As a Freshman in college I had a Sunday School teacher who was a Sociology professor at my college. Sociology departments across the country are notorious for being anti-Christian. He had a vision for creating an upper division course on the family. Of course that fits right in with Sociology, but he also wanted to do it from a Christian perspective and use some Christian resources as a text. Now that would never fly in a secular mindset. The secular mindset would permit all kinds of perspectives but definitely not Christian. So my prof sought to develop the course and hand pick students whom he thought could benefit for such a course and not complain to the administration about any blatantly Christian discussion in class. I had the extreme privilege of being part of that course. One of the things that my prof would say concerning using Christian materials was, “Should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Isaiah 8:19b & 20.
Ahaziah would have fit right into our culture in the respect of seeking other sources for truth. Elijah shows up to intercept the messengers, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?” Why is it that Ahaziah is going to idols to find truth when there is so much to be learned from this God of amazing glory Whom we call Yahweh? Elijah disappears immediately after delivering the message. Obviously this is going to annoy the king, just as it does the secularists of our society. The glory of our God though is that on occasion He chooses to deliver His servant for speaking the truth about His glory.
I find what happens next to be comedic, particularly if you define comedy as something that starts out bad but surprisingly ends up good. The king sends 50 soldiers to arrest one prophet. The soldiers recognize that Elijah is a man of God, and they address him as such. Well if he is a man of God, then why are they arresting him? Elijah again calls fire down from heaven. The fifty and their captain are toast. The king repeats the command. We then have fifty more pieces of toast. A third time Ahaziah sends for fifty more. This captain of fifty is not stupid. He recognizes the awesome power of the glory of the Lord as particularly revealed toward the first two squads of fifty. He begs for mercy. Elijah grants it, for mercy is a specialty of the glory of our Lord. The result is that Elijah is able to safely deliver the message of the Lord directly to the king. The king dies according to the word of the Lord. I wonder, did he perhaps repent before he died?
Whenever I seek answers primarily from any other source, I have become no better than Ahaziah. Does that mean I cannot seek truth from any source other than the Bible, God’s Word? No, but it does mean that any time I come across something that seems to contradict God’s Word; I need to do two things. First I need to be sure that I have properly interpreted the Word of God. A lot of our problems come simply because we have not properly interpreted the Word. Second, once I am sure of the proper interpretation of the Word, I need to re-evaluate the apparent truth that contradicts the Word. Since all real truth is ultimately God’s truth, they will eventually complement each other. I don’t need to run after other God’s to find truth, for He is truth. That is part of His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 111
Five times in this Psalm (NKJV) the word ‘work’ or ‘works’ is used. Out of ten verses, that is every other verse. They are described as great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The result of His work is verity and justice. It is said that His works are studied by all who have pleasure in them. The converse of that is that if I do not study His works then I do not take pleasure in them. Makes sense. I mean; I don’t study something unless I enjoy it, or I have to study it because I am in school or my job requires it. Do I have pleasure in the works of the Lord? Certainly I enjoy His creative works. They never cease to amaze me. Truly they can be called great, honorable, glorious, wonderful and powerful. The way He works with His people is also of great interest. When I reflect upon the way He has worked with me I understand that He is full of grace and compassion.
But you know, unless I actively call them to mind, I tend to focus on negative things and pain. I guess that is why I need to meditate on His glory. It is necessary for my wellbeing. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
AMOS 3
I have a friend who used to joke with me that one of God’s names was Shirley. “After all,” he said, “the Scripture says, ‘Surely the Lord GOD does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.’” Okay, I admit it. It is a bad pun. But it does bring an interesting point in today’s passage. Does God still operate that way? Many would say that the prophet was an Old Testament thing and does not belong to the church. O really? I guess then that they have to reinterpret many major passages of the Scripture such as Acts 11:27; 13:1; 15:32; 21:10; Roman 12:6; 1 Cor. 12-14; Eph 2:20; 4:11; 1Jn. 4:1.
The prophets of the Old Testament were often viewed as troublesome people, kind of thorny. As one king of Israel said of a famous prophet, “Can’t you find someone else? He never has anything good to say about me.” (2 Chronicles 18:7 Chaffin paraphrase.) The Old Testament prophets served in several ways. One major function was to correct the nation when they had strayed from the covenant. If the king and/or people would repent, the prophet would also bring comfort and hope as he extended mercy for the future and for the present,. You can imagine then, if you think you’re right and you are not, along comes the prophet who publicly rebukes you, it is a very thorny situation. You really only have three choices of action: 1) repent & submit, which really is quite embarrassing; 2) ignore him and hope he goes away, which could begin to foment problems resulting in civil unrest; 3) stop him from speaking. Many chose the last option resulting in many prophets being scourged, chained, thrown in prisons, stoned, sawn in half, killed with a sword etc.
How do the prophets serve in the New Testament? Since they are given to the church, would not one of their functions be to correct when the church is going or has gone astray from the New Covenant? As such they might be viewed as troublesome people, kind of thorny, perhaps even abusive. Indeed, if the prophet operates in the flesh, he could become abusive. But if the prophet operates in the Spirit and the church repents, would not the prophet then bring comfort and hope both for the present and the future? But what happens if the message of the prophet is not received? Probably people ignore him and hope he goes away, or they stop him from speaking in some way.
Does the Lord still do nothing, unless He reveals it to His servants the prophets? Why don’t we hear more from the prophets? Maybe it is because we do not listen. Maybe it is because we silence their voices. Maybe it is because we cannot distinguish between the voice of the prophet and false prophet. Maybe they are afraid to speak. I think it is still the glory of the Lord to reveal His will to the church. Since there is a gift of prophecy, one of the routes through which He reveals His will is through His prophets. It is to His glory for us to listen to the prophets. Since there are false prophets, it is to His glory to discern between the true and false prophets. It is a tough task to correct each ‘maybe’ and to discern truth and error. But if it is His glory to provide us the grace, the divine enablement to do each one, is it not worth our trust to seek Him for that enablement? When He provides that grace, will it not bring Him greater glory? Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
2 THESSALONIANS 3
The Lord is faithful. Yes, you've heard it a million times before. The Lord is faithful. But, what does that mean? Do you ever feel like your life lacks a sure foundation? Indeed if your foundation is not Jesus, then you do lack a sure foundation. But I am assuming that those who read this do have Jesus as your foundation. What does it mean that He is faithful? For one thing, it means that He will establish you in Himself. He will plant you such that the evil one cannot wipe you away. 2005 had been a year for hurricanes. We saw via TV & internet the devastation that strong hurricanes bring. They literally wipe houses and buildings off of their foundations. The evil one seeks to wipe us off of our foundations. But the Lord is faithful. Sometimes he stops the evil one's advance, while He makes us stronger. Other times He allows the evil one to advance to demonstrate to all how strong He is in us. But when all is said and done, we remain standing. Why? Because we remain faithful? No, it is because He is faithful. In the midst of the enemy's onslaught, He is the God of peace and He calms us in and through the onslaught. When we look to Him, His inner peace is always available in turmoil. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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