Bob Swisher: Context Of Revival Under King Joash: Six Years Of Darkness Before Revival Came

Good day to each of our Readers....

Though we are unable to meet together in church to worship God and to hear His Word preached, I look forward to a grand reunion in heaven with each of you.

It is our wonderful God who leads each of you from around the world, to this blog to read and study His Word together.

I count it a great privilege to teach God's Word to you and I pray for the will of God to be accomplished in each of our lives. 

Below you will find the link to the YouTube channel of Heritage Baptist Church were my wife and I attend.

Pastor Mike has once again asked me to teach the adult Sunday school on a longer term basis.

I love my Pastor very much and there are times when he simply needs an Aaron or Hur to come alongside and support him.

We are studying revival and before looking at the next King (Joash) we need to look at the context preceding his revival.

First, we saw that the revivals enjoyed by King Asa and later, His son Jehoshaphat, ended because Jehoshaphat's son was evil.

Jehoshaphat did many good things that were right in the sight of God, however, he did one bad thing that had lasting implications.

He arranged a  marriage for his son Jehoram, with the wicked daughter of vile King Ahab and his evil queen Jezebel.

It was this bad choice of Jehoshaphat that brought and end to revival in Judah and Jerusalem.

Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat was very evil and killed all his brothers as soon as he became king.

He was so bad that the prophet Elijah wrote him a prophecy containing a stinging rebuke and pronouncement of judgment from God.

He died because God caused his bowels to fall out. He was married to wicked Athaliah, daughter of Ahab.

His son Ahaziah became king and was even more evil because his mother counselled him to do depraved acts against the people of God.

He was killed and his mother was filled with murderous madness and attempted to kill all the remaining sons of Ahaziah.

Satan prompted her to do this vile deed because if he could kill all those sons in the royal line of David, then Messiah could not be born!

We looked at God's requirements for His priests and noted that each one is introduced with a lineage that connected him to Aaron and his sons.

This is God's requirement.

Why does this matter? 

Because we are going to learn about the first Old Testament priest who is dropped into the narrative without any family connection to Aaron given.

Based upon God's rules that unauthorized persons who intruded upon the priesthood would die, this man was certainly of the line of Aaron, for he served well, and did not die.

Not only that, but Jehoiada was called the "high priest" in 1 Kings 12:10, so this proves he meets the priestly qualifications set forth by God.

Thus, we receive a glimmer of hope during the six dark years of wicked Athaliah's rule.

This truth reminds us that God raises up the right men to serve at the right time in history. Both the Old and New Testament scriptures bear witness to this truth.

Thus, Jehoiada strengthened himself to anoint Joash as King, when he reached seven years of age.

It was still risky as wicked Athaliah still wielded power, and the pagan idolatry of Baal worship was still enforced.

Jehoiada gathered leaders of the various families together and showed young King Joash to them, and reminded them that God said only the offspring of King David shall be kings.

He also pointed them to the law of Moses which instructed God's people to hear and heed what His priests said to them, under penalty of death for disobedience. 

I hope all who are able to view the livestream will be blessed from the teaching of God's wonderful Word.

Bob

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I hope this will help you find lessons on a particular book of topic that we have studied through.

An index for all lessons posted from 2019 through 2021, was published on September 7, 2022.

An index for all lessons posted in 2022, was published January 24, 2023.

An index for all lessons posted in 2023 was published on February 28, 2024. 

An index for all lessons posted in 2024 was published on January 21, 2025.

An index for all lessons posted in 2025 was published on January 24, 2026.