12. Jesus In 2 Kings

4/26/2026

Introduction

This morning we will be partaking of communion together. In 1 Corinthians 11:24, we are told to do it in remembrance of Jesus. As we prepare for communion then, we are going to consider a few aspects of how the book of 2 Kings points us to Jesus and His work of redemption. In the past, we have looked at Genesis to 1 Kings with this method. So we are continuing on to see how different books of the Bible help us remember Christ and our salvation.

Overview

To begin with, it would be helpful to have an overview of what is going on in the 25 chapters of 2 Kings. That will help us better understand how it leads us to Christ and how it connects to the New Testament. If you have not read the book, or read it in a while, hopefully this will inspire you to do so.

However, before we get to that overview, it would be good to briefly understand where we are in history with God’s dealing with Israel in this book. God had promised to Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3) that He would give him a land, make him a great nation, and make him a blessing. In him all the families of the earth would be blessed. This was a continuation of God’s plan of redemption which He began after Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden of Eden plunged mankind and this world into its endless cycles of death and decay.

The descendants of Abraham sojourned in Canaan until a famine brought them to Egypt. There God used Joseph to rescue them, and they settled for about 400 years in Goshen in northern Egypt (Genesis 15:13, Acts 7:6; cf. Exodus 12:40 total time of 430 years in Egypt). After a new Pharaoh arose, the Israelites were oppressed and enslaved until God set them free by the miraculous plagues and the Red Sea crossing. They then received God’s law at Mount Sinai under Moses. The tabernacle was built, and the regular animal sacrificial system was instituted to atone for sin.

Despite all that, the people did not trust God. They disobeyed and would not enter the promised land because of fear of the inhabitants. Thus they wandered for forty years in the wilderness. After that generation passed away, God led Israel into Canaan under Joshua. Many of the Canaanites were driven out, and Israel settled into the land. During Joshua’s time, they followed the Lord. But the coming generations got worse and worse as the people repeatedly strayed from the Lord. As recorded in the book of Judges, everyone did what was right in their own eyes. For 300 years or so, Israel went in worsening cycles of idolatry. They went from being disciplined by God through the nations, crying out to the Lord, being rescued by judges sent by God, and then back to relapsing into sin. It is at the end of this 300-year period that the book of 1 Samuel occurs. Samuel is the final judge of Israel as it transitions to a monarchy.

1 Samuel follows the lives of Samuel (the prophet of God and final judge), Saul (the self-focused first king over all Israel), and David (the man of faith who was anointed by God to eventually be the second king over all Israel).

In 2 Samuel, the reign of David as king is detailed. He had failings, but as a man after God’s heart, he repented and came back to God. Positively speaking, David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, established Jerusalem as his capital, and planned to build God a temple. God did not let him, but instead made a covenant to build him an everlasting house. Thus, we see that through David’s descendants God’s redeemer of mankind would come. He would permanently deal with mankind’s sin and bring in God’s everlasting kingdom.

In 1 Kings, we saw the fulfillment of God’s promise to David that Solomon his son would build a temple. Yet, the wicked end of Solomon’s life proved mankind’s sin was not yet dealt with. God’s everlasting kingdom was not yet to be fulfilled.

Originally, 1 and 2 Kings were one book, or scroll, in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint translation into Greek split it into two books (circa 2nd-3rd century BC). All told, 1 and 2 Kings follow the kings of Israel and Judah from the time of Solomon for about 400 years to the time of the exile in Babylon. It shows Israel’s faithlessness to God under her kings despite the many calls of the prophets to repentance and faith. In contrast to that, we see God’s faithfulness to His covenant in preserving the Davidic line in anticipation of His eventual eternal rule.

In 1 Kings, the first 11 chapters dealt with Solomon. The next 11 chapters gave us the splitting of Israel into two kingdoms. Alongside Judah’s struggles with both good and bad kings, there was a spiraling descent of the northern tribes of Israel into greater wickedness and idolatry. That culminated in the interactions between Ahab, Jezebel, and the prophet Elijah.

In 2 Kings, the first 17 chapters primarily follow the prophet Elisha and the further sinful decline of Israel until their judgment and exile by the Assyrian conquest. After that, the last 8 chapters follow the ups and downs of Judah with her decline and judgment. The book ends with the catastrophic Babylonian destruction of the temple and city, alongside the people’s exile.

That’s the big picture of where we are. Now let’s briefly walk through 2 Kings to see what occurs.

Chapters 1-2 give the conclusion of the prophet Elijah’s life. In chapter 1, after giving a final negative message to the dying king Ahaziah of Israel, God protects Elijah from his soldiers through fire from heaven consuming them. In chapter 2, a double portion of Elijah’s spirit was passed on to his apprentice prophet Elisha when he was miraculously taken to heaven in a whirlwind and chariot of fire.

Chapters 3-8 highlight Elisha’s extensive miraculous prophetic ministry that mirrored Elijah’s. He crossed the Jordan River on dry ground. He miraculously aided Israel and Judah during times of war. At his word, oil from a small jar extensively provided for the needs of a widow and her sons. Another woman’s boy was raised from the dead. He prophesied of a multi-year famine. He prophesied of abundant food arriving the next day for the whole city during a dire famine caused by a siege. He appointed new leaders at God’s direction. He continually called Israel to repentance and back to God.

Beyond those things which closely matched Elijah’s ministry, God also used Elisha to purify poisonous waters at Jericho, to purify a poisonous pot of stew, to miraculously feed 100 men with just 20 barley loaves, to heal the Syrian general Naaman of leprosy, and to make a borrowed iron axe head float so it could be recovered. God did many miraculous works through Elisha to verify the truth of his prophecies and to help the godly remnant of God’s people.

Chapters 9-10 move on to give the gruesome fulfillment of Elijah’s earlier prophecy of the complete destruction of wicked king Ahab, queen Jezebel, and every one of their male descendants in Israel. This occurred through Jehu, whom Elisha had arranged to be appointed as the next king.

Chapters 11-12, on the other hand, show God’s preservation of David’s family and His covenant during a harrowing time. Ahab and Jezebel’s daughter Athaliah, from Israel, had married Joram the king of Judah. After Joram’s death, he and Athaliah’s son, Ahaziah, died only two years into his reign. She then seized the throne and wiped out all the rest of Judah’s (male) royal family so she could rule unopposed. The Lord, however, secretly preserved one little baby boy, Joash, through his aunt and the high priest Jehoiada. When Joash was seven, Jehoiada was able to gather loyalists and make him king. Athaliah and the other followers of Ba’al were destroyed. God kept His covenant and retained a Davidic king alive through whom the Messiah’s right to rule would later come.

Chapters 13-14 yet again show God’s mercy to Israel at the end of Elisha’s life. Israel briefly sought God’s help from Aram’s oppression. So God showed them His power. He enabled them to defeat Aram three times and throw off that bondage. One last notable miracle related to Elisha occurred after his death. A dead man was hurriedly cast into his tomb during a raid. When his body touched Elisha’s bones, he was resurrected from the dead. After this time, Israel had a temporary military resurgence under Jeroboam II. God let them regain Israel’s border as Jonah had prophesied. Nonetheless, through it all Israel still continued in its idolatrous worship of the golden calves.

With Elijah and Elisha now gone and Israel never truly repentant, chapters 15-17 show Israel’s final wicked days before it was conquered and deported by Assyria. In Chapter 15, Jehu’s promised four-generation dynasty was terminated, and a number of murderous coups occurred. In chapter 16, we see in the one longer-term reign (20 years) that Pekah king of Israel and the king of Aram attacked Judah. Ahaz, the king of Judah, turned to Assyria for help and was rescued. That began a number of interventions by Assyria into the lands of Israel and Judah. Chapter 17 culminates with Israel’s destruction and deportation. Israel had relentlessly continued its idolatrous wickedness despite God’s many prophetic warnings and the miraculous ministries of Elijah and Elisha. Finally, God judged them. The land of Israel was then repopulated by foreigners who were ravaged by lions from God until they learned to fear God a bit.

Chapters 18-20 now turn to deal with Judah and the godly king Hezekiah. Despite his godly reformations and despite his father Ahaz having befriended Assyria, they now came after Judah in their thirst for conquest. Hezekiah responded rightly and kept turning to the Lord in those trials. The first time, God saved Jerusalem by the Assyrians hearing of someone else coming against them. The second time, God sent an angel to directly kill 185,000 people in their army. Chapter 20 continues with Hezekiah getting sick and again turning to the Lord. With that, God gave him fifteen more years of life and a miraculous sign where the sun moved backwards. Hezekiah later showed off all his treasures to Babylonian well-wishers. He was rebuked and told that his descendants would be taken captive there. Thus, we are given a foreshadowing of the conquering and exile that was going to happen to Judah too.

Chapter 21 sets the stage for this, with the extremely long and wicked rule of Hezekiah’s son Manasseh. The evil was so bad that it was declared by God to be worse than when the Amorites were there before Israel. God declared that He would abandon them and deliver them into the hands of their enemies.

Chapters 22-23 show the extensive reforms that occurred under Manasseh’s grandson, Josiah. The law was rediscovered and read. Josiah led the people in repentance, restored the temple, destroyed the idols, and reinstituted the Passover. Because of that, God delayed His judgment from Josiah’s days, but did not relent from it.

Chapters 24-25 detail Babylon’s subjugation of Judah and then Jerusalem’s final destruction. In chapter 24, King Jehoiachin was taken captive and ten thousand others were deported with him to Babylon. In chapter 25, Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah reigned in his place and ultimately rebelled again. This time Babylon besieged the city, broke through, captured the fleeing king. They destroyed the temple, the houses, and even the walls of Jerusalem. Nearly everyone else was also deported to Babylon.

In the epilogue of that chapter, we find a governor who was put in place by Babylon. He was assassinated by a small group of survivors, and they in turn all fled to Egypt.

Just when it seems that all hope is lost with both Israel and Judah having been fully decimated, with the temple being destroyed, and with basically all the people removed from the land, the book ends on a slightly positive note. We see that thirty-seven years into his exile, king Jehoiachin, from the earlier deportation, was taken out of prison by Evil-merodach the new king of Babylon. Jehoiachin was elevated to a throne above the thrones of the other kings who were with the king of Babylon. The rest of his life, he then ate at the king’s table and was given a regular allowance.

That, then, is in brief the book of 2 Kings. As we come to communion, though, there are two main questions that we want to investigate as we consider this book. The first is:

How does the book of 2 Kings point forward to Christ and help us remember His sacrifice?

While there was always at least a small faithful remnant (as God assured Elijah in 1 Kings), Israel as a whole did not follow God faithfully under His law and direct rule in the wilderness wanderings, under the judges in the promised land, under a king that they begged for in order to be like the nations, under kings with an everlasting covenant and an exalted temple, or under the rebuke of miracle-working prophets. Despite all of Israel and Judah’s unfaithfulness through the centuries, God remained faithful. He kept His covenant and His promises.

He kept His promises in Deuteronomy 28:15-68 to judge Israel and send them into exile if they did not obey His commandments. He also kept His promise to David in 2 Samuel 7:14 to discipline His descendants when they committed iniquity. The rod of men would be used to correct them. But He also kept His promise in 2 Samuel 7:15-16 that His lovingkindness would not depart from them. David’s house and kingdom would endure forever. His throne would be established forever. God preserved the Davidic line when the utmost effort went into destroying them. Even at the end of 2 Kings, in a book that Paul Gorder called “perhaps the saddest book of all Jewish history,” there is an epilogue that showed great kindness and elevation being given to the imprisoned and exiled king of Judah (2 Kings 25:27-30).¹ The line of David survived! God would keep all of His promises.

That pointed forward to Christ. God would keep His promise to Abraham. God would keep His promise to David. There would be a coming eternal reign in the line of David that would be a blessing to all nations. The Messiah would come. God would see to it. Just as He fulfilled His promises of blessings to Israel under their obedience, and His promises of judgment and exile to them under their disobedience, so too He would fulfill the rest of His promises.

Seeing all of these failures in the wilderness wanderings, in the times of the Judges, and in the times of the kings, everything pointed forward to the need for Christ. God’s Messiah was needed. God’s salvation was needed. Even under ideal conditions with a wise king like Solomon, or with miracle-working prophets like Elijah and Elisha, the sinfulness of mankind kept ruining everything in its cycles. What was needed was a heart change. What was needed was not just some external law, but God’s transformation within hearts. Jesus is our only hope.

The failures of Israel’s past pointed them to their need for God and to His coming Redeemer. Our failures in our past should point us to our need for God and to His Redeemer who came in the incarnation of Jesus to bear our sins on the cross and to give us His righteousness. We cannot fix ourselves. We cannot be our own saviors. We cannot bring in God’s eternal reign through our efforts. We need God’s Messiah to be our Savior and we need Him to bring about His eternal reign. We need to trust Him for all of this. He is the only one who can truly and eternally deal with our sin. Is He truly your Savior?

Learn from the mistakes and failures of Israel and Judah in the past. Learn from the judgment they received. Learn from this “saddest book” in all of Jewish history. Do not wait until your judgment comes. God has promised that He will judge this world, and our individual lives. He will keep His promises. He has also promised forgiveness and life to all those who trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Which promise will you receive?

The book of 2 Kings points forward to Christ in a couple other ways that are very helpful to consider. It foreshadows and verifies both Jesus’ prophetic and kingly ministry as the coming Messiah.

First, in His kingly ministry, it does this by recording the kingly line of David down through the centuries. It gives us the line and history by which Jesus would inherit His legal right to rule as a descendant of the Davidic kings. We see this echoed in the genealogy God gave to us in Matthew 1. The same list of the kings of Judah recorded in 1 and 2 Kings is listed in Matthew 1 right down to the exile (and then of course beyond). This was the heritage Jesus received through Joseph. The right to rule came through one’s father, and legally that is who Joseph was.

Yet quite interestingly, the physical reality of Joseph not being Jesus’ physical father also fulfilled God’s curse on Jeconiah in Jeremiah 22:30 where God said that “no man of his descendants will prosper Sitting on the throne of David Or ruling again in Judah.” To fulfill that, Jesus was not physically a son of Joseph—just legally. He was, of course, virgin-birth born by the Holy Spirit through Mary. Her lineage to David was just as sure as Joseph’s. It is recorded in Luke 3, but did not go through Solomon. It went back through Solomon’s brother Nathan to David. In this way, Jesus had a right to rule and a descent from David by both parents, thereby fulfilling God’s promise to David while also fulfilling God’s judgments on Judah and Jeconiah. God fulfills His promises.

Nothing, not even the attacks of Satan through Athaliah, or through Judah’s own sinfulness and Babylon’s judgment, or God’s own judgment, would thwart His fulfillment of what He promised. As we see that down through history, it should be an amazing encouragement to us that He will likewise fulfill all of His promises to us to redeem people from every nation, to come back for us, to ultimately judge this whole world, and to recreate it in perfect holiness. He will accomplish it all, no matter how unlikely it might look at any point in the process. We can trust Him. Taking communion reminds us of what Jesus has done for us, and what He will do as He completes His work with this world.

The second way 2 Kings points forward to Christ is in the amazing way that Elisha’s miraculous ministry pointed forward to and helped verify Jesus’ prophetic ministry as the coming Messiah. There are a number of amazing correlations that people in Jesus’ day could have looked back to and seen verified in Jesus’ life and ministry. It should have enabled them to realize that He was indeed the prophet from God who was coming to fulfill all that God had promised. As we think about some of them, let it all be an encouraging verification of who Jesus was as the Sent One from God. Notice also what it tells us about the God that we serve.

• Both of their formal ministries began at the Jordan River. Elisha struck it and crossed on dry ground. Jesus was baptized there and approved by God through the manifestation of the Holy Spirit and the voice of God from heaven. Jesus also controlled the wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee and even walked on water there. He did not even need to make the water part. He could just walk on top of it. Jesus, as God, is in control of the elements of nature and will accomplish all His purposes. He has authority over them all.
• At Elisha’s direction, a jar of oil was miraculously used to fill up a number of other jugs to help a poor widow and her two sons in their time of need (2 Kings 4:1-7). That would seem to have a correlation with Jesus’ direction about the jars of water being filled and then supernaturally turned into wine to help at the wedding feast of Cana in their time of need (John 2:1-11). God can provide all that we need. Sometimes He will even go far beyond that even to what we want to have to celebrate and rejoice in Him—when that matches His perfect purposes.
• Another even stronger correlation can be found in the raising of the Shunammite’s son from the dead (2 Kings 4:18-37). That matches Jesus raising the widow’s dead son in Nain (Luke 7:11-17). These two towns were on opposite sides of the same hill on the northeast side of the Jezreel Valley in northern Israel. God has power over death. Jesus is God and His power is not limited by our death.
• During their ministries in Israel, both of them had prominent women who supported them (Shunammite woman who made Elisha a guest room, 2 Kings 4:8-17 / women of Galilee who ministered to Jesus, Matthew 27:55). God brings us the help and encouragement that we need as we serve Him.
• Elisha famously healed the Syrian warrior Naaman of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-14). Jesus healed many people of leprosy during His ministry (Matthew 8:3, 11:4-6, Luke 17:11-19). God can heal the diseases that are impossible for us to handle.
• Elisha escaped those trying to kill him numerous times. In Dothan, when the king of Aram sent an army to take him, God blinded the army and protected Elisha with an army of chariots of fire all round the city (2 Kings 6:8-23). Later on, the king of Israel came to cut off Elisha’s head during a famine caused by a siege (2 Kings 6:31-33). God had men there who protected him, and God gave a prophecy of the coming abundance of food that would appear the very next day (2 Kings 7). In Jesus’ life, at least four such instances of escape or protection are recorded before His final trial and crucifixion. Once in Nazareth in Luke 4:28-30, they tried to throw Him off a cliff but He passed through the crowd and escaped. Another time during the feast of Tabernacles, they tried to seize Him, but it says they could not because His time had not yet come (John 7:30, 44). Another time, the religious leaders went to stone Him while He was in the temple area, but Jesus was hidden from them (John 8:20, 40-59). A fourth time, during the feast of Chanukah, they again tried to seize Him, but He escaped. God supernaturally protected them both to enable them to fulfill His purposes for their lives. God’s power is not limited by man’s attempts to destroy and kill.

• Another noted miracle where there is a correlation can be found in an event where Elisha was brought twenty barley loaves in 2 Kings 4:42-44.

  2 Kings 4:42-44 Now a man came from Baal-shalishah, and brought the man of God bread of the first fruits, twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. And he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat.” 43 His attendant said, “What, will I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give them to the people that they may eat, for thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and have some left over.’” 44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.

  Does that remind you of any events in Jesus’ life? He fulfilled this in a much greater way with the feeding of the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes, and then again with the four thousand from the seven loaves and a few fishes (Matthew 14:13–21, 15:32–39; Mark 6:30–44, 8:1–10; Luke 9:10–17; John 6:1–14). In all these cases there were leftovers. God’s power is not limited by what little we have.

• Finally, there is an amazing correlation with Elisha’s death. Even in Elisha’s death, he brought life (2 Kings 13:20-21). While some men were conducting a burial, a raiding party came upon them. So they threw the dead man into Elisha’s tomb. When his body touched Elisha’s bones, he came back to life. With Jesus’ death and taking our sin upon Himself, He brings a much greater eternal life to all those who believe in Him. His resurrection proved His power over sin and death. By His death, we have been raised from the dead spiritually and have eternal life.

Elisha’s life in many ways is a picture or a type that points forward in a foreshadowing way to what Jesus fulfilled in a perfect and much greater way. Jesus is the ultimate, perfect prophet calling people to repentance whose life and words were verified by His miraculous works.

The second of our two main questions that we now want to investigate as we consider this book is:

How is 2 Kings used in the New Testament and in Jesus’ work of Redemption?

2 Kings is not quoted extensively in the New Testament. There is actually just one possible indirect quotation found in two places in the book of Acts. Likewise, there are not many direct allusions to 2 Kings in the New Testament. But there are a few that are worth noting. In order to end on a positive note, we will look at three allusions first and conclude with the quote.

The first allusion is from 2 Kings 1, where Elijah gives his last prophecy before turning the ministry over to Elisha. In it, he prophesied that wicked King Ahaziah was not going to recover from his injury. Ahaziah did not like that Elijah had waylaid his messengers. He had sent them to inquire of Ba’al and they instead returned with that message. So Ahaziah sent fifty soldiers to go capture Elijah. Twice Elijah called down fire from heaven on groups of soldiers and they were consumed. This same kind of calling down fire from heaven is referred to twice in the New Testament.

Once, in Luke 9:51-54, James and John wanted to call down fire on a Samaritan town that would not receive them as they traveled by. Jesus rebuked them because it was not yet a time for judgment like that. In His first coming, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, not judge them all. The second time that we have a reference to fire coming down from heaven is still future. It is found in Revelation 20:7-9. There it will be at the end of the millennium when Satan will be loosed for a short time. At that point, God’s time of judgment will have come.

Revelation 20:7-9 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison, 8 and will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war; the number of them is like the sand of the seashore. 9 And they came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

That will be God’s final answer to Satan and his followers after the millennium, right before the Great White Throne judgment. With its fire coming down from heaven, 2 Kings thus gives us a foreshadowing of Jesus’ final work of judgment, which He will execute at the end of time. God is not to be trifled with.

The second allusion from 2 Kings found in the New Testament comes with Jesus’ mention of Elisha’s healing of the Syrian soldier Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-14) in Luke 4:27. We have already mentioned how that foreshadowed Jesus’ healing of lepers and pointed to the reality of who He is as Messiah. However, in that passage Jesus uses it in another way that is encouraging and helpful to us.

Luke 4:22-30 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

With these two examples, Jesus confronts the people of His hometown with the fact that they needed to repent, like Israel needed to do in Elijah and Elisha’s day. Jesus came to proclaim the gospel and freedom for the oppressed, but it could only come to those who turned to God. Otherwise, it would only prove fruitful to humble foreigners, as occurred in those prophets’ day.

This reality remains true in every age. Those with a proud self-righteousness deem themselves unworthy of the gospel. They deem themselves not needing to be saved. They do not admit their sin. They do not admit their need for God’s forgiveness and way of redemption in Jesus Christ. Instead, they rage against God and His messengers. The encouraging thing is that God did bring freedom and salvation to the widow of Zarephath and to Naaman the Syrian, and He will bring it to any one of us as well if we will but come to Jesus, seeing our need, and turning to Him and Him alone as the only way of healing, forgiveness, rescue, and life. We are all like the widow of Zarephath. We have nothing left. We have no hope. Jesus is our only hope. We are all like the leper Naaman. We cannot cleanse ourselves. We cannot get ourselves clean by any of our own methods. We need to humble ourselves before God and trust in His way of cleansing through Jesus Christ. God’s grace, love, and mercy are readily available to cleanse us all despite how undeserving, weak, and helpless we are. This should make us eternally grateful. We know we have nothing in which to boast. We are entirely dependent on Him. What a gracious, amazing, loving God we have to celebrate as we remember His lovingkindness in the days of Elijah and Elisha, in the days of Jesus, and in our day! This is what we celebrate with communion.

The third allusion from 2 Kings that is found in the New Testament is related to Queen Jezebel.

Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. Ahab married her and through her began worshiping Ba’al. They made an altar and temple to Ba’al in Samaria, killed the prophets of God, and had Naboth killed. 1 Kings 21:25 tells us “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, because Jezebel his wife incited him.” (cf. also 1 Kings 16:31; 18:4, 14; 21:1-26; 2 Kings 9:22, 30.) She was an embodiment of wickedness, whose violent death was prophesied by Elijah in 1 Kings 21. It finally came to pass in 2 Kings 9.

In the New Testament in Revelation 2:20 Jezebel is mentioned figuratively as a type to represent someone or some people in the church at Thyatira. Jezebel’s seductions to immoral idolatry in 1-2 Kings is referenced there in Revelation 2 in respect to God judging immorality and idolatry within His people. Notice what Revelation 2:18-23 says about people living in the image of Jezebel in God’s church:

Revelation 2:18-23 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: The Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet are like burnished bronze, says this: 19 ‘I know your deeds, and your love and faith and service and perseverance, and that your deeds of late are greater than at first. 20 ‘But I have this against you, that you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bond-servants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 ‘I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her immorality. 22 ‘Behold, I will throw her on a bed of sickness, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her deeds. 23 ‘And I will kill her children with pestilence, and all the churches will know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts; and I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

God uses this allusion to Jezebel in the book of Revelation to give a warning to the people of His church. He will not tolerate idolatry. He will not tolerate immorality. He will not tolerate those who are led astray into these kinds of immoral false teachings and behaviors. God gave her time to repent, but now judgment was coming. God does not like idolatry and immorality infiltrating His church. It is just as disgusting to God and just as destructive to the church as it was for Israel in the days of Jezebel. We must not let its seeds grow in any of our hearts, or come out in any of our words or actions. God sees our very hearts with all their thoughts. He has promised to bring judgment and purify His church if there is not repentance.

May we heed this extremely strong warning, see the destructiveness caused in Israel, and walk in a pure and holy manner before God in our minds, families, and church. This warning is very similar to the one that God gives in 1 Corinthians 11 related to communion. As we partake of communion, we must not allow any sin to remain in our lives. We must not make a mockery of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us. We must not harbor any secret sins.

In Corinth, God had put to death some of the church for their behaviors. He still does that today when He deems it necessary. He is the living, involved, active, holy God of all creation. He will not put up with us—those who know better and have been saved from sin by His death on the cross—trampling on His grace and dragging His name into evil.

Lastly, the one quote from 2 Kings that appears in the New Testament is from 2 Kings 19:15. It is in King Hezekiah’s prayer to God right before He ended up sending His angel to kill the 185,000 Assyrians to protect Judah.

2 Kings 19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth.

The end of that verse itself appears to be a reference to Psalm 146:6. There it is part of a longer admonition from the Psalmist on what to do in time of distress. Hezekiah is directly following the commands of that passage in his time of impending doom. Listen to what it says there in Psalm 146:3-7.

Psalm 146:3-7 Do not trust in princes, In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. 4 His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; In that very day his thoughts perish. 5 How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, 6 Who made heaven and earth, The sea and all that is in them; Who keeps faith forever; 7 Who executes justice for the oppressed; Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free.

Thus, Hezekiah’s reference in his prayer seems to be a shortened quote from verse 6. The fuller expression from Psalm 146:6 is what is quoted in both Acts 4:24 and Acts 14:15.

In Acts 14:15, the quote is part of Paul’s exhortation to the people at Lystra who wanted to offer sacrifice to them as gods after Paul healed the lame man. He was trying to help them see who the real God was. The use in Acts 4:24, though, is perhaps more immediately encouraging and applicable to us.

It occurs in the prayer of praise that the apostles gave to God with the early church after they were released from custody for healing another lame man. They had been strongly threatened to try to get them to stop speaking in Jesus’ name. This was their response in Acts 4:23-29.

Acts 4:23-29 When they had been released, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, 25 who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? 26 ‘THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.’ 27 “For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, 28 to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur. 29 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence,

In our times of distress, fear, and calamity, this is how we ought to respond. Just like Hezekiah, just like Peter and John, we ought to run to God. We should seek His help. We should seek to be faithful despite the opposition or trials. Why? The living God that we follow and obey is the One who “made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.” Our hope is in the Lord, not in finite men who will all die. Our hope is in the eternal, omniscient, omnipotent God who made everything. This is the God we serve. This is the God that we give thanks to with communion. This is the God who loved us enough to come to earth and give His life to save us from our sins. With that kind of love given for us, we can be assured that He will be with us and help us in all that we face. May we trust Him. May we go to Him. May we depend on Him for everything. Let’s pray and partake of communion together and remember Jesus, our Lord and Savior, our God and protector, our Maker and sustainer.

Conclusion

As we come to taking communion together let’s first read 1 Corinthians 11:23-29.

1 Corinthians 11:23-29 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; 24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” 25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. 27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

We are here this morning as believers in Jesus Christ to remember together what Jesus has done for us in His life, death, burial, and resurrection to pay the penalty for our sins, to save us from the judgment that we deserve from them, and to adopt us as His beloved children.

Drinking this cup and eating this bread does not in any way remove any of our sin. It does not in any way save us from God’s judgment for our sin. Only faith in what Jesus did—what this reminds us of—can do that. So we do this in remembrance of what He did, as He commanded us to do.

If you have not trusted in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then this will do you no good. You need to think about what Jesus did, and repent of your sin. Turn from your sin to God. Trust God to forgive you, redeem you, and cleanse you from all unrighteousness because of what Jesus did in your place.

As believers, this remembrance should challenge us to look at our lives and see if we are walking before Him with a pure conscience and wholeheartedly. If not, we need to confess that to Him, surrender our own way, and walk in a holy way—controlled by the Holy Spirit and not our flesh.

This remembrance should also fill us with encouragement and joy that He would love us so much, redeem us from our sin, make us His beloved children, give us new life, and enable us to walk in a way that honors Him through His presence with us. So let’s remember Him. Remember what He has done in our lives, and what He will do.

Let’s partake of the bread first and remember what Jesus has done for us in His perfect unblemished life given for us. He became:

…sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21b, KJV)

Now let us partake of the cup and remember the cost that Jesus paid to reconcile us to God and make us partakers of this new covenant with Him.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8a)

© 2026, Kevin A. Dodge, All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible® (NASB),Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org