1 Kings 13:1-34:
By the word of the LORD a man of God came
from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an
offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: "O
altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be
born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the
high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned
on you.' "
That same day the man of God gave a sign:
"This is the sign the LORD has declared: The altar will be split apart
and the ashes on it will be poured out."
When King Jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar
at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "Seize
him!" But the hand he stretched out toward the man shriveled up, so that
he could not pull it back. Also, the altar was split apart and its ashes
poured out according to the sign given by the man of God by the word of
the LORD.
Then the king said to the man of God, "Intercede with the LORD your God
and pray for me that my hand may be restored." So the man of God
interceded with the LORD, and the king's hand was restored and became as
it was before.
7 The king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and have something
to eat, and I will give you a gift."
8 But the man of God answered the king, "Even if you were to give me
half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or
drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the LORD : 'You
must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.' " 10
So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to
Bethel.
11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came
and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also
told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked
them, "Which way did he go?" And his sons showed him which road the man
of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, "Saddle the
donkey for me." And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted
it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak
tree and asked, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"
"I am," he replied.
15 So the prophet said to him, "Come home with me and eat."
16 The man of God said, "I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I
eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by
the word of the LORD : 'You must not eat bread or drink water there or
return by the way you came.' "
18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an
angel said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to
your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.' " (But he was
lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank
in his house.
20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to
the old prophet who had brought him back. 21 He cried out to the man of
God who had come from Judah, "This is what the LORD says: 'You have
defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your
God gave you. 22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the
place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will
not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.' "
23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who
had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on his
way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown
down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
25 Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the
lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city
where the old prophet lived.
26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of
it, he said, "It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The
LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed
him, as the word of the LORD had warned him."
27 The prophet said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me," and they
did so. 28 Then he went out and found the body thrown down on the road,
with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither
eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.
(29 So the prophet picked up the body of the man of God, laid it on the
donkey, and brought it back to his own city to mourn for him and bury
him. 30 Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned over him
and said, "Oh, my brother!"
31 After burying him, he said to his sons, "When I die, bury me in the
grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32
For the message he declared by the word of the LORD against the altar in
Bethel and against all the shrines on the high places in the towns of
Samaria will certainly come true.")
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more
appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone
who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34
This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and
to its destruction from the face of the earth.
Introduction:
I don't know about
you, but when I read the Bible, from time to time I come across examples of
God dealing with one of His servants in a way that, at least initially,
really surprises me. But then, when I look at what is going on, I get more
insight into the situation.
One example is Moses. Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He led
them through the red sea. He led them for 40 years through the wilderness.
Then, at Kadesh, Moses didn't follow God's direction, didn't sanctify God
before the congregation during one incident, and God says:
"OK, since you did this, you won't be able to come into the promised land
with the people." Moses died, and was not able to enter the new land. I felt
sorry for Moses.
Then, when King David was bringing the ark up to Jerusalem, the ark was
being carried on a wagon, instead of being born on the priest's shoulders as
God had ordered them to do in His law. And the oxen pulling the wagon
stumbled, and the ark started to tip. And one of those helping to bring the
ark up, a man named Uzzah, put out his hand to steady the ark, and God
struck him dead. You shake your head, and say "what's going on here? Why did
God do that? And you maybe feel sorry for Uzzah.
Well, in the passage that we just read, we come across a man called "a man
of God"... no name... and this man, he's a prophet, was on a mission from
God. He was doing what God had commanded. Then, another prophet lies to the
man of God, and tells him that God had given the man of God a change in
orders. So this first prophet swallows the lie, and God takes his life. And
you scratch your head: "What's going on here?"
Whenever I've read this in the past, I think, "Why did God take his life?
The prophet that did the lying and deceived the man of God, why didn't God
punish him?
I want to look at these verses. I think there are some things to learn about
God here, and we shouldn't miss them. But first, we need to see who Jeroboam
is, and a little bit the history.
History:
During the reigns of Kings Saul, David and Solomon, Israel was one country.
God had promised Solomon that if he would walk before Him as David his
father did, and obey His commandments, then God would establish Solomon's
throne and his sons would reign over Israel. But God also warned him that if
he or his children would turn from following Him and go and serve other gods
and worship them, then He would cut off Israel out of the land. You can find
that in 1 Kings 9.
Well, Solomon took many wives, and these wives were from the nations around
Israel, godless nations, idol worshiping nations. And these wives turned
Solomon's heart to idols. So in 1 Kings 11 we read: So the LORD said to
Solomon, "Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenant and
my decrees, which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom
away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.”
Now the servant of Solomon, that God would give the kingdom to, was
Jeroboam. And while Solomon was still on the throne, God sends the prophet
Abijah to Jeroboam, and he tells him, in 1 Kings 11:31, "Behold, I will rend
the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee"
In verse 33, God tells him the reason: because they forsook God and
worshiped Molech and Ashtoreth and Chemosh, the gods of the nations that his
wives came from, and they didn't follow God's commandments.
And in verses 37-38 God makes Jeroboam this great promise:
37 "However, as for you, I will take you, and you will rule over all that
your heart desires; you will be king over Israel. 38 If you do whatever I
command you and walk in my ways and do what is right in my eyes by keeping
my statutes and commands, as David my servant did, I will be with you. I
will build you a dynasty as enduring as the one I built for David and will
give Israel to you."
So here is Jeroboam. He had been Solomon's servant. He had seen how Solomon
had at one time worshiped the one true God, and had seen how his many wives
had turned his heart to idols. Now God is telling him he is going to take
the kingdom away from Solomon for that. Now Jeroboam learns from that that
God severely punishes idol worshiper. And he gets a promise that the kingdom
would be his, and a sure house, if only Jeroboam would follow him with a
whole heart.
So, after the death of Solomon, that once-united kingdom of Israel, is split
into two kingdoms: Israel in the north, (and they made Jeroboam their king),
and Judah in the south (under Solomon's son, Rehoboam.)
You would think that Jeroboam would realize that God had done exactly as He
promised: that He had punished Solomon and his son, just as He said He
would, and given Jeroboam the northern kingdom, just as He said He would.
You would think that all this would have impressed Jeroboam that he had to
follow God, or suffer the consequences. But what did Jeroboam do?
Jeroboam was afraid that the people would go to Jerusalem to worship, and
would follow the king of Judah. So, in 1 Kings 12:28:
After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves. He said to the
people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O
Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." 29 One he set up in Bethel, and
the other in Dan. So here is Jeroboam setting up idols for the people to
worship.
Now we come to the text for today, and we find Jeroboam sacrificing to idols
in the high place in Bethel that he had set up.
Text Discussion:
1 Kings 13:
1 By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as
Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. 2 He cried out
against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what
the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On
you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings
here, and human bones will be burned on you.' " 3 That same day the man of
God gave a sign: "This is the sign the LORD has
declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured
out."
Now, we don't know anything about this prophet, called "a man of God", and
nowhere do we ever find out his name. He's just called "a man of God". It's
like God doesn't want us to focus on the man, or his family or what he did
for a living. His only pedigree was that he was doing God's will, he was
delivering God's message We are told that the Lord gave orders to this man
to come to Bethel and give a message to Jeroboam. Jerusalem was the city
where the temple was, the city where God had ordered people to worship, and
it was in Judah. Now, could God have sent a prophet to him from some place
in Israel? Sure. But by coming from Judah, God is emphasizing that this man
was his emissary. He was representing God. He was from the place where the
temple was and the ark of the covenant, and the shekinah glory of God was
present. God was putting his stamp of authenticity on this man's message.
It's part of his credentials.
In verse 2, the man of God finds Jeroboam in Bethel, and gives a prophecy,
that the bones of the priests of the high places would be burned on that
altar.
Now there were many false prophets in the nation of Israel throughout their
history. And the question arises, "How do we know if someone says he is a
prophet, how do we know he really is?" God gave one test of a
prophet: they had to be 100% accurate. If they weren't, the people were to
take them out and stone them. The prophets would frequently be given a long
term prophecy, something for quite a few years into the future, but along
with that, they were given a short term, local prophecy. And if that short
term prophecy would come true, then you could trust his longer term
prophecy.
So the man of God is prophesying here something for farther in the future.
But so that they will know that the prophecy will come true, he gave them a
short term prophecy : "This is the sign the LORD has
declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured
out."
So then God gives His stamp of authenticity on the prophecy by splitting
apart the altar, as the man of God had prophesied. And God gives him another
sign: He causes the king's hand to shrivel up, and then He heals him.
The message wasn't lost on the king. He recognized that it was the God of
Jerusalem, the God of the southern kingdom, the One True God who had done
this, not one of his golden calves that he had set up. Notice he didn't turn
to his priests to ask one of his idols to help him. In verse 6, he says
"Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me. And God restored his
hand.
Now the king was smart in what he asked for. He didn't say "Please, make
both my hands the same" ................. That might have been a wake up
call too! But he asked that his hand would be restored, made like it was
before, and God answered.
Notice what God did here. Even knowing that Jeroboam had a hard heart and
wouldn't listen, but eventually lead his people into idolatry, first, He
warned Jeroboam that his priests would be judged for this idol worship. Then
He demonstrated His power and ability to make the prophecy come true, in a
sense telling him "I am the one you should worship, your idols can't split
this altar like I just did. Do you see this? Wake Up!"
And then, He shows his ability to judge also by causing the king's hand to
shrivel up, and then shows He is a merciful God by healing him.
Then the king invites the prophet home with him to eat, in vv 7, 8, but God
had ordered the man of God not to eat bread or drink water there.
Why did God give the man of God a command like this? Well, there's no way of
really telling, because God doesn't tell us His reason here, but I think a
clue is in what Paul told the Corinthian church:
In 2 Cor 6:14-17 Paul says: 14Be ye not unequally yoked together with
unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what
agreement hath the temple of God with idols?
for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in
them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my
people. 17Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the
Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, Luke 9:5 5And
whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the
very dust from your feet for a testimony against them.
I think God is making the man of God a testimony against king Jeroboam.
By going home with the king, and eating and drinking and having fellowship,
he would have given the king a feeling of comradery, making the king feel
like "Hey, we're all one big happy family."
But they weren't one big happy family. Unless the king repents, he is NOT
one with the man of God. In fact, he's in opposition to him and what he
stands for. God called his representative out of Judah to emphasize that he
was separate, and Jeroboam was going his own separate way and going away
from God. I think God wanted to emphasize that in His command to the man of
God.
Now......what about us? Should we be friends with those that are not
Christians? Certainly. We have to let our light shine. We have to let our
lives be a witness to them. But if someone is a God hater, like Jeroboam,
and makes a point of trying to pull people away from Christ, and is
assailing God's people, then I don't see how we can have any kind of
fellowship with them. John tells us that in 2 John If you glad hand and are
buddy-buddy with one like Jeroboam, then you are giving your stamp of
approval to him. The man of God was commanded not to eat with him.
11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and
told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told
their father what he had said to the king.
Now how did the sons of the old prophet know all that the man of God had
done and said? Well it seems clear to me that they were there. They were
there with Jeroboam at the idolatrous sacrifice in Bethel. They were
participating in the worship of idols. It may very well have been that they
were some of the priests that Jeroboam had appointed from among the people.
They would have had a place of esteem among the people because they were
sons of the old prophet.
So now the old prophet finds the man of God, and invites him to come home
and eat with him. When the man of God answers that God told him not to eat
or drink anything in that place:
18 The old prophet answered, "I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel
said to me by the word of the LORD : 'Bring him back with you to your house
so that he may eat bread and drink water.' "
(But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate
and drank in his house.
So the old prophet lies to the man of God, and the man of God follows him
home. ¿ Was he deceived, and believing he was following God's command? Or
did he wilfully disobey the command of God, maybe because he was hungry or
thirsty?
It's kind of hard for me to believe that he would obey God and travel from
Jerusalem to Bethel, risk being put to death by the king of Israel, then
wilfully disobey just to have bread with this prophet. It's seems reasonable
to me to believe that he was actually deceived. He swallowed the lie......
hook, line and sinker.
So what happens? The old prophet tells the man of God that he had disobeyed,
and that he wouldn't be buried in his family tomb. Then:
24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his
body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing
beside it. 25 Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with
the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city
where the old prophet lived. ..........Then, in v28:
28 Then (the old prophet) went out and found the body thrown down on the
road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had neither
eaten the body nor mauled the donkey.
It is obvious from these verses, that this was a judgment from God. If a
lion is killing for food, it would have hauled away the body and eaten it.
It didn't do that. It also would have gone after the donkey. It didn't do
that either. And the donkey would naturally be afraid of the lion, and
gotten out of there as fast as it could. It didn't do that.
Both the lion and the donkey acted contrary to their nature, and stood there
long enough for people to see it, go into town and tell the people, the
prophet has to hear of it, saddle his donkey and ride out there, and here
they still are, standing beside the body, waiting, waiting for the prophet
to come.
God is making it very plain, so that everyone who sees it or hears about it
knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was a judgment from God.
Now, was this just? If the man of God was deceived, should he have been held
accountable? We have kind of a built in belief that if we didn't know about
some law or the law wasn't communicated effectively that we are off the
hook. We are not responsible. "Oh, I didn't know, I didn't know" It wasn't
my fault. Don't you feel that way? Try telling that to the police officer
who pulls you over. "But officer, I didn't know the speed limit was only 70"
So, here's the question: Do you commit a sin, if you do something that God
has forbidden, even though you didn't know it was forbidden? Now I didn't go
to seminary. I went to a Jesuit school where I had a minor in philosophy and
studied Philosophy of Being and Philosophy of Man. We never opened the Bible
though. But I want give you my opinion on this.
Now, if next week you see Pastor stomp down the aisle and yank me out of my
pew by the ear, take away my Bible and drum me out of the church, you'll
know I should never have opened this topic. But here's my take on
this:
Listen to the law that God gives in Numbers 15:27-28:
27 " 'But if just one person sins unintentionally, he must bring a year-old
female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before
the LORD for the one who erred by sinning unintentionally, and when
atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven.
Now what does that say? "If a person sins unintentionally, it's OK, there is
no sin." Is that what God says? No. God tells how the person must go about
being forgiven. That means, the person sinned, and he is guilty, even though
he did it unintentionally. You don't need to be forgiven if there is no sin.
Even though he didn't mean to disobey, he's guilty, he has sinned. Lev 4:13
says virtually the same thing, for the whole congregation of Israel.
But the verse that is a clincher for me is Lev 5:17:
Lev 5:17 "If a person sins and does what is forbidden in any of the LORD's
commands, even though he does not know it, he is guilty and will be held
responsible.
There are a number of references like these three, for people that sin
unintentionally, but you get the idea. Ignorance is no excuse. Being
deceived is no excuse. This man of God was deceived, yes, but he disobeyed
God, and God judged him.
Now this judgment of God does not have anything to do with the man's
salvation. This is a temporal judgment..... this is an earthly judgment.
You know, we all sin. Right up to the moment of our death we sin. And for
those of you who trust in Christ, all your sins have been paid for by the
Savior. And that includes the sins of this man of God. But on this earth,
our way is directed by our Lord. And this includes our manner of death.
Your remember in the end of the gospel of John, the Lord told Peter how he
would die. And John adds that this is the death that the Lord chose for
Peter, and a death that would glorify God. In the same way, God chose the
manner of death for the man of God, so that God would be glorified. His
death spoke about the righteousness of God, ... and His justice..... and the
fact that He demands that we obey His commandments.
And He plans this death ...to send a message to Jeroboam.
Now looking at the way the man of God was deceived, maybe you say, "but how
can we avoid a sin like this?"
There is a very revealing episode in Joshua 9. Moses has just died and
Joshua is leading the people of Israel into the promised land. God commanded
them not to make any covenant with the people in the land.
They could make covenants of other nations that were far away, but not with
the people of Canaan. The people of Canaan were to be destroyed because of
their idolatry and terrible religious practices. And here in Joshua chapter
9, the Gibeonites, who lived in the land, had heard how Israel had destroyed
Jericho and Ai, they were scared. So they put on old clothes and got some
moldy bread, and came to Joshua and told him they had come from a far land.
"See our bread, how moldy it is? It was fresh when we started out. See our
clothes, how worn out they are? They were new when we left." And they asked
Joshua to make a covenant of peace with them.
Now here is a pretty good deception, huh? It appeared to Joshua that these
people were indeed from some far country. Seems OK to make an agreement of
peace with them, right? But in Joshua 9:14, the Lord tells us what was
missing. It says: Joshua "asked not counsel at the mouth of the Lord."
Joshua didn't pray about it. Joshua didn't ask the Lord if it was OK to make
a covenant with them. Joshua was deceived, and went ahead and made a
covenant of peace with them. The bible implies that, had Joshua prayed about
what to do, he would have been able to discern what course to take. But he
didn't.
The man of God, in our text, must have thought, "hey, wait a minute, is God
really giving me new marching orders here?" Do you think he said, "Wait a
minute, I have to pray about this."? There is no evidence of this. It
doesn't look like he did. So he sinned. And God judged him.
Now, verse 33:
33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more
appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who
wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. 34 This was
the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its
destruction from the face of the earth.
By saying "Even after this..." it is clear that word had gotten back to
Jeroboam about God judging the man of God. It is saying, in effect, "Even
after this..... Even though Jeroboam could plainly see that God had judged
his own emissary for disobedience, still......with all he knew, Jeroboam
didn't take heed and listen to God. Still he kept on worshiping idols."
Well, that's how Jeroboam turned out. Because of him, God would take Israel
and scatter them among the nations.
Application:
Suppose we are sitting in church one Sunday, and the Pastor's at the pulpit,
and suddenly, Pastor stops his message and looks out the window and says:
"It's THE LORD !!! He's out there in the parking lot !!!! He's beckoning for
us. He's come for us !!! COME ON!!! And he runs out the side door. What
would you do? Wouldn't you jump up and run out after him? Would you?
Actually, your first reaction should be "He's off his noodle !!!
Pastor's been drinking too much Jamba Juice." Why? Why should that have been
your first reaction? Well, first of all, because you CAN'T SEE THE PARKING
LOT through those windows. The parking lot is in BACK !
Well, that would be the proper intellectual response. But I hope that you
would have an even stronger response in your spirit. Do you know that if you
followed the Pastor outside you would have been in direct disobedience to
the commands of Jesus? Listen to Jesus' words as He instructs His apostles a
few days before He would be put to death.
Matthew 24:
23Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe
it not. 24For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect. 25Behold, I have told you before. 26Wherefore if
they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold,
he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. 27For as the lightning cometh
out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of
the Son of man be.
He says "I'm not gonna come in secret. When I come back, everyone will know
it, just like lightning that lightens up the sky for all to see."
Now, did you know that? Was the first thought in your head: "Nope, Jesus
told us not to go."? Is it possible you didn't know about Jesus' warning?
Listen: we are living in the last age before the Lord comes. He tells us
that there will be false Christs, false prophets, people showing great signs
and wonders, deceiving, if it were possible, even the elect.
2 Thess 2:9-10 (Talking about the AntiChrist) ...... the one whose coming is
in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false
wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish,
because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. He
says the AntiChrist will show signs, will show false wonders, he will
deceive people.
We are getting close, friends. Israel for 2000 years was not a country, yet
the Bible prophecy talked about an "Israel" in the latter days. For almost
2000 years people thought that these prophecies must be symbolic.
Must be allegory. There is no nation Israel. They tried to spiritualize it.
Then in 1948 , after almost 2000 years, Israel became a country again.
The Bible says that in the latter days the focus of the world will be in
Israel. The last great conflict will center on Israel. Let me ask you:
Where is the focus of the world today? Isn't it on Israel? We are getting
close, friends.
How do we prepare for this time? How do we avoid being deceived? Two
ways: First, we need to know God's word We need to know His warnings. We
need to know the examples He has given us, things that happened to Israel in
the past and were written down for OUR INSTRUCTION. Paul tells the
Christians in Corinth in 1 Cor 10:11 Now these things (meaning the
experiences of Israel written down in the Bible) happened to them as an
example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of
the ages have come. They HAPPENED to them for an example for you. The man of
God KNEW the command of God, yet he was deceived. What happens if you don't
KNOW the commands of God, don't KNOW the examples He has given you for your
instruction? Do you know the word? You have to avoid the deception to come,
yes, but first, you need to know God's word, His teaching, His examples, His
commands. You need to know God's word, before you can obey it.
Maybe some of you don't know God's word as you know you should. God has
teaching for you that you don't yet know. God has examples of people in the
past that He has enscripturated for you, yet you don't yet know about it.
What are you going to do about it? Start today. You know, if you read just
20 minutes a day, you can read through the whole bible in a year.
Why not turn off just 20 minutes of American Idol, and read about the Idols
that Israel worshiped, and how God dealt with them? Start with Genesis 1:1.
In twelve months, you will be back in Genesis 1:1 again.
Start today. Decide to learn God's word. In order to obey God's word, you
first have to know it.
Did you notice the word "deceive" in the Lord's word in Matthew, and also in
Paul's letter? It's not enough to just know God's word. Like our passage
today, the man of God knew God's command, but he was deceived.
There are going to be great deceptions that will come into this world
shortly before the end. After you know God's word, you are going to have to
pray to avoid deception. Joshua didn't, and he was deceived. The man of God
was deceived, and he didn't even see any miracles to deceive him.
He was just lied to. But you may have to face apparent miracles, ....
things that appear to be signs from heaven. The Bible call these "Lying
signs & wonders." When your spirit tells you that what you see with your
eyes does not square with what you know of God's word, you will have to pray
to avoid deception. Both Joshua, and the man of God in our passage today are
warnings to us.
Jeroboam:
From the way God dealt with Jeroboam, we learn several things about the way
God interacts with us in these verses:
God is merciful towards us. God is patient and is longsuffering. God woos us
and teaches us and draws us in the way He wants us to go. In Hosea 11, God
says: 1 "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my
son. ....... 3 It was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by the arms;
but they did not realize it was I who healed them. I led them with cords of
human kindness, with ties of love....."
God is slow to let go of us. God is slow to give up on us.
But, there is the judgment side of God also. When all is said and done, when
we have stiffened our necks and pulled away the shoulder from God's merciful
hand of leading, and there is no remedy, then all that's left is the
prospect of judgment.
2 Peter 3:9:
9The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise (that is, promise of judgment),
as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to
perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come like a thief.
God is patient..... but there will be a judgment, and it's going to come
suddenly.
What about you, my friend? Has God shown you what you should do, and pleaded
with you, and yet you still refuse to obey? It's time to repent.
It's time to go to God. Run to Him. Don't let yourself rest until you get
right with Him. God will receive you. Ps 51 says: a broken and a contrite
heart, O God, thou wilt not despise. Why not deal with Him now?
Get right with Him. Get right.
Email this page