We learned in the previous entry that, even though God had promised King David that his descendants would always rule
ENTRY EIGHTY-ONE – JUNE 2, 2008
81 -THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART I (aka "Rehoboam and Jeroboam")
I Kings 12-15:8; II Chronicles 10-13
We learned in the previous entry that, even though God had promised King David that his descendants would always rule
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Well, there are some amazing lessons in this story, some for the future and some which have a startling resemblance to events at the beginning of this millennium… hmmmmm…. Firstly, we see a leadership changeover about to happen. Rehoboam was taking over from his dad, without the pomp and circumstance of the previous handover. No doubt this was because Solomon had not planned ahead the way David had, seeing as how Solomon had been busy sorting out the meaning of life and all
1) The Hebrews had obviously become fed up with Solomon's leadership over the years. He had done everything that God had warned them a king would do back in the Law of Moses, like take their crops for his table, make them pay taxes so he could buy lots of horses, and shipwreck their religion by marrying foreign wives and committing idolatry.
2) The people had persevered with Solomon's demands out of respect for David and even gratitude for Solomon (and maybe fear of speaking up?), but they weren't at all keen to see it dragged on under another monarch. So they finally made themselves heard.
3) The "speaking up" part, however, wasn't done with a pure motive, since it was orchestrated by Jeroboam, who was Solomon's enemy. You can see the machinations rising…
4) Rehoboam's lack of wisdom and spirituality caused him to reject the temperate wisdom from the older men, who had rightly urged him on to "servant leadership".
5) The lack of spirituality among Rehoboam’s contemporaries and "advisors" spurred them to give terrible advice to their friend, "Lead in a way that benefits you cause they have to do what you say anyway." Oh well…
6) Jeroboam was waiting in the wings to cause chaos and an uprising, and he knew that if he tore it down, they would come - or something like that…
7) So what happened when all of the twelve tribes except for
8) After the chaos, Jeroboam's lack of pure motivation (did he urge the crowd to speak up out of a belief in servant leadership and because he wanted to make their lives better or because of hurt ego and desire for revenge and power?) was made all too clear when he fashioned golden calves and called them the gods of Israel, placing them at Dan and Bethel, leading the people into the worst idolatry they had known as a nation! IN FACT, even though Rehoboam's attitude was pathetic, and he was a lousy leader himself for the most part, the Hebrews as a nation fared much better under his family's reign (known after the split as the nation of
You know what they say about history - those who don't learn from it are doomed to repeat it!!!!!! So please, everyone, let's learn the lessons (me included, of course)!!! That's all I'll say about that - I am taking the 5th Amendment (see, there is still some American left in me!)
Well, on with our journey. Jeroboam reaped what he sowed, so to speak, because no sooner than he had set up unauthorized worship in Dan and
Even more stupefying than the fact that Jeroboam had the gall to ask the prophet to pray for his hand after threatening to kill him is the fact that the king turned around and invited the man of God to dinner! (I guess his mother had taught him to have manners!) The righteous man refused, wisely, on the grounds that God had told him not to eat with anyone. (Protection against being poisoned, perhaps?) But then another prophet gave him a different message, telling him that an angel of God had sent a message that the man of God was to disregard the earlier message and come and eat with his family after all, since he, too, was a prophet. And the bible says that this was a lie! So then, the poor guy, who had already had a long and emotional day, went for dinner, thinking that God was blessing him for being courageous and obedient, and of all things, he got cursed by the weird prophet! (…who then saddled the man of God's donkey... what's with these whackos and their good manners???) When the man of God was travelling home, he was killed by a lion, a visual aid to all who would take lightly the word of God, which calls to mind the admonition of Paul in Galatians 1:8-9 to not listen to another gospel even if it comes from a so-called angel of God. As if this story isn't filled with enough incongruity, the lying prophet buried the man of God and asked to be buried in the same grave in the future. So, besides getting a good reminder about obeying the word of God, we have also learned that hospitality doesn't always equal sincerity!
Incidentally, the priests and Levites, along with "those from every tribe of
After establishing his throne, Jeroboam, who had added to his evils by appointing priests from anyone who wanted to be one, became alarmed over the illness of his son. He remembered the prophet, Ahijah, who had told him good news back in his younger years. (Ahijah was the person who had told Jeroboam that he would take the kingdom away from Solomon's heir.) So he sent his wife to inquire about the son's health from the prophet, and he told his wife to disguise herself. Now my question is, why would you go to a prophet who is dumb enough to be tricked by a disguise? Oh well…Sure enough, Ahijah wasn't fooled and he gave Jeroboam's wife bad news instead. His bottom line message: If you had loved me and followed me with all your heart the way David had, you could have been exalted, but now I will cut off every male from your house and disgrace your descendants in death. On top of that, your son will die and he is the only person in your household that is worth burying! Wow, what a strong rebuke!
Over in the nation of
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ENTRY EIGHTY-TWO – JUNE 4, 2008
82 -THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART II (aka "Two Kingdoms in Contrast")
I Kings 15, 16, 22; II Chronicles 14-18
Almost 25 years after God’s people split into two nations, Rehoboam and his son in the nation of
Asa, great great grandson of David, did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord. He got rid of the idolatry that his father had allowed, and commanded all in
On the other side of things, the nation of
The lessons I learn from the above are
(1) Anything good we do as leaders comes not from our own strength or goodness but because we did what God told us to do, (or became what God told us to become) and
(2) When you leave God, it doesn’t take long before you become completely warped. A look at western culture will surely verify this, but even for us as disciples of Jesus – we may have led a spiritual life for a while, but if we forsake it and follow the world, we will see our lives and families turned upside down, not to mention be lost to hell after we die! How sad! What a waste!
As proof that Asa relied on God, see the prayer he prayed in desperation when he was about to be attacked by the Ethiopians. So humble! God sent a message to him from a prophet that inspired him and urged him on to go even further for God, and the bible says that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to God.” Wow! This is how we should be in times of victory – not complacent, but grateful, using the victory to give us the energy for more battles for God. He had everyone seek God with all their heart and soul. One of the most encouraging parts of this story is that many from the other tribes (in
Asa was also not afraid to get rid of “sentimentality”, which is difficult for me. He deposed his grandmother from the pagan role of “queen mother”, a role that had never been instituted by God, because she was still promoting idolatry!
Amidst all of that victory, Asa did make a blunder – he became afraid of
In
Asa’s son, Jehoshaphat , was another good king, and the bible says that the Lord was with him because in his early years he walked with the Lord. However, with so much sin built up little by little, it was very difficult to get rid of all the idolatry. This should be a lesson to us today – that when we allow a little yeast to get in, as Jesus says, it mixes with the rest of the dough very quickly and is almost impossible to remove. We must ensure that we do not let ourselves get worldly!! Let’s make sure that it is not only in our EARLY YEARS that we walked with the Lord, but that we continue until we die.
One of Jehoshaphat’s best moves was to send teachers around to every town in
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ENTRY EIGHTY-THREE – JUNE 5, 2008
83 -THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART III (aka "Elijah the Prophet")
I Kings 17-19
This entry, which is for one day of reading, covers topics such as ELIJAH ON MT. CARMEL, DOUBLE-MINDEDNESS, GREAT PRAYERS, and OVERCOMING DISCOURAGEMENT IN LEADERSHIP.
Elijah is recognized as one of the greatest prophets, perhaps because he did miracles similar to the ones done by Jesus centuries later (remember that he is mentioned by the apostles when Jesus asked them, “Who do people say that I am?”). Or it could be because the final two verses of the Old Testament (Malachi 4:5-6) promise that God will send the prophet Elijah before the day of the Lord and that he will either turn the people’s hearts back to God, or they will be stuck with a curse!! Wow, no wonder the Jews mistook Jesus for Elijah!
His life was truly amazing. He basically went “one-on-one” with Ahab, lowly prophet from the farm against mighty king from the big city. Guess who won? Don’t you just love the “predictability” of the bible?
Anyway, Elijah kind of pops out of nowhere to give the evil king a message from God, “No more rain until I say.” Now you don’t threaten an evil king and stick around to watch, so he hid in a ravine, drank from a brook and ate food brought to him by ravens. (Nowadays we would be in a pickle if this were to happen – BIRD FLU!!) When the brook dried up (it would have had to, seeing as how there was no rain), no worries – an unsuspecting widow who also needed sustenance, was chosen by God to feed Elijah miraculously and to thereby save herself and her son from starvation. Not only does this show us the kind of faith Elijah had (we certainly don’t see him doubting), it also illustrates how dire the circumstances were at the time – the drought was causing real hardship. This is an example of how God sometimes allows physical suffering in order to facilitate spiritual repentance.
The next section of scripture is one of the few examples in the bible of someone raising a dead person back to life. Elijah had such a BIG view of God’s power, as well as deep trust in God’s care and concern, that he thought it might happen! When was the last time that you or I thought that we could raise a dead person? Not very recently… This episode shows us Elijah’s heart of faith and love, and it must have encouraged him almost as much as it made the woman feel blessed.
Finally, almost three years after Elijah first delivered God’s edict, it was time for a showdown. He presented himself to a faithful man who worked for Ahab, named Obadiah, who was himself kind of a “Schindler”; i.e., he had hidden 100 of God’s prophets from Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, and fed them secretly. When they finally met, Ahab exhibited his arrogance from the first sentence, “Is that you, you troubler of
Returning to the story…Elijah calmly and confidently asserted that it was not he who was bringing trouble on
When the people arrived, Elijah went through the crowd and asked a very important question, “HOW LONG WILL YOU WAVER BETWEEN TWO OPINIONS?” He followed that with, “If Jehovah-God is God, follow him, but if Baal is God, follow him.” Of course, the weak willed people said nothing at that point.
I’m highlighting this verse for two reasons:
(1) we must ask ourselves if we are wavering between two opinions! Does the world have a hold on us? Are we standing up for God the way we should? As the old question reads, “If you were arrested for being a disciple of Jesus, would they have enough evidence to arrest you?” Are we buying into the world’s standards, instead of the standards of Jesus, the bible and the church? Meditate on this question and don’t be like the Israelites, who said nothing. If God is God, worship him!! Live for him!! In counseling, “all or nothing” is seen as a negative thing, but when it comes to Lordship, “all or nothing” is the only way.
(2) THIS MAKES A GREAT BIBLE TALK!! You have to do some historical teaching to set the context, but what a great convicting point. Email me if you want the questions.
On with the story…Elijah wanted to have a test of sorts. He told the crowd that he would represent Jehovah-God and the 450 priests of Baal-god could represent Baal. Then, they would each prepare a sacrifice (put a bull on some wood) and then pray to their “god” to send fire down on the sacrifice. The “god” who answered would be the true “god”, and the people all agreed to the test. Elijah even “graciously” allowed the Baal priests to go first. The priests prepared a bull for the sacrifice, set it on the wood, and called down fire from their so-called god. They shouted from morning til noon. They danced around the altar. The bible simply says, “There was no response; no one answered.” Duh! King Ahab must have been getting a bit nervous! Elijah taunted them, “shout louder! Perhaps they are busy!” In fact, the word that the NIV translates as “traveling” is actually an idiom for “going to the toilet”, so Elijah is so cheeky, he was telling them, “Perhaps he is asleep or on the loo!” Not to be defeated, the priests of Baal slashed themselves with swords in desperation. They continued frantically until evening, but nothing happened. And again the bible records, “But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.”
Does this sound like your life? Are you frantically dancing around, trying to make things happen, even to the point of hurting yourself, while not relying on God? You’ll get the same result as the priests of Baal – nothing!! You will only be frustrated and suffer physically and emotionally (not to mention spiritually)!
Elijah shifted into gear, and not only prepared a bull for sacrifice – he made a BIG show of it. He repaired the altar of Jehovah-God which had fallen into disrepair, he used twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes of Israel, he dug a huge ditch around the altar so that no one would be able to stand near the sacrifice (lest anyone accuse them of secretly starting the fire), and he poured water on the bull, over the wood and into the trench three times! By the time Elijah was supposed to ask God to send the fire, the whole thing was soaking wet! Why did he do it? Because he wanted to prove to everyone beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jehovah was the true God!! He was putting his life on the line because he so totally believed that God would answer him!
And then came his prayer (if I read this aloud I will cry!). “O LORD (Jehovah-God), God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, O LORD, answer me, so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” WOW!
I hope you are moved, even before you see how God answers! This is so incredible!! Amazing! Fantastic! I am talking about Elijah’s heart and his faith and his trust and his love. This is what we signed up for; this is why we became disciples! And notice his motive for praying such a “big” prayer – he wanted to glorify God and he wanted the peoples’ hearts to turn back to God! You can’t get better motives than that!
The rest is almost an after thought, like the time that Shadrach and friends made their bold claim in Daniel 3. But God came through for Elijah in a big way – he sent fire from heaven the likes of which hadn’t been seen, probably since the days of
They slaughtered the prophets of Baal, which may sound cruel, but it is in keeping with the Law of Moses about what to do with those who worship false gods – see previous entry on Leviticus 18-20. Now you would think that Ahab would join in the worship of Jehovah, but alas, he just went off to eat and drink, and to prepare for heavy rain, which he hadn’t seen for three years! And the last amazing scene of the chapter is that Elijah tucked his cloak under his belt and miraculously legged it ahead of Ahab and his chariots. An ancient “Flash”, I suppose. We’ll have to ask to see that video in heaven!!
The crazy but very real and human episode which followed the unbelievable victory at
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ENTRY EIGHTY-FOUR – JUNE 6, 2008
84-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART IV (aka "Ahab, Jezebel, and Jehoshaphat’s Amazing Prayer")
I Kings 20-22; II Kings 1; II Chronicles 18-20
This entry, which is for two days of reading, covers topics such as CONSEQUENCES OF SIN, THE BATTLE IS GOD’S, and HOW TO PRAY WHEN YOU ARE AGAINST ALL ODDS.
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Dr. Smith observed, “Two of the most wicked people who ever lived just happen to be married to each other.” If it weren’t so scary, it would be funny, but the people that King Ahab and Queen Jezebel terrorized would not have thought them humorous. This entry tells of their eventual destruction, as well as highlighting a beautiful and faithful prayer in the bible, prayed by Jehoshaphat, son of Asa.
Several lessons from the story in 1 Kings 20 –
a-Even though Ahab wasn’t righteous, God still showed grace to
b-Don’t count your chickens before they hatch (Ben-Hadad’s boasting and getting drunk).
c-God loves to do the impossible just to show he can do it and to prove He is God!
d-Obeying God’s word and doing what God thinks is right is more important than doing what YOU think is right.
The next story about Ahab and Jezebel illustrates how truly evil they were as a couple. To use one’s political power to take away property from someone else is bad enough, but to revel in it, as Jezebel did, and to think it was her right because of her position was even worse. Worse still is the fact that they didn’t stop at just stealing the property, but went so far as to ruin Naboth’s reputation and to then murder him.
There are a few interesting lessons from this chapter – the best being that humility at the right time really helps!! A more sobering lesson is for wives – do you help your husband to be more spiritual and encourage him when he makes godly but difficult decisions? (“Oh, I’m sorry that you couldn’t get that field
The recounting of the way Jehoshaphat forced Ahab to look for a true prophet and how Ahab hated Micaiah for always prophesying bad things is one of the funniest stories in the book of I Kings. It’s right up there with Jeroboam trying to trick a prophet by making his wife wear a disguise! In this story, Ahab was inquiring from false prophets ON PURPOSE because he liked what they told him. That sounds suspiciously like something I have read before (II Timothy 4:3-4)
Ahab went one step further and put the offensive prophet in jail! We wouldn’t do that ….. But perhaps we have “silenced” those who have tried to speak the truth to us by either ignoring them and not fellowshipping with them so often OR exploding on them so defensively that they will think very hard before bringing up anything to us again….You be the judge. As they say, “If the shoe fits…”
Of course there are some who are gun-shy about taking input after feeling that leaders were too controlling or arbitrary or mixed up in their motives. However, the bible is clear that we all need godly input. The solution is to surround yourself with “safe people”, (to quote Drs. Cloud and Townsend) who you can trust to speak the truth in love with your best interests at heart. That is the responsibility we all have as Christians.
Back to Ahab…he did go to battle, and in an attempt to prove the prophet wrong, he traded clothing with a common soldier and fought in a disguise. However, you can’t outsmart God, and sure enough, he was wounded and died. Such a gruesome death – sounds like an episode of CSI Miami. He “bled out”, as Horatio would say, and, just as had been prophesied, the dogs licked his blood. To add insult to injury (in the true sense of the phrase), the chariot which contained his blood was washed out in the same pool where the prostitutes bathed! Definitely CSI!
Jehoshaphat also got a rebuke from God, but in his case if was for helping someone who “hates the Lord”. The lesson for us all here is to choose our loyalties wisely. At least God appreciated the things that Jehoshaphat did right (getting rid of idols and setting his heart on seeking God!) which says to me that God remembers the good things we have done, as well, even when we mess up.
We continue to read great stuff about Jehoshaphat in 2 Chronicles. As part of his effort to turn the people back to God, he reformed the justice system, instructing the judges he appointed to fear God and have nothing to do with injustice, partiality or bribery. These are good things for all disciples to remember, but especially those of us who would take on the mantle of leadership (which is not a bad thing, amen!!). We should remember the New Testament words of James – that teachers will be judged more strictly!!
This righteous king also warned the priests to lead in the fear of the Lord, and to teach the people to not sin against the Lord. This is what our people need even today! When leaders teach the grace of God PLUS the necessity of hating sin, they are preaching the whole truth! And according to the words Jehoshaphat spoke to the priests, if we as leaders preach that way, “you will not sin.” In addition, he exhorted them to lead with courage, which we will need if we are to stand up against injustice and preach against sin!!
The prayer of II Chronicles 20 is one of my favourites! Let’s explore the situation that led to such a cry for help:
Jehoshaphat had been leading successfully for many years, and righteousness was his trademark. However, just because we are righteous, we are not promised a “rose garden”, amen? And one day it happened – disaster struck – a combination of three armed forces combined into one huge army was on its way to crush
For the content of his prayer (by the way, it helps if you read it aloud, standing up and looking up to the heavens), Jehoshaphat praises God, reminds God of his promises, and actually refers to Solomon’s prayer which is recorded in II Chronicles 6 as well as I Kings 8 – the one to which I referred in an earlier entry as the “Hear from Heaven” Prayer. The humble king also recalls past times when God has acted, tells God of the injustice involved here cause the Israelites had been merciful to these peoples at one time and now were being treated badly in return for no reason, and throws himself at God’s mercy by admitting his powerlessness and acknowledging that God is their only hope. We can only pray this kind of prayer when we have reserves of bible knowledge, faith and righteousness (not perfection, of course) - these words just won’t come to your mind otherwise. Further evidence of the king’s faith and humility – he prayed this in front of all the people – men, women and children! There is nothing like drastic circumstances to get us to pray “all or nothing” prayers. He knew that if God didn’t answer, they were all dead. We will rely on God like this when we have that mindset. If, on the other hand, we are content with life on this earth and only think of God occasionally, we will not feel the need for God’s intervention except on the biggest of issues, and then we won’t have the reserves I mentioned earlier.
Well, God loves the impossible, and he revels in answering those kinds of prayers!! He sent a prophet who was a descendant of Asaph the singer and psalm writer to deliver the good news – “Don’t be afraid. The battle is not yours but God’s!” Don’t you love that answer!! And to top it all off, the whole gang decided that they would put their singers at the front of the army to praise and worship God! Wow! Can you imagine finding this in any book on how to successfully win a war? I don’t think so! But by the time they got to the battlefield, all they found were dead bodies. We serve a powerful God, amen??!! They carried away so much plunder that it took three days! And they gathered in a valley to praise God for their victory, renaming it “The Valley of Praise”. Build your life on the rock, pray prayers of faith like Jehoshaphat, and you will be able to rename valleys in your life “The Valley of Praise”.
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ENTRY EIGHTY-FIVE – JUNE 8, 2008
85-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART V (aka "Elisha the Prophet")
- II Kings 1-4, 6, 8; Obadiah
This entry, which is for three days of reading, covers topics such as ELISHA’S MIRACLES and WARNING AGAINST PRIDE.
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Elijah’s time on earth is drawing to a close, but not to worry – he has been practicing the principle of discipling, or mentoring; he has been training his protégé, Elisha. Now Elisha was no wimp – he had been called while plowing the field with oxen! Real men DO get discipled, amen??!! This reading begins with the ungodly king of
The other prophets of the Lord, by this time, have figured out that their “boss” will not be around much longer, and Elisha begs his role model for a double portion of his spirit. I am not sure what that means, but he gets it, and we do notice that there are twice the amount of miracles attributed in writing to Elisha as to Elijah, if that means anything. The first visual proof of the passing of Elijah’s spirit to his trainee is that when Elisha picks up Elijah’s cloak, he uses it to part the water, just as Elijah had done. So far, so good! It is interesting to note that all it says about his demise is “Elijah saw him no more”. This puts Elijah in the same category as Enoch, who walked with God (Gen 5) and then was no more because God took him away. Wow! I am not sure what the significance is for us, but it should at least be a catalyst for us to desire walking closer with our heavenly Father.
Elisha’s next two miraculous interventions are not very glamourous, but demonstrate his connection to God nonetheless. First, he purified unclean water. You can bet that was important to the people in that region! Next, he calls down bears from a mountain to teach some smart-alecky and disrespectful youths to show respect to their elders. We could use Elisha around our high schools today, amen??!! But really, perhaps we must examine if we are teaching our children to show respect to others or to make fun of others. Interesting side point.
Like his mentor, Elisha multiplies food for a widow, and he brought blessings to a childless woman, known as the Shunammite woman, who had been generous with him. Later, he removed food-poison from a pot of deadly soup, and multiplied bread for 100 people. When the Shunammite woman’s son died, Elisha felt so much for him that he was able (with God’s power, of course) to raise the boy from the dead! Wow!! I have heard several sermons about how Gehazi, Elisha’s servant, wasn’t able to help the boy because he didn’t have love for the family but was doing it out of duty, whereas Elisha loved the family and was able to tap into God’s power through that love. He also miraculously made an axe head float, just to help a friend. Elisha was a prophet with heart!!
So many of the kings did well in many areas, but dropped the ball in their parenting. This seems to be the case with Jehoshaphat, who put his son, Jehoram, on the throne to be coregent with him. Not content to have such an honour, the evil Jehoram murdered all of his brothers! Jehoshaphat again paired up with the king of Israel, but this time, God seemed to be behind it, and, despite the presence of bad rulers, still miraculously led the Israelites to victory. There may be several lessons here, but one is certainly that so-called “victory” is not necessarily a sign that God thinks you are a righteous leader!!
After his dad dies, Jehoram marries a daughter of Ahab (DUH!!) but because of God’s promise to never let the lamp of the house of David go out, God didn’t destroy him entirely. He did send him a letter (from the prophet Elijah, who had already died!! Wouldn’t THAT be creepy?? Getting a letter from a dead prophet??) telling Jehoram that he would eventually die of a lingering bowel disease. Now I am not even going to go into that, but let’s just say, I have a lot of experience in this area. (Coffee enemas, etc…enough said!) That would not be a pleasant way to die – “death by bowel meltdown!!” The enemies of
you, you who live in the clefts of the rock and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the Lord. Whoa, baby!! Let’s make sure we repent of our arrogance and self-reliance, amen??!!
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ENTRY EIGHTY-SIX – JUNE 11, 2008
86-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART VI (aka “Elisha’s Impact”) –
II Kings 5-10; II Chronicles 21-22
This entry, which is for two days of reading, covers ELISHA’S SPIRITUAL VISION, NAAMAN’S OBEDIENT FAITH, JEHU’S RADICAL ZEAL and JEZEBEL’S INEVITABLE DOWNFALL.
We noted at the end of the previous entry that God had promised the wicked king Jehoram that he would be struck with a disease of the bowels, which would culminate with his body expelling the bowels, as well as his death. YUK!! Well, in this entry, it happens. Wow. Don’t mess around with God!
The story of Elisha thwarting the plans of the king of
The king of
I love the calm and trusting answer of the mighty man of God, “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Now that is what I call “the peace that passes all understanding” (Phil 4: 7)! What kept Elisha from freaking out? He totally trusted God! He had always trusted God – why stop now? The size of the problem isn’t the issue – the size of our faith is the issue! And what did Elisha pray? For his servant to be more spiritual!! “O Lord, open his eyes so that he may see.” This is what we need to pray, first for ourselves, and then for our friends, spouses, etc, who need to see things from a more spiritual point of view! (See II Corinthians 5:16). Imagine how the servant must have felt when he saw the horses and chariots of
In the chronological bible, the next bit is about Gehazi telling the king of
The next segment is the story of Naaman. This story becomes our story whenever we try to tell God how to do his job. (I want to wash in the CLEAN river!) Lucky for Naaman, he had loving servants who were willing to speak up to him and help him get over his stubborn arrogance. And Naaman was humble enough to listen to them. When he did things God’s way, he was healed - not just halfway but even better than before. Lessons for us? No matter how powerful or rich or smart or whatever we are, we have a disease, called sin, and we will die from it! Unless we go to the true God for healing, we have no chance. Once we know his will, we must obey it. Half measures don’t work; picking and choosing doesn’t work either. It’s all or nothing. Either Jesus is LORD OF ALL or he is not Lord AT ALL. Naaman submitted and came out a new man, filled with gratitude. This is the attitude of all who have been washed and healed from their sin – they want to give back whatever they can. Obedience brings healing because it is a sign of trust and faith, which in turn produces gratitude. Let us be just as obedient, humble and grateful.
The end of Naaman’s story doesn’t turn out too well for Elisha’s servant – he succumbed to temptation and chased after material things in a deceitful way. When we trick and manipulate and deceive to get what we THINK we deserve, God always finds out and the end result is sadness and disaster. In Gehazi’s case, he was struck with leprosy. We do not always get such a physical reminder, but sometimes our sins do catch up with us physically, and when they do, we should be grateful that we are given one more chance to repent before we die! Another insight re this story – Elisha was trained as a prophet while he was the servant of Elijah. He became just like his master. Gehazi was supposed to get trained by his master, Elisha, but he didn’t become just like him. He couldn’t help the Shunammite woman’s son, he couldn’t see the armies of God until Elisha prayed for him although Elisha had seen them when Elijah was about to be taken, and, worst of all, he totally lacked integrity.
Apparently all the good will stored up since the
Interestingly, while the king of
Back in
Meanwhile, Elisha spoke with Hazael, a servant of the king of
Elisha had Jehu anointed king over
The entry ends with Jehu’s most famous quote: “Come and see my zeal for the Lord.” I have to admit, I got tears in my eyes reading this. As a woman of almost 45, it is easy to “be lacking in zeal”, even though we are commanded by Paul in Romans 12 to NEVER be lacking in zeal. Jehu is an upward call to me – not the violence, of course, but the way he obeyed God and did what was a difficult and dirty job with zeal for the Lord. May I grow old with this attitude. Amen.
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ENTRY EIGHTY-SEVEN – JUNE 13, 2008
87-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART VII (aka "The Era of Joash, the Prophecy of Joel, and the Reign of Jeroboam II") –
II Kings 10-14; II Chronicles 22-25; Joel
If you think the last entry read like a bad B-grade movie, this one sounds like a soap opera from hell! We’ll cover topics such as UNSUNG HEROES, BARELY MAKING IT TO HEAVEN, GETTING OUR ZEAL BACK, and GODLY LEADERSHIP. (four days of reading)
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Due to the fact that all of Ahaziah’s princes were killed except for one, the wicked Athaliah, (widow of Jehoram, mother of Ahaziah, and daughter of Jezebel), killed everyone else in line for the throne, including her own children, and installed herself as the queen mother! God kept his promise to David and didn’t let the line die out completely – one of Jehoram’s daughters (probably from a different mother!) kept Amaziah’s infant son, Joash, alive and hid him in the temple. Joash’s loving auntie was named Jehosheba, and she is a hero to all of us who struggle to do what is right in difficult circumstances! What a great example of risking your life for God and his kingdom! Wow! She had married a good man, for one thing – Jehoiada, who was a priest, and she preserved the line of David (and Jesus) with her selfless act. She kept him hidden for six years, which shows it wasn’t just a one-time act, but an unselfish life. Amen for unsung heroes!! (If you are looking for an inspiring character to name you daughter after,
Jehu used deceit to trick the priests of Baal in order to kill them all. I am not sure that God asked him to do that. I know that God wanted him to get rid of idolatry, but there were surely other ways to do it. This is an example of having the attitude of “the ends justify the means”, which is not godly. We must ensure that we don’t do “godly acts” without regard for godliness itself, amen??!! Having said that, God was apparently very happy that Jehu wiped out the worship of Baal, and he promised Jehu that he would have someone on the throne of
Sadly, Jehu wasn’t able to rise above the original sin of Jeroboam, the first king of the northern kingdom, who installed the worship of the golden calves. This is an example of someone who changed, but didn’t change enough to cause a restoration on the scale of Jehoshaphat or Josiah (but his name did start with “J”!).
Meanwhile, in the southern kingdom (
With Jehoiada the priest in charge of
According to Dr Smith, a locust invasion took place in
God then promised blessings in chapter two, as well as the spirit, which would eventually be poured out when the Messiah would come. In chapter three he promised punishment of the enemies, and then my favourite part – from 3:9 is the section to “Rouse the Warriors”. This passage was preached back Douglas Arthur in 1984 to inspire people to go to
Joel ends with the classic, “Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!” and “Then you will know that I, the Lord your God, dwell in
What an encouraging book, IF WE ARE INCLINED TO REPENT!!
Back to the historical narrative – Joash took two wives, had kids, and repaired the temple in
Jehoash replaced his father, Jehoahaz, as king of
Amaziah, his son, became king when he was 25 years old. He was a better king than his dad, although not completely righteous, the way David had been. He wanted to fight against
What about us? In the area of faith, do we ask God to help us, only to call in mercenaries in case God isn’t strong enough? What about the way we view possessions, or money in general? If Jesus would tell us to gouge out our eye if it causes us to sin, surely he would say at least that for a THING or a job or a dream that is causing us to sin?
Amaziah’s decision was not without consequences – the mercenaries rioted and wreaked havoc on their way home. When we make decisions for God and do things his way, we may not be the most popular person with our associates. However, we are aiming for popularity with God, amen??!!
Once again, we see an example of a good king gone bad. Amaziah started out well, but then fell into idolatry after the battle and brought home the fallen gods of
The last event of this entry is that Jehoash died and his son, Jereoboam II, succeeded. Now we could have told him that you don’t name your son after the king that sent the country spiraling into idolatry, but somehow I don’t think he would have listened.
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ENTRY EIGHTY-EIGHT – JUNE 17, 2008
88-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART VIII (aka "The Preaching of Jonah, the Prophecy of Hosea, and the Beginning of the Reign of Uzziah")
II Kings 13:5-6, 14:18ff; II Chronicles 25-26; Jonah; Hosea
This entry, which covers four days of reading, touches on topics such as SAYING NO TO GOD, SEEKING THE REWARDER, NOT THE REWARD, SEEING GOD AS OUR HUSBAND, and NEEDING ONE ANOTHER.
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
According to Dr. Smith (in his Narrated Bible), Jonah’s ministry took place between the reigns of two famous rulers of
Going through the book of Jonah, for an old Christian, is like looking into the mirror. Most of us have heard God’s call some where along the way and turned the other direction, or at least made excuses. “Be loving to that guy?
Ironically, Jonah was “fruitful” in his disobedience! The sailors all believed, and offered sacrifices to Jehovah and made vows to him! Way to go, Jonah! Reminds me of the story that Shawn Wooten told about the guy from Eastern Europe who tried to fall away and when he went to his hometown, his old friends begged him to teach them how to become disciples, and they ended up starting a church!
Jonah’s prayer in chapter two is a prayer of humility and surrender and praise. (Don’t forget our memory verse from the Ascent to Truth class – “Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.”)
Later Jonah did obey, he did preach, the Assyrians did repent, and then, for some reason, Jonah got a bad attitude. Perhaps he just didn’t love the people with whom he was sharing. Or Perhaps he was worried that the prophecy (of their destruction) wouldn’t come through (since they repented) and so he was angry/resentful that he would look bad! “Ha ha – that guys prophecy didn’t come true!” Whatever the reason for Jonah to be upset, the phrase, “It’s not about you” comes to mind! Sometimes we do our acts of righteousness with a hidden agenda – what will WE get out of it? And then, when we don’t get what we expect, we grumble with bitterness in our hearts. Examine your motives – Why do you have Quiet Times? Why are you nice to your spouse? Why are you a charitable giver? SEEK THE REWARDER, NOT THE REWARD! (I got that from Ron Drabot eons ago…) True happiness comes when we are doing things for God because we want to and for his glory!
The book ends with God showing concern for people and teaching us to do the same.
The prophesies of HOSEA are part of a visual aide from God so that Israel (and we today) might view Him as our husband rather than as on old man up in the sky. God wanted
Chapter four contains a scathing rebuke of useless and negligent leadership, which is a good rebuke to be reminded of in this day and age. Chapters 5-9 are basically a lamentation of
Unfortunately,
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ENTRY EIGHTY-NINE – JUNE 21, 2008
89-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART IX (aka "The Prophecies of Amos, the End of Jeroboam II, & Uzziah's Prideful Downfall")
II Kings 14-15; II Chronicles 26; Amos
This entry covering three days of reading is a scorcher (what do you expect when we are reading the minor prophets????) and touches on topics such as MATERIALISM, HYPOCRISY, COMPLACENCY, RAGING PRIDE, and GOD’S JUDGMENT! Whew!
Please note that since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently, as well as the prophetic books written during the corresponding time, and I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
Amos was a “lowly shepherd”, a “manual laborer”, appointed by God as one of the “arenots” who would nullify the “ares”. (See I Corinthians 1:26-29 to figure that one out!) Amos rebuked the different nations around
Probably the most convicting to 21st Century first world Christians is the slam on complacency.
Amos next scolded them for their unethical practices with fellow worshippers – coming to church just to sell something, etc. God promised to send a famine, not of food, but of the word of God, when men would wander around hungry for God but “nowhere to be found, lah.” The only respite would be that a remnant of
Following this whack from God, the wicked and godless priest witnessed a crazy turn of events in Israeli politics – Jeroboam II died and was succeeded by his son, who reigned only six months before being assassinated. The new king reigned only one month and then HE was assassinated! And his assassin was the ultra wicked Menahem, who not only killed the king so that he could take over; he also attacked anyone standing in his way and ripped open pregnant women! No wonder he lasted ten years – there was no one brave enough to try to fight him!
In the nation of
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ENTRY NINETY – JUNE 24, 2008
90-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART X (aka "The Prophecies of Isaiah, and the Death of Uzziah")
II Kings 15; II Chronicles 26-27; Isaiah 1-6
During Uzziah’s reign, Isaiah began to prophesy – a man who was probably the greatest evangelistic prophet – and his ministry lasted for 40 years during the reign of four kings! HE ISSUED NUMEROUS WARNINGS ABOUT THE JUDGMENT DAY, AND HE LOOKED FORWARD TO THE MESSIAH WITH EXCITING AND VISIONARY IMAGERY. His message began with a condemnation of
Please note that, since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently, as well as reading the chapters of Isaiah unconventionally. I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
The vision of God the father is truly alive here, as Isaiah quotes the Lord as saying that he feels like a dad who has raised children who have grown up and rebelled against him. He pleads to his children, “Why should you be beaten anymore?” In other words, why don’t you repent quickly so you don’t have to endure all this suffering? Not all suffering is from God trying to wake us up, but some of it is, and we need to hurry up and learn the lessons we need to learn!! When God looks at our suffering, he sees the sores on our head (psoriasis????) and yearns for us to get better, but knows we won’t until we repent! He basically told them, “Look guys, your country will be completely wiped out, and if I don’t leave a few survivors, you will end up like
The vineyard parable is a beautiful and sad description of how much God loves us and takes care of us, but how he can only do his part – he can’t do our part. Therefore, if we don’t do our part, he has to knock down the vineyard.
Isaiah challenged the Hebrews for specific sins:
RELIGIOUS FORMALISM
Just as Amos had told
SINS OF INJUSTICE
God was in mourning because the people that had once been faithful were now adulterous in their relationship with him. They loved money and pleasure and didn’t care for widows and orphans. God knew that the only way to help them was to PURGE AWAY THE DROSS, and BRING BACK RIGHTEOUS LEADERSHIP.
SIN OF IDOLATRY
The people were enamored with the ways of the eastern people, with pagan practices and superstitions, and God was not happy! Mankind will be humbled for his!
SIN OF PRIDE AND ARROGANCE
Watch out for punishment if you struggle with arrogance. The Lord has a day in store for the proud and lofty – and they will be humbled. Scary!! Makes me shudder!!
SIN OF LEADERS
Sinful leaders have no self-awareness and are so proud in their sins that they parade them and don’t even blush! That is scary! Help those of us who are leaders, O God, as we oversee the churches you have given us to serve, to beware of pride, materialism, complacency and bitterness. Please expose our sins and help us to change so that we don’t lead others astray! Leaders need to lead – that is biblical. BUT leaders cannot have unlimited power because we know that absolute power corrupts absolutely. Dr. James Dobson, the famous Christian centered parenting and family expert, put it well during an interview with Larry King. Dobson volunteered that he, like any man, was tempted in many areas, and King, in a respectful yet incredulous way, asked him how he dealt with temptation. Dobson’s one word answer: “Accountability.” King really didn’t know what to do with that one, so Dobson explained, “I have a group of 10 men who know how to tell me NO!” He continued by saying that he wouldn’t be able to do what he does without people around him willing to tell him the truth. I doubt if I have ever seen Larry King look more uncomfortable.
SIN OF THE WOMEN
Watch out; it’s getting personal here! This is a diatribe against women who were supposed to be spiritual but were instead arrogant, self-righteous, comfort-loving, vain, flirtatious, complacent, selfish, and just plain worldly. The promised punishment – sores on their head! (I have to tell you, when my psoriasis blew up two years ago, I read this verse with fear and trembling and much self-examination!) The visual here isn’t pretty – instead of the fragrance of their perfume, there will be a stench, etc. Yuk!! The humiliation that awaits is quite frightening.
SIN OF GREED
God promised “woe” to those who claimed to be his children but who lived for accumulating possessions and told them that their beautiful houses that they built one after the other instead of serving him would end up rotting.
SIN OF REVELRY
God addressed the pleasure loving culture here, and this definitely applies, just as the above sins have, to churches in the first world.
SIN OF DRUNKENESS
This is similar to the above, but focused especially on those who are living for the pleasure of drink or the numbing (momentary) pleasure of being drunk.
SIN OF RATIONALIZATION
I suppose this is us when we say that we will repent if God sends us a sign, or if we pretend we are not sinning when we are. “Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes!” I don’t know if these passages are scaring you, but they are scaring me! As I get older, I need to ask my friends more and more to be honest with me about how they REALLY think I am doing.
SIN OF INJUSTICE
Since God is a just God, and since he shows so much mercy to others, he really HATES injustice, especially if it is in his name.
Isaiah then described the fury that would be unleashed upon God’s people, because of all of these sins, and because they had rejected the law of the Lord Almighty. The prophet foretold of how God would use foreign armies to destroy his people, in an attempt to appease His wrath. He promised shame and disgrace for the unrepentant. (What can I say? Some of this stuff does not make for “feel-good” reading, but it is in God’s word!)
Of course, when the hard times come, men would finally start to repent. They would throw their idols away (finally) but it may be too late! The people would BEG for someone to lead them, but leaders in that day were nowhere to be found- no one wanted the responsibility!
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are as scarlet, I will wash them white as snow.” God is always willing to take us back when we repent. He wants humility. He wants us to be restored to a relationship with him. God promised the people of
Meanwhile, in the historical narratives, we read of all sorts of intrigue – Tiglath-Pileser, also known as King Pul of Assyria, began to attack
The leprous King of Judah, Uzziah, died and his son, who had been co-regent with him, took over for good. The narrative states that Jotham did what was right in the eyes of the Lord but, unlike his father, didn’t enter the temple! He sure learned his lesson!
Unfortunately, the people continued their corrupt practices! So God sent Isaiah a vision, which is best read out loud (see chapter six). I love this passage so much I almost want to type it out word for word, but I will trust you to read it! It is majestic and beautiful!
Isaiah was a great prophet because he saw God for who He was! In all his majesty and glory and dominion and holiness. He also saw himself for who he was – a sinner! When I have this attitude, when I meet up with the all-powerful, all-knowing and ever-present God with an attitude of grateful humility and poverty of spirit, that is when God can use me! No wonder God inspired Isaiah to say, “Here Am I, Send Me!” (What a mission field Isaiah had – people who would never listen or respond no matter what! Good grief! But Isaiah kept preaching because the message was right, and his God was Lord. At least he was promised a remnant in the end!)
And while Isaiah was preparing for a long and weary spiritual campaign, King Jotham in
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ENTRY NINETY-ONE – JUNE 26, 2008
91-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XI (aka "The Prophecies of Micah")
- Micah
This entry, which covers three days of reading, provides more minor prophet warnings about EMPTY RELIGION and IDOLATRY, and one of my favourite verses on the simple truth about WHAT GOD WANTS FROM HIS PEOPLE!
Dr. Smith begins his narration of Micah by saying that, just as Amos had prophesied to the people of the north (
The next sin Micah rebuked the people for was greed. (Notice the warnings against the same sins come up in all the different prophets. Just goes to show that human nature hasn’t changed much over the years… we all still struggle with the same things and are tempted by the same things. Satan may have become more crafty and subtle, but he is also bold and flagrant in our godless day and age. We MUST take these warnings seriously. As the old saying goes, “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”) The people had fallen into Satan’s trap of loving the world the way John describes it in 1 John 2:15-17; i.e., pride in one’s possessions is loving the world. When we trust in our possessions or get so-called “self-esteem” from what we have, we are setting ourselves up for a big fall, because God loves us too much to let us stay in that state, and he will see us ruined and bankrupt before he lets us go to hell from the sin of greed.
Micah ended his first discourse with a challenge about the way they desired false prophets. He was not only angry at the prophets; he was indignant that the people liked it that way. He used dark humour to make his point: “If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ he would be just the prophet for these people.” As I have said in previous entries, let us never become the kind of church that only likes preachers who say things that make us feel comfortable and good about our Christianity, but let us always desire the truth, even if it makes us squirm occasionally. Without that, we are in danger of becoming like the proverbial frog in the pot – when thrown into boiling water, the frog will automatically jump out. However, when put into water at room temperature and set on the fire, the temperature will increase gradually and the frog will not notice it and eventually you can have hard-boiled frog for dinner! (Yuk!!)
The second discourse starts with a rebuke to the leaders. This is fairly similar to what Isaiah said to the leaders, and for those of us who lead, we will do well to take all of these warnings and rebukes to heart! We must always lead for the benefit of the people, the glory of God, and in the name of Jesus, a true servant. Micah chastised the false prophets for giving whatever message people wanted to hear, as long as they got fed! He prophesied for them that their future looked very dim! The prophet then challenged the rulers of the country of
Micah changed course and began to encourage them, with promises of the Messiah and how he would be a true righteous leader for the people. Similar to Isaiah 2, this also contains the swords into plowshares metaphor, and talks of the peace and unity that will eventually come to God’s house. The good news is that there would be a remnant – all was not lost. Yes, they would be destroyed and taken into exile in
The prophet warned that, even though God used Assyria to discipline
Micah closed out the second discourse promising that paganism would finally be destroyed among his people. Amen!! He delivered a stiff message from God, repeating the words, “I will destroy” over and over to let them know that he would no longer tolerate even an ounce of idolatry!! God hated idolatry then and he hates it now, because he knows that, when we put anything about him, we are not seeing him as he truly is, and he will always make sure that we know he is God!
The third discourse begins with God’s charge against
Now the next paragraph contains one of my top 100 favourite scriptures in the whole bible! The prophet asked rhetorical questions using hyperbole to make his point. “Ok, if God is unhappy with us and the whole of
I have found that when I get unspiritual (which leads to unhappiness), it is because I am not doing one or more of these three basics! Sometimes it is because I have been selfish with a family member or in my leadership or given into some indulgence, perhaps I have had bitterness toward my husband over something or felt superior to someone, or maybe I have been self-reliant and acted like I know everything! Whatever the case may be, any of these kinds of sins can lead me into a spiritual downward spiral. Then there is guilt, lashing at others or indulging in overeating to squash my own guilt, more cover-up, yada yada yada, you get the picture, and it ain’t pretty! If I would only remember, act justly, love mercy and walk humbly! Words to survive by!
For the remainder of chapter six, God told the people of
In the closing chapter of Micah, the prophet told the people of the misery he felt when looking at their sin and its consequences. Micah finished off his lamentation with the verses quoted later by Jesus in Matthew 10 – “a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.”
He then promised the renewal of
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ENTRY NINETY-TWO – JUNE 29, 2008
92-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XII (aka "More Prophecies of Isaiah, including Messianic Prophecies, and the Early Beginnings of Captivity")
II Kings 15-17; I Chronicles 5:23-26; II Chronicles 27, 28:1-21; Isaiah 7-12
As I begin this entry, I am aware that sometimes this history gets a little bit boring (probably because it is so repetitive – bad king gets assassinated by evil son or servant, they are even worse, other kings try to defeat them in battle, God tries to teach them a lesson so they will repent, and the prophets tell them how sinful they are, etc). However, if you can persuade yourself to stay with the story and to “enjoy” the message of Isaiah, you will be rewarded!
Today’s entry covers three days of reading and hits on THE FOLLY OF TRYING TO “LOOK” SPIRITUAL, THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY, A NEW TWIST ON STRANGE OLD TESTAMENT NAMES, and some BEAUTIFUL MESSIANIC PROPHESIES.
If you would like to have a deeper look into Isaiah, my favourite commentary on the prophet is Jim McGuiggan’s book, which is available by internet order from the Bible Mart in
Don’t forget that, since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently, as well as reading the chapters of Isaiah unconventionally. I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
King Pekah of
There is humorous irony here – Ahaz, who is so wicked, quoted a verse when it suited him, trying to look spiritual. I wonder how many times I have tried to use spirituality as an excuse for not doing something that I should do? (Like the Pharisees who called something “Corban” so as to not have to be generous to their parents in Mark 7.) Isaiah rebuked the king’s arrogance and gave him a sign anyway, one that had a dual purpose. Many teachings in the prophets have at least a dual if not a multiple meaning – one for something that would happen in their time frame, and one that is a shadow of something to come in the future. This is especially true of the Messianic prophecies, such as the one here about the virgin who would be with child and who would be called Immanuel.
When I read this passage in December 2006, the next day I saw the newly released movie, “The Nativity Story”. Wow! What a beautiful movie! I felt like I could watch it over and over! And to be able to see it just after reading Isaiah 7 and 9 – I was on cloud nine! What a visual aid of how the prophecies came true, in living colour! It was truly like being taken back into time and shown a sneak “post-view” of a real biblical event. Amazing!
(This is a total “aside”, but just to draw to your attention: assuming that God meant this to be a messianic prophecy about Jesus, verse 15 and 16 imply that there will come a time in Jesus’ life when he will reach an age of accountability; that he will get to a point in his life when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. This is an important verse to help people who are trying to figure out at what age God holds us accountable for our sins – when we reach the age where we know enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. Not the way a child avoids being naughty so as to not get disciplined, but an issue of conscience. When they obey their conscience, they know it and when they disobey their conscience, they are aware of the consequences but they do it anyway. We can all look back and think of the time in our lives when we crossed the line and entered into the “age of accountability”. For every person this is different, but for Jesus, it may have been 12, since that it is the time that he stayed behind “in his ‘Father’s’ house”. It is scary to think that there will be a time in our children’s lives when they will be lost, but they must be lost before they can be saved!)
Back to Isaiah…the prophet then gave Ahaz some good news and some bad news. “The Good News is that the two kings you fear will be brought down by the king of
You have to appreciate these prophets – when we want to illustrate a passage of scripture to our congregation, we show a power point presentation, or a movie, or perhaps get people to do journaling or group exercises/reflection/brainstorming. When the Old Testament prophets wanted to get a point across, they had to do all sorts of bizarre things like lying naked for 40 days or whatever. In Isaiah’s case, he had to give his child a weird name (“Quick-to-the-Plunder-Swift-to-the-Spoil”) in order to highlight to God’s people that they would soon be under siege. Let’s imagine what someone with a message from God might name their child in today’s world: “Showing-Skin-Invites-Satan-In”, “Loving-Gold-Warps-Your-Soul”, “Playing-Church-Makes-You-A-Jerk” or there’s always the well-worn proverb, “Pride-Comes-Before-A-Fall”.
Even in the midst of saddling his offspring with strange names, and recounting the bad news, Isaiah still peppered his warning with “Immanuel/God is with us!” But he concluded chapter eight with another challenge about trusting God – he had already told Ahaz and Co. to stop trusting in human allies for help when they needed to trust God, but now he told them to stop trusting in witchcraft and divination. “To the law and to the testimony!” that should be our cry when people try to figure out the future by reading horoscopes or by consulting some “new age” theory – go read the bible and you will know God’s will! (By the way, Isaiah did NOT say that those things don’t exist – he says not to trust in them cause in the last day they will be thrust into utter darkness!)
Chapter nine brings the beautiful messianic prophecy that Handel uses in “The Messiah”,
“For unto us a child is born…unto us a son is given… and the government will be upon his shoulders…and his name shall be called, ‘Wonderful, Counsellor, Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace’”. I cannot stop singing this tune. If you don’t know it, and if you like classical music even a little bit, you must buy this CD (or legally download it
Isaiah seemed to juxtapose good news with bad – he preached the whole gospel. He told of grace and redemption but also of justice and holiness (kinda like Jesus showing us grace AND truth, and Paul telling Timothy to watch his life AND doctrine). Therefore, it is not surprising that, after the inspiring section we just read, there is another warning of God’s wrath against
Even though God used Assyria to trample
Again, the good news follows the bad – “In that day, the remnant…will truly rely on the Holy One of Israel.” (I’m sure that Hezekiah took comfort in these words when he was being attacked! But you must stay tuned to further entries for that story!!)
Isaiah continued with another messianic prophecy in chapter eleven – this is the one about the stump of Jesse, i.e. that the Saviour would come from the Davidic line. I love the beauty of this passage. Jesus will delight in the fear of the Lord and be clothed with righteousness and faithfulness. The description of the Messiah here is wonderful – please be sure to read it in its entirety. The picture of the church to come is also awe inspiring – I believe that our church had a shadow of the peace and serenity that came with discipleship and submission but that we were off the mark and that now we have a chance to move closer to the right path and we can be a part of something like this in a much better and real way if we will continue to focus on pleasing God and following the bible. And how beautiful to be a part of something that makes the earth “full of the knowledge of the Lord.”
God never gives up on his people. That is evident from all of the talk of “remnant” in Isaiah. We don’t know the mind of the Lord, but we do know He loves His people and never gives up on them, always hoping that they will repent. Thank you, dear Father, for that.
This section of Isaiah ends with Praise for Deliverance. Isaiah trusted God so much that he could praise Him for something that hadn’t yet happened, knowing that God keeps his promises! This is a beautiful passage. Read it and make up a tune and sing it…you’ll enjoy the feeling!
Dr Smith closes out with an update from the historical narrative –
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ENTRY NINETY-THREE – JULY 2, 2008
93-THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XIII (aka "Isaiah Prophecies Against the Nations")
II Kings 16, 18:1-7; II Chronicles 28:22ff; 29:1-2; Isaiah 13-17, 21, 23, 34
This entry, which covers three days of reading, contains lots of scripture and not that much commentary by me. Perhaps I am having a “low insight time”, or perhaps there is not just that much to say about this segment of the great prophet’s writing, which is very straightforward. Although Isaiah knew that it was God’s plan to use the other nations to accomplish His discipline against
Don’t forget that, since I am following F. LaGard Smith's order, I will be jumping back and forth between the Kings and Chronicles texts frequently, as well as reading the chapters of Isaiah unconventionally. I normally won't refer to the specific passage unless it affects the meaning.
The next country that learned about God’s wrath towards them was
There are two separate sections against
A long diatribe against
Dr Smith interjects some historical facts from 2 Kings and and 2 Chronicles.
In the year King Ahaz died, Isaiah prophesied (in chapter 14) against the Philistines. This nation had always been an enemy of
If there are any lessons for us here so far, it is that in our successes, we should not be proud and we should not forget God, and that whoever opposes God’s people will eventually get their comeuppance.
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ENTRY NINETY-FOUR – JULY 5, 2008
94 - THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XIV (aka "The Reforms of Hezekiah"
II Chronicles 29-31
As Dr. Smith puts it, King Hezekiah accomplished “the most far-reaching religious reforms since the days of Jehoshaphat.” This entry, covering only one day of reading, describes how Hezekiah and the Levites cleansed the temple, restored proper worship, and even offered the northern tribes the opportunity to join in with their Passover celebrations. What a great example to study as we look for INSIGHTS ON HOW TO BUILD OUR CHURCHES WITH FRESH ENTHUSIASM FOR CHANGE AND GROWTH.
The reformation began with the young king giving a rousing speech to the priests and Levites. He implored them to remove anything unclean from the sanctuary. There is no telling what was there, since various kings had allowed idolatry to go on in the house of God. (We do know from passages in I Kings and Hosea that even male shrine prostitution existed under several of the kings of
Reading the closing verses of II Chronicles 29, one doesn’t get the feeling that the people were burdened by the practice of consecration; rather, they sang and worshiped with gladness. What joy comes when we worship God with a pure heart, knowing that we have come to Him in the “prescribed way” (verse 25).
The next section is rather sweet – Hezekiah and the leaders of the southern kingdom, Judah, invited their cousins, the people of Israel, the northern kingdom, to put their differences aside and to come celebrate the Passover with them. The two countries had been at war off and on for years, but Hezekiah was willing to put those issues aside for the sake of righteousness. He begged them to come with serious words, “Do not be stiff-necked and hard-hearted the way your ancestors were!” Hezekiah also held out God’s mercy and compassion as motivation for them to repent. As can be imagined, when this message was delivered by couriers to all of
II Chronicles 30: 17-20 contains an important lesson for us in terms of being judgmental
– Hezekiah saw that many in the crowd, especially those who had just arrived from the northern kingdom, had not ceremonially cleansed themselves according to the word of the Lord and were therefore not supposed to partake in the Passover feast. However, they did eat of it because it was for that very purpose that they had come to
I love this chapter because the picture I get in my mind is one of great rejoicing! These people were having fun getting holy and worshiping God! Repenting and following God’s commands wasn’t a burden – in fact, they were enjoying themselves so much they extended the normally one week celebration for another seven days! Hezekiah himself provided out of his own wealth for all the people, and the bible says that there had not been a celebration like this in
Of course, singing was a big part of this corporate worship, and I encourage all of us who enjoy singing (even if the only One who appreciates the quality of our singing is the Almighty himself!) to make it a point to sing to God and get fired up in our worship time! Another aspect that we see here was sacrifice – giving of time, money, and possessions. Again, this didn’t seem to make them sad or gloomy, but full of joy! The king “ordered” that the people support full time staff, so to speak, so that the service at the
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ENTRY NINETY-FIVE – JULY 6, 2008
95 - THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XV (aka “Isaiah Tells of Last Days”)
Isaiah 24-26, 32, 35
The next two entries are filled doom and gloom, and some of you may be thinking, “Hey, don’t be so negative!” However, real life doesn’t always “play by the rules”, many people with whom I am close have gone through very difficult times in the last few years cancer, job loss, family problems, etc. Sometimes we need to learn how to persevere in our faith during the bad times. Also, this saying has certainly been true in my life: “Sometimes things have to get worse before they can get better,” so look out for more discussion on REAPING WHAT WE SOW, GOD’S JUDGMENT WHEN WE CONSTANTLY IGNORE HIS WORD, along with GLIMPSES OF HOW AWESOME AND LOVING GOD IS. The destruction of
So for now, back to gloom and doom….
Chapter 24 hits you in the face like a tidal wave! God will wipe out everything – the partying will stop and the joy will turn to gloom because of the “guilt of rebellion”. God’s glory will shine forth as righteousness finally prevails. Whether this is talking about God using Assyria and
I feel that God has worked that way in our worldwide fellowship of churches, “destroying things” that weren’t righteous and causing much praise to Him by the outcome, which should ultimately be closer to what He intended for His church. (OK, I know that this is a rather simplistic application, but if you want deep, go read a concordance!) In saying that, however, I do not mean to imply that I agree with the sinful hatred and gossip and total distrust of leadership that sprung up in some churches. I believe that this sin also has to be repented of or else we will not go forward as a unified movement. But this is jumping out of the passage, so I will get off my soapbox and back into the scriptures!
There are great lessons for us here – in 25:6f, we learn that the Lord will eventually prepare a great banquet for us on his mountain, just as we know from Jesus’ parable of the Wedding Banquet in Matthew 22. He will swallow up death forever, he will wipe away our tears, and he will remove our disgrace. This same imagery is used in Revelation 7 and 21. Isaiah concluded this inspiring paragraph with the proclamation that when that happens, God’s people will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in him and he saved us! This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
This is such a joyful passage – I read it while listening to some very joyful piano music and I was practically jumping with excitement as the words leapt off the pages! Wow! This is about us! We are the ones who should rejoice and be glad! God has saved us and has given us a figurative wedding banquet in the church! Now, I recognize that not everything in our “banquet” is so perfect. (Haven’t you been to a few wedding dinners where not everything went so well? I got food poisoning at one!) And of course the one in heaven WILL be perfect! But the idea here is gratitude for our salvation from the destruction of the world and from ultimate eternal destruction, as well as thanksgiving for deliverance from sin! We can all say a hearty “Amen” to that!
Isaiah continued with the assurance that whoever trusts in the God who humbles the arrogant will be kept in perfect peace. That is a comforting promise. Our part is to be the kind of faithful followers who yearn for him and walk in His ways. Isaiah also mentioned the fact that God had shown much grace to the wicked but it didn’t cause them to change. I guess that is a message to us about what grace should do if we are righteous – it should cause us to repent!! There are many places where that message appears in the New Testament, one of which is Titus 2:11 – the grace of God teaches us to say “No” to sin! Therefore, one indication (not the only one) of whether or not we understand and appreciate grace is how seriously we take saying No to the world and walking in righteousness.
This is convicting to me personally because I give the impression that I understand grace well since I am usually gracious with others. However, I can think of several fellow church members who are much better at eradicating sin and taking their weaknesses seriously (Edward Yam comes to mind!) and I feel that I need to learn from them about their understanding of grace! As Isaiah wrote, I am “put to shame” by the zeal of some of my brethren when it comes to taking my sin seriously, and I have made a list of personal Resolutions/Goals for the second half of 2008 to back up my words: 1) FOLLOW the healthy eating and exercise plans in the book “YOU”, written by the doctor who does the Discovery Health Show “Second Opinions” (his ideas are quite sensible and complement my psoriasis nutrition needs) 2) STICK TO my psoriasis detox plan without excuse (#1 & 2 are killers – please pray for me! They go against my sinful nature and it is specifically in these two that I need to understand God’s grace better and say NO to ungodly and worldly pleasures!) 3) FINISH the 2nd half of the bible blog (at least I am over halfway through the bible, so I am on track!)
Notice I said “personal resolutions and goals”. In other words, I have other goals related to doing specific things for the church or for HOPE or related to helping specific people with certain things, or but I will keep confidentiality here and not put that on the blog!
Isaiah seemed to want the people to understand that they were doing things for God’s honour and that when good things happened to them, they should see it as being for God’s glory, not their own. This is certainly a good lesson for us as we try to move our ministries or even our lives forward in 2008 – as the psalmist wrote, “Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness” (Psalm 115:1).
(This reminds me of a beautiful and meaningful song I learned while worshiping with the
I love the humility and “poverty of spirit” seen in 26:17-19 – Isaiah acknowledged that when the people of God were in sin, they were useless, and stated plainly that we did not bring salvation to the earth but in God the dead will rise! What a great Old Testament promise of the resurrection!
Dr Smith inserts eight verses from Chapter 32 here, the last of which is quite poetic, “But the noble man makes noble plans, and by noble deeds he stands.” That sounds like a bit of solid rock to build your house on, Amen??!! Guess that can be applied to keeping Resolutions as well! Gulp!
This section closes out in Chapter 35 with more rejoicing of the saved! For all of us feeling overwhelmed at all of the curve balls life is throwing us right now, Isaiah gave us these words of encouragement:
“Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will save you.’”
Type or hand-write these words out and put them on your bathroom mirror or on your keychain so that they can comfort you daily!
Read the rest of this passage aloud. God promises us so much if we will but submit to His ways and walk on His Highway of Holiness! God bless us all on our journey!
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ENTRY NINETY-SIX – JULY 7, 2008
96 - THE DIVIDED KINGDOM - PART XVI (aka “Isaiah Warns Against Relapse” and "The Fall of Israel
II Kings 17, 18:7-8; Isaiah 22, 27-29, 32-33
Isaiah took this opportunity to repeat his message: if
Chapter 28 begins with Isaiah juxtaposing the frailty of
Lynne Green taught this passage years ago with the idea of making sure we as leaders are teaching deeply from the word and not just making up rules and being legalistic. Good stuff then and now.
Isaiah didn’t seem to be just rebuking the leaders – he told the Hebrews that if they wanted so badly to hear babble that God would help them out by sending foreigners to rule over them. Then maybe they would see that they were foolish for being content with such nonsense.
Then Isaiah recorded the words that we have read so often as a quote of Jesus in Matt 15 and Mark 7 – “ These people honour me with their lips but their hearts are from me…” It is a question we should ask ourselves from time to time, “Are we worshiping in vain?”
He then spoke again of judgment. – of terror! Wow! We don’t speak of terror and judgment much these days. However, it is there, in the bible. (For those of us in
The next section of chapter 28 reads like a gardening manual. What on earth do caraway seeds and wheat and barley have to do with
Dr. Smith jumps back to chapter 22, where Isaiah once more tells of God’s sadness in dealing with His people. How interesting that part of His sadness was due to the fact that the people saw the danger that was near, but instead of turning to Him for deliverance (with repentance), they just took care of the immediate physical demands (such as strengthening walls, etc).
Back to chapter 29, for a specific prophesy about the fall of
Back in chapters 32-33, Isaiah told of a time when God’s Spirit would be poured out, and that justice and righteousness would cause quietness and confidence. (This is the feeling we have when we are close to God, and when we are allowing God’s word to work in our lives daily!) The prophet praised God and told of the terror that sinners would feel. However, when
Isaiah then turned from preaching to all of Israel/Judah to giving a message for just one man – Shebna. It seems that the man was using his position as the top non-royal government official as a way of profiting materialistically. This is not unique when it comes to civil servants or to leaders in the corporate world; sadly it also happens with leaders of charities and with religious leaders. We should all take note of the outcome of this kind of sin, and remember that all through the bible there is warning after warning against abusing one’s position, being selfish and materialistic, and benefiting at the cost of others, especially the poor. While such leaders should be expected to be righteous, it is also important to install policy safeguards so that temptation isn’t so tempting! And we must definitely remember that GOD IS ALWAYS WATCHING AND HE LOOKS AT THE HEART AND THE MOTIVE!!!
II Kings 17-18 tells the briefly of the sad and dark days of the fall of
This brings to a close my 16-entry-long section on “The Divided Kingdom”. Now that
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