Jehoshaphat in the battle of the Lord. 2 Cronicles 20:14-19
There are 42 kings listed in the OT in the history of the nation of Israel. That number includes both northern and southern kingdom.
Guess how many out of these 42 kings are described as good kings?
6
Six were generally good kings, who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord“ (although een these 6 not always did the right thing, not all the time, but at least they were commended for their actions) and the rest, e.g.36 kings
“did was not right in the eyes of the Lord“.
(Just a note: how many prime ministers did Australia have and how many good ones do you expect to find in that number?)
The good kings were David, of course and then Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotam, Hezekiah and Josiah.
Today we will talk briefly about the second good king, Jehoshaphat (sometimes called Joshafat – which is the same, but shortened name). For this we have to go back in time to the middle of the ninth century BC – 2 Cronicles 20.
There were three kings of the united kingdom of the Israelites, Saul, David and Solomon. Then in the 10th century the kingdom split into two: northern (Israel – capital Samaria) and southern (Judah – capital Jerusalem). Jehoshaphat was the fourth king in Judah after the split.
After three bad kings he was finaly the good one.
In 2 Cronicles chapter 17 and 18 Jehoshaphat did some silly things (not quite right in the eyes of the Lord – just to remind us that even he was a human being), but then in chapter 19:4-10 we read very encouraging words:
“Jehoshaphat encouraged people to follow the Lord God.“
He appointed judges and commanded them (2 Cron 19:9):
“Carry out your duties with the respect for the Lord (or “in the fear of the Lord“ – NKJV), with honesty, and with pure motives.“
Great stuff. Man of God, man of integrity, great leader of the people of God.
And of course when you try to do something for the kingdom of God, when you start building up the faith of others and putting things right with God and men, what should every child of expect?????
Oposition! Persecution. Hardships. Attacks of the enemy.
Every person when he is born again when he turns his face towards the Lord, the very next thing he has to do is face the devil.
1 Peter 4:12-13 is so clear:
“Dear friends, do not be astonished that a trial by fire is occuring among you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when His glory is revealed yo may also rejoice and be glad.“
What kind of the devil´s attack can we expect on the the king? The devil uses nations, rulers, armies, politicians (God as well by the way). So the next chapter 2 Cronicles 20 starts with the description of an arising problem:
“Moabites and Ammonites, along with some of the Meunites, attacked Jehoshaphat.“
Notice that it says: “attacked Jehoshaphat“ – not Israel. To attack the kindom meant to attack the king nad vice versa: to attack the king meant to attack the kingdom. Whoever is fighting against the kingdom of God, is fighting against its King, Jesus himself, as Saul of Tarsus had to find out falling wodn from the horse:
“Saul, Saul, why are persecuting me?“ (Acts 9:4)
The messangers came to the king (2 Cronicles 20:2):
“A huge army is attacking from the other side of the Dead Sea...“
How symbolic, they were coming from the side of the Dead Sea! Your enemies are always coming from that side! We are on the side of life. Our general was dead and buried but is alive and death, even the whole sea of death cannot touch Him. And He transfered all of us from under the power of death and sin into the kingdom of life and victory. Haleluja!
So the messangers came with this news: The enemies are coming! Oh, how you love this kind of messangers, don´t you? Well, not exactly, but even though they are messangers of the bad news still they are saying the truth. But again only when seen in the natural. And when you observe only in the natural, what will be your reaction?
Look at king Jehoshaphat.
2 Cronicles 20:3
“Jehoshaphat was afraid“ or “feared“, “was filled with fear“.
But, you know, fear and faith do not go well together. Fear and trust in the Lord are not good friends. „There is no fear in love“ and God is love and the love of God is poured out into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. I love my wife and she loves me – we do not fear each other, there is no fear in our relationship (unless she looks at me with that look, you husbands in here, know what I am talking about, don´t you?).
Jehoshpahat was firstly filled with fear, when we loose our sight from the Lord Jesus, we are easily overcome by fear, but keep your eyes upon the Lord Jesus and you will know the life of no fear.
But Jehoshaphat in the middle of the fear knew what to do, where to go:
“He decided to seek the Lord´s advice“. (2 Cronicles 20:3)
What a wise leader – this makes him a good king, and this was what made the other 36 kings to fail.
How was he seeking Lord´s advice? How can you know what is the Lord trying to tell you when the problem in your life invades and robs you of your peace and complacency?
2 Cronicles 20:3b “Jehoshaphat decreed that all Judah should observe a fast.“
With the most people this is not a very popular way how to know God´s will. Most of the people are willing just simply pray, or read their Bibles and ask the Holy Spirit to talk to them. Yes, He does use those ways – often, not always. And there is no guarantee that when you fast He will surely talk to you either, but it definitely helps to clear your spiritual ears so that you can hear better what He says. Some people are trying all kinds of other spiritual hearing aids, but me personaly I do not know of anything that would help me better hear the Lord talking than fasting. Try it for yourself, I can´t talk for everybody else. You´ll see.
So they fasted. And they prayed. Read that honest, simple but very powerfull prayer in 2 Cronicles 20:6-12. What was the secret of the powerful results that followed?
I guess one very important fact in this story is what we find in verse 13:
“all the men of Judah were standing before the Lord, along with their infants, wives, and children.“
All. It speaks not only of the high level of danger that they were aware of but also of the unity that they were experiencing as a nation united under the wise leadership of godly king.
After they fasted and prayed in unity, THEN the Spirit of the Lord came. The annointing of God, the Lord´s presence was manifested in the word that came to them through the prophetic utterance of Jachaziel, son of Zachariah, son of Benaiah, son Jeiel, son Mattaniah... how interesting to know even his great, great grandfather, isn´t it? Well, we do not have to understand their genealogies, but the Lord spoke anyway and what a word it was!
“Do not be afraid and do not panic...“ (20:15)
Oh, how did king Jehoshaphat feel in this moment. He was publicly humbled, but this was a great leader. Moses was the greatest because he was the most humble. This is true greatness of the leaders according to the God´s heart.
And then the Lord just told them exactly what the enemies are doing, where they are going to camp and march and where to find them etc.
What an answer to prayer! Does God know what is the devil doing in your life? Of course He does! So why don´t you next time instead of trying to figure it our by yourself, just humble yourself, mayve even fast for a few days and aks the One who knows better. God does know the strategies of our enemy and He can and will reveal them to you when He knows that you will listen and fight His battles His way.
What was Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah asked to do? How to fight?
God said: “You will not fight in this battle“ (20:17).
They just stood there and praised the Lord, worshipped Him and gave thanks to Him for deliverance and God did the rest. Any hint for you? For us? For our church?
Are we facing any problems? Any challenges? Maybe we can learn some very valuable lessons in here. I leave the rest to the Holy Spirit. Amen.
