The Miracle of One

“And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.” (2Ki 11:1-3 AV)

It is amazing to me how many little things had to come together in order to assure the incarnation as promised to David.  Especially where it involved the faith and actions of a human being.  Here is a great example.  God promised David that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel until Christ comes.  Jesus Christ would also be a descendent of David.  Here is a situation where that promise almost did not come to pass.  Athaliah was the wife of the king of Judah.  She was the daughter of Jezebel, wife to Ahab, king of Israel.  Jezebel was the daughter of a pagan king.  Ahab married outside of his people.  Jezebel brought with her Baal worship and together, they led Israel to sin more an all other kings combined.  Consequently, God judged the house of Ahab, which would have included Athaliah.  God raised up a man named Jehu who executed the judgment of God on the house of Ahab, but could not get to Athaliah.  Athaliah, seeing she was a dead woman walking, decided to kill all her children and rule Judah herself.  Her daughter, Jehosheba, snuck away with the only one to survive this slaughter, Joash.  In short, it was the faith and courage of one young lady that kept the throne in the line of David and kept alive the line by which Jesus would come.  Faithfulness changes the world!

Faithfulness is integrity based.  It is not emotionally based.  Faithfulness requires we see the moral character of the principle involved and commitment to that principle or goal is a matter of character.  This is why faithfulness is in such short supply.  We live in an emotional and shallow generation.  If we don’t feel it, then it is not worth our attention.  Faithfulness sees a cause and is duty bound to seeing that cause become a definition of life.  Faithfulness is not driven by results, but rather, by a sense of right and wrong.  I have a friend who is the epitome of faithfulness.  God used him in ways that he will never realize.  The scope of what he did for the LORD cannot be understated.  I watched him take care of a very difficult situation and marvel how the LORD used him to solve an issue that would make a normal man crumble.  He oversaw the dissolution of a failed church.  As the head deacon at the time, it was his responsibility to financially and legally dissolve the work.  The reason for its end is not the point.  That can be debated time and again.  The point I am trying to make is that he shouldered that responsibility, knowing it was nothing more than a huge headache, a legal challenge, and quite frankly, he was tasked with doing it by himself.  No pastor helped him.  The few members that were left went elsewhere.  He worked with lawyers, financial professionals, and ecclesiastical guidance to ensure the LORD’s name was not compromised.  This is a man whose character screams faithfulness.  HE shouldered a job because it had to get down even though it wasn’t fun.

Jehosheba took a great risk.  She hid her little brother as the sole survivor, knowing her mother would never stop looking for him.  She hid him for six years so that when he was old enough to reign, with the help of the high priest, her mother would be dethroned and executed.  That is something!  Knowing your faithfulness will adversely affect those closest to you is not easy.  Knowing the choices you must make will offend those who love you dearly is not a light matter.  But it is one that needs to be done.  We owe our faithfulness to God first!  He comes first.  On a different tack, you never know what your faithfulness might mean in the greater scope of things.  Perhaps Jehosheba understood the promise made to David and fully appreciated what it meant to keep her little brother alive.  Yet, she may not have known just how significant the Messiah would be to all of mankind.  It was this young lady’s courage and faithfulness that resulted in Jesus coming.  And it was a key part of the salvation of untold millions.  By her simple act of courage and faithfulness, a Savior came by way of David to save my soul!  And yours!