Originally posted: 5/26/2020
He was hidden with them in the house of God six years while Athaliah reigned over the land, (22:12).
This is the stuff movies are made of, murders, conspiracies, coups. And as I looked for Him in this chapter, I couldn’t help but also see His children. Surely there was a remnant of those who continually sought the Lord, their God. Were they left feeling completely devastated? Had they given up Hoping for God’s Salvation? Although God had repeatedly confirmed that He would fulfill His plan for the line of David and establish his throne forever, six years in a dark tunnel can seem like the light at the end has all but vanished.
Were those who had fixed their Hope on His Promises now being persuaded by what they saw rather than what He had said? When Hope was Hidden, were God’s children becoming convinced that His Covenant with David would be extinguished by the murderers who had also put to death those in the Davidic line to inherit the throne?
Then the inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, his youngest son, king in his place, for the band of men who came with the Arabs to the camp had slain all the older sons. So Ahaziah the son of Jehoram king of Judah began to reign, (22:1).
Were they left despondent in the aftermath of a marriage alliance with the wicked kings of Israel?
Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. 6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, just as the house of Ahab did (for Ahab’s daughter was his wife), and he did evil in the sight of the Lord, (1 Chronicles 21:5-6).
While the Scriptures reveal that it was God in control, God Who would cut off the house of Ahab, did the remnant now wonder if God, was in fact, the One being cut off?
Now the destruction of Ahaziah was from God, in that he went to Joram. For when he came, he went out with Jehoram against Jehu the son of Nimshi, whom the Lord had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab, (22:7).
And at this point in their history, did God’s people believe all Hope was gone as they watched the line of David slipping away through the godless counsel of the house of Ahab?
Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Athaliah, the granddaughter of Omri. 3 He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother was his counselor to do wickedly. 4 He did evil in the sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab, for they were his counselors after the death of his father, to his destruction, (22:2-4).
Did they resign themselves to a fate worse than death as they watched evil seemingly prevail in its destruction of royal offspring and the usurping of the throne?
Now when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah, (22:10).
But all the while, during this six-year tyrannical reign of Athaliah, His deliverance was well cared for. And although the Hope for their future was Hidden, His Hope was most certainly alive.
Consider Him When Hope is Hidden
- When Hope is Hidden, He is resolute in making the way to accomplish His Will.
- But Jehoshabeath the king’s daughter took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons who were being put to death, and placed him and his nurse in the bedroom… (22:11).
- “Behold, I will do something new,
Now it will spring forth;
Will you not be aware of it?
I will even make a roadway in the wilderness,
Rivers in the desert,” (Isaiah 43:19).
- When Hope is Hidden, He is faithful in bringing life through His Covenant.
- …So Jehoshabeath, the daughter of King Jehoram, the wife of Jehoiada the priest (for she was the sister of Ahaziah), hid him from Athaliah so that she would not put him to death, (22:11).
- “Incline your ear and come to Me.
Listen, that you may live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
According to the faithful mercies shown to David,” (Isaiah 43:19).
- When Hope is Hidden, He is steadfast in providing security in His Presence.
- He was hidden with them in the house of God six years while Athaliah reigned over the land, (22:12).
- “May the beloved of the Lord dwell in security by Him,
Who shields him all the day,
And he dwells between His shoulders…
27 “The eternal God is a dwelling place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms;” (Deuteronomy 33:12, 27).
How do we respond to Him When Hope is Hidden?
Perhaps today, amidst the unknowns of a future fraught with questions and reservations, amidst health threats and societal disharmony, perhaps we too are succumbing to a feeling that Hope is Hidden; or at the very least, uncertain.
But it is a debilitating enterprise when we assess our times through the eyes of sight; for even When Hope is Hidden, eyes of faith are the needed prescription to correct our vision.
“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness,” (Matthew 6:22).
Loss of Hope acts as a blindfold covering our eyes of faith, obscuring our vision to see Him while allowing the darkness to penetrate our thoughts and pervert the truth. And while there may be times when Hope seems Hidden, we must by faith, take hold of Him Who is resolute, faithful and steadfast to fill us with Hope through the Truth of His Word.
- When Hope is Hidden, we must choose to see clearly through eyes of faith: He is resolute in making the way to accomplish His Will.
- For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus, (Philippians 1:6).
- Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass, (1 Thessalonians 5:24).
- When Hope is Hidden, we must choose to see clearly through eyes of faith: He is faithful in bringing life through His Covenant.
- “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly,” (John 10:10).
- “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent,” (John 17:3).
- When Hope is Hidden, we must choose to see clearly through eyes of faith: He is steadfast in providing security in His Presence.
- “and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30).
- Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:35, 37-39).
While there may be times of uncertainty, when outwardly it may look as though our Hope is Hidden, it is then we must choose to see through His empowerment prescribed for our eyes of faith. As we look upon Jesus Christ, our Living Hope, all Hope that appears to be Hidden will be clearly revealed.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, 5 who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, (1 Peter 1:3-5).
As we seek Him in His Truth, we can trust Him to strengthen us in His resolute, faithful and steadfast Hope as the anchor for our soul.
This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, 20 where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us… (Hebrews 6:19-20).