[Sung Psalm: 16] This is an adaptation of Melito of Sardis' sermon "On the Passover" ("Peri Pascha"). A current English translation starts on page 37 of this book: https://sachurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/On-Pascha-Melito-of-Sardis.pdf

Last time we saw the beginning of the destruction of the house of Ahab, and tonight we will see its utter eradication from the face of the earth. This is a reminder to us of how our Lord Jesus Christ overthrows every antichrist. Every power that arrays itself against the Lord and his anointed will be overthrown. Last time we saw how Jehu is the only "christ" in the northern kingdom of Israel. He is the only anointed king in the history of the northern kingdom. He is also the closest thing to a good king that Israel ever had. In faithfulness to the word of the LORD, he assassinated both Joram of Israel and Ahaziah of Judah, self-consciously bringing to pass the word of the LORD through the prophet Elijah. Jehu has killed the leaders of the house of Ahab, but that is not all that Elijah had said. It is not enough to overthrow the antichrist, you must destroy everything that belongs to him...

Do you remember Jezreel? Jezreel means (in Hebrew) "God will sow." But it was in Jezreel that Ahab turned a vineyard into a vegetable garden. The vineyard was a picture of Israel – the vine whom God planted in the land – the vegetable garden was a picture of Egypt. A vineyard takes years to develop, and lasts for generations. A vegetable garden may come and go, and may last for only a season. And it was here in Jezreel that Ahab and Jezebel had put Naboth to death in order to steal his vineyard (1 Kings 21). And now the son and the grandson of Ahab are gathered in the city where Ahab and Jezebel had done this wicked deed. The blood of Naboth cries to heaven for vengeance against the house of Ahab. As the martyrs cry out throughout all generations: How long, O LORD, faithful and true, until you avenge our blood! The house of Omri has demonstrated itself to be an anti-Christian dynasty. We don't usually use the word "Christian" to refer to the OT church. But "Christ" is simply the Greek word for "anointed one," or Meshiach and as Omri is a parody of David (a military commander who became king, and built a new capital city), and Ahab is a parody of Solomon (the son who built a temple in his father's city), it is fair and proper to call them "antichrists" because they are both "in the place of" and "against" the Anointed king in Jerusalem. But our story begins with another Christ – another Anointed One. In fact, the only anointed king in the whole history of the Northern Kingdom...

One of the key words for stanza 12 was "forever" (olam). "Forever, O LORD, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens." (v89) "Forever, I will not forget your precepts" (v93) That same word continues to play an important role in stanzas 13-14 (verses 98, 111, 112). This pair of stanzas both opens and closes with "forever" and in the middle it talks about the path (verses 101, 102, 104, 105). In other words, verses 97-112 are all about how to walk the path of life in the light of forever...

In Elijah, God was trying to provoke Israel to repentance by sending his prophet to the Gentiles. In Elisha, God has given up on Israel as a whole, but calls the remnant – the sons of the prophets – to faithfulness in spite of the apostasy of their rulers. Now, let's remember where we are in the book of Kings: the book of Kings starts with the establishment of the house of David; then tells of the division of Israel and the establishment of the northern kingdom; It then tells of the establishment of the house of Omri in Israel (and Elijah). 2 Kings 2 is the transition from Elijah to Elisha. Now we are going to hear of the death of the house of Omri (and Elisha); then we are going to hear of the death of the northern kingdom of Israel and finally we will hear of the death of the house of David - except unlike the rest of the death and destruction in the book of Kings, the house of David will not be utterly destroyed. Kings will end with hope. The Temple will be destroyed. The Kingship obliterated. The People exiled. The Land overrun by foreigners. Everything that Israel had trusted will fail. And yet the gospel according to Kings proclaims a message of hope - that beyond the grave – beyond the destruction of all their false hopes – lies a resurrection from the dead. And as we come to the end of the house of Omri we will also begin to see that God's faithfulness to David will endure forever!

Nowadays we are very "present" focused. We are very shortsighted – only thinking about our immediate future: what we will eat, what we will wear, or at most what we will do in a few months or a few years. We buy computers that will last for 2-3 years. We have a "disposable" mentality – everything is designed to last for a few months or a few years. In such a transient world, "longing for forever" may seem out of place – or out of touch...

What should you think about when you sing these lines? "Although the proud smear me with lies, I keep your decrees from the heart. Their hearts are unfeeling and hard; I love what your precepts impart." Do you struggle with singing about the "proud" in this way? Do you feel "proud" – as though you are saying "I'm better than them"? We live in a day that delights in absolute equality. No one is better than anyone else, and no one wants to say "I'm better than them." And yet, as I speak, the sports world is obsessed with "March Madness" the beginning of the baseball season, and debates about who is the GOAT – the greatest of all time – in the NBA. As a nation we are obsessed with ranking everything. Everything is about being "the best" "the fastest" "the most" -- everything except morality. When it comes to morality, everything is equal. Or so some would say...

Today we are looking at the 7th and 8th stanzas of the Psalm. The seventh stanza begins with the letter "zayin." This seventh stanza is the stanza of memory – rooted in the word "zachar" which means "remember." Zachar is the first word of verses 49, 52 and 55. Even as the seventh day of Exodus 20 is the day of rest – and remembering - so also the seventh stanza of Psalm 119 is the stanza of remembering. And, not surprisingly perhaps, the eighth stanza of Psalm 119 is the stanza of promise. The remembering of the Sabbath day, and the remembering of the seventh stanza, points back to the creation as well as the redemption from Egypt, but it also leads up to the inheritance of the eighth stanza – the promises of God, as well as my own promise to keep your words. There are five clear connections between the stanzas: 1) both refer to "night": "I remember your name in the night, O LORD" (v55) "At midnight I rise to praise you (v62) (this word is found nowhere else in the Psalm) 2) both stanzas refer to "your promises" in the second line (v50 and v58); 3) in line six of each stanza there is a reference to praising God in song (v54 and v62). 4) the noun for "the wicked" appears in line five of each stanza (the first two appearances of a word that is only used six times in the Psalm) 5) both stanzas follow very similar themes: Zayin (verses 49-56) could be summarized, "Remember me, Lord, as I remember you and your word". Heth (verses 57-64) could be summarized, "I am keeping my promise, Lord, please keep your promise." In other words, Psalm 119:49-64 is all about covenant faithfulness – or "hesed" (which is the word that begins verse 64)...

Kings has told us stories of the battles between Israel and Syria. The military-political strife between Ben-Hadad and the northern Kingdom of Israel dominated the era of the Omride dynasty. Kings has also told us micro-histories - little stories of little people on whom God had mercy and preserved them in the midst of the apostasy of the nation. 2 Kings 5 tells a very different sort of story. It does not tell the story of God's mercy to one of the faithful sons of the prophets – rather it tells the story of the curse of the best of the Israelites (Gehazi). It does not speak of God's protection of Israel, but of his blessing upon the very man who was tasked with destroying Israel! Brothers and sisters, we must beware lest we become too smug in our position. We are far too quick to identify the good guys and the bad guys in our day. Would you have given Naaman a chance? It would be as though a general from Hamas came to town. He had previously been known for conducting raids and kidnapping your children. On the other hand, Gehazi is as good as you get! He is Elisha's right hand man (the servant of the greatest ecclesiastical figure of the day) And yet by the end of our story Naaman is the blessed and Gehazi is cursed. The kingdom of God is an upside down kingdom...

Our passage tonight is pervaded with death. It starts with a widow crying out, "Your servant my husband is dead." The Shunammite woman is barren (lifeless), and when God gives her a son, the son dies. The sons of the prophets nearly die of eating poisonous gourds, and a famine threatens death. (Indeed, next time we will see the living death–leprosy–that afflicts Naaman). Elisha is a prophet who brings life out of death by the Word of the LORD...