THE BELIEVER’S HOUSEHOLD
W S Chellberg
2 Kings 11:1-3; 11-12
I would like with the Lord and the Holy Spirit's help to say a few words about the believer’s household.
You might say this is an unusual scripture to read about the household, because it begins in a negative way. We have to face the negative things at the present time. The spirit of Athaliah is still alive. She destroyed all the royal seed, except for the one Jehosheba stole.
So this is a practice of the devil; a characteristic of the devil is to destroy everything of God. When we go back to Pharaoh, he was destroying all the male Israelite babies, Exod 1. And when you come to a few chapters before where I read, Jezebel was destroying the prophets, 1 Kings 18: 4. She wanted to destroy Elijah, chap 19: 2. And here we have another, a wicked woman, who is wanting to destroy the king. This is what our houses are in the midst of today.
The spirit of Pharaoh, the spirit of Jezebel, the spirit of Athaliah live today, and I hope everyone is aware of it. But I would like to speak about this portion of scripture as referring to a household.
It does not refer to Jehosheba’s husband in this scripture; elsewhere the priest is named as her husband, 2 Chron 22: 11. I think this leaves the exercise open for those who are not married, but have a house. She was a godly woman; she wanted to preserve the king; so she stole Joash. He was one year old. It is not an easy thing to steal a child, and then to hide the child, but she hid him in the house of God, which is a place to which Athaliah would never go. So Jehosheba was wise, a wise woman, and she also provided care for him. She hid him there for those six years when Athaliah reigned over the land. Well, I believe this is like a believer’s household.
Actually, Jehoiada was the priest at this time. In verse 9 he is called, “Jehoiada the priest”. And I would like to say that he filled the position of a husband and a head of a household. He was associated with what Jehosheba did. He knew what she did because it was in the house of God, which was where Jehoiada frequented. That is where, in a sense, he lived. And I would like to say that the household of a Christian believer should reflect the character of the house of God. It should be that someone walking by the house of a believer would say, ‘There is something different about that house; the people there are different; they do not look like us, they do not act like us. They are different’. Persons like this love the king. (After he is crowned king, he is called Jehoash, v 21.)
I understand that, in the palaces of England, if they fly the flag, it means the king or the queen is in residence. This house, we might say, has the flag flying high, because the king was in residence. That is where he was. He was in residence in this house for six years. They had cared for him in their house. Someone said some years ago that in their marriage, there were three: ‘The Lord, and myself, and my wife’. And I trust our brother and sister will have three in their house, so that it can be said that the King is in residence there. That is the way it should be.
Now I would like to refer briefly to a house in the New Testament. Somebody may wonder why I was talking about the Old Testament; so now I want to refer to a house in the New Testament.
There was a house where there were two sisters and a brother. Everyone will know who it is. The two sisters were once at odds with each other. When this house was first presented they were having a difficult time; the one sister, Martha, as you may remember, was busy with every little thing. They had invited Jesus in, but it seems she was all flustered about having Him in her house. She wanted to get everything just right on the table with all the proper things. She was worried about all that, getting the food ready. That was Martha. And she was aggravated at Mary because she had left all those things. All she wanted to do was to hear what Jesus had to say: she hung on His every word, Luke 10: 38-42.
Well, when they are next presented in Scripture, their brother, whom we were not introduced to before, had died. He was sick and died and Jesus went there. And here is Martha again, not yet understanding: she said, ‘If you would have come earlier, he would not have had to die.’ But when Mary came to Jesus, she was weeping. And then Jesus wept. What a wonderful Person Jesus was, that He felt her pain so much. And death always, of course, brings out grief to us. And yet, Jesus raised Lazarus, John 11.
The next time we are presented with that household - I like to say it is the house where Jesus was loved - they are sitting around the table eating. Martha is serving, but she is not overcome by it; she is now serving properly. And Mary is there and she is anointing the feet of Jesus: what wonderful love for Him.
No wonder, after He went into Jerusalem and looked around at all the things in the temple where He saw all the money changers and the sellers, selling sheep and doves, and whatever they do (Matt 21: 12), He went out; and where did He go? He went out to Bethany to the place where He was loved, v 17. I would like my house to be like that, and I would like everyone here to have a house like that.
This young couple are setting up a household. The question is, ‘Will the King be in residence there?’ It is a beginning - we always begin as babes in our understanding of the King.
From that place, where He was loved, Jesus ascended into glory, Luke 24: 50-51. I trust we will each one be exercised by faith to make our household a place where the King is in residence. May the Lord bless our young couple and all who are here.
Wheaton, IL
27th September 2024
Word at Marriage Meeting
Edited and Published by David Brown and Andrew Burr
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