I hope your family and you had a wonderful and merry Christmas!
Today I want to speak to you about “The Lady That Saved Christmas.” I think you would agree that for Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened.
The Grinch
Dr. Suess’ famous book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! First appeared in the later 1950s. Suess wrote in rhymed verse, and he writes about a solitary, grouchy creature who tries to cancel Christmas.
Every Who down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot.
But the Grinch...
...who lived just north of Who-ville, did not.
The Grinch hated Christmas, the whole Christmas season.
Now, please, don’t ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be perhaps that his shoes were too tight.
It could be his head wasn’t screwed on just right.
But I think that the most likely reason of all...
...may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
You know the story of how the Grinch steals all the Christmas gifts and all decorations from all the homes in nearby Whoville.
Again, to save Christmas, Christmas would have to be threatened. Despite the best efforts of policemen, firemen, Toys for Tots, and churches everywhere, no doubt there were some children who missed Christmas. There were some who had no tree, no presents, and for that matter, no wrapping. It saddens our hearts to know of even one child who might miss out on the wonder and awe of a Christmas morning. But the truth is this happens far more than we realize.
Yet, for Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened. But you wouldn’t miss Christmas if you took the presents or the trees. You wouldn’t miss Christmas if you took the music or the tinsel. You won’t miss Christmas if you miss Cyber Monday or even Black Friday. You’ll only cancel Christmas if you take away a promise. Yes, Christmas rests on a promise. And if you can threaten that promise, you threaten the bedrock of Christmas itself.
Now, God placed this promise in the turbulent upheaval of human history. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). This promise is the foundation of Christmas. Christmas rests on this promise made to King David. King David lived 1,000 years before Jesus. Yet, you cannot leave David out of the story of Christmas.
Now, Jewish people keep with their family tree better than we Americans. They didn’t need 23 and Me or to spit into some tube – they knew their ancestry. And they especially knew their ancestry if their family included King David. Get this: Roman Emperors persecuted Jews in David’s family tree even after the close of the New Testament. David’s ancestry was still keeping their family trees 1,100 years after David! Yes, David is a really big deal, and the promise made to David is the foundation of Christmas.
Again, for Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened.
The Promise Exposed
God exposed His promise to the turbulence of human history for 1,000 years. As if you’d place your wife’s diamond wedding ring in the schoolyard of the nearby elementary school. God put His promise out in the middle of the world like you’d place an infant on a racetrack during a Nascar race! Again, Christmas depends on a single, solitary promise God made to a Hebrew king. And God placed His promise in the safekeeping of one family in just one nation.
In the next few minutes, I want to tell you the story of how Christmas was threatened by a lady and Christmas was saved by a lady. In our story, we find three main characters: the evil queen, Athaliah, the good woman, Jehosheba, and the child-king, Joash.
1. The Lady that Threatened Christmas
“Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family” (2 Kings 11:1).
God’s promise was teetering on the brink of destruction just 150 years after God vowed David’s family would always rule and reign. Now, David’s lineage or David’s family reigned over the postage-stamp-sized kingdom called Judah with only one interruption. That’s significant. There was only one person to reign over Judah, who wasn’t a descendent of David.
1.1 Who’s Athaliah?
In a day when men ruled the nations, Athaliah was the only queen who served to rule over Judah. Athaliah is the Grinch that nearly stole Christmas. Again, Judah has only one queen in her history, and her name was Athaliah. I’m not here to make you an expert on ancient Judean Kings, but you’ll need to know a little bit more about the villain of our story. She ruled the small nation of Judah only for a short period of time – six years.
While she’s the villain in our story, what makes her a villain isn’t because of her gender. Part of her villainy is that she is the only royal person other than David’s family to sit on the throne of Judah. Athaliah was the only person to reign in power over Judah who wasn’t a descendent of David.
Remember, the kingdom of Israel divided shortly after the death of David. Later a war started between Israel and Judah, and there was a peace treaty around 867 BC. To put a bow on the top of the peace treaty, the king of Israel gives Athaliah to the crown prince of Judah.
1.2 Anything but Normal
It was nearly twenty years ago, but if you looked down a dust-blown driveway onto John’s pig farm in San Diego County, all that you would see was a two-story bungalow. The house looked like any other house you might see out in the middle of nowhere. But when U.S. drug agents broke into the closet door inside that house, they found a large safe and eventually a false door. The false door led to a 1,200-foot tunnel with electric lights, ventilation ducts, and wooden walls that ended inside a fireplace of a house just beyond a metal wall when you enter into Mexico. A U. S. DEA agent said, “They used this tunnel to smuggle billions of dollars’ worth of cocaine, marijuana and other drugs into the United States for several years.” What looked like a normal house was anything but normal. And what looked like a normal marriage was anything but normal!
1.3 Athaliah’s Religion
Athaliah is the wife of King Jehoram, and her husband was 32 years old when he became king (2 Chronicles 21:5). He murdered all his brothers when he became king – a foreshadowing of the evil to come (2 Chronicles 21:4). She’s the mother of Ahaziah, and her son became the eventual king was he was but twenty-two years old. Now, Athaliah marries into David’s family, but she’s not a follower of God. We quickly find out that her religion and morality are an infection from the north like a virus to a computer. And it’s not like she’s neutral about God either. She utterly opposed God of the Bible at every step of her way.
She worshiped another god common at that time, named Baal. Baal was a god associated with thunderstorms. It was thought that lightning was his weapon, and supposedly the windows of his palace were the openings in the clouds above. So evil was this god that Baal’s name was later used to describe Satan himself – Baal-zebub. Baal was worshipped with erotic acts, and worship would often include sacrificing your child to the god, Baal.
This was Athaliah’s chosen god. When her father-in-law invited the family to worship in the temple, his daughter-in-law would roll her eyes during the sermon. She sat stone silent during the time of singing with arms crossed in defiance. Again, she’s Grinch that almost stole Christmas.
Her heart was an empty hole, and her brain was full of spiders!
You’ve got garlic in your soul, and I wouldn’t touch you with a 39 and a half foot pole!
1.4 Athaliah’s Influence
When Athaliah married into the king’s family, that’s when people in the nation began to worship Baal. She even flipped the king’s son. Once the crown prince was married to her, he no longer attempted to worship God but followed her in the worship of the child-sacrificing god, Baal. And their son would have a short reign as king, and he too worshipped the child-sacrificing god, Baal, during his time as king (2 Chronicles 22:2). So now, the royal family of Israel has intermarried with the royal family of Judah. An infection from the north has invaded the system. Here is a sad, sad tale of a woman and a family that is hell-bent on evil.
1.5 Athaliah’s Evil Act
In time, her husband becomes king and dies. And a little later in time, her son becomes king, and he dies. Now, Athaliah is the only queen of Judah, and we arrive at verse 1: On screen: “Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the royal family” (2 Kings 11:1).
The royal family is David’s family. The adherent to the god of child sacrifice is doggedly determined to kill off every one of David’s family. Normally, following the death of a king, one of his sons would have become the ruler in his place. But the devious queen mother had other plans. As soon as the news of Ahaziah’s assassination reached her, she set about to wipe out all her son’s descendants and claim the throne for herself. She moves quickly to eliminate all the potential competitors to the throne. She actually murders her own grandsons in order to become queen!
Remember, when the queen murders the living heirs of the David’s family, she doesn’t just threatened national stability. She threatens Christmas itself. Because made a promise to David to have one of David’s sons on the throne for all of time and eternity. God exposed His promise to the turbulence of human history for 1,000 years. He put His promise out there like you’d place a $300,000 McLaren race car in a Wal-Mart parking lot. There it is exposed to the crashes of shopping carts and people swinging their car doors wildly!
I am always amazed when I read how you could walk right into the White House in President Lincoln Day. You heard this correct. The White House had an open-door policy in Lincoln’s day. The greatest President in our nation’s history was left out there dangling before any cracked-pot that wanted access to him!
For Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened.
Remember the name Athaliah, the lady who threatened Christmas.
1. The Lady that Threatened Christmas
2. The Nurse Who Saved Christmas
On screen: “But Jehosheba, the daughter of King Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and she put him and his nurse in a bedroom. Thus they hid him from Athaliah, so that he was not put to death. 3 And he remained with her six years, hidden in the house of the Lord, while Athaliah reigned over the land” (2 Kings 11:2-3).
In the violent mayhem when a grandmother ordered the death of her very own grandchildren, the half-sister of the queen springs into action!
Now, Jehosheba was the wife of a priest and part of the royal family. While the sword of the queen is still wet with the blood of her grandchildren, a royal baby is saved.
2.1 The Courage of One Woman
The priest’s wife courageously hides this infant son of David in the house of God. This is a remarkable woman! If she snuck in to steal the Mona Lisa right in front of the French police, she couldn’t have more nerve than to hide a baby from that murderous, vindictive queen!
For Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened. The promise of God was just one baby’s heartbeat away from vanishing. God exposed His promise to the turbulence of human history.
Celebrate Jehosheba as the lady who saved Christmas! Surey, she’s among the great cloud of witness (Hebrews 11). Here is a lady who had faith. She was God’s woman to save the day. She should have been Time magazine’s Person of the Year, but few of us have ever heard of her before. Momma, raise your daughters to admire Jehosheba.
2.2 The Temple Complex
She puts the child in an apartment in the temple complex (2 Kings 11:3). The temple was quite large, and it would like hiding a baby back in a classroom somewhere in our church building. What a great place to hide him! Joash’s first impressions growing up were to the singing of the Levites. He would smell the aromas of daily sacrifices. He would have witnessed the white-robed priests and the reading of the sacred Scriptures daily. His early environment was vastly superior to what it might have been had he grown up in the palace next door with all its pagan influences and godless lifestyle. Plus, the queen hated God, and so she’d never go into the temple. What a fantastic place to hide the child!
2.3 A Well-Kept Secret
As far as we know, the queen never suspected that anyone had survived her massacre. No temple guards spread a rumor about a strange nurse and a baby living in the temple. For six long years, the only four people who knew about Joash’s existence were a priest, his wife, a nurse, and Joash himself. What was seen in the temple, stayed in the temple.
2.4 Imagine the Scene
One can only imagine the narrative that was spun to keep the child locked away for all those years. “Why can’t I go out of this room, momma?” “Where are my parents?” “Why can’t I play with the other children? Did he see other children play through a window in his temple jail cell? Did the priest’s wife bring in food daily?
We don’t even know the nurse’s name! Did she have some relief during the six years, or was she on 24/7 care for the child in fear of telling anyone else their secret? The priest and his wife had to be a raw nerve on edge for six long years. Their eyes were always locked on the temple in fear of the child’s life. How many royal gatherings did they attend wearing a fake smile on their face?
2.5 Terry Roosevelt Jr at Utah Beech
A couple of summers ago, I spent the time reading about the invasion of our troops on D-Day, the decisive battle that turned the European Theatre of WWII. And one of my favorite stories was about Brigadier General Roosevelt. Roosevelt was one of the first soldiers off his landing craft as he led the 8th Infantry Regiment and 70th Tank Battalion landing at Utah Beach. Brigadier General Roosevelt (1887-1944) was none other than Terry Roosevelt JR, the oldest son of President Teddy Roosevelt. Roosevelt was soon informed that the landing craft had drifted south of their objective, and the first wave of men was a mile off course. Walking with the aid of a cane and carrying a pistol, he personally made a reconnaissance of the area immediately to the rear of the beach. He opted to fight from where they landed rather than attempt to move to their assigned position. His famous words were, “We’ll start the war from right here!” With artillery landing close by, each follow-on regiment was personally welcomed on the beach by a cool, calm, and collected Roosevelt, who inspired all with humor and confidence, reciting poetry and telling anecdotes of his father to steady the nerves of his men. He worked under fire as a self-appointed traffic cop, untangling traffic jams of trucks and tanks all struggling to get inland and off the beach. One GI said after seeing the general walking around, unaffected by the enemy fire, the battle couldn’t be that bad. When Major General Barton, the commander of the 4th Infantry Division, came ashore, he met Roosevelt not far from the beach. He later wrote:
While I was mentally framing [orders], Ted Roosevelt came up. He had landed with the first wave, had put my troops across the beach, and had a perfect picture (just as Roosevelt had earlier promised if allowed to go ashore with the first wave) of the entire situation. I loved Ted. When I finally agreed to his landing with the first wave, I felt sure he would be killed. When I had bade him goodbye, I never expected to see him alive. You can imagine then the emotion with which I greeted him when he came out to meet me [near La Grande Dune]. He was bursting with information.
It’s ironic that a 50 something-year-old man walking by the help of a cane was a traffic cop when artillery shells were flying. And don’t you think if the Nazis knew a former President’s son was on Utah Beach, they would have loved to take him out? Here was a man so important yet so exposed.
2.6 A Heartbeat Away from Annihilation
God exposed His promise to the turbulence of human affairs. For Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened. Christmas was just an infant’s heartbeat away from annihilation. Only one heir of David was alive, and he was just a year old. The fragile baby held the promise of Christmas running through his veins. Yet, with God’s promise, nothing could have been more secure. Yes, God exposed His promise to the turbulence of human affairs.
1. The Lady that Threatened Christmas
2. The Nurse Who Saved Christmas
3. The Baby Who Foreshadowed Christmas
“Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and since he had promised to give a lamp to him and to his sons forever” (2 Chronicles 21:7).
The child was the lone, solitary lamp of God on earth. The child was probably about a year old when the queen went on her rampage.
It’s quite a story, isn’t it? A baby shall be king. A child shall wear the crown. Eight hundred fifty years before Bethlehem, a child threatens the throne. Long before Herod goes on his rampage of killing every infant in Bethlehem, a queen kills her grandchildren in the name of self-promotion.
3.1 The Secret is Revealed
Now, Joash would have likely been around seven years old when the priest finally had the courage to present the rightful heir to the throne (2 Chronicles 23:1). We are not told how the priest and his wife convinced everyone that a descendent of David truly existed. The priest finally worked up the courage to reveal the child. Everyone of God’s children can take courage when they act in concert with God’s promises
Anyone who saw the child was sworn to secrecy on their very lives. The chosen day was the Sabbath because of the shift change would draw the queen’s attention. The temple guard, as well as the priests and Levites, all served in shifts on a rotating basis. The plan was for the five companies of priests, including two that had gone off duty after a week’s service and the one on duty, all to be in the temple together without suspicion at a major Sabbath festival.
The Bible tells us his instructions to the guards: “And he commanded them, ‘This is the thing that you shall do: one third of you, those who come off duty on the Sabbath and guard the king’s house 6 (another third being at the gate Sur and a third at the gate behind the guards) shall guard the palace. 7 And the two divisions of you, which come on duty in force on the Sabbath and guard the house of the LORD on behalf of the king, 8 shall surround the king, each with his weapons in his hand. And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death. Be with the king when he goes out and when he comes in’” (2 Kings 11:5-8).
Like a nighttime Navy Seal raid, everything went off like clockwork. They encircled the child for his protection at the scheduled time (2 Kings 11:10). Everything was to happen inside the Temple complex. The seriousness of it all is revealed when the priest says, “And whoever approaches the ranks is to be put to death” (2 Kings 11:8b).
3.2 David’s Weapons
When the priests and the army entered the temple that sabbath day, they likely did so unarmed. Where would they find weapons in the temple to protect David’s legitimate heir? Interestingly, they discovered spears and shields from King David to protect David’s heir (2 Kings 11:10)! Whenever King David defeated an enemy, he would take their sword and shield as trophies. When his son, Solomon, built the temple, they seemed to have been hung up somewhere to inspire future sons of David to do noble acts. Several generations had passed until Joash ran secretly around the temple. Nobody gave a second thought to David’s old weaponry. Perhaps there was the sword that cut off the head of Goliath, the terrible Philistine giant They were nothing more than decorations that your great grandparents placed up, and no one noticed them anymore. The guards could not walk around with weapons in hand as this would draw the attention of the queen too soon. It was David’s weapons that were hung up generations ago that were taken down in order to protect David’s son. Little could David have imagined that the weapons he secured would protect his family and God’s precious promise long after he was gone.
3.3 The Coronation
Each man knew his instructions. The child was encircled in protection, and he was finally revealed. It was time for the plan to come together and for justice to get her due! The time had come to put to death the old queen. The time had finally come to anoint the young prince, the king. The priest placed the crown on the boy. When they placed the crown on the boy, the people clapped their hands and proclaimed, “Long live the king” (2 Kings 11:12)!
3.4 The Death of the Evil Queen
All of Jerusalem would have known what was going by then. The sounds of a celebration could be heard for miles around. The “cat was out of the bag,” and the queen was soon wise to what was going down. When the queen finally gets wise to what’s going down, she runs into the temple, and no one has to tell her what’s happening. She hears the cheering and charges into the temple. She knew immediately, and I love how the Bible tells it: On screen: “And when she looked, there was the king standing by the pillar, according to the custom, and the captains and the trumpeters beside the king, and all the people of the land rejoicing and blowing trumpets” (2 Kings 11:14).
Let me ask you a question: do you even think for a moment her half-sister could keep from smiling? Do you think for even a nanosecond that her husband, the priest, could keep from shouting! Everyone knew that her small number of guards were overmatched by the number of forces mustered around the boy-king, Joash.
She cries “Treason! Treason” as she tears her clothes in protest (2 Kings 11:14). Ironic that one who had committed treason cried “treason” when the rightful ruler was restored.
The priest Jehoiada demanded she is killed outside of the temple. Jesus would later say, “For all who take the sword will perish by the sword” (Matthew 26:52). She murdered her way into the throne, and she was murdered on her way out.
3.5 The Covenant
The boy-king is then presented Joash with “a copy of the covenant,” which contained the rules for kings (Deuteronomy 17:14–20). This would have been read aloud when he was crowned king. The word “the testimony” in verse 12 means the scroll of the law. When they crowned Joash king, they would have read the covenant promises made to David. Among the words the people heard that day were these: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). For Christmas to be saved, Christmas must be threatened.
3.6 The Meaning of Christmas
This is really isn’t the story of a postage-sized nation having its rightful king. No, this wouldn’t matter all that much to you and me. No, this is a story about a promise, a promise made by God and made to David. When the priest read the covenant, he read of a covenant that foretold of a King to come that would be much bigger than a nation in the Middle East. You might as well get a Christmas tree out of the closet and put it up right then and there! You might as well put wrapped paper around presents and sing some Christmas carols in the temple. You see, the covenant spoke of the King of all Kings and the Lord of all Lords. When the priest read the covenant, he read about a promise that no one could threaten. Lift up the true King and let His people rejoice!
Friend, You Can Trust God’s Promises. Let me say this again, You Can Trust God’s Promises. If God promised you a billion dollars this Christmas and He placed your billion dollars in cash in stacks of $100 bills in one the most crime-infested streets in one of the most crime-infested cities in America and if your billion dollars were sitting stacked neatly on sidewalks all out in the open and exposed for every criminal to see that money would not be more secure than if sat in Fort Knox under lock and key and guarded by a team of Navy Seals! The truth is, Christmas was never threatened when God was acting as security.
No matter how fragile you and I might life is, we can rejoice because God protects His promises. No matter if you are running on fumes this holiday season, you can trust God’s promise. It’s promise that makes Christmas.
And when evil Queen Athaliah went on her homicidal rampage to brutally murder every living heir of David, God’s promise was secure! When Herod was killing every child under two years of age, God’s promise was secure! When Joseph and Mary took the child down to Egypt, God’s promise was secure! And when Pilate washed his hand in mocked innocence at Jesus’ trial, God’s promise was secure!
A lady didn’t save Christmas; our Heavenly Father saved Christmas. He did so to bring forth His Son, Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.
Let’s pray together:
Father, I marvel at your handiwork. How you guarantee your work down through the ages of time against the villains and the enemies of the cross! Not one of your promises is broken or lost. Every one of them arrives just on time for the patient believer.
Thank you for Joash and Jehosheba. You have new heroes to my faith today, Father. Thank you for your continued guidance of David’s line and your incredible protection of the family to bless all the earth.
In a fresh way, I trust you again today, Lord. I trust you with my life, my future, my money, my salvation, my family, and my eternity. You are faithful with a capital F! I am more than grateful for your handiwork.
Most of all, I thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. Because we know a lady didn’t save Christmas; you saved Christmas. We don’t celebrate for the child, Joash. Instead, we celebrate your Son Jesus who came to save us from our sins. We celebrate you, our gracious Heavenly Father.
In Jesus Name,
Amen.
