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Who Holds the Gavel? (1 Kings 21) · Prodigal Hope

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: The topic I was given to preach about tonight was the justice of God,
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: God's justice, which is, I think, a really relevant thing for us to consider.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot of places that we could go when we want to consider the justice.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: This, of course,
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: this theme has sort of given us a lot of chatter in recent years
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: with questions like, what does justice mean?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And what does it look like for justice to be enacted?
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: In a world like ours that's filled with so much injustice.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: We see it all the time.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: You just open your phone,
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: turn on a TV or whatever,
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: open up a browser,
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: and very quickly you're probably going to be confronted with a lot of injustices
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: of all different ranges, all over the sort of spectrum of justice, so to speak.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's very telling, though,
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: that whenever we feel slighted,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: let's bring it down to our personal level,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: whenever we feel slighted in some degree, what is our first response?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Our first response is often retaliation, that we are going to pay back whatever was given to us.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: The wrongdoers, those who have wronged us, they have to pay for their wrongdoing.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And so we are striving, we often strive, that's our first gut instinct.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: Striving after wrongdoers,
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: getting their comeuppance, getting justice to rain down on their heads, so to speak.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: But oftentimes I think what results in that scenario is not necessarily justice,
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: at least in terms of biblical justice.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think often what that is, is more, we could say, socially acceptable revenge.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is what happens,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think socially acceptable revenge,
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: if you will,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: is sort of what happens when sinners, which, I mean,
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I am one,
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: maybe you can say that too,
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: but when sinners,
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: when we become the enforcers of justice, that's usually what results, unfortunately.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: We either go too far or we don't go far enough.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: There's plenty of places that we could see that sort of manifest in scripture.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Of people confronted with an injustice in order to get that right,
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: in order to enact justice, they either go too far or they don't go far enough.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: This is what happens when sinners hold the gavel, so to speak.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: But in the absence of true justice being realized in our day, what often happens?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: We are prone to take matters into our own hands.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: We are prone to sort of dispense justice in our way.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to be, I'm going to try this.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hollywood has capitalized on it.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: I love movies.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I watch a lot of movies.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: I think one thing that you can clearly sort of see if you are a big movie buff
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: as I am is that Hollywood has capitalized on this very reality.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the most well-beloved movies of all time often involve stories of vengeance
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: and retribution.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: From John Wick to Gladiator, you're going to see that.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: And we love those stories.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't get riled up?
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: When Russell Crowe in Gladiator says,
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: I am Maximus Decimus Meridius,
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: father to a murdered son,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: husband to a murdered wife, and I will have my vengeance in this life and the next.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever he says that, I get goosebumps.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I'm cheering him on.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe you haven't seen that movie.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: Go watch it.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: That's homework, maybe.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the events here in 1 Kings 21, they're chock full of injustice.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to see that.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's very clear what happens in this story.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's unjust.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: But actually I think what we're going to see,
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: because what we're going to find,
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: you're going to find a lot of,
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: we could say,
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_00: we call them this,
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: you find some political bigwigs and they conspire to rip off a regular Joe.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's what happens in like the most basic form here.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: That's what happens.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's the kind of stuff that makes your blood boil when you read it and when you sit with it.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: But actually what I hope to show you is that by the time this story ends,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: really what should happen is it should make us all pine and long and crave and hope
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: for someone else.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: Who can make all of this right.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: For someone to be able to dispense grace and truth.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: A.K.A.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: come to be the emblem and the embodiment of perfect justice.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's what this story is going to make us long for.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: So really quick.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: At the end, actually, you're in 1 Kings 21.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of 1 Kings 20.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: This evil king, you may know him, his name is Ahab.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab and Jezebel,
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: these are just some evil,
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: evil kings in a long string of evil kings over the people of God in
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: the Old Testament.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: At the end of chapter 20, he sort of...
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: He is not very happy after this unnamed prophet has tried to warn him
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: about his ways, his evil ways.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you look at verse 42 of chapter 20, it says, He's not named here.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think it's Elijah, but regardless, it's an unnamed prophet.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord says, the prophet tells him.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because you released from your hand the man I had set apart for destruction.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: It will be your life in place of his life and your people in place of his people.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the king of Israel, that's Ahab, left home resentful and angry.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And he entered Samaria.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: He entered back into his palace.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's essentially what it's saying.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's not very happy.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: He's very mad.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's feeling his feels,
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: so to speak,
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: and on his way home,
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: and this transitions us right into chapter 20,
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: because on his way home, he's very angry.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab's eyes become glued to...
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: His neighbor,
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: and specifically his neighbor's vineyard,
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: which is owned by his neighbor, his name is Naboth.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 1 of chapter 21.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Some time passed after these events.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was in Jezreel next to the palace of King Ahab of Samaria.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: And he wants it.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab just, he wants this vineyard.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 22 or verse 2.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: So Ahab spoke to Naboth saying,
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: give me your vineyard so I can have it for a vegetable garden since it is right next
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: to my palace.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: I will give you a better vineyard in its place.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So Ahab is like...
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: You have that.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: I want it.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's right next to mine.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of makes sense.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Give it to me.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll buy it for me.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you a better one.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: I have a vineyard, you know, a summer palace over here.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I'll give you one.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: But I want this one.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Please give it to me.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, no, please just give it to me.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: And Naboth, though, after he receives these offers, all of these lavish offers from the king...
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't budge, verse 3.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: But Naboth said to Ahab,
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: as the Lord is my witness, I will never give my ancestors' inheritance to you.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, it's not for sale.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry, my vineyard is not up for sale.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: And wouldn't you know...
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: That this sends King Ahab into basically a toddler-like tailspin.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 4.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: So Ahab went to his palace.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Notice the same phrase.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Resentful and angry.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Because of what Naboth, the Jezreelite, had told him.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: He had said, I will not give you my ancestors' inheritance.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: He laid down on his bed, turned his face away, and didn't eat any food.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: If you've been around a toddler,
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: you're probably familiar with this very scenario when they don't get their way.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: I had three, so I'm very familiar with this.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: When they don't get their way, what do they do?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: They go into their bed, they pout, they cry because they are not getting what they want.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is what Ahab is doing.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe he's the king.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: He's never been told no.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: He's never had someone resist a lavish offer.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: He's never had someone not give him what he wants.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: He's the king after all.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: So he's pouting.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's resentful and angry.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_00: Once again, he doesn't even want to eat.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: All of the best chefs in Samaria are bringing him the best meals.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And he is, nah, I don't want it.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: He is having a royal pity party.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: And in comes his wife, the equally as evil Jezebel.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: And she is trying to understand her king's mood.
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  SPEAKER_00: She isn't really sure how to navigate these waters because he's pouting.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's sulking.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we can skip some of the verses.
• 9:02
  SPEAKER_00: Look down at verse 7.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Because basically he tells her everything that just happened.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: He wants this vineyard.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth, our neighbor, he's not going to give it to me.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: He's not selling.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's making me just, it's making me so mad.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: It's making me so sad.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Jezebel is kind of disgusted with her king.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: She's actually more than a little disgusted.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think she actually loses a little respect for him.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Notice what she says.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 7.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: Then his wife Jezebel said to him, Ahab, now exercise your royal power over Israel.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Get up, eat some food, and be happy, for I will give you the vineyard of Naboth, the Jezreelite.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: You can kind of read.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: Don't always do this.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: But sometimes when you're reading stories, you can read between the lines a little bit.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's a healthy thing to do sometimes in the Bible.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And here,
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think reading between the lines,
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: she's not very happy with her king because he's not acting very kingly.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Are you the king or not?
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: She's basically saying.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Kings take.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: They don't ask.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to show you what a king does, Ahab.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go get this for you.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go get this vineyard for you.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so then Jezebel takes matters into her own hands.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: What does she do?
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, a few letters stamped with the royal seal put on official Ahab letterhead.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is going to do it.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 8.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: She sent the letters to the elders and the nobles who lived with Naboth in his city.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: And the letters she wrote.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: So here's what her letters say.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then see two wicked men opposite him and have them testify against him,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: saying, You have cursed God and the king.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Then take him out and stone him to death.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So what does she do?
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: She conspires this plan.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: She calls for a provincial fast,
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: basically this religious sort of pious ceremony where Naboth would be geared at
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: or would be installed as this sort of guest of honor.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: He would be the VIP.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone is going to come celebrate him.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And in the middle of the festivities,
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: there'd be two guys who would have this signal,
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: you know, whatever the signal is, a wink or a sneeze or something.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: And they would get up and they would stand and they would publicly accuse Naboth of cursing.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Discursing God and also treason.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: They would accuse him of two things that have basically no basis.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: They have no proof for this, but they're just making accusations.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: because of the nature of these accusations, he would be taken out and stoned.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Very, very evil sort of string of events.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: But now the plot is set.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Jezebel has sent these out.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Again, how did she send them out?
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: On royal letterhead with the king's seal.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: So this is coming from the top down.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: All these noblemen are like,
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: well, of course we have to enact this plan because this is coming from the king.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is coming from the head.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: So her plot is set.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: She has now connived to have Naboth, we could say, swept under the rug.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: So now that her king, he can come and claim the vineyard for his own.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 11.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Then the men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived in the city did.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: They did as Jezebel had sent word to them.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Just as it was written in the letters she had sent them.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: They proclaimed a fast and seed.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth had had the people.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people saying,
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth has cursed God and the king.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then they sent word to Jezebel.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth has been stoned
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: These words are,
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: honestly,
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: if you just sit with them for a while,
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: they're kind of hard to read if you keep reading over them again and again.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you just read them, they're kind of emotionless.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: They're just kind of cold, hard facts.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: This is what happened.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what occurred.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And immediately we should have that sting of injustice.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: There's no proof.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's no evidence that Naboth ever did these things.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: There's just an attestation to his blasphemy, to his treason, and now he's dead.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's no more.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: All these injustices done to this poor neighbor is sort of a hard pill to swallow
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: as we are now reading about Naboth's body rotting in a ditch somewhere.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: And now Ahab the king,
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: the pouting royal monarch of the people of God,
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: now he's free and he's clear to possess this vineyard as his own.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 15,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: when Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death,
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: she said to Ahab,
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite who refused
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: to give it to you for silver since Naboth isn't alive but dead.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: And when Ahab heard that Naboth was dead,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: the Jezreelite, to take possession of it.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: So he does.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: He goes there and he's looking through it.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: And hopefully it met all his expectations after they just sort of had this sort
• 14:32
  SPEAKER_00: of perfect crime.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: They pulled it off, this evil king and queen.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: They pulled off the perfect crime.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Now he has this vineyard.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully it's making him happy.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Because look who shows up next.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, God shows up.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: He shows up and we can say he disturbs the peace.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 17, then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbite.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: He's the prophet of God.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's the one who has sort of a direct line of access to God in this moment of history.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: He receives words and he preaches them.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: This is what he has been called to do.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so suddenly Elijah is minding his own business and the word of God comes and speaks to him.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it says what?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 18, get up.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: And go meet King Ahab of Israel who is in Samaria.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: He's in Naboth's vineyard where he has gone to take possession of it.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: Tell him.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: So already we know Elijah is very aware that something has happened.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: He's taken possession of Naboth's vineyard.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: And now he's going to be given this message to tell to the king.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 19.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: Tell him this is what the Lord says.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_00: Have you murdered?
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And also taken possession?
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: Then tell him This is what the Lord says.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: In the place where the dogs licked up Naboth's blood, the dogs will also lick up your blood.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord appears to Elijah and he brings them this word.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: He brings him up to speed on this really disgusting scheme that the king
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: and queen have pulled off.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he also informs the prophet that divine judgment is going to rain down on Ahab's head.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_00: It is captured in that very grotesque image of dogs lapping up the blood of the king
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: in the streets.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yuck.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: But also, yes.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: Because the bad guy is getting what's coming for.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: We're like, yes, finally some justice is being served.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: Finally.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Those evil, wicked,
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: unjust royals are finally going to get what they deserve for pulling off
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: that unjust scheme.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: They're finally going to get their comeuppance.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 20.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab said to Elijah, so my enemy, you found me, have you?
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: He replied,
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Elijah replied,
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I have found you because you devoted yourselves to do what is evil in
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: the Lord's sight.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is Elijah talking.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: This is what the Lord says.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I am about to bring disaster on you and will eradicate your descendants.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: I will wipe out all of Ahab's males, both slave and free in Israel.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam,
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: son of Nebat,
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: and like the house of Baasha,
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: son of Ahijah, because you have angered me and caused Israel to sin.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord also speaks of Jezebel.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: The dogs will eat Jezebel and the plot of land at Jezreel.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Anyone who belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, the dogs will eat.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: And anyone who dies in the field, the birds will eat.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa, this is some serious stuff.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: This is some crazy judgment being announced by God coming down on evil King Ahab
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_00: and evil Queen Ahab.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Jezebel,
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: where now the only visitors to his grave,
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: as has just been announced, will be some vermin and some vultures.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: And his legacy speaks for itself.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Verse 25, still,
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: there's no one like Ahab who devoted himself to do what was evil in the Lord's sight
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: because his wife Jezebel incited him.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_00: No one like Ahab.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: He's wicked to the core.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Evil, he's rotten, sour, through and through.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: And this, if we stop there, this would make for an okay but very dark story.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Because, yes, Naboth,
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: he fell prey to Ahab's violent selfishness,
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: wanting to get what he wanted at really no care for the cost of others.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: But in the event, he was avenged.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: There's this announcement of Vengeance coming down on the evildoers' heads.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Which I think lets us understand one thing for sure.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: That no matter the social status or the political position of those in power.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: No one is outside of the jurisdiction of God.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: They are all within the palm of his hand.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: To do with as he pleases, when he pleases.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, this brings us to the most surprising epilogue.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe all of the Bible, but especially here in the Old Testament.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 27.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: When Ahab heard these words, what did he do?
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: He tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body and fasted.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: He laid down in sackcloth and walked around subdued.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me?
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: I will not bring the disaster during his lifetime because he has humbled himself before me.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: I will bring the disaster on his house during his son's lifetime.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Wait, what?
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: God holds back the disaster that he just announced.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's sort of,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: if I'm honest with you,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: maybe you can say this too,
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: but when I read this sometimes, man, it just takes all the wind out of my sails.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: This would be if Russell Crowe, again, let's go back to Gladiator.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: This would be like in Gladiator if he didn't take the life of the guy
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: who took everything from him.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine if that's how the story ended.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a disappointment.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Imagine if John Wick was like, it's okay, you can kill my dog and take my car.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, we want him to go ballistic on all those bad guys.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: We want him to do it.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: No, where's the vengeance?
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the justice?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the satisfaction?
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Who's going to pay?
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: Who's going to pay for the crime against Naboth?
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the justice for Naboth?
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's so fascinating that when we read this story,
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: we are not quick to applaud The repentance of Ahab.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: And yet, by the same token, we are very quick to applaud the repentance of King David.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: When he does something similar.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: We can rehash David's story in 2 Samuel, remember?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: He sees the girl, he wants the girl, he violates the girl.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_00: And then to cover up the pregnancy of the girl, he murders the girl's husband.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And he's covering up this plot.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then the prophet comes and confronts David.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: You are the man.
• 21:59
  SPEAKER_00: You are the one who has committed all these atrocities.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_00: And he repents.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he does what Ahab does.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: He covers himself in sackcloth.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: A sign of great penitence and humility and abjection in front of God.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we know that the rest of David's story, that he's brought back into God's fold.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And yet...
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: We are not as eager to see Ahab as being truly repentant, which I find really fascinating.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's because we sort of have sort of like the Disney tropes.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_00: We have lots of Disney tropes when we read the Bible.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Here's all the bad guys and here's all the good guys.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Ahab is clearly a bad guy.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: He's an irredeemable character.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the hard truth when we read a story like this,
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_00: Naboth being repentant, Stolen from what was rightfully his and then killed.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: The hard truth is the fact that I think we are,
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: in our interpersonal relationships,
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: in our lives, we are often way more Ahab than we are Naboth.
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: If we're honest with ourselves.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: We are the ones who just we want what we want.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so we're going to take it and we're going to do anything we can do to get it.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully we haven't killed anyone to do that.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: But we still are adamant about getting what we want, even at the exploitation of others.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Even if it means we have to sort of sidestep what is actually just and true and honoring of God.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: We want to take what we want because we want it.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: We want.
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it's especially true when we come to a story like this.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_00: We want justice for them.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: They out there, whoever they are.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: But we are rarely as eager for justice when we are the ones in the wrong.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: When we are the ones who deserve something to come onto us in light of justice.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: Which means I would hasten to say that the mercy that Ahab receives is our only hope.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: It's the only hope that we have.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: You should know,
• 24:06
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: that Elijah's words really tell of a delay of judgment,
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_00: not really deliverance from it, unfortunately.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you read the rest of the story,
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: of course,
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: Ahab's repentance, though sincere, I truly believe here, it does not last.
• 24:24
  SPEAKER_00: He eventually dies in battle with, of course, dogs licking his blood.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, if you read the rest of the story, all of his descendants, they are repentant.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_00: They are wiped out.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: You can read that in the story of Jehu in a couple of chapters.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: But, okay, what good does that do for Naboth?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_00: This story, I think, shows us that someone else holds the gavel.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: Someone else is capable of balancing the scales of justice.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: You see, I think the distinctive trademark of this story isn't Ahab's remorse.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: Whether or not it was genuine, we can judge that.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that the trademark of this story is that our God, the God of the Bible, is inclined.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: His penchant is mercy rather than judgment.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's in his heart.
• 25:17
  SPEAKER_00: Justice, yes, is promised.
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's promised throughout the scriptures.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: But it's often never how we would expect it to be dispensed.
• 25:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I think this is because, maybe you're familiar with that verse from Isaiah 55, 8.
• 25:31
  SPEAKER_00: God's thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways his ways.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And that's especially true when it comes to the gift of mercy.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_00: Especially when it comes to the gift of mercy to the undeserving.
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: His thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, because we're quick to retaliate.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: We are quick on the trigger of judgment.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: And yet God is not.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Even with folks like Ahab,
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: even with sinners,
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: with as dastardly resumes as Ahab's or mine, God is quick to forgive us.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: He is eager to forgive.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: That's what it says over and over again, right?
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus 34, verse 6.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to go there.
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: What does it say?
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: God is slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, that description of God from Exodus 34 is put on repeat throughout the scriptures.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_00: Exodus 34, Numbers 14, Nehemiah 9, Psalm 85.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: It just shows us the difference between the one who holds the gavel and us.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: Because where we are inclined to retaliate, God is eager to redeem.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's who he is.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: Peter, I think, gets to the heart of this.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: 2 Peter 3.9, what does it say?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_00: Peter says, God is patient with you.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: Not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, to be sure, God is a perfectly just God.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to read about justice,
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_00: I suggest go reading Nahum 1,
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: the prophet Nahum,
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_00: if you can find it in the Old Testament, Nahum 1, verses 2 through 5.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: That's a really great passage.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to read about God taking justice on those who deserve justice,
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: evil will be justly judged.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: We can cling to that.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_00: But the point is this, God holds the gavel, not us.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: We aren't entitled to exact revenge how we would want What does it say?
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_00: Deuteronomy 32, vengeance is mine, says the Lord.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: And you see,
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: the ultimate sort of point that this brings us to is this,
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_00: is that the justice that we so often crave for the wrongs done to us,
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: it's already been realized.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's already been paid in full in the battered and bruised And blood caked body of Jesus.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: See the injustice done to Naboth is avenged when the very son
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: of God surrendered himself to the injustice of the cross.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's what was happening in that moment.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: We think about Jesus going to the cross, being nailed there on the cross.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: We think about that when it comes to Easter and maybe sometimes when we're having
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: a really emotional message.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: But have you ever thought about how unjust it was?
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, the victim of a sham trial with made up witnesses,
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: accusing him of things that weren't actually true because he was God.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: He can't blaspheme God.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: He is God.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: And he was betrayed by one of his closest disciples.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: By those who should have had his back.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And he is now the innocent one being nailed to a tree in the place of all the guilty ones.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: Remember, what did the crowd say?
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: We want Barabbas, not him.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_00: You see, our hope for forgiveness and our hope of justice, they emerge from the same event.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus being nailed to a tree outside of Jerusalem.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Jerusalem.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Where the greatest injustice in human history,
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: God's son being nailed to a cross became the place where God's justice was put
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: to rest, where it was satisfied, where it was resolved.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_00: The word in Romans is, the fancy word is appeased.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: Where the one who knew no sin Was made to be sin for us.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: That we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's what was happening.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: So yes, justice is promised.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: God will intervene.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: It just might not occur how we expect it to occur.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: Because remember, remember gladiator?
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: Father to a murdered son and I will have my vengeance in this life or the next on
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: a hill called Golgotha or Calvary.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: God himself became father to a murdered son.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: And if anyone ever had the right to exact vengeance, it was him.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: And yet instead, instead of that, what happened?
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of pouring out vengeance on the murderers, who did he pour it out on?
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_00: He poured it out on his son.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And from the cross, he didn't exact revenge.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: What did he do?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Father, forgive them for they know not what they do, he says.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: That's the justice of God.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not ignored, not avoided, not skirted around, not softened.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's justice being enacted and satisfied by God's own son.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And see, this is the blessed hope that runs throughout the Bible, all the pages of scripture.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: Because where Naboth's blood,
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: it stained the ground of that vineyard and it cried out for retribution for Ahab.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Christ's blood falls to the ground.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what secures our pardon.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's what forgives you of all your sins.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: The blood of Jesus spilling to the ground and mixing with Jewish soil.
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_00: Right there, you are forgiven.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right there, you are redeemed.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's the word that's spoken over you.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_00: No matter where you go in scripture,
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: that is the word that you are forgiven and redeemed,
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: that you are cleansed because of him, because of the injustice done to the just one.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: You and I, the unjust ones, we are cleared.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: You want to talk about some good news, that's it.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: You want to talk about something that's life-giving, that's it.
• 32:06
  SPEAKER_00: That place that seemed so cruel,
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: that seemed so dark,
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: and it was, that is the place that Where we sinners are delivered.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: Where we are cleared.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: Where we are forgiven.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because God holds the gavel.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it came down on his son.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: So that you and I might be made his sons and daughters.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Be brought into the family of God.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: And so shall we ever be with the Lord.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pray really quick.