A Man Whose Heart Was Upright

THE Bible account of Jehu and Jehonadab is thrilling! It is filled with action. But more important still, it points significantly to modern-day developments that involve you. Have you read it? Why not open your Bible now to Second Kings, chapter 10, verses 15 to 28? What is said there will aid you in determining your position before God in this most critical time of history.

Here is the background. It was the tenth century B.C.E. General Jehu was commissioned by Jehovah God to cut off King Ahab of Israel and his entire house. “You must strike down the house of Ahab,” he was told. Also, Jehu was to uproot Baal worship, which Ahab’s pagan wife Jezebel had promoted in the land. (2 Ki. 9:6-10) Why was this purging commanded by God?

It was because of Ahab’s extreme wickedness, and the debased Baal worship that he practiced. As the Bible says: “Without exception no one has proved to be like Ahab, who sold himself to do what was bad in the eyes of Jehovah, whom Jezebel his wife egged on.” (1 Ki. 21:25) These two were champions of a religion in which worshipers gathered at “high places of the Baal in order to burn their sons in the fire as whole burnt offerings to the Baal.” (Jer. 19:5; 1 Ki. 16:30-33) Worshipers of the true God Jehovah were even hunted down and slain. Ahab was bloodguilty in God’s sight. (1 Ki. 18:4; 19:10) Since Ahab refused to repent of his badness, he and his house, along with Baal worship, deserved destruction! Only in this way could life-giving worship of the true God be maintained.

But how did the people feel about Jehu’s lightning campaign as he carried out the decree of execution? Did some harshly accuse him of being an opportunist or a heartless killer? Did they ignore the fact that Jehovah himself had authorized the executions? How would you personally have reacted? Would you boldly have sided with God’s commissioned executioner, regardless of the unpopularity such a course would bring? That is something you must determine. But we do know of a man who received God’s blessing because he had the right attitude.

JEHONADAB’S HEART WAS RIGHT

This man was Jehonadab, son of Rechab. At 2 Kings 10:15 we read about his encounter with Jehu. The indication is that this was no chance meeting. Jehonadab was on his way to meet Jehu and offer his unqualified support. He recognized in Jehu the champion that Jehovah had raised up to wipe out the bloodguilty political regime of Ahab and to destroy filthy Baal worship and its supporters out of the land. He knew that God was with Jehu to prosper his course.

To Jehu’s question, “Is your heart upright with me, just as my own heart is with your heart?” Jehonadab unhesitatingly replied: “It is.” So, what did he do? Just wish Jehu well and send him on his way? By no means! Jehonadab accepted the invitation to ride publicly with Jehu in his chariot, thus making it plain to all observers that he was giving active support to Jehovah’s anointed one.

First, they traveled to Samaria and finished wiping out Ahab’s house. Next, attention was focused on Israelite Baal worshipers. These claimed to be worshiping the true God, but their practice of a form of worship condemned by the Creator of man made them worthy of death in God’s eyes.

So by a stratagem Jehu lured the priests and worshipers of Baal into their great temple of idolatrous worship. He had them dress in their special vestments of identification. He screened the throng to make sure that no worshiper of the true God remained in their midst. Then, with exits sealed off, Jehu gave the signal to his personnel: “Come in, strike them down! Do not let a single one go out.” But Jehonadab, who was right there to witness the slaughter decreed by God, survived. He had an upright heart.—2 Ki. 10:16-25.

MODERN PARALLELS

But what does all of this have to do with us today? Well, we are living through developments of history that parallel the situation in Jehonadab’s time. Just consider some of these details.

Bible prophecy clearly identifies our time as “the conclusion of the system of things,” when God will wipe out all wicked political regimes of earth. (Matt. 24:3-14) Just as Ahab and his house of old were bloodguilty and deserved destruction, so is the case with Ahab’s counterpart—the modern-day political State. That is why Bible prophecy says: “The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that . . . will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite.”—Dan. 2:44.

These kingdoms of today are just as bloodguilty in God’s sight as were Ahab and his house. Like Ahab, they have rejected the true God Jehovah and his righteous decrees. Even governments claiming to be Christian have shed rivers of innocent blood by promoting and fighting two world wars and numerous smaller wars in just this generation! In particular, they have copied Ahab by persecuting and killing true worshipers of God who refuse to support their unholy enterprises. In “Christian” Germany alone thousands of true worshipers of Jehovah suffered martyrdom during the second world war for not supporting Hitler’s schemes of conquest. Truly, “all these kingdoms” of earth deserve destruction, even as did Ahab and his house.

But what about the modern counterpart of ancient Baal worship, which was practiced and upheld by Ahab? Interestingly, Israelite Baal worshipers also often professed to worship the true God Jehovah. They mixed the two forms of religion, contaminating true worship with pagan practices. Today, too, it is common for persons to profess Christianity, the true worship of the heavenly Father of Jesus Christ, and, at the same time, share in pagan practices.

For example, the pagan background of many of Christendom’s teachings and religious holidays is well known. The people of Christendom are like the Israelites of old who would combine pagan Baal worship with service to the true God. Furthermore, Israelite Baal worshipers offered “their sons in the fire as whole burnt offerings,” a practice detestable to Jehovah. (Jer. 19:5; 32:35) So, too, the religions of Christendom, while claiming to follow Christ, have urged that sons of her worshipers be offered in sacrifice in nationalistic wars.

Therefore, just as Jehu served as Jehovah God’s executioner against Ahab’s house and the supporters of Baal worship, so Jesus Christ, the Greater Jehu, has been commissioned by God to execute all His enemies. He will destroy “all the kingdoms of the world” and all supporters of Baal-like false religions. But there will be survivors, like Jehonadab.—Matt. 4:8, 9; Dan. 2:44; Rev. 18:21-24; 19:11-16.

WHERE DO YOU STAND?

Just as Jehu of old separated the true worshipers to be preserved from the worshipers of Baal to be executed, so the Greater Jehu today is identifying persons either for destruction or for preservation. How so? By their response to the message concerning God’s kingdom, which God is having preached “in all the inhabited earth as a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) In this way, those who reject God’s kingdom by Christ are identified as Jehovah’s enemies just as clearly as were those worshipers of Baal who put on their religious vestments.

Well, then, where do you stand? Is your heart upright toward God, as was Jehonadab’s? Remember, Jehonadab actually got into the chariot and rode with Jehu. He thereby publicly declared his support for the righteous executional work in which Jehu was engaged. Are you similarly in heart harmony with the executional work of Jesus Christ? Have you publicly declared that support?

This is done by publicly supporting the representatives of the Greater Jehu, who are now proclaiming earth wide the message that God’s kingdom will soon ‘crush and put an end to all these kingdoms of earth,’ and will then usher in righteous conditions. (Rev. 21:3, 4) Even as Jehonadab got into the chariot, so it is vital that you, too, join yourself with these earthly representatives of the Greater Jehu. It is important that you thereby show publicly that you believe that Jesus Christ is right in executing the bloodguilty political system, as well as all false religion and its supporters.—2 Thess. 1:7-9.

How urgent, therefore, it is to learn the facts about the appointment and commissioning of Jesus Christ as God’s Executioner, and then adjust your attitude and your life to conform to that knowledge! Even now current developments throughout the earth underline the fact that the foretold destruction draws on apace. It will come and accomplish its devastating work just as surely as Jehu’s executional forces wiped out the house of Ahab and all Baal worshipers in Israel. Will you be a surviving witness of that just judgment, as Jehonadab was in his day? It depends on you.

Make sure, then, that your course today clearly identifies you as one whose heart is upright, that you agree with Christ Jesus in his attitude toward a doomed system of things. By so doing you can avoid the certain disaster that is coming upon all those who refuse or neglect to identify themselves publicly as friends and supporters of the Greater Jehu, God’s anointed King, Christ Jesus.