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2 Kings 3 (Part 2) Bible Study (Moab Rebels Against Israel) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  Lord, we thank you that we have service on a Friday night.
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  We're so grateful for this, Lord, and we pray that it would
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  only continue because we've been blessed over the weeks, months
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  and years. As our brother and as Pastor
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  Mark mentioned at the opening of the service, this will have
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  generational consequences, generational blessings.
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  We have no doubt about that. And so, Lord, we pray that you
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  would equip us, that You would fuel our faith, our zeal, our
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  passion for you, that You would sharpen our perception of who
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  You are. So, Lord, we ask that every step
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  throughout the study, You would guide us by the Spirit, that we
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  would genuinely sense the empowering work of your Spirit
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  in our hearts. Lord, remove all the clutter in
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  our thoughts and our emotions. Let there be no obstacle for
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  Your Word to be planted deeply in our hearts.
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  We give you glory and praise in advance for what you have done
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  and what you're going to do this evening.
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  And we pray that everything and everyone would disappear except
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  for the Lord Jesus Christ. May He occupy the forefront of
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  our imaginations, of our thoughts, of our affections.
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  Take over Lord, for we long to give him all the glory.
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  In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
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  Meet me in Second Kings chapter 3.
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  As we are planning to finish this chapter together, I believe
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  it is helpful to read the text that we are planning to delve
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  into so that we can have an understanding of the framework
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  that we are going to be working with.
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  And so let us begin in verse 13 and finish this chapter in one
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  reading and then we will explain these verses carefully.
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  By the grace of God, Second Kings 3/13 And Elisha said to
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  the king of Israel, What if I to do with you, go to the prophets
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  of your father, and to the prophets of your mother?
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  But the king of Israel said to him, No, it is the Lord who has
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  called these 3 kings to give them into the hand of Moab.
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  And Elijah said, as the Lord of hosts lives before whom I stand,
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  were it not that I have regard for Jehoshaphat the king of
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  Judah, I would neither look at you nor see you.
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  But now bring me a musician. And when the musician played,
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  the hand of the Lord came upon him, and he said, Thus says the
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  Lord, I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.
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  For thus, says the Lord, you shall not see wind or rain, but
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  that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall
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  drink you your livestock and your animals.
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  This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
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  He will also give the Moabites into your hand.
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  And you shall attack every fortified city, every and every
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  choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all
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  stop up all springs of water, and ruin every good piece of
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  land with stones. The next morning, about the time
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  of offering the sacrifice, behold, water came from the
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  direction of Edom, till the country was filled with water.
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  When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight
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  against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the
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  youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at
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  the border. And when they rose early in the
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  morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the
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  water opposite them as red as blood, and they said, This is
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  blood. The kings have surely fought
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  together and struck one another down.
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  Now then, Moab to the spoil. But when they came to the camp
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  of Israel, the Israelites rose and struck the Moabites till
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  they fled before them. And they went forward, striking
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  the Moabites as they went, and they overthrew the cities.
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  And on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it
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  was covered. They stopped every spring of
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  water and felled all the good trees, till only its stones were
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  left. And Kir, Harishet, Seth and the
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  slingers surrounded and attacked it.
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  When the king of Moab saw that the battle was going against
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  him, he took with them 700 swordsmen to breakthrough
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  opposite the king of Edom, but they could not.
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  And he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and
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  offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.
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  And there came great wrath against Israel, and they
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  withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
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  Let's get straight into it. We have 3 kings, a coalition,
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  the king of Israel, the king of Judah, the king of Edom.
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  They're working together to fight against the Moabites.
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  As they make their way towards the Moabites, they get
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  themselves in trouble. They have no water.
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  They are in a perilous position and so they find their way
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  towards Elijah the prophet to receive some divine guidance.
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  And as they approach Elijah, what we read in verse 13 might
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  be quite staggering. Elijah said to the king of
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  Israel specifically, what have I to do with you?
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  Go to the prophets of your father and to the prophets of
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  your mother. Now, some Christians might look
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  at this and feel like this was a little insensitive, maybe
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  lacking courteous attention and love unbefitting for a man of
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  God. But I make the case, and I
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  believe that what Elijah is doing here by reprimanding the
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  king of Israel is more gracious than we might think.
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  What's happening here? You again have these kings who
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  are in trouble. They need water and they're
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  looking for some help, specifically from the Lord.
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  But what we see Elijah doing here is that he's touching on an
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  underlying problem. He could have solved the issue,
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  the immediate problem at hand, but instead he points the finger
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  and he highlights a greater issue, something that is
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  actually contributing to the very problem that they are
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  facing, namely Jeho Ram's idolatry and his wicked ways.
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  We learned at the opening of this chapter that Jeho Ram, the
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  king of Israel, was an evil man. He abandoned the worship of the
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  true God. He clung himself to the idols of
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  Jeroboam. And as he approaches Elijah,
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  he's seeking guidance from God, but he doesn't want to be
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  devoted to God. And Elijah discerns this.
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  He knows about this, and he wants to confront it.
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  And I find valuable truth in this for us as well, that if you
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  and I truly want to help people, then we must be willing to
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  address and challenge the sins of people.
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  People that are harboring certain ways, trespasses,
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  iniquities, disobedience. Even if they are hurting, we
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  must be loving enough to point out the things that are
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  contributing to their pain, whether that's self destruction
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  or destroying others. And to fail to do so only treat
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  symptoms, and it never promises the long lasting cure that
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  repentance offers. I was reading Lamentations the
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  other day and I stumbled upon a passage that revealed one of the
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  strongest characteristics of a true prophet.
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  And the traits of a true prophet can be applied to ministers,
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  leaders, and pastors today. I want you to see it with me.
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  It's in the book of Lamentations chapter 2.
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  It's after the book of Jeremiah and most people believe
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  Limitations was written by the prophet Jeremiah.
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  But look at verse 14 as he spells out one of the traits of
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  a true and faithful man of God, Prophet of God, messenger of
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  God, Limitations 214. Your prophets have seen for you
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  false and deceptive visions. They have not exposed your
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  iniquity to restore your fortunes.
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  But I've seen for you oracles that are false and misleading.
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  Did you see it? One of the signs of a false or
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  unfaithful prophet is that they refuse to uncover iniquity.
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  What this means is that they're willing, unwilling rather, to
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  acknowledge sin as sin. They are refusing to call people
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  to repentance and point out the trespasses in people's lives
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  that are clearly violating God's law.
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  And the condemnation of this kind of cowardice is highlighted
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  by the fact that uncovering 1's sins is connected to a blessing.
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  So what does he say? Look back.
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  They have not exposed, not exposed your iniquity.
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  And he follows that with to restore your fortunes.
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  Other translations would say to push away captivity or to return
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  your captives. It's so obvious, right?
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  There is a level of restoration that can only be realized with
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  repentance. And to refuse to call people,
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  whether it's on an individual basis or from the pulpit or in a
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  counseling session, to refuse to discern the obvious sins in
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  people's lives and not call them to turn away and to pursue
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  holiness and righteousness and forgiveness, but not just a
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  forgiveness that cleanses your record, but empowers you to
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  overcome the very things that shackled you.
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  To refuse to do that of selfishness or fear or whatever
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  the case may be, is devastating. And depending on the situation,
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  sometimes that call, that instruction, requires loving but
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  stern rebuke, just like what we see here with Elijah and Jerome.
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  Jerome was a king. His influence was toward the
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  nation. He was long standing in his
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  rebellion. It deserved this kind of
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  confrontation. So remember, if you and I are
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  wanting to help people, whether Saints who are struggling or
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  sinners who have not yet put their trust in Christ somewhere
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  in that equation. We must be willing to have an
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  honest, bold, wise, compassionate conversation about
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  sin and to not do so would bring us on the the indictment of
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  Jeremiah 614, where Jeremiah also says a false prophets there
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  that they heal the wound of my people lightly lightly.
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  There are many places, many churches, many services, many,
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  many pastors, unfortunately, that are attempting to heal the
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  wounds of people. But it's surface level.
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  And how does Jeremiah finish that verse saying peace, peace
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  when there's no peace? So there's a way of dealing with
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  people's sins and the bruises and the hurt that comes from
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  their disobedience. There's a way of doing it
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  lightly and there's a way of doing it surgically.
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  And I would say that this, the scalpel of repentance, is what
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  really digs out the root of sin. So Elijah here makes it clear
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  that he wants nothing to do with an idolater.
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  And, and perhaps this was really a indirect rebuke to
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  Jehoshaphat, who was what he was always linking himself to those
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  who are unrighteous, right? So he says, I don't want to, I
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  don't want to have anything to do with you.
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  But before walking away, General Ram says something to him in
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  verse 13. At the end of it he goes, no,
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  no, listen, this isn't just dealing with me.
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  You have two other kings here who are also going to suffer
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  great loss if we don't get your help.
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  So Elijah is willing. But notice what he says here in
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  verse 14. As the Lord of hosts lives
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  before whom I stand where not that I had regard for
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  Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, I would neither look at you nor
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  see you. Ouch.
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  Elijah here wants to remind Joram that he is not doing this
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  because of him. He's doing this because of
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  another. Now, Jehoshaphat is not the most
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  exemplary standard of righteousness, right?
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  We've seen him compromise with the same problem over and over
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  again. Nonetheless, the Bible does
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  refer to him as a righteous man. The Bible does show him to be a
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  devoted man. He had his problems, but he was
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  still linked to the true God. And one of the greatest
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  demonstrations of that is in Second Chronicles 20.
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  You don't have to turn there, but that's a reference for you
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  to consider. And So what Elijah wants to do
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  here is he wants to make sure that everybody in this scene
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  understands that he is only willing to help because he has
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  respect for Jehoshaphat, ultimately, because Jehoshaphat
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  worships the true and living God.
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  And I meditated on this and I thought, what what point can we
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  draw from this? And I believe we have something.
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  And it is this that we should never underestimate the blessing
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  of the company of the righteous. Jairam would be blessed not
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  because of Jairam, but because of another of another man in his
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  life, another man who was associate with him.
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  And I've mentioned on so many occasions Psalm 7328 where Asaph
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  says, But As for me, it is good to be near God.
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  But we can also make another statement based on plenty of
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  evidence in the Bible. Not only is it good for me to be
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  or not God, it is also good for me to be near those who are near
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  to God. There's so many examples and so
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  many instructions that highlights that blessing the
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  company of the righteous. You know, I have different
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  people that come up, you've probably heard this, I've heard
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  it plenty of times. They genuinely inquire, how can
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  I be more passionate for God? And I guess there are many
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  answers to that. And one of my go to answers is,
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  well, why don't you hang around people who are passionate for
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  God? How do I get excited about the
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  Bible? Well, I think it would help if
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  you go to a church that's excited about the Bible.
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  How do I learn how to pray? Get around people who pray.
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  That's not the only remedy, but it's a major one.
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  And we see it even here, that Jehoshaphat's association with
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  Jeharam would bless Jairam. And so you and I should never
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  underestimate the company of the righteous.
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  My mind even went to a particular passage in First
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  Corinthians Chapter 7 where Paul is giving instructions to
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  spouses who are married to unbelieving spouses, and he
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  emphasizes the sanctifying benefits of a believing spouse,
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  what they have on the household, even if the household outnumbers
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  the one who was saved. So let me read this to you in
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  First Corinthians 714. For the unbelieving husband is
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  made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made
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  holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be
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  unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
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  That is so profound. So one of the incentives that
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  Paul's gives to people in the church who are married to those
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  who don't come to church because they don't believe in Christ is
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  don't underestimate what your presence in close proximity to
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  those who are intimate with you can do for those people.
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  What he is not conveying is that because you're saved, those in
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  your household are automatically deemed saved whether they
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  believe or not. That's erroneous.
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  There is no family package for salvation.
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  You have to make a personal choice of crowning Jesus Christ
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  as Lord. So what does he, what does he
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  mean here by making them holy? There's an influence that
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  happens. There are there are blessings
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  that overflow from the righteous in the household of unbelievers.
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  They they receive something indirectly because of your close
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  proximity, because of your shoulder rubbing with them,
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  because of your interactions. And so will you.
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  And I have to rediscover what we can provide to those who don't
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  love God, who don't know God and what those who love God can even
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  do for us. Do not underestimate the company
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  of the righteous. Now, let me say this because
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  somebody might hear this and get very excited and now get
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  licensed to missionary date and find somebody who's not a
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  believer and say I heard a Bible study that I shouldn't
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  underestimate the company of the righteous.
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  So here I go. There's a difference between
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  being saved and marrying somebody who's unsaved and being
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  unsaved while you're marrying and then being saved and now
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  being unsaved married to an unsaved person.
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  Big difference. OK, so don't misunderstand
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  Paul's words here. Now we continue.
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  We read here in verse 15 that Elijah made and very interesting
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  inquiry. But now bring me a musician.
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  And when the musician played, the hand of the Lord came upon
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  him. I have two questions reading
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  this verse #1 why did Elijah ask for a musician #2 Why did the
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  hand of the Lord come upon Elijah after the musician
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  played? Let me start off by saying that
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  this is not an isolated instance of prophecy and music working
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  together. One reference that comes to mind
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  is First Samuel chapter 10. And you don't have to turn there
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  unless you want to see it with your own eyes in verse 5, where
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  we're told they're of a company of prophets who are coming from
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  the high place and they were coming with harps, liars, flutes
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  while they were prophesying. And so this is not unique.
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  There are other examples in Scriptures that inform us that
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  there's a clear marriage between the assistance of music and the
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  effectiveness of spiritual activity.
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  And the reason is quite clear. Music possesses powerful
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  properties, and its influence is undeniably spiritual.
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  So you recall, I'm sure, when David was instructed to play for
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  Saul when he was tormented by a harmful spirit.
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  The music was the means to provide remedy to his troubled
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  soul. And I believe that what we see
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  here is something similar. There are no evil spirits at
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  work in the scene, but the context suggests that Elijah is
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  agitated. He's disturbed.
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  Does anybody have an idea why Elijah is disturbed?
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  One of the clues of discovering a meaning of a passage is to
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  read what came before it and to read what came after it.
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  Anything that we've read up to this point that might give us a
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  clue to why Elijah needs for his mind and his heart to calm down.
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  Yeah. Notice that he wasn't too
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  excited about the presence of the king of Israel.
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  And not just the presence of the king of Israel, but what the
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  king of Israel said. What was the last thing he said?
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  Look at the end of verse 13. He says, no, it is the Lord who
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  has called these three things, these 3 kings to give him to the
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  hand of Moab. What is he doing there?
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  He's blaming God for their predicament.
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  Elijah didn't like that. And so here's this man who.
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  Is disturbed Elisha, even as a prophet.
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  And so before he even ministers, before he's really able to serve
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  this purpose and his irritation, he calls for the presence of a
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  gifted musician that would come to his aid.
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  So in order to be in the right frame of mind, this man, before
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  he hears from God, before he speaks on behalf of God, he asks
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  for a musician to play in a manner that would wash away all
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  inner commotion and would posture them in a manner to be
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  greater, a greater focus for the task ahead.
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  I'm not sure if you notice, but this is the reason why we even
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  have some of our gifted musicians play music, tunes of
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  praise before the service starts.
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  Have you ever noticed why we do that?
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  In great part so that as people come in, no matter how they come
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  in, they would sit under beautiful God honoring music so
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  that they would be soothed, they would be calmed, and they would
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  be even realigned to better give and receive from the Lord.
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  The Bible is so emphatically clear that music is powerful.
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  And not only is it powerful, we must recognize that it's a gift
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  from God that carries the ability to enhance other aspects
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  of our worship. But please know this, if music
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  can help us spiritually, then it can definitely harm us
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  spiritually. To think that you and I, in the
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  privacy of our homes or in our cars with our friends, be at
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  liberty to listen to absolutely anything with no standard, with
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  no filter, is extremely naive. You're making an impact whether
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  you realize it or not, and that's true for even the church
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  service. The music, what we sing is not a
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  secondary component to our gatherings and that is why we
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  make it a serious thing when it comes to the selection, our
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  songs, the melodies, the singability of what we sing
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  because we know that it can enhance the other aspects of our
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  worship or it can hinder it. It can distract.
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  Hey, I've been in meetings and conferences where it killed the
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  meeting. I'm telling you, I've been to
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  enough of those kind of meetings were because there wasn't a
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  discerning and spirit LED selection and not just
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  selection, but the spirit, the spirit in which such things were
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  performed and done before and after the message.
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  Oh, devastating effects, devastating.
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  So let us realize together that this is 1 instance among many
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  that music has been granted us by God to bless the people of
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  God, to help the people of God and many other things with it.
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  So he asked for a musician. The musician comes, and he is
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  ready now at last to give a word from the Lord.
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  Look at verse 16 again. And he said, Thus says the Lord,
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  I will make this dry stream bed full of pools.
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  For thus says the Lord, you shall not see win or rain, but
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  that stream bed shall be filled with water, so that you shall
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  drink you, your livestock, and your animals.
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  Now so many things stand out to me about these verses here,
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  especially the way in which God said He would provide this water
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  to quench the thirst of these armies.
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  Notice that He says here that He would do so and they would not
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  see what? They would not see wind, they
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  would not see rain. Now here's me thinking, OK, if
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  God is going to provide water in the desert, then it has to be
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  through rain. Obviously there's no other
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  source of water near, or else they would have taken advantage
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  of that. So how else is God going to
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  provide these waters? And that's exactly the point in
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  the Lord's provision. He can give, and He does give
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  through ordinary means, but He's not bound by those methods.
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  We must be aware and open to His extraordinary ways.
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  He can use things that you and I interact with on a daily basis,
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  and from time to time He can blow our minds.
• 25:06
  I'm reminded of how He provide daily for the Israelites in the
• 25:09
  wilderness, providing bread. Bread.
• 25:13
  It would arrive in due form and then they would go out and fetch
• 25:16
  for it. But then when you read Joshua
• 25:18
  earlier in the chapters of that book, they arrived to the
• 25:20
  promised land the moment they plant their feet there and they
• 25:23
  benefit from the fruit of the land, it says.
• 25:25
  And there was no more mana given to the children of Israel.
• 25:30
  So they went from extraordinary to ordinary.
• 25:32
  Now they would have to farm and now they would have to trust God
• 25:35
  for seasonal rain. Now they would have to work so
• 25:39
  God can go from extraordinary to ordinary and he can go from
• 25:41
  ordinary to extraordinary. Just be open for anything.
• 25:45
  And in this case it would be a miracle.
• 25:48
  And I love what Elisha states, the beginning of verse 18, this
• 25:51
  statement after telling them what was going to happen.
• 25:54
  This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord.
• 25:58
  Don't you love that? I love that.
• 26:01
  I kicked back and I thought to myself, what do I consider to be
• 26:04
  easy in my life? I won't say it, but you can just
• 26:10
  use your imagination. What's easy to you in this life?
• 26:13
  What's easy for you on a day-to-day basis?
• 26:15
  You know what's easy to the Lord?
• 26:17
  Making water appear in the desert to feed kings and armies
• 26:20
  and their livestock, That's easy.
• 26:26
  You making a bowl of cereal in the morning is like God doing
• 26:28
  this to give you a very poor illustration.
• 26:34
  And I began to think, because you see this phrase worded
• 26:37
  differently throughout the Scriptures, is anything too hard
• 26:39
  for the Lord? There's nothing too difficult
• 26:41
  for the Lord. Nothing's impossible for the
• 26:43
  Lord. And I began to just reflect on
• 26:45
  all the things in the Bible that God considers easy.
• 26:50
  That would be a wonderful Bible study, wouldn't it?
• 26:52
  All the things the Lord that for the Lord that are not too
• 26:54
  difficult for him at all. Can I give you one of my
• 26:56
  favorite ones? It's actually similar phrase
• 26:59
  used here. It's an Isaiah.
• 27:01
  And look at this in Isaiah 49, verse 6.
• 27:10
  This is concerning the Messiah. And at verse 6 of Isaiah 49 he
• 27:17
  says it is too light a thing, that you should be my servant to
• 27:21
  raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of
• 27:26
  Israel. I will make you as a light for
• 27:30
  the nations that my salvation may reach to the end of the
• 27:34
  earth. You understand what he's saying
• 27:35
  here. It's too easy for Messiah just
• 27:39
  to redeem and renew and restore the Jewish people.
• 27:44
  I'm going to have you win the world to my Kingdom.
• 27:48
  I'm going to have your message reach to the ends of the earth.
• 27:53
  And we're seeing it happen, right?
• 27:54
  We are the we are the consequences of this.
• 27:58
  You and I here are enjoying this where He is building His church
• 28:02
  and He is gathering people from all tribes and tongues because
• 28:06
  it was too easy to just rescue one nation, one people group.
• 28:13
  You know why it's important to consider what's easy for the
• 28:14
  Lord because it will help you stay tranquil and trusting and
• 28:20
  filled with praise. Whenever you endure anything
• 28:22
  that is difficult or what you consider to be hard, just
• 28:26
  reflect on what's easy for Him, what He can make appear, who He
• 28:29
  can save, what He can provide that will do something to your
• 28:35
  soul. I promise you.
• 28:37
  I promise you. And that's why we continually
• 28:40
  have to come to the Word because our default is to make something
• 28:45
  of God that likens to us. And what this word does is it
• 28:49
  reminds us and it cleanses us and it sharpens our
• 28:53
  understanding so that we realize just how transcended He is.
• 28:57
  Put it there under a list of what's easy for the Lord.
• 29:01
  He can make water appear out of nothing, and He can save anyone
• 29:06
  in any part of the world. This is a light thing in the
• 29:10
  side of the Lord. Let's finish verse 18.
• 29:12
  He will also give the Moabites into your hand.
• 29:14
  Oh, there you go. Not only is he going to provide
• 29:17
  water, He does more than what we asked.
• 29:19
  He's going to provide the Moabites because He's good and
• 29:24
  He loves to give more than what we ask, but he also tells them
• 29:28
  what they're going to do. Look at verse 19.
• 29:29
  And you shall attack every fortified city and every choice
• 29:34
  city, and shall fell every good tree and stop of all the springs
• 29:38
  of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.
• 29:42
  So I'm going to do something and it's going to energize you to do
• 29:46
  something. So this is a pattern that we see
• 29:50
  in the Bible that God's supernatural provision never
• 29:55
  encourages passivity. It never justifies our lack of
• 30:00
  participation. It never makes us in our waiting
• 30:04
  on the Lord inactive. Never, ever, ever, ever, ever.
• 30:09
  He says you're going to receive water and that's going to give
• 30:12
  you the necessary strength to finish the job.
• 30:16
  In fact, if you have any other word for word translation, King
• 30:20
  James, New King James NASB, the beginning of verse 16 is
• 30:25
  actually worded as a command. So look back at verse 16, the
• 30:29
  ESV it writes and he said thus says the Lord, I will make this
• 30:33
  dry stream bed full of pools. But when you look at other
• 30:36
  translations, it says make this valley full of ditches or
• 30:41
  trenches. You've probably seen that in
• 30:44
  your Bible if you don't hold the ESV, which would mean that even
• 30:47
  before the water came, these kings had to play a part in
• 30:52
  preparing themselves for the blessing.
• 30:57
  They had to do something before the Lord would do something.
• 31:01
  And what this means for us again, is that we can never
• 31:04
  justify God willing to come through for us to not do
• 31:09
  something. In the meantime, you and I must
• 31:12
  do what we can as we trust God to do what only He can do.
• 31:15
  That is always the blueprint of how we see God move.
• 31:24
  Verse 20 The next morning about the time of offering the
• 31:30
  sacrifice, behold, water came from the from the direction of
• 31:34
  Edom to the country was filled with water.
• 31:39
  Something struck me after my first reading of this passage in
• 31:44
  this verse, the timing of when the miracle came.
• 31:49
  You know, the Holy Spirit could have just told us the next
• 31:52
  morning, behold, water came from the direction of Eden.
• 31:56
  But He doesn't do that. He writes to the next morning
• 31:59
  and then he adds about the time of offering the sacrifice.
• 32:03
  Why include that? If this is just purely about
• 32:06
  timing, then we could have just OK the next morning.
• 32:09
  But He wants to include and bring to our attention that this
• 32:14
  miracle came at the same time as when a particular offering was
• 32:18
  made, most likely at the Temple in Jerusalem.
• 32:23
  You remember that there are many offerings that were given to the
• 32:26
  people of Israel as instructions for their worship, but there is
• 32:29
  one that happened every single day.
• 32:31
  It was a perpetual burnt offering twice a day, in the
• 32:35
  morning and at night. According to Exodus 29, there
• 32:40
  would be a one year old lamb that would be given on the altar
• 32:43
  at the entrance of the Temple. So one would be there placed, it
• 32:46
  would be completely consumed, and then another would be placed
• 32:50
  at twilight and then it would be repeated the next day and the
• 32:53
  following day. It would be an unending act of
• 32:57
  worship. And what did that symbolize?
• 33:01
  It was a means of expressing to God and a reminder for the
• 33:05
  nation of their constant consecration unto the Lord that
• 33:11
  it was every day, every night. That is what this sacrifice
• 33:16
  symbolizes. And I find it so interesting
• 33:19
  that it's this sacrifice that is mentioned when it came to this
• 33:24
  miracle. And here's what I believe the
• 33:28
  Holy Spirit is trying to teach us.
• 33:30
  It's not a coincidence, but it's meant to show here that the
• 33:34
  miracle coincided with the moment of Israel's leadership
• 33:38
  showing and exhibiting their complete devotion to the Lord.
• 33:41
  Could it be that there is a lesson here that God's blessings
• 33:45
  are connected to our total devotion to Him, yet He's
• 33:51
  gracious even to those who are severely inconsistent in their
• 33:56
  walk with Him? That is true.
• 33:58
  But what do we open ourselves up to?
• 34:02
  What kind of blessings do we open ourselves up to as we daily
• 34:06
  give ourselves to Him? I think this is what the reader
• 34:10
  is supposed to come to terms with.
• 34:13
  The sacrifice took place and that's when the miracle came.
• 34:17
  That's when God's favor came. That's when his light came.
• 34:20
  That's when his power came. Surely to encourage us and to
• 34:23
  remind us, readers of this time and readers of of our day, that
• 34:27
  there is particular blessing unlocked when we choose to live
• 34:34
  as living sacrifices unto Him. Because the burnt offering is,
• 34:38
  yes, a picture of Christ, but it's also a picture of our
• 34:41
  devotion to Him. From top to bottom we are set
• 34:44
  apart. Every part of us is consumed to
• 34:46
  be a pleasing aroma to Him. And in this case, that is what
• 34:50
  leads the way for God to do wonderful things in US and
• 34:53
  through US. Verse 21.
• 35:00
  When all the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight
• 35:04
  against them, all who were able to put on armor, from the
• 35:07
  youngest to the oldest, were called out and were drawn up at
• 35:11
  the border. And when they rose early in the
• 35:14
  morning and the sun shone on the water, the Moabites saw the
• 35:17
  water opposite them as red as blood.
• 35:21
  This is wonderful. Why would the Moabites conclude
• 35:28
  that what they saw in the horizon was blood, when in fact
• 35:33
  it was water? What would lead them to that?
• 35:41
  Let me let me pose it this way. Why wouldn't the Moabites
• 35:44
  conclude that the substance they were beholding was, in fact,
• 35:47
  water? Any idea?
• 35:50
  It's a desert one. What else?
• 35:54
  It hadn't rained. It didn't rain.
• 35:58
  There was no indication. There was no clues.
• 36:00
  There was no evidence that this could potentially be water.
• 36:05
  Do you see the wisdom of God now?
• 36:08
  Did you catch it? So he tells the Israelites,
• 36:12
  tells the southern Kingdom and the Kingdom of Edom, I'm going
• 36:15
  to give you water, but you're not going to see wind, you're
• 36:18
  not going to see rain. And you know, here's what I love
• 36:20
  about this. He doesn't explain why.
• 36:23
  He just tells them I'm going to do this.
• 36:25
  And yes, he's demonstrating his sovereignty.
• 36:28
  And when you go back here, verse 20, it says that it came from
• 36:31
  the direction of Edom. What this means, most likely, is
• 36:34
  that there was a torrent, there was rain upon the mountains of
• 36:38
  Edom, and then there was this silent but abundant stream of
• 36:41
  water that was led precisely to the location of these kings in
• 36:45
  the wilderness. He doesn't explain the whole
• 36:50
  thing, but we get the explanation.
• 36:52
  We get at least another dimension to this whole story
• 36:56
  that He doesn't allow it to rain so that the Moabites would not
• 36:59
  perceive that there was water out there and this would lead to
• 37:04
  their own demise. And thinking that this is
• 37:08
  actually blood, there's a turning on each other that
• 37:11
  happened. Let's just go get the spoil.
• 37:15
  So here you and I are thinking that God is solving one problem
• 37:19
  when in fact He's solving 10 of them at the same time.
• 37:21
  And you might not even know about it.
• 37:25
  And This is why this is in our Bible, so that we can rejoice
• 37:28
  and we can take these truths and we can use them as filters for
• 37:31
  our own lives and realize God might be doing one thing here,
• 37:36
  but He is surely doing much more that we may not perceive it.
• 37:41
  And even in the unknown we should worship God because we
• 37:44
  have timeless things presented to us to remind us of just how
• 37:49
  glorious He is. So when there is no answers,
• 37:55
  when things seem to be moving steadily, when things seem to be
• 37:58
  moving at only one step at a time, you have no idea the other
• 38:02
  factors that are at work, the things that are being
• 38:05
  positioned, the things that got us in mind.
• 38:08
  And I see that clearly here. I hope you do as well.
• 38:12
  But I also learned something about the Moabites when they
• 38:14
  look out and they see blood instead of water.
• 38:17
  It's a striking illustration of how dangerous it is to operate
• 38:22
  purely by our senses, isn't it? Read again with me the end of
• 38:29
  verse 22. The Moabites saw the water
• 38:31
  opposite them as red as blood and verse 23 and they said this
• 38:36
  is blood. No it isn't.
• 38:40
  It's a mass body of water and the early sun rising and shining
• 38:46
  and reflecting on it to make it look like something else.
• 38:52
  Quick analysis, hasty action mingled with lack of discernment
• 39:01
  is a lethal combination, very dangerous, and this is just one
• 39:07
  of many examples of that in our Bibles.
• 39:11
  The answer to how we can avoid pursuing things, believing
• 39:19
  things, adopting things, rejecting the right thing,
• 39:21
  accepting the wrong thing, the way we can protect ourselves
• 39:25
  from that is found in this very story, I believe.
• 39:28
  What did the Moabites lack in their misunderstanding of what
• 39:36
  they saw? Here's what I believe.
• 39:38
  Scroll back to verse 12 of the same chapter and Jehoshaphat
• 39:43
  said the word of the Lord is with him.
• 39:48
  So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat and the king of Edom
• 39:51
  went down to him being Elijah in essence.
• 40:00
  The Israelites and the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of
• 40:03
  Eden, they understood it was water.
• 40:04
  Yes, they were in close proximity, but they understood
• 40:06
  what God was going to do for them, what this was all about.
• 40:08
  The bull bites were left in the dark.
• 40:11
  And I make the case that the word of the Lord for them would
• 40:14
  have helped them understand and perceive rightly.
• 40:17
  And it's no different for us what we've been given access to
• 40:21
  That, that precious treasure that you are holding in your
• 40:24
  hands is the means by which you will be protected from
• 40:29
  deception, is the means by which you enhance and strengthen your
• 40:34
  discernment. So while the world and the
• 40:37
  church are looking at the same thing, the world might say this
• 40:44
  is righteous and this is permissible.
• 40:47
  But because we have the word of the Lord, we are told this is
• 40:51
  actually sinful and wrong. The world might look at
• 40:55
  something and we're looking at the same thing and they will say
• 40:58
  this is evil and it will hinder you.
• 41:01
  While the word reminds us this is holy and it will bless you.
• 41:07
  While the world says this, what we have in our hands will tell
• 41:11
  us otherwise. So whenever we look upon the
• 41:13
  same things and make our own judgments void of the word of
• 41:17
  God, it is hear me deadly. And in this case it would be
• 41:24
  physical and in our day could be physical but is primarily
• 41:28
  spiritual. So if two groups looking at the
• 41:34
  same thing and perceiving it differently, the difference
• 41:38
  maker is that God gave insight to one and left others in the
• 41:42
  dark. You don't have to be in the dark
• 41:44
  because God has blessed our generation with the Bible unlike
• 41:48
  any other generation. Look at verse 23.
• 41:54
  And they said this is blood. The kings have surely fought
• 41:56
  together and struck one another down.
• 42:00
  I just think it's sad. Edom is one thing, but for
• 42:03
  Israel and Judah to be perceived by the world as capable of
• 42:06
  killing each other is a sad testimony for the people of God,
• 42:09
  don't you think? Yeah, it's a sad testimony for
• 42:13
  the world to look in the church and to believe that it's
• 42:16
  possible for us to turn on each other to devour one another,
• 42:19
  that that should never come to mind for the unbelieving world.
• 42:26
  Now then, Moab to the spoil. When they came to the camp of
• 42:30
  Israel, the Israelites rose and struck down the Moabites till
• 42:33
  they fled before them. And they went forward, striking
• 42:35
  the Moabites as they went, and they overthrew the cities.
• 42:38
  And on every good piece of land every man threw a stone until it
• 42:41
  was covered. They stopped every spring of
• 42:44
  water and felt all the good trees.
• 42:46
  And then we read something interesting.
• 42:49
  We read here that the slingers surrounded and attacked at the
• 42:52
  end there, verse 25. But that's not where the story
• 42:55
  ends. Verse 26, when the king of Moab
• 43:00
  saw that the battle was going against him, he took with him
• 43:03
  700 swordsmen to breakthrough opposite the king of Edom.
• 43:07
  But they could not. So now they're getting
• 43:09
  surrounded. The Moabites are are realizing
• 43:12
  that they're not going to they're not going to win this
• 43:14
  war. And so with the last attempt of
• 43:18
  breaking through, they look at probably the weakest link, the
• 43:20
  Edomites, and they try to overtake them to no avail.
• 43:28
  But the king of Moab won't give up.
• 43:31
  He won't surrender so easily. And so there's this very
• 43:35
  disturbing verse provided to us in verse 27.
• 43:41
  Then he took his oldest son, who was to reign in his place, and
• 43:46
  offered him for a burnt offering on the wall.
• 43:50
  And there came great wrath against Israel, and they
• 43:52
  withdrew from him and returned to their own land.
• 43:56
  So out of sheer desperation, he gets above the armies, he stands
• 44:02
  on the wall, and he makes this public act of abomination.
• 44:06
  He takes his oldest son, the one who's supposed to take his place
• 44:09
  as king. He slaughters him, and he makes
• 44:12
  him into his sacrifice to his false God.
• 44:19
  But what's more interesting is this phrase that follows it.
• 44:23
  And there came great wrath, you would think, against Moab, but
• 44:27
  we're told that it came against Israel.
• 44:32
  And then after this, we're told that they withdrew the
• 44:35
  Israelites, the Kingdom, the southern Kingdom, and the
• 44:37
  Kingdom of Edom. They withdrew and they went back
• 44:39
  home. And you get the sense that this
• 44:41
  was a incomplete victory. What's happening here, this
• 44:47
  verse is, is up for much debate. And the primary question is,
• 44:53
  what is the source of the origin of this wrath that came against
• 44:57
  the people of Israel? So there are many, many, many,
• 45:02
  many answers because it's not clear there were some who would
• 45:06
  believe that this is the wrath of Hemash, the war God of Moab.
• 45:11
  We've seen him reference in the Bible before so that when the
• 45:16
  king of Moab makes this sacrifice, he is in essence
• 45:19
  enables the God of Moab to fight and resist against this
• 45:24
  coalition and they won. Some would say that this wrath
• 45:29
  is coming from the true God, and the reason why it came from the
• 45:35
  true God is because Israel took it too far with Moab.
• 45:40
  And there are incidents in the Bible where you find God using
• 45:43
  human agents to discipline or to overtake another nation or
• 45:47
  another people group. And they abused that.
• 45:51
  Where He wanted little, they did far more.
• 45:54
  So many references to that. That's why God later condemns
• 45:58
  Assyria and Babylon, because they abused the opportunity that
• 46:01
  was granted them. So you have the transcendent
• 46:05
  explanation and then it boils down to the human explanation.
• 46:09
  Could it be that the wrath that came against Israel was the
• 46:12
  wrath of the Moabites? That they were put in a position
• 46:17
  of such desperation that they sacrificed?
• 46:19
  Though they did offer child sacrifice in this case it was a
• 46:23
  precious one because they gave up the succeeding king.
• 46:27
  And so in their wrath, they were so angry with Israel for what
• 46:33
  they were led to do. Or could it be actually the
• 46:37
  wrath of Judah and Edom? Because notice that it's very
• 46:43
  specific. There came great wrath against
• 46:45
  who? Israel.
• 46:49
  Could it be that this gross savagery created disgust in
• 46:57
  Judah and Eden where they looked at Israel and they thought you
• 47:01
  caused this? In a sense you you led it to
• 47:03
  this and they retracted and decided to end the operation
• 47:07
  here. Could it be a mixture of many
• 47:10
  things? Sure it could be.
• 47:13
  We're not explicitly told so we can't be dogmatic.
• 47:17
  But one thing is for certain, it is a foolishness of this
• 47:23
  despicable crime. What is the king of Edom or
• 47:28
  rather Moab? Do he sacrifices his son?
• 47:32
  Can anybody remind me what is the reason for this war to begin
• 47:35
  with? You can say it if you know the
• 47:38
  answer. What's the reason for this war?
• 47:43
  What, why? Why is Israel and Judah and Edom
• 47:48
  partnering to come against Moab? The answer is in this chapter.
• 47:53
  You just have to go to the first few verses.
• 47:56
  But does anybody know why? Why are we even doing this?
• 48:01
  What causes what triggered this? It's in the single digits of
• 48:09
  Second Kings chapter 3. They rebelled.
• 48:14
  How did they rebel? Very good.
• 48:17
  Look at verse 4. Mesha, king of Moab, was a sheep
• 48:20
  reader, and he had to deliver to the king of Israel 100,000 lambs
• 48:24
  and the wool of 100,000 Rams. But when Ahab died, the king of
• 48:28
  Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
• 48:33
  Do you know what could have very likely solved this whole thing?
• 48:38
  If Moab had just went back to giving and sacrificing those
• 48:42
  lambs and those Rams, right? What does he do instead?
• 48:49
  He sacrifices his son. How do you explain this?
• 48:55
  You are willing to give up the life of your boy instead of some
• 49:02
  lambs and Rams. Behold the destruction of pride.
• 49:10
  Pride causes us to be foolish. It's it's ugly, it's hideous,
• 49:17
  and it can blind us and lead us to do devastating things.
• 49:23
  Unrestrained pride, unchallenged pride over time can destroy the
• 49:28
  most precious things, the most beautiful relationships, the
• 49:33
  most vibrant ministries, most abundant resources.
• 49:38
  Pride has a way of driving things to the ground and the
• 49:43
  most things that don't even make sense following somebody's
• 49:48
  arrogance because they refused to humble themselves.
• 49:52
  Here's a man who wanted to fight tooth and nail, who would not
• 49:56
  give in. And so he gave up arguably one
• 50:02
  of the most valuable things to him.
• 50:05
  And so this is how this ends. It ends with a very gross, vivid
• 50:14
  example of what pride can do. It kills, kills us, it kills
• 50:20
  others, and it's meant to in some way encourage us to remain
• 50:25
  humble, to remain humble. And that's what I pray we would
• 50:30
  leave this Bible study with that kind of exhortation.
• 50:33
  Lord, keep me low and help me just give in and surrender where
• 50:42
  you call me to give in and surrender.
• 50:45
  More importantly, if there is a blessing that is linked to
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  complete and total sacrifice, then let me be a complete and
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  total sacrifice. I don't want to hold anything
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  back because when you and I hold anything back, no matter what we
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  think we gain, we ultimately lose.
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  We always lose. We refuse to give what God asks
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  of us. I think that's enough for
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  tonight. Let's pray.
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  Let's thank Him together. Is it possible, like Elisha, the
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  call for the musicians to come up here?
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  Please come. We'll pray in a moment here.
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  I praise God for our praise team.
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  They take their ministry very seriously, and we all are
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  blessed because of it. Why don't we calm our hearts?
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  Why don't we allow even a soft tune to just assist us?
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  Well, we thank you for this Bible study.
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  Oh Lord, our words fall short of ascribing to you the praise and
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  the glory and the honor that you deserve.
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  We pray, Lord, that the the meetings here at NBC would
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  always create the atmosphere necessary for us to receive it.
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  To give unto You what you deserve and what we need.
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  May this place always be holy ground.
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  May those who serve in their giftings, especially the gifting
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  of music, be led by Your Spirit always, Lord.
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  Surely there is more to unpack in this passage, but we trust
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  that what was granted to us suffices for this evening.
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  Oh Lord, it's so easy to hear a Bible study and to just gather
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  knowledge. Please speak to our hearts,
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  Lord. Soften us.
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  Make us tender again, Lord, help us the hunger for your ways,
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  or for anybody in this place that is waiting on you.
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  May they believe that as they trust you, and as they lay that
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  need before you, that you are magnificent in your plans.
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  And though we may see one thing, you're doing a multifaceted
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  work. Help us believe that.
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  Help us believe that for this church, as we are waiting on you
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  for a big need. And we may not understand the
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  timing. We may not know where resources
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  will come from below, we trust you.
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  We trust that as we continue with you, You will give us maybe
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  a glimpse of why you did what you did, how You did it, and
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  when You did it. We believe You, we trust in You,
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  we rest in You, and we believe Your Word provided us the means
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  to rest tonight. Lord, help us be loving enough
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  to call out sin when we need to, with the right tone, the right
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  words. May that be true of this pulpit.
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  May that be true of our relationships with those that we
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  care and love for. We just want to say thank you
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  Lord for tonight. We bless you and we want to
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  worship you with gratitude for what you have given to us.
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  In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Why don't we stand and worship
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  the Lord? Thank Him for the spiritual food
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  that we ate of tonight.