoils of war are being typified by the proclamation Asa then makes, and none was exempted by this decree of the king. These actions of taking “away the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof, wherewith Baasha had builded” is typical of the first temple that must be destroyed and made anew as we all must be through the spirit of God that quickens us (Joh 6:63) and is likened unto “the stones of Ramah, and the timber thereof“. It’s ‘another gospel’ that was built by Baasha in type and figure, but not ‘another’ in the sense there was nothing wrong with the materials, just the placement of them and the destructive intent that Baasha had in using the stones and timber, representing how we take God’s gold and silver and wrap it around the idol of our own hearts and use it the way that we want at first. The same materials are now taken to “built with them Geba of Benjamin, and Mizpah” whose names reveal the new intent and purpose of these structures which is positive.

1Ki 15:22 then king (healer) made a proclamation throughout all (praised); none was exempted: and they took away the stones of (the height) and the timber thereof, wherewith (wasting away) had builded; and king (healer) built with them (hill) of (right hand’s son), and (watch tower). (PNB-kjv)
1Ki 15:23  The rest of all the acts of Asa, and all his might, and all that he did, and the cities which he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet.

After what appeared to be some very positive actions taken by Asa to protect the kingdom of Judah, which they were, we read, “Nevertheless in the time of his old age he was diseased in his feet,” meaning his spiritual walk was not empowered by the mind of Christ in type and shadow but his many wonderful works were understood to have been accomplished by “all his might” and all “that he did” and the cities “which he built” (Mat 7:22, 1Co 2:5, 1Co 1:25, Job 13:15, 1Co 13:3).

Mat 7:22  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

1Co 2:5  That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 

1Co 1:25  Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

Job 13:15  Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. 

1Co 13:3  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 

1Ki 15:24  And Asa slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father: and Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:25  And Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and reigned over Israel two years. 
1Ki 15:26  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 
1Ki 15:27 And Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon. 

Asa is dead now and sleeping “with his fathers in the city of David his father.”  So another seed has died, and growth is about to happen, whether that growth is going to be good or bad for the nation of Israel is undetermined from our earthly perspective. However, from God’s perspective, He has already declared the end from the beginning of every life and has written these lives to teach us lessons. “Jehoshaphat” the son of Asa will now reign, and his name means “judged“, which is the ongoing theme that is bouncing back and forth between the now divided nations of Israel and Judah. For Israel it is Nadab the son of Jeroboam who is now going to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he will reign for two years, and lo and behold “he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin“, which is what these “twos” being mentioned are being a witness. He was ‘a chip off of his father Jeroboam’s shoulder’ indeed. There is a negative and positive principle being shown with lineage throughout the books of Kings, and in this case the witness is negative, but in other verses it is a positive lineage coming forth from God Who ordained it to be that way (2Ti 1:3-7).

2Ti 1:3  I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; 
2Ti 1:4  Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy;
2Ti 1:5  When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. 
2Ti 1:6  Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. 
2Ti 1:7  For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 

God has caused this sin by hardening the heart of Nadab (Isa 63:17) and has already prepared the means to punish him through “Baasha the son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar” (Rom 9:17-21) who “conspired against him; and Baasha smote him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines; for Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibbethon“. A parallel story that comes to mind is the slaying of the Philistine giant Goliath which also came about by what God had purposed in advance (Jdg 14:4).

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance. 

Rom 9:17  For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 
Rom 9:18  Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. 
Rom 9:19  Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? 
Rom 9:20  Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 
Rom 9:21  Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 

Jdg 14:4  But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 

1Ki 15:28  Even in the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead. 
1Ki 15:29  And it came to pass, when he reigned, that he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite: 
1Ki 15:30  Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger. 

Again we see the wonderful redundancy of God’s word that shows us the persistence of flesh and the need to continue to endure this process of judgment in our lives that will in time destroy the old man of sin within us. The process of judgment is typified by “the third year of Asa king of Judah did Baasha slay him, and reigned in his stead“, and what is going to be left of our old man after that judgment is complete destruction, stated this way: “he smote all the house of Jeroboam; he left not to Jeroboam any that breathed, until he had destroyed him, according unto the saying of the LORD, which he spake by his servant Ahijah the Shilonite.” Why this must happen to us is because we are the man who sins or who would not cease from sinning unless the Lord chastens and scourges us in this life (1Pe 4:1, Heb 12:6). It is “Because of the sins of Jeroboam which he sinned, and which he made Israel sin, by his provocation wherewith he provoked the LORD God of Israel to anger” that all of this must unfold, and it is the Lord who has hardened the heart of the king to the glory of God and for our sakes (2Co 4:15).

One thing that should be getting clearer and clearer for us regarding the history of all these kings is that there was very little learning from past mistakes. In fact, in some cases, the generational king that followed would end up being worse, or sometimes better but then worse again. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to anything, as though God is showing us that He is sovereign over every single detail of these kings and nations whether they grow and are given an increase or whether they don’t (1Co 3:6). I ‘speak as a fool’ of course because we know that is exactly what the lesson for us is, as we look at all these ‘rise and falls’ of kings that typify the lifelong struggle God gives us in these marred vessels of which Christ says there is none good (Luk 18:19). We come to realize that He alone is the one who exalts or abases kings and nations, all according to the counsel of His own will (Eph 1:11).

1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. 

Luk 18:19  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that is, God. 

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: 

1Ki 15:31  Now the rest of the acts of Nadab, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? 
1Ki 15:32  And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days. 
1Ki 15:33  In the third year of Asa king of Judah began Baasha the son of Ahijah to reign over all Israel in Tirzah, twenty and four years. 
1Ki 15:34  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin. 

With these things in mind, we can understand that all of this is for Christ’s sake within us to teach us a very profitable lesson that can only be understood and revealed by the life of Christ within us, and so we read these words spoken about king David who typifies Christ in us: “for David’s sake did the LORD his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establish Jerusalem.” We close off our study with another reminder that the lives of all these kings that were chronicled were done so for us to show us different aspects about our human nature that must die daily (1Co 15:31): “And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.“

Once again judgment is pronounced on Baasha by including the statement that it was in “the third year of Asa king of Judah” that Baasha began to reign over all of Israel in Tirzah, and he did that for twenty four years which is a witness to what kind of Godly foundation he is going to lay (2×12=24). Here is the foundation that he laid: “And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of Jeroboam, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin“, simply telling us that we all build this way at first until the Lord comes and tears down that house and builds it anew upon the solid foundation and Rock of our salvation, Jesus Christ (Mat 7:27, Psa 127:1, Mat 16:18).

Mat 7:27  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it.

Psa 127:1  A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. 

Mat 16:18  And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Dan 11:25-45  He Shall go Forth with Great Fury to Destroy…Yet He Shall Come to His End

[Study Aired February 21, 2022]

Dan 11:25  And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. 
Dan 11:26  Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 
Dan 11:27  And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed. 
Dan 11:28  Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land. 
Dan 11:29  At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 
Dan 11:30  For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant. 
Dan 11:31  And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 
Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits. 
Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed. 
Dan 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 
Dan 11:37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 
Dan 11:38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 
Dan 11:39  Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain. 
Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 
Dan 11:41  He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 
Dan 11:42  He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
Dan 11:43  But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 
Dan 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 
Dan 11:45  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. 

This second part of Daniel chapter 11 continues with the struggle between the kings of the South and the North, with Israel caught in between. The last few verses of the chapter are focused on the end of the Greek empire and the desecration of the temple in Jerusalem resulting in the abomination of desolation. In the previous review, we ended with the introduction of Antiochus Epiphanes, who became king of the North. He was not a legitimate heir to the throne but was able to acquire an army and take the throne by force in 187 BC. He seemed to have a special vendetta against Jerusalem. He was a thug and a madman.

Dan 11:21  And in his estate shall stand up a vile person, to whom they shall not give the honour of the kingdom: but he shall come in peaceably, and obtain the kingdom by flatteries. 
Dan 11:22  And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown from before him, and shall be broken; yea, also the prince of the covenant.
Dan 11:23  And after the league made with him he shall work deceitfully: for he shall come up, and shall become strong with a small people. 
Dan 11:24  He shall enter peaceably even upon the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them the prey, and spoil, and riches: yea, and he shall forecast his devices against the strong holds, even for a time.

Inwardly, Antiochus represents the raging beast within us which stops at nothing in defiling the temple of God which is our bodies. As stated in verse 24 that the king shall devise plans against strongholds, but only for a time, the stronghold is Christ, and the reign of the old man or beast in our lives is limited.

Dan 11:25  And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him. 
Dan 11:26  Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: and many shall fall down slain. 
Dan 11:27  And both these kings’ hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.
Dan 11:28  Then shall he return into his land with great riches; and his heart shall be against the holy covenant; and he shall do exploits, and return to his own land.

Antiochus invaded Egypt in 169 BC. The king of Egypt was young and inexperienced, relying on advisors who did not serve him well, and he was defeated. In negotiations, neither king was honorable. Antiochus left Egypt the victor. On his way home, he looted the temple in Jerusalem and stationed a garrison there. He also defiled the temple by sacrificing unclean animals there.

Inwardly, we are just like the king of the South under assault by the king of the North, Antiochus. The beast within, empowered by the evil one, overcame us by desecrating our temple, which is our bodies. The statement in verse 26 that they that feed of the portion of his (the king of the South) meat shall destroy him is to let us know that the desecrating of our temple is the result of what we and our advisors in Babylon were feeding on, that is, the lies of the evil one. This is confirmed in verse 27 where both the king of the South and the king of the North spoke lies at one table. During our sojourn in Babylon, our father was the devil, so all that we knew were the lies of the devil.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Verse 28 states that the king of the North shall be against the holy covenant, and he shall do exploit. This is rendered in a simpler version of the word of Christ as follows:

Dan 11:28  Then the king of the north will return to his country with great treasures. But on the way, he will attack the religion of God’s people and do whatever else he pleases. (CEV)

To attack the religion of God’s people is to infuse lies regarding the word of Christ such that we do not see the glorious light of Christ.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Dan 11:29  At the time appointed he shall return, and come toward the south; but it shall not be as the former, or as the latter. 
Dan 11:30  For the ships of Chittim shall come against him: therefore he shall be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return, and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.

Outwardly, this prophecy was fulfilled as follows: After returning home, Antiochus decided to invade the South again. He was met by the Romans, who told him to “cease and desist.” He had no choice but to comply, but the incident left him completely humiliated, which seemed to make him more intent on violence against the people of God.

Inwardly, we experience the wrath of the devil as he realizes that his dominion over us is coming to an end. Just like Antiochus who realized that his kingdom expansion was coming to an end because of the rising power of the Romans, and therefore unleashed his fury on the people of God, the devil’s fury against us during the final stages of our sojourn in Babylon is intensified, and we become worse off as we imbibe every flood of false doctrines that he releases.

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Rev 12:15  And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 
Rev 12:16  And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 

During our time in Babylon, we were the earth that swallowed up every flood cast out from the mouth of the serpent.

Jer 22:29  O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.

Dan 11:31  And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. 
Dan 11:32  And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.

Outwardly, in his second attempt to loot the temple, Antiochus tried to buy off Jewish officials, and he stopped the daily sacrifices, but this time he was met by Jewish resistance. The Maccabean Revolt ensued in 167 BC.

Inwardly, our time in Babylon is characterized by the desecration of our temple which is our bodies. The climax of this desecration is when we begin to see the man of sin sitting in the temple of God and declaring himself as God. This is the abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel and by the Lord Jesus Christ.

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 
2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God. 

Mat 24:15  “So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 
Mat 24:16  then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 
Mat 24:17  Let the one who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, 
Mat 24:18  and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 
Mat 24:19  And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 
Mat 24:20  Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. 
Mat 24:21  For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. 
Mat 24:22  And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 
Mat 24:23  Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 
Mat 24:24  For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. 
Mat 24:25  See, I have told you beforehand. 
Mat 24:26  So, if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 
Mat 24:27  For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 
Mat 24:28  Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. (ESV)

It is when we see this abomination of desolation or the man of sin or the old man sitting in our temple that Christ comes with His brightness which is His word to destroy it.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

The brightness of His coming is the fire of the word of the Lord which brings about the persecution and tribulation in our lives. This judgment is not a one-time event. It is a process of a lifetime which culminates in the great tribulation which is the seven plagues in the Book of Revelation.

Rev 15:1  And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.

As Jesus told us, when we see this abomination of desolation, we must flee from Judea to the mountains (Mat 24:16). Judea here represents the apostate churches of this world or Babylon, which we must leave. Fleeing to the mountains means taking refuge in the Lord who is in the midst of His elect as the mountains here represent Christ and where we offer sacrifices pleasing to the Lord.

Rev 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Eze 20:40  For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.

Verse 17 of Matthew chapter 24 says that those who are on the housetop should not go into the house to take anything from it. This is another way of saying that we are not to return to Babylon to carry along its false doctrines because of the judgment we may go through. The house here represents the apostate churches, and the housetop are those who have just escaped from the churches of this world as shown in the following verses:

Pro 21:9  It is better to dwell in a corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman in a wide house.

Pro 25:24  It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than with a brawling woman and in a wide house.

In verse 18 of Matthew 24, the man in the field must not turn back to take his cloak. As we are aware, the field is the world and so when Christ comes to us to judge us because of our worldliness, we must let go of our own righteousness. The women who are pregnant in verse 19 of Matthew 24 refer to Babylon who is revealed in the Book of Revelation as being pregnant with the manchild. Those nursing infants refer to our carnal state when the Lord comes to us with His brightness.

Rev 12:1  And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: 
Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. 

Verse 20 of Matthew 24 says that our flight should not be in the winter or the sabbath when the Lord comes to us in judgment. Negatively, the winter represents the period when we have become a prey of the beasts of the earth. This is the period when we are completely overcome by the beast within us. Our flight not being on the sabbath refers to the period in our lives when we have not found rest in Christ.

Isa 18:6  They shall be left together unto the fowls of the mountains, and to the beasts of the earth: and the fowls shall summer upon them, and all the beasts of the earth shall winter upon them.

Heb 4:4  For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 
Heb 4:5  And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 
Heb 4:6  Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

In conclusion, the Lord is telling us of the circumstances at the time we are given to know the abomination of desolation in our lives.

Another rendition of Daniel chapter 11 verse 32 in a simpler English is as follows:

With smooth words [of flattery and praise] he will turn to godlessness those who [are willing to] disregard the [Mosaic] covenant, but the people who [are spiritually mature and] know their God will display strength and take action [to resist]. (AMP)

On one hand, we were those who did wickedly against the covenant and were corrupted by flatteries.

Jud 1:16  These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration because of advantage.

As we grow in obedience, we become strong and are able to resist the devil as he flees from us. This is the time in our lives when we do exploits, that is, we are able to resist the devil through Christ.

Jas 4:7  Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Dan 11:33  And they that understand among the people shall instruct many: yet they shall fall by the sword, and by flame, by captivity, and by spoil, many days. 
Dan 11:34  Now when they shall fall, they shall be holpen with a little help: but many shall cleave to them with flatteries. 
Dan 11:35  And some of them of understanding shall fall, to try them, and to purge, and to make them white, even to the time of the end: because it is yet for a time appointed. 
Dan 11:36  And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 
Dan 11:37  Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 
Dan 11:38  But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 
Dan 11:39  Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain.

Outwardly, the revolt met with mixed success and mixed support among the Jewish populace with some help from Rome — which later became an occupying power. Antiochus did whatever he wanted. He even proclaimed himself to be a god by taking the title Epiphanes. He chose the Sabbath as a day to worship him. He went far beyond his predecessors in arrogance. He relied on his own financial and military might.

Internally, our own effort to overcome the beast would not yield any success, as the beast represented here by Antiochus is empowered by the Lord to overcome us for a period of time signified by forty-two months.

Rev 13:4  And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him? 
Rev 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 
Rev 13:6  And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven. 
Rev 13:7  And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 
Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Dan 11:40  And at the time of the end shall the king of the south push at him: and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. 
Dan 11:41  He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. 
Dan 11:42  He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. 
Dan 11:43  But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps. 
Dan 11:44  But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many. 
Dan 11:45  And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him. 

Outwardly, most of chapter 11 is focused on Antiochus Epiphanes, but he is only one king of the North among many. The event recorded from verses 40 to 45 refers to Antiochus’s successor (Antiochus V) and the end of the Greek Empire. The Romans who conquered Syria became the new “king of the North” and then went on to defeat the Greek king in Egypt (the king of the South) and the rest of the Mediterranean world, ultimately destroying the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70. Yet even the mighty Roman Empire fell and could not be helped.

As we have indicated in the previous review of this chapter, the time of the end is the time when the ends of the world are come. We, the elect, are the ones upon whom the time of the end is come as our world has come to an end. This means that what is written in chapter 11 is specifically referring to us.

1Co 10:11  Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Verses 40 to 45 relate to the coming of the Roman empire which took control of many countries including Jerusalem. As we learned from Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in Daniel chapter 2, the Roman empire is the final worldly empire before Christ comes with His kingdom to destroy it and establishes the kingdom of this world as the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. As we are aware, the number four means the whole of the matter under discussion. Thus, the fourth kingdom of the Roman empire to succeed the Greek empire represents the whole of the kingdoms of this world. This fourth kingdom of the Roman Empire is symbolized by iron. On a negative note, iron refers to us being instruments of death while in Babylon.

Num 35:16  And if he smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death. 

Getting to the end of our sojourn in Babylon, we become murderers just as our father the devil is a murderer.

Luk 11:49  Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute: 
Luk 11:50  That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation; 
Luk 11:51  From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias, which perished between the altar and the temple: verily I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation. 

In the final analysis, we become worse off in Babylon as demonstrated by the physical destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman empire in AD 70. In other words, the habitation of the Lord within us becomes occupied by the beast, signified by Jerusalem being destroyed. However, Christ brings us to this deplorable state so that we can see clearly the abomination of desolation or the beast occupying the place of Christ in our hearts and minds. The revealing of this abomination of desolation ushers in the coming of Christ with His brightness in our lives to destroy the beast or the Roman empire so that the kingdom of our Lord is established in our hearts and minds. Later, this kingdom will be outward when the kingdoms of this world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ.

2Pe 2:18  For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 
2Pe 2:19  While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 
2Pe 2:20  For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
2Pe 2:21  For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
2Pe 2:22  But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

2Th 2:7  For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. 
2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: