And for our New Testament reading, please turn to the Revelation chapter 14. Revelation chapter 14, and we’ll read verses 14 through 20. That’s 14 through the end of that chapter. Revelation 14, 14 through 20. And let’s give diligent attention to this reading because it is the word of God.
Then I looked and behold a white cloud and seated on the cloud one like a son of man with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel came out of the temple calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, put in your sickle and reap for the hour to reap has come for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe. So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth and the earth was reaped. Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven and he too had a sharp sickle. And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire.
And he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth for its grapes are ripe. So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as a horse’s bridle for 1,600 stadia.” And that last portion of that text speaks of the shedding of the blood of the wicked. And we see the blood of the wicked shed in our Old Testament reading in the text for our sermon this evening. First Kings. chapter 22, and our text is verses 29-40. 1 Kings 22, 29-40.
So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, went up to Ramoth-Gilead. And the king of Israel said to Yehoshaphat, I will disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into battle.
Now the king of Syria had commanded the 32 captains of his chariots, fight with neither small nor great, but only with the king of Israel. And when the captains of the chariot saw Yehoshaphat, they said, it is surely the king of Israel. So they turned to fight against him. And Yehoshaphat cried out. And when the captains of the chariot saw that it was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him. But a certain man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the scale armor and the breastplate. Therefore, he said to the driver of his chariot, turn around and carry me out of the battle, for I’m wounded.
And the battle continued that day. And the king was propped up in his chariot, facing the Syrians, until at evening, he died. And the blood of the wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot. At about sunset, a cry went through the army, every man to his city and every man to his country. So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.
And they washed the chariot by the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked up his blood, and the prostitutes washed themselves in it, according to the word of the Lord that he had spoken. Now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did and the ivory house that he built, and all the cities that he built, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his fathers, and Ahaziah, his son, reigned in his place.”
That is the reading of God’s word. Let’s pray for his blessing upon it now. Father in Heaven, we come to your word now. We do pray your blessing upon it. We pray that by your grace through your spirit guiding and teaching us that you would show us the wealth of glory that lies beneath the old familiar stories. Lord, open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law. We commit this time to you and pray that you’d be our instructor through your spirit for the honor and glory of our Savior Jesus Christ. And we pray in his name, Amen.
So there’s a hymn in the Red Trinity Hymnal, number 618, and its title is His Eyes on the Sparrow. And that hymn speaks, I think it’s drawing from words that we find in the gospel, according to Luke, where Luke speaks of how, you know, sparrows are these insignificant creatures. You can buy five sparrows for a penny, but God watches over them. And the hymn is intended to comfort us that if God cares about some of the smallest and least significant of his creatures, then surely he cares for you. Surely he cares for me and for his people. His fatherly care is over all of his creation, even sparrows. And so that comforts us that he cares for us.
And it also speaks to the doctrine of providence, that God governs all his creatures, as our standards say, he governs all his creatures and all their actions. It’s important for us to remind ourselves and to be reminded that God is Lord and He’s sovereign over even the minutia. It’s mind-blowing to think about that sometimes, to reflect on the fact that God not only governs the orbit of planets, and He’s Lord over all the galaxies in the universe, and He’s Lord over all the nations of this earth, but He’s also Lord over the minutest things. One of our theologians has said that there’s not a maverick molecule in the universe, not even the smallest thing, the smallest particle is apart from God’s sovereign control and his divine providence.
He’s Lord of armies, he’s Lord of commanders, he’s Lord of chariots, and he’s Lord of every arrow that flies from a bow. So his eye is on the sparrow, but his eye is also on the arrow. And one arrow in particular that we’re going to see in this text tonight.
In blatant disregard for what he knew to be the truth of God’s prophetic word, Ahab went on this military expedition. He’s out to recover Ramoth Gilead. It belonged to the tribes of Israel. It belonged to covenant land, and the Syrians had control over it. He was going to go take it back. even though he’s told that he wouldn’t survive the effort. And so in this passage, as we’ve seen already in the reading, a king who in the book of First Kings receives six chapters of attention, meets his demise on the field of battle.
But the message for us tonight is that our God has unlimited means at His disposal by which He works out His changeless decree. Our God has unlimited means at His disposal by which He works out His changeless decree. And if you want my three points in advance, here they are. First, God has unlimited means at His disposal. God has unlimited means at his disposal. Second, God often uses unexpected means to get glory for himself. And third, God will accomplish all his purpose.
I borrow that, just paraphrasing Isaiah 46.10. But first of all, at his disposal, God has unlimited means. It’s remarkable that Ahab goes into this situation seemingly thinking that he could outwit God. that he could outmaneuver God. God had said he was gonna go up and fall. God declared his purpose earlier in this same chapter.
The passage we looked at last week in verse 20, how we got, through God’s prophet, a snapshot into the heavenly councils. And God asks this multitude that’s gathered before him, who will entice Ahab to go up to Ramoth Gilead and fall? And then when that evil spirit came forward and said, I’ll be a deceiving spirit in the mouths of, a lying spirit in the mouths of all of his prophets, God said, you will entice him and you’ll succeed. Go up and do so.
That was God’s purpose. That was God’s plan. His intent was for Ahab to go up to the realm of Gilead and to fall there, to die. Ahab’s plan, was to go up and not fall. So we see in verse 30, this is his ingenious plan to evade the will of God. He says to Yehoshaphat, king of Judah, I’ll disguise myself and go into battle, but you wear your robes. Just an aside here, but an important point. Disguises don’t work with God. They don’t fool him.
Another thing we see in the passage, not to make too much of this, but there’s a word that recurs numerous times in it, and it’s the word chariot. See how many times chariots are mentioned here. It occurs frequently in these verses. Chariots were the heavy military vehicle of ancient times. If you want to think of a modern equivalent, think of tanks. So on the modern battlefield, what’s the gigantic, fearsome machine? It’s the main battle tank. And that’s sort of what chariots were in ancient warfare.
And the king of Syria, really wants to get Ahab. And so he commands that all the chariot commanders concentrate their power on getting Ahab. Now those are just one of numerous resources God had at His disposal. He’s Lord over all the chariots. Every chariot on the battlefield is at His disposal, at His command, ultimately. But He’s also in command of every sword that is swung, that is slashed. He has at His disposal all the spears on the battlefield.
They’re not mentioned, but it’s very possible there were slings. Being used, that was a very commonly used weapon in the ancient Near East. We’re told of, particularly of members of the tribe of Benjamin, who were so skilled with the sling, the way the scripture puts it, is they could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. They were that accurate. Oh, and by the way, sling stones aren’t what we think of, probably. Most of them were probably the size at least of a golf ball, maybe a baseball. So if you get hit with one of those, it will ruin your day.
And all those slings out there, God was Lord of those. And he’s Lord of all the bows that were fired and all the arrows that came out of them. God has all those resources. So if he’s ordained that any given combatant on the field of conflict is going to die that day, he has lots of ways to make it happen in his sovereignty.
And one that we don’t think of. Years ago, I picked up on the bargain shelf at Barnes & Noble a book titled Warfare in the Classical World. It’s really interesting. And I think I remember reading in that book about the most common cause of death in combat in the ancient world. Do you know what it was? Trampling. More people died in ancient warfare from trampling, being trampled, in some cases maybe by their own comrades, than died by sword or arrow or spear. Trampling.
So if God wants, if in His sovereign will He’s gonna finish somebody off in battle, that’s another way He could do it. Now if God had so decreed, Ahab could have fallen from his chariot and been trampled. God can do it any way he pleases. Well, you and I, from reading the text, we know how Ahab was wounded. That was according to God’s appointment. He gave precision guidance to one particular arrow. to plunge it into Ahab’s torso. I can imagine, I can picture Ahab lifting his sword to strike someone.
As his arm comes up, the gap, probably a very small one, between his breastplate and the mail opened up, and the arrow just goes right in, maybe into his liver, maybe into his lung, who knows? God directed the path of every single arrow that was fired on the field that day, every one. Because even the minutiae are under his sovereign control. Every blow landed by a sword or by a spear was under his direction.
God could just as easily have made Ahab fall by some other means, but in his sovereignty, he overruled both Ahab and the king of Syria. The king of Syria had plans, didn’t he? He wanted Ahab dead, but he was going to use his chariot commanders. But God overruled him as well.
And so we have a very brief and very partial limited account of the Battle of Ramoth Gilead in this chapter. But the Battle of Ramoth Gilead illustrates for us that God has more means at his disposal than we can possibly imagine. And God uses whatever means he pleases to accomplish his purposes, to accomplish his will.
That was true in this battle, and it’s true in your life. It’s true in my life. God is going to work out His purposes in your lives and in mine, and He uses whatever means He pleases to do it. In the ultimate sense, if we take into consideration the words of Romans chapter 8, everything works for good for those who love God. He’s using means all around us all the time.
And even though some things may be at the moment unpleasant, some things may be trials for us, some things may be difficulties. They may be unpleasant in this present life in the moment, but ultimately all things work together for the good of those who love God.
And tragically and very somberly, we should consider that the opposite is also true. Everything ultimately works for the harm of those who do not love the Lord. Everything ultimately works against them. I remember hearing Sinclair Ferguson make this statement many years ago.
He said, for Christians, we’re the only people for whom the universe is user-friendly. Isn’t that a neat way of thinking of it? because again we have difficulties, we have sorrows in this life, but God works them all ultimately for our good. And the wicked enjoy pleasant things, they have access and they receive from God’s gracious hand good things in this present life, but ultimately it only works for their harm, because in the day of judgment they’ll be held accountable for the fact that they did not give Him thanks, they did not use what they’d been given for His glory, they did not serve Him, Everything works for the good of those who love God and for the harm of those who reject him. God has unlimited means at his disposal.
And this morning during our catechism time, Brother Joe made reference to the fact that I frequently make reference to God’s use of means. So I guess I might be becoming something of a broken record. I hope not. But I do like to talk about means. But here’s the thing, and take this encouragement from our confession of faith and our catechisms.
Another glorious thing about God is that God has the freedom and He has the power to work without means anytime He wants. He has the power, as our confession of faith puts it. He has the freedom to work without means, above means, and against means, as He pleases. So let’s take just a second to reflect on what those things mean. What are we talking about? What’s the confession talking about when it says God can work without means? It means he can work immediately, not using any intermediate thing.
Remember when Peter was imprisoned by Herod, and the angel came and woke him up. One of the things that happened is it says his chains just fell off. The jailer didn’t unlock them and release them. The angel didn’t take them off. It just says the chains fell off.
That was God working without means. And as they were walking out, furthermore, they went through the first gate and the second gate. They passed these guards. Nobody seemed to know what was going on. Peter thinks he’s maybe seeing a vision or having a dream. And then they get to that gate that goes out into the city, which the book of Acts says opened of its own accord. No means, the gate just opened. That’s God working without means. What does it mean when God works above means?
One good example might be Abraham and Sarah. Abraham was 100 years old, Sarah was 90 years old, she was past childbearing age, but they conceived a child by natural means, but God working beyond means because the means weren’t sufficient. God worked above them. Where I think Samson’s strength is an example of God working above means. How else could a man lift the gates of a city and carry them on his shoulder? How else could he kill as many of God’s enemies as he did? Unless God was working through Samson as means, but working above those means, Samson’s strength would be an example. And God can even work against means. What ought normally and naturally to happen, God can do the opposite if he wants to.
So he can make an axe head, which ought normally to sink to the bottom of the lake or the river. He can make it float on the surface of the river. Fire, its natural trait is to burn things and to consume a flammable material. flammable material like fabric and hair and flesh. But three Hebrew lads went into a furnace that had been heated seven times hotter than normal. And when they came out of the furnace, they didn’t even smell of smoke.
That’s God working against means, and he’s able to do that. But most of the time, he uses means, and he has unlimited means at his disposal. Secondly, God often uses unexpected means to get glory for himself. That’s our second point. God often uses unexpected means. Why? To get glory for himself.
So Ahab died just as the prophet said that he would. He went up to Ramoth Gilead and he fell, but he did not die a hero. He didn’t go out in a blaze of glory. So the means by which God brought Ahab to his demise did not result in any glory for Ahab. The ballad singers couldn’t speak of his great exploits. No glory to Ahab. In God’s providence, Ahab wasn’t overwhelmed by Syria’s chariot captains. So there’s no glory going to Ben-Hadad or the Syrians in that either.
The Lord used an anonymous archer to bring judgment on his errant king. Not only does this archer’s name not make it into scripture, the text, the text doesn’t even specify or tell us for certain that he was Syrian. Ahab might have died by friendly fire, as they call it. Might have been an Israelite archer. All it says is a man. Drew his bow at random. Someone. So no credit or glory goes to the one who shot the arrow.
Now, if you look with me at verse 35, we see that over the course of the day, the battle escalated. It says in our ESV, the battle continued that day. But what the Hebrew says is that the battle rose, indicating or signifying that it escalated. It ascended in the sense that it became more violent. The conflict raged on and became more intense.
And so it would seem that Ahab went down early in the game, so to speak. He was hit by that arrow early on, not in the more intense period of the battle. And then while the fighting raged on, he sat in his chariot facing the Syrians, it says. Sat there in his chariot and bled out. God made Ahab fall. And he made Ahab fall in such a way that showed his glory. God does that. He uses unexpected means to get glory for himself.
The way it’s put in the New Testament, as God expressed it to his servant Paul, is my power is made perfect in weakness. We see that where that In the context from which that quote is taken, we see that with Paul’s thorn in the flesh. Paul had been mightily used of God. He was the greatest missionary ever. He had served God more diligently than any of the other apostles even.
But he had this thorn in the flesh, and we’re not sure what it is. Maybe Chris has revealed that to us in Sunday school. He did, I’ve missed it, but he has this thorn in the flesh and it says three times he prayed that the Lord would take it away. And just to sum up the spirit of God’s answer, I love you, Paul, but no, the thorn is not going to go away. You’re going to bear that and I’m going to give you grace. My grace will be sufficient for you. And part of the reason, Paul, that I’m gonna make you bear that affliction and that thorn in your flesh will remain is because my power is made perfect in weakness.
God’s power made perfect in weakness is exhibited in the means of grace as well, particularly preaching. The scriptures speak of how it’s through the foolishness of preaching, that God is pleased to save his elect. And those of you who are involved in education, if you’ve ever taken courses in education and pedagogical method, know that what preaching essentially is, apart from the power of the spirit, apart from the efficacy of the word of God, preaching is essentially a lecture. And education experts will tell you that the least efficient means by which to communicate information and to teach is, or the least effective, is lecture. The lecture method is, it may be efficient for putting out information, but in terms of making it stick, and in terms of promoting learning, there are other methods that are much more effective, much more useful and powerful.
And so God chooses that. Weak, that weakest of means. And God’s power made perfect in weakness is seen supremely in the Lord Jesus Christ and His cross. God uses unexpected means to get glory for himself, and that’s what he did in the cross of Christ. The cross as Jesus was nailed to it and lifted up on it as he hung there bleeding and dying. It was the most profound display of weakness, humiliation, shame. Leading to death. And yet it was the most overwhelming victory ever won as God, through his son, got victory over death and the grave. Who would have thought that the son becoming incarnate and dying for us on a Roman cross would be the means by which God would save his elect, but he uses unexpected means to get glory for himself. Well, finally, God will accomplish all His purpose.
And again, I’m paraphrasing the end of Isaiah 46.10 there. That’s our third point. God will accomplish all His purpose.
We are told in the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 5, Section 1, that God governs all His creatures. And when in the older language we read the word creatures, that refers to anything that is created. It’s not necessarily an animal or a thing or even a human being, but it’s all things that God has made. Everything in this universe is created by him and is therefore a creature. And God governs them all from the greatest to the least. from the most gigantic stars out there in the universe to the tiniest atoms. He’s Lord over them. He governs them.
And in his providence, our confession goes on to say that all things fall out. In other words, things happen. according to second causes, God himself being the first and ultimate cause of all things, but then the means and the vehicles through which he works out his decree and his purposes are second causes. In other words, God determines the ends, he knows what he wants to get done, he knows what he’s going to do, and he foreordains all the means thereunto. So the king of Syria wanted to get Ahab, and he wanted to get him with his chariots. But that wasn’t God’s plan. Ahab was trying to cheat death. He was literally trying to escape the very prophecy of the Lord. But that wasn’t God’s plan. Furthermore, that unnamed archer Probably had no intention to kill a king.
Had no idea who he was aiming at. Look at verse 34. A certain man drew his bow at random. Now, I admit that for a lot of years when I read that, I pictured just some bozo pulling his bowstring back and releasing it and firing it at nothing, basically, into the crowd, not even really caring where the arrow went. That probably wasn’t the scenario. Our ESV says he drew his bow at random. Random is the word that’s used by most of the English versions. There’s one that translates it this way. He shot an arrow without taking aim, which I guess is kind of that image that I had in my mind.
But maybe a better way of thinking about it is he was unaware who he was shooting at. He was taking aim, but he didn’t realize that’s the King of Israel. Or again, I said, could have been friendly fire. Maybe he was an Israelite soldier and he’s aiming at a Syrian soldier and then right into the path of Israel, God sovereignly brings Ahab. We don’t know. But God used that nameless archer to accomplish His purpose. He guided His arrow. He struck between the scale armor and the breastplate, as it says in verse 34. That is divine precision.
You know, some of the guided weapons systems that we have in modern warfare are just astounding. from a helicopter gunship. In the dark of night, if an enemy soldier miles away does so much as lights up a cigarette, it can be targeted and hit by a Hellfire missile. Snipers with modern weaponry, modern scopes, and a good spotter can hit targets beyond where the human eye can see. But ancient weaponry, as we see in this passage, can be as precise as the most advanced guided missiles if the Lord of Hosts is the guidance system. If God’s guiding that arrow, it’s going to find its mark. And God’s divine eye was on that arrow, and it found a tiny point of vulnerability. And Ahab, as a result, fell. He went up to Ramoth Gilead and he fell. That was God’s plan. God also, according to the words of the prophet, purposed that dogs would lick up Ahab’s blood.
That sounds grotesque to us, I know. And I suppose there might be skeptics who are tempted to think that that’s really unbecoming of God. Why would he intend or decree such a thing? But we must not presume to sit in judgment of God. This was God’s justice. This was God’s vengeance.
For the blood of Naboth. May have been killed. And so back in Chapter 21. When Elijah was declaring God’s word to Ahab after he confronted him following the incident with Naboth, Elijah says to Ahab, thus says the Lord, in the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick up your own blood. God’s word stands. God’s counsel is true.
It also says in our text that prostitutes washed in Ahab’s blood. Probably the way that worked is that they washed Ahab’s chariot at the pool of Samaria, which happens to be the pool where prostitutes bathed. The blood, as it was flowing out of the chariot, some of the dogs were licking some of it up. Some of the rest of it went into the pool. The prostitutes are bathing. So you’ve got these prostitutes literally bathing in the blood of the king.
Elijah’s prophecy didn’t mention that detail, didn’t mention that aspect of it. It’s probably mentioned here just as an aside, but to compound the disgrace and the public shame of this wicked king as he meets his demise. And so these last two verses of our text provide a summary of Ahab’s reign. Look at them with me starting in verse 39 now the rest of the acts of Ahab and all that he did and The ivory house that he built and all the cities that he built Are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with his fathers and Ahaziah his son reigned in his place so that summary of his reign follows a standard formula when we reach the ends of the reigns of the various kings that we see in these books and they follow that standard protocol. We’re not told anything else anywhere in scripture about this ivory house, or the cities that they have built. But Dale Ralph Davis has this comment, makes this observation. He says, by merely mentioning the king’s accomplishments, he tacitly admits Ahab’s greatness, but bluntly tells you he’s included none of it. Why not? Because it doesn’t matter.
Humanly speaking, Ahab had a pretty long reign, reigned over more than 20 years. And in those days, that was a pretty good run for a king. And humanly speaking, his reign was successful. He did building projects. He built a beautiful house inlaid with ivory. But that’s in human terms.
In the eyes of Yahweh, Ahab was a failure. One commentator put it, the defining mark of Ahab’s reign is how he refuses to listen to the word of Yahweh. We hear frequently about particularly US presidents and what kind of legacy they want to leave. They’re very concerned about their legacy. That was Ahab’s legacy.
He refused to listen to the word of Yahweh. Maybe that crossed his mind as his life was flickering out in that chariot. Maybe as he slowly lost consciousness, his thoughts went to the prophetic warnings he had heard but ignored, the altars he had built for Baal, how he had murdered Naboth and taken possession of his vineyard, or maybe even the very words of Micaiah as they were fulfilled before his eyes while he is dying. Ahab refused to listen to the word of the Lord. He had prophets who spoke the truth to him, but he refused to heed. You and I don’t have prophets who come to us saying thus says the Lord and giving us direct messages from God.
But we have something better. We have something greater, something more important. As it says in the opening words of Hebrews. Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. In these last days he has spoken to us by his son.” Now people may flatter themselves saying, well I would have listened to Yahweh’s prophets. But do we listen to Yahweh’s son? If Ahab’s life teaches us anything, it’s that we should listen to the word of the Lord.
Jesus himself said to the people in his day, why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I tell you. So let’s take that lesson and that central and Fundamental point of application, listen to the word of the Lord, and don’t be mere hearers of the word, but be doers of it.
Imagine Ahab propped up in his chariot, face towards his enemies and bleeding out. 800 years later, another king would come. would shed his blood and die while his enemies looked on. That was God’s plan, too. That your Savior and mine would not try to escape God’s prophecy, but would willingly go to the cross and fulfill it for our salvation, dying in our place. His blood was poured out so that we might be saved.
And we’re told in this passage that prostitutes washed themselves in the blood of wicked Ahab. And I’m not trying to insinuate here that there’s some sort of theological or doctrinal analogy, but prostitutes washed themselves in Ahab’s blood. But the word of God tells us that a multitude that no one can number, a multitude of redeemed sinners will be washed in the blood of the Lamb.
In Christ, God accomplished his purpose, and that purpose is to be reconciled to you by grace through faith. Let’s pray. Father in heaven, help us daily to be in wonder of you and to glorify you to be in awe of you because you have all means at your disposal to work out your purposes. And you are working out your purposes. How we thank you that your purposes include our salvation, that your purposes include the salvation of sinners such as we are. Lord, strengthen our faith. Help us daily to live lives of repentance and faith. Help us to hear your word. Help us to do it. Give us grace for that. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.