2 Kings 11:4
4 And the seventh year Jehoiada sent and fetched the rulers over hundreds, with the captains and the guard, and brought them to him into the house of the LORD, and made a covenant with them, and took an oath of them in the house of the LORD, and shewed them the king's son.
Jehoiada is one of those characters in the bible that we probably aren't very familiar with, but we should be. In those days, he was the high priest and married King Ahaziah's sister, Jehosheba, the Aunt of Jehoash, the rightful King of Israel. Jehoida lived in troubled days, Queen Athaliah was sitting on the throne. When her son Ahaziah died she murdered all of his children so that she would be the next in line to the throne, she was the daughter of Ahab, so her murderous treason shouldn't surprise us. Satan had his plans and his Jezebel to sit on the throne but in the background of all the chaos, there was a Godly man[Jehoiada] and his godly wife [Jehosheba], who hid infant Jehoash in the temple of the LORD, thus saving his life from his murderous grandmother. Not only did they hide him but for the next six years they raised this boy in the temple of the LORD. While his child at first seems tragic, we can't help but wonder what type of person this boy would have been had it not been for the providential hand of God in his life and 2 Godly people who were not his parents, hiding him in the temple. He would have grown up freer, more wealthy, more esteemed but also more wicked, more spoiled, and most likely would not have become the Godly king that he did. Not only did Jehoiada hide Joash but raised him, but instructed him for forty years on the throne and it was by Jehoida's Godly counsel that Joash led Judah into years of peace, “And Jehoash did that which was right in the sight of the LORD all his days wherein Jehoiada the priest instructed him.” (2 Kings 12:2).
Without a doubt Jehoiada loved this boy but it was ultimately the promises of God and the love he had in his heart for God and his people that motivated his life of selfless service to the "king's son." That title given to Joash is what caught my eye this morning, and I realized that Jehoida was one of the best priests Israel ever knew because he dedicated his life to the service of the king's son. That is what makes a New Testament priest/believer great as well, a lifetime spent serving the King's son. Jehoiada gathered all the people and who was it he set before them? Was it self? Did he publish his good deeds or tell of the plans that he had all along? Our verse says, he "shewed them the king's son." He lifted up the King's son, here is your rightful king! Isn't that the work of the New Testament Priest? To shew them the King's Son. In a wicked world of treachery and murderous intent, we need more men like Jehoiada who will bring Christ to the forefront and let it be known, that here is your King! Down with that daughter of Jezebel! That throne belongs to the King's son! In doing so we can bring peace to the hearts of all those who will set Jesus on the throne of their life. Who are we serving this morning? Who are we showing this morning? Let it be the King's Son, Jesus Christ.
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