2 Chronicles 22:1-23:21
“Behold, the king’s son! Let him reign, as the Lord spoke concerning the sons of David. (23:3b)
The Christian life starts with the promises of God. He makes claims about himself and gives us promises. Then, having trusted in those promises, we respond in faith and obedience to God’s commands. But it starts with the promises of God.
Sometimes, however, the promises are hard to believe, like during Athaliah’s reign. The dark days started with Ahaziah. In his one year reign, he managed to do evil, get entangled with the house of Ahab, and get himself killed while visiting Joram. Once dead, his wicked mother, Athaliah, assumed the throne and promptly murdered all the royal princes in order to secure her own power. For seven years it looked as though God’s promise to David had failed. No one from his line would ever again sit on the throne. No covenant, no Christmas, no Christ!
But God’s promise had not failed. Jehosheba and Jehoiada had secretly hid away one royal prince, Joash, and presented him as king in his seventh year. Just like Moses and Jesus, Joash was hidden away from a cruel tyrant and then revealed as the deliverer of God’s people. Athaliah was killed and Joash began to reign. God had kept his promise. He always does.
