The Long Memory of God

Introduction
Last week we watched Elijah hand off his ministry to Elisha. Today we move ahead about twenty years in the story, to 2 Kings 9, and we meet a man named Jehu.
Here is what I want you to understand before we open the text. This chapter does not make much sense on its own. If you start reading at 2 Kings 9:1, you will find a young prophet pouring oil on an army officer's head and telling him to wipe out an entire royal family, and you will reasonably wonder where any of that came from and why God would be behind it.
Where We Are Going Today
So let me tell you the plan, and give you something to write down if you take notes.
The question this passage answers is this. What does it look like when God finally keeps a promise about justice, and what happens to the person he uses to keep it?
We are going to move in three steps.
First, the background. We have to go back roughly twenty years, to a piece of ground called Naboth's vineyard, and to a promise God made there that nobody was still waiting on.
Second, the text. We will walk through 2 Kings 9:1 to 13 in three short scenes. An assignment, a message with two halves, and a remarkable response.
Third, the outcome. We will look at how Jehu's life actually turned out, which is not the ending most of us would predict, and which is where this passage stops being ancient history and starts asking us questions.
And here is the sentence the whole message rests on, so let me give it to you now rather than at the end. God can use a person to accomplish his purposes without that person's heart ever belonging to him. Being useful to God and being right with God are not the same thing.

Part One: The Background 1 Kings 21

The Assignment, 2 Kings 9 vv. 1-3
2 Kings 9:1–3 NIV
The prophet Elisha summoned a man from the company of the prophets and said to him, “Tuck your cloak into your belt, take this flask of olive oil with you and go to Ramoth Gilead. When you get there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi. Go to him, get him away from his companions and take him into an inner room. Then take the flask and pour the oil on his head and declare, ‘This is what the Lord says: I anoint you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and run; don’t delay!”
The Message, 2 Kings 9 vv. 4-10
2 Kings 9:4–10 NIV
So the young prophet went to Ramoth Gilead. When he arrived, he found the army officers sitting together. “I have a message for you, commander,” he said. “For which of us?” asked Jehu. “For you, commander,” he replied. Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured the oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the Lord’s people Israel. You are to destroy the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the Lord’s servants shed by Jezebel. The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every last male in Israel—slave or free. I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah. As for Jezebel, dogs will devour her on the plot of ground at Jezreel, and no one will bury her.’ ” Then he opened the door and ran.
The Response, 2 Kings 9 vv. 11-13
2 Kings 9:11–13 NIV

Part Three: How Jehu Turned Out

2 Kings 10:30 NIV

2 Kings 10:31 NIV

Application

First: trust God's memory when nothing seems to be happening.
Second: do your part, and leave the outcome to God.
Third: find out where your obedience stops.