Ecclesiastes tells us the end of a thing is better than its beginning. This is very true. In fact, what we say in our last breath is better than the first words we utter. If we take a look at the first word a child utters, it may not be very meaningful at all. There was a couple the speaker read about online. They had a baby. They were eagerly awaiting for the first word the baby would deliberately utter. Finally, the baby uttered his first word. He said, “Woof.” Because they had a dog always barking at home. It’s fact that the first word a person utters may not be meaningful. In contrast, the last words spoken by a dying man are often most unforgettable. As a matter of fact, there are many characters in the Bible whose last words are recorded. These words are also very impactful, because they reflect how a person has lived his entire life; whether it was good or bad, his last words are a reflection and summary of his entire life.

This sermon will take a look at the last words uttered by two women in the Bible. Both examples are negative. One of them is unrepentant and defiant to the very end. The second one is regretful at the end. May these two examples serve as examination for us as well.

1. Jezebel

Jezebel is a character we don’t often study, because she’s a very notorious person in the Bible. Very often we don’t feel like we have anything to do with her. But let’s take a look at the last moment in Jezebel’s life.

2 Kings 9:30
“Now when Jehu had come to Jezreel, Jezebel heard of it; and she put paint on her eyes and adorned her head, and looked through a window.”

Who was Jehu? He was actually a military commander of Israel. Just before v30, Jehu had just killed the reigning king Joram, the son of Ahab and Jezebel. In v30, Jehu arrived in Jezreel. Let us remember that everything Jezebel does is very deliberate. There was a short period of time between Jehu killing Joram and arriving in Jezreel. Jezebel actually had time to think what to do and say. What does Jezebel do?

We read the latter portion of v30. She put paint on her eyes and adorned her head. Why? She’s just like women today who put on make up. The footnote in this verse points to Jeremiah. Jeremiah tells us people in those times painted their eyes to enlarge them. And of course they adorned themselves to look beautiful. So one possibility was that she was trying to seduce Jehu. That’s one possibility but she was already quite old, her son was already the king. More than 30 years had passed since Ahab became king. So we believe Jezebel should be quite old by now. But we cannot totally discount the possibility she was trying to seduce Jehu. She might just have thought too highly of herself. But one thing is very certain: she would meet Jehu on her own terms. She made sure she looked her best when she meets Jehu.

Let’s next take a look at what she says. Let’s remember she doesn’t say these words at the spur of the moment, she has thought through them carefully.

v31 “Then, as Jehu entered at the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?”
These would be the last words of Jezebel.

Who is Zimri? Some historical background. He was the 5th king of Israel. He usurped the throne by killing his master (1 Kings 16:8-20). Jezebel was saying Jehu was just like Zimri. “You murder your master just like Zimri. And just like Zimri, your reign will be a short one.” Zimri only ruled for 7 days. She was trying to insinuate Jehu would die like Zimri. “If you don’t come in peace, you’d die just like Zimri who burned his house was down upon himself.” These were the last words of Jezebel. It was defiant; she was unrepentant to the end. Now how would we describe the life of Jezebel?

The speaker tried to think how to describe her. He thought the words Paul used in 2 Tim 3 was perfect.

2 Tim 3 talks about what people will be like in the Last Days. From v2 onwards are many adjectives. Many of them easily apply to Jezebel. Lovers of themselves. Boasters. Proud. Unholy. Unforgiving. Slanderous. Brutal. When we read this, we find many of these adjectives describe Jezebel very well. But the first adjective describes her perfectly. She’s a person who loves herself. Her life was really totally centred on herself. She lived only for herself. She was a self-centred person. If we take a look at her beginning in 1 King 16:31, this verse talks about the beginning of the reign of Ahab and Jezebel as well. She was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians. Ethbaal means “with Baal”. The Sidonians worship Baal and Asherah. Baal is the god of the land and rain. Asherah is the goddess of fertility. When Jezebel enters the scene, she gets married to Ahab. Immediately we see how she puts a step into things once she enters the scene. Ahab was king but he was really listening to Jezebel.

If we compare her to Ruth who told Naomi, “Your God shall be my God,” Jezebel essentially said the opposite. When she comes into the scene, “My god shall be your god.” We see here Ahab is converted. He built a Baal temple and an altar for Baal. But for her, it’s not enough for Ahab to be converted. In a negative sense, she’s a very evangelistic type of person. It wasn’t enough for some people to be converted. Everyone had to worship her god. Let’s not be mistaken she really believed her god was true. It was clear the Lord God of Israel was the one with power.

Baal was the supposed god of rain but rain only came when the Lord God of Israel allowed it. Why was she so fervent about her religion then? Of course firstly, this was the religion she was brought up in. Secondly, this religion was very sensual. There were male and female temple prostitutes. Just imagine: indulging in the flesh was deemed as religious.

But the Lord God condemns such practices. The law is very restrictive. But the worship of Baal and Asherah is very attractive because it appealed to the flesh. That was why it became so popular in Israel.

But Jezebel goes further. She has a support system for her own prophets. She had the state to feed them. But this was still not enough. She started killing the prophets of God. For her it was really: my way or the highway.

Even at the last moment, it was all about her. “If I were to die, I’d die looking my best.” And then she tells Jehu, “If I’m going to die, you’re also going to follow suit and die.” She really epitomised the “me first” mentality that prevalent today.

In a documentary, a sportsman was asked about his outlandish ways. His reply was, “I just like the freedom to be who I am.” Which just means: I like to do whatever I want.

About 15 years ago when people started to write blogs, the speaker used to read a lot of blogs written by church members all over the world. There were some who wrote about the word of God; they wrote really well and they were very edifying. One of them is a preacher overseas now. There were some people who liked to write about random things in life. Nothing really harmful, some were quite humorous. Then there was a third group, they wrote simply to express themselves; to vent their frustrations. Essentially they’re saying: I just want the freedom to be who I am and write what I want. But the Bible tells us we don’t have the freedom to do what we want.

Rom 6:22
“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
We are all slaves of God. We don’t have freedom to do whatever we want. v23 tells us if we do whatever we want, that’s called sin, and the consequence of sin is death. We are slaves of God. We’re not entitled to be who we are and do what we want. We can only be what Christ wants us to be.

On the other hand, the self-entitled person is also the most self-centred person. Take a look at Jezebel. She thinks she’s entitled to do whatever she wants. And everything she does serves her own interest. Take a look at her last words. She calls Jehu “murderer”. That’s an irony! She is the greatest murderer. She murdered the prophets of God! She murdered Naboth for a vineyard. Jehu is not a murderer, because he was anointed by the servant of Elisha to kill Joram and Jezebel. But in her mind, whatever Jezebel does is for her own interest. In her own eyes, she can never do anything wrong. If we think about it, is it because she hasn’t seen the words of God? Not as many people would’ve seen as many works of God as she had in Israel. 3.5 years of drought. The battle at Mount Carmel (she wasn’t present but Ahab told her what happened). The death of Ahab was also prophesied - a random arrow hit him. She would have seen many many of the works of God in her lifetime. But she has never converted. Was it because she was ignorant of the law of God? If we take a look at how she plotted against Naboth, she knew two witnesses were needed according to the law of God. She knew one could not just anyhow curse the king according to the law of God. She wasn’t ignorant to the law of God. But she makes use of the law of God to murder and satisfy her own desires. In some ways, human beings are self serving. It’s a common weakness human beings all have. We often view things from our own perspective, because our perspective to us is the most important.

A harmless example:
Many years ago, the speaker would travel with his father every Friday to a town where he would speak a sermon. It was a very long journey and he would often fall asleep on the way. This time there was an evangelistic meeting. So his father told him, “Eh you interpret today ah.” Before that, his father would speak English and then Hakka, English and then Hakka on his own. He had been doing that all along but because it was an evangelistic meeting, it was a bit harder to do both. The speaker said to his father, “Okay. Tell me your sermon.” His father launched into Interpreting 101.

“Your reaction must be fast. You must be quick!”
The speaker said to his father, “If you tell me your sermon, I’ll be the fastest interpreter!”

It was then he realised many preachers don’t like to reveal their sermons and prefer to keep it close to their chests. So on the way his father kept saying, “You interpret ah!” And he kept saying, “Eh pa you tell me leh!” Because for the speaker, he didn’t want to be embarrassed.

This is human nature. We see things from our perspective. We have to ask ourselves sometimes: what is the perspective of Jesus? In the end, the speaker didn’t need to interpret because there were more listeners of Malay, so it was interpreted to Malay instead. This example showed the speaker how we tend to look at things from our perspective. Sometimes we don’t look at the perspective of Jesus; what does Jesus want me to do? The speaker knew even if his father didn’t tell him what the sermon was, he would still have to interpret. This was a harmless example. But Jesus tells us there’s something very dangerous.

Matt 7:3-4
“And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye’; and look, a plank is in your own eye?”

Human beings in general don’t see a lot on their own eyes, because our eyes are looking outwards; we look at others more. But Jesus tells us actually we should focus the spotlight on ourselves. We have to look at ourselves first. With the rise of social media today, a spotlight is put on the individual. But it’s often on: how I look, what I think, what are my opinions?

Jesus tells us we need to put a spotlight on ourselves. But for a different reason. We need to look at ourselves to examine ourselves. If we do not examine ourselves, then in the end, God will judge us. In fact, that’s what happened to Jezebel in the end.

2 Kings 9:32-34
And he looked up at the window, and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” So two or three eunuchs looked out at him. Then he said, “Throw her down.” So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered on the wall and on the horses; and he trampled her underfoot. And when he had gone in, he ate and drank. Then he said, “Go now, see to this accursed woman, and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.”

These verses tell us what happened to her in the end. She was really dressed up for the occasion. She probably didn’t expect to die so terribly. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have made herself look so beautiful. What happened? She’s literally overthrown by the eunuchs who threw her out the window. Blood splatters everywhere. Jehu tramples her underfoot. Later on, v35 says that Jehu wanted to give her a proper burial, but nothing remained of her except the skull, feet and palms. v36 shows the dogs had eaten her up. Possibly only the skull, feet and palms remained so that Jehu could recognise her. But the imagery contrast is very very strong. In one moment, she’s all dressed up; she wants to meet Jehu on her own terms and look beautiful. The next moment, she utterly destroyed. This imagery is also found in Revelation.

Rev 18:7
In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen, and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’
This is talking about the great Babylon, which references the world we live in. The world thinks that nothing will happen to her. “I’m a queen. I won’t see sorrow. It’ll be good for me all the way.” But here tells us her plagues will come in one day. Death and mourning and famine and being utterly burned with fire (v8).

One moment she looks good, the next moment she’s utterly destroyed. Just like Jezebel. One moment she’s dressed up, the next, only her skull feet and palms remained.

This is a warning to everyone. If we live only for ourselves, we may gain everything in our lifetime. We may live luxuriously and enjoy glory. We may even hold the whole world in our hands like Jezebel who thought she was at the top of the world and in control of her life. But the important question is: what happens in the end?

Sometimes judgement is delayed. It does not mean judgement won’t come. Judgement will always come. It’s just WHEN it’ll come.

Judgement caught up with Jezebel after more than 30 years. Judgement eventually came upon her. And she was utterly destroyed.

What about us? Will we be ready when judgement comes?

There is no time to go into the second example in this sermon. But as a conclusion we take a look at the last words of the rich man.

Luke 12:16-20
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’

From the perspective of the world, this rich man is definitely not a fool. He’s a wise man. The world teaches us: “You need to have dreams. Plan. Execute!” This rich man’s dream is sometimes also our dream. We want to work hard, sit back and relax. But the parable tells us we don’t have the last say, because God always has the last say. The rich man thought he had his life all planned out, but he does not have the last day. It is God who always has the last say. God said, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?”

He was a fool because he planned for everything in life, but didn’t plan for the life to come.

Sometimes we think we’re young and we won’t die tonight. But with the COVID-19 situation, we’re all reminded about the brevity of life. We’re all reminded that life is uncertain.

An article online said:
There’s a phrase to describe what we are experiencing: collective trauma. We are all grieving, whether it’s for the death of loved ones, the loss of our lives or the knowledge that things will not be the same again.

The speaker thinks these words really captures the mood of our times. The question is not when things will return to normal. The important question is: what should we do from now on?

On the night God tells us “tonight your soul will be required of you” what WOULD have been our last words? On the night God tells us “tonight your soul will be required of you”, would you be prepared to meet the Lord?

Therefore what’s important is what we would do from now on. What will be our last words?