And for six years she kept him safe in the house of the Lord.
2Ki 11:3
God has a thin red line. A small company. A remnant, that carries his promise.
For ages, the enemy wanted to kill that promise – by killing its carriers. It started right after his first success. He just had Adam and Eve out of the garden, when he attacked the son of promise, Abel. He saw that he could work with Cain, and used him to kill. But God fixed the situation, giving Seth as a substitute. Seth meaning “who fixed”.
Whether it was the male offspring under 2 years being killed by Pharaoh or a Jesus’ time, or a spear thrown after David. many attempts followed.
One of which was to extinguish the line of David, the line of the kings of Judah. Ataliah, when her son died, killed all heirs to the throne. Except one. An infant named Joash was rescued by his aunt and her husband and hid in the house of God. God protecting the thin red line.
Six years Joash was kept hidden. Six thousand years, God has now protected his thin red line, from Seth down to – us. Whenever the line became obvious – like when God called Abraham – it came under attack. But never died.
Joash is the gift of God. Other renderings of the name are: the fire of God, but also he who despairs or he who burns.
A name that perfectly depicts – us. We are the gifted by God to save a lost world. We ought to be his fire. Jesus said that he came to light a fire. But at times we almost despair, at times it seems as if we were bushes that actually burn, burn down, burn out – unlike the bush of Moses. The remedy: just burn for. Burn for God.
Joash, the gift and fire of God, came at the right time. Interestingly enough, the one that tried to kill him was called Ataliah – the time of God – and was the mother of Ahaziah – the vision of God. She made a decision: she decided to kill the vision of God, to prevent the time of God to happen. But God. Joash, the one gifted by God, was the only offspring of God’s vision to survive. Saved by Jehosheba, his aunt, and Jehoiada, high priest and her husband.
Jehosheba means God has sworn. She was the one standing on God’s promise to David – that forever there would be an heir of David on the throne. Jehoiada was the one that knew God.
This reminds me of another time in the history of Israel. Zerubbabel and Jehoshuah worked together rebuilding the city of Jerusalem after returning from Babel. Zerubbabel, the one born or sown in Babel, the one born in the city of sin, the great whore, had come back to Jerusalem, the holy city. he was of the blood line of the kings of Judah. And worked together with Jesus (Jehoshuah) to rebuild the kingdom of God. We were all born in sin city, but with the help of Jesus have come back to Jerusalem, the city of peace. And together with him we build his kingdom.
Back to our story, that gives us an interesting parallel: Jesus said that he knew the father. Jesus is our high priest. Jehoiada is a picture for Jesus. Jehosheba, his wife, the one living because God swore he never let her alone, is the church. And together they save the remnant, the baby born from God’s vision in the timing of God. This reminds me of the woman in Revelation 5, giving birth to a man child. The church, gives birth to the gifted of God, the manifested sons of God, in his timing. That is his vision for this time. Joash was hidden in the house of God for six years. For six thousand years God prepared for such a time as this.
Again, the enemy tries to extinguish the thin red line of God. Be it through boredom and distraction in the west, through prosecution almost everywhere else. Be it through abortion (a modern version of Pharaoh’s killing of a generation). There are many more ways he is trying.
But we can stand on his promises.
By the way: when two people marry, they become one flesh. Or as the bible puts it, regarding Abraham and Sarah: and Abraham knew his wife Sarah. As we are married to Jesus, as the church is married to its Lord, as Jehosheba is married to Jehoiada – she knows God. Intimately.
We know God. We know, he does not change. We know, he is faithful. He swore to us that even the gates of hell will not prevail. That we win. That he won. Therefore we know that his vision, in his time, will break through. It will be a walk-off home run.
His vision: the manifested sons of God. His gifted ones.
His time: now, after six thousand years.
His plan: to reign with us.
The kingdoms of the world did become [those] of our Lord and of His Christ, and he shall reign to the ages of the ages.
Rev 11:15
Jesus, our Lord, and we, the Christ. He the head and we the body,
Are you ready?