(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)
In Old Testament times, before Jesus walked the earth (BC), people were saved into eternal life the same way as after (AD) – by faith in the promises of God!
- AD (anno Domini, Latin meaning “in the year of the Lord”) – After the death and resurrection of Christ, salvation is as explained in Romans 3:25 (Easy-to-Read Version): “God gave Jesus as a way to forgive people’s sins through their faith in Him. God can forgive them because the blood sacrifice of Jesus pays for their sins.”
- BC (meaning “before Christ”) – people were saved by faith in God’s promises concerning the coming Messiah. For instance, Adam and Eve both believed and were saved!
In Genesis 3:15 God prophesied to the snake the proto evangelium (Latin for the first mention of the gospel): “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Satan would severely wound the Messiah, even to death! But when He rose from the grace, Christ would utterly crush the devil’s head!
How do we know Adam and Ever were saved?
In Genesis 3:15 God prophesied to the snake the proto evangelium (Latin for the first mention of the gospel): “…I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Satan would severely wound the Messiah, even to death! But when He rose from the grace, Christ would utterly crush the devil’s head!
✞ From what Eve exclaimed...
➨ ...when Cain was born, “I have gotten a man
from the LORD...” (Genesis 4:1). She must
have thought this was the One who would de-
feat the devil and restore humankind to
paradise! But Cain killed Able, Adam and
Eve’s second son (see Genesis 4:8), so nei-
ther Cain nor Abel could be the Messiah!
➨ ...when Seth was born, “...God has appointed
another seed for me instead of Abel, whom
Cain slew.” (Genesis 4:25). It is as if Eve
exclaimed, “Maybe this child is the promised
One!”
✞ From what Adam named his wife. “And Adam called
his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother
of all living.” (Genesis 3:20). In the midst of
God’s curse; in the midst of the loss of paradise;
in the midst of the introduction of sickness and
death in creation.......He named her, “…Eve…the
mother of all living…”!
Let’s get to our featured Scripture, II Kings 11:21 through 12:2:
Jehoash was seven years old when he became king...and
he reigned forty years in Jerusalem....Jehoash did what
was right in the sight of the Lord all the days in which
Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
And there is more positive evidence, from II Kings 12:4 and 5:
And Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money of the
dedicated gifts that are brought into the house of the
Lord...each man's census money, each man's assessment
money...and all the money that a man purposes in his
heart to bring into the house of the Lord, let the
priests take it themselves, each from his constituency;
and let them repair the damages of the temple, wherever
any dilapidation is found.”
Well, that all sounds pretty good, because “Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the Lord….” And he was instrumental in repairing God’s temple. So he must be in heaven!
…or is he?
There is more information concerning King Jehoash in II Chronicles, chapters 22 through 24 (he is called Joash in II Chronicles). Queen Athaliah (the only reigning queen over the Jew’s southern or northern kingdoms) was the grandmother of Jehoash and a very wicked woman who ruled in Judah for six years! She had killed all royal heirs to the throne of Judah after her son King Jehoram died in Samaria (see II Chronicles 22:5-9), so she would have no competitor to rule.
- II Chronicles 22:10-12 – But “…Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest…hid [young Jehoash]…from Athaliah…for six years…so that she did not kill him.”
- II Chronicles 23:1-3 – “In the seventh year Jehoiada…made a covenant with the captains of hundreds…and…the Levites from all the cities of Judah, and the chief fathers of Israel….Then all the congregation made a covenant with the king….And he [Jehoiada] said to them, ‘Behold, the king’s son shall reign, as the Lord has said of the sons of David.’ ”
- II Chronicles 24:2 – “Joash [Jehoash] did what was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.”
But then we read…
- II Chronicles 24:15 – “…Jehoiada grew old and was full of days…one hundred and thirty years…and he died.”
- II Chonicles 24:17-19 – “Now after the death of Jehoiada the leaders of Judah came and… the king listened to them. Therefore they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served wooden images and idols; and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of their trespass. Yet He sent prophets to them, to bring them back to the Lord; and they testified against them, but they would not listen.”
- II Chronicles 24:20-22 – “Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada the priest…and said to…the people…, ‘Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.’ So…at the command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. Thus…the king did not remember the kindness which Jehoiada…had done to him, but killed his son; and as he died, he said, ‘The Lord look on it, and repay!’ ”
- II Chronicles 24:23-25 – “…in the spring of the year…the army of Syria came…with a small company of men…to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the leaders of the people…and sent all their spoil to the king of Damascus…the Lord delivered [Judah’s] very great army into…[Syria’s] hand, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. So they executed judgment against Joash….when they had withdrawn…they left him severely wounded…, [and] his own servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest, and killed him on his bed. So he died.”
- II Chronicles 25:25 – “And they buried him in the city of David, but…not…in the tombs of the kings.” This indicates that the people of Judah had lost total confidence in Jehoash the king, because of his exceeding wickedness!
There are two later Scriptures that apply to Jehoash’s case, Ezekiel 18:4 through 28 and Ezekiel 33:12 through 19. Verse 26 of Ezekiel 18 is a good summation of Jehoash’s example: “When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done.” The fact that he ‘dies in it’ does not just refer to physical death! Revelation 21:8 tells us:
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers,
sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burns with
fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
Murderer and idolater apply to King Jehoash at the very least! So from what the Scriptures say…
…he is in hell!
In the next Gem we will look at Manasseh, the most wicked king ever to reign in Judah!