Often times I do not understand the ways of the Lord. This chapter is one of those times. Why wouldn’t he allow the prophet to eat anything in the land of Israel? Why would He allow another prophet to lie in order to get him to disobey? Why would God send a lion to kill the prophet for disobedience? Yet in contrast I do understand some things that really magnify the glory of the Lord. The Lord tells Jeroboam 200 years before it happens that the altar will be desecrated. Not only that, but He gives the very name of the man who will do it. Wow, such accuracy! Naturally when Jeroboam hears the proclamation of the prophet, he stretches out his hand to have the prophet arrested. God immediately makes his hand wither. God protected his prophet.
This God who longs to protect His children also longs for His children to obey Him. The prophet had direct instructions from the Lord concerning staying in Israel, eating and drinking in Israel. The prophet listened and followed the lie of another prophet, rather than follow the direct instruction given by the Lord. His disobedience cost him his life. Is it to God’s glory to demand obedience of us? Is it to the glory of a parent to demand obedience of his child? Well, yes it is, but how strict should the parent be in dispensing discipline? Remember we are talking about the Eternal God who has the right to give life and take life as He pleases. Our right to life is not something that exists above Him. He made us, owns us, possesses the right to kill us and raise us from the dead. He took the prophet’s life for his disobedience in order to teach us the importance of obedience to a direct command. He will one day raise the prophet from the dead. The prophet’s early death cost him the possibility of further use in God’s kingdom and enjoyment of this life with his family. He now has enjoyment with his family in heaven, but he lost the further possibility of glorifying God on earth. I wonder, how much opportunity to glorify God on earth I have lost because of my listening to the voice of other people who have lied or been misled concerning having heard from the voice of God? Lord, let me be clear in in hearing from you and obeying what I have heard! Let Your glory flow in, through and around me! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
The round structure in the picture is the remains of an altar (probably to Baal) in Megiddo from the time near Ahab. When the prophet spoke the prophesy against Jeroboam’s altar, that altar perhaps looked similar to this one.
Psalm 101
David declares that he will sing of the mercy and justice of the Lord, and then he says nothing directly about them. The rest of the Psalm talks about what he will do to ensure that justice rules in his life and in his land. He addresses some pretty basic levels of justice in this Psalm. First, in his own home he commits to walking with a perfect or blameless heart. What does it mean to walk blameless in my own home and what does that have to do with justice and mercy? If mercy and justice are realities anywhere in my life, it has to begin in my own home. It seems to me that David was a real loser here, more than eight wives, committed adultery which led to murder, failed to discipline his children (Amnon, Tamar and Absalom etc.). Wow, how could a man, who has committed to walking blameless in his house, setting no wicked thing before his eyes, and putting away a perverse heart, blow it so badly? Second he commits to justice and blamelessness in his neighborhood. He vows to not put up with those who slander his neighbor, or who looks on a neighbor with a proud heart. Is that what he was doing when he took his neighbor’s wife? Finally, he commits to executing justice in the land. He wants to destroy the wicked out of the land.
What does any of this have to do with singing of the mercy and justice of the Lord? When did David write all of this anyway? Was it before his fall with Bathsheba? If so, then boy, did he blow it! Was it after his fall with Bathsheba? If so, then wow, what a recommitment and repeated failure. If man whom God calls, “A man after my own heart,” blows it so badly, is there any hope for me? Maybe by singing this, he is a living example of God’s mercy. Yes God’s mercy and justice should motivate us to walk with a blameless or perfect heart, but we are going to blow it. When we do, we need to repent turning to Him to receive His forgiveness.
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus, the Nazarene,Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
And wonder how He could love me, a sinner, condemned, unclean!
Oh, how marvelous, how wonderful, and my song shall ever be,
How marvelous, how wonderful, is my Savior’s love for me.
--Pastor John
Hosea 10
Earlier this week the Bishop of Stockholm proposed that a church in her diocese remove all signs of the cross and put down markings showing the direction to Mecca for the benefit of Muslim worshippers. Incredible! Fortunately the church in question, Seamen’s mission church in Stockholm’s eastern dockyards, didn’t fall under the authority of the Lesbian Bishop of Stockholm. The church director ignored the proposal. Clearly the Bishop of Stockholm has a divided heart.
God tells the nation of Israel that they have a divided heart. They mouth words of devotion to Yahweh but still sacrifice to other gods. Much like the nation of Israel, the Bishop of Stockholm mouths words of devotion to Christ, yet seeks to aid the worship of Allah. What will God do to reign in Israel? God likens Israel and Judah to heifers which are used to being used for farm labor. They preferred to thresh. Threshing took a little less effort by the animal and they could get some of the grain that escaped collection. We might call it a cushy job. God says, “I will make Ephraim pull a plow.” The work is hard, and there is no spare grain. Now the Lord adjusts the metaphor. He tells them, “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the LORD, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you.” It is time to quit being divided. It is time to seek the Lord and the Lord only. It ground that Israel has never plowed since its inception by Jeroboam. The golden calf of Jeroboam had ever been a snare to the nation as it divided their heart. How long will they halt between two opinions? It is time to seek only Him.
What awesome mercy He has displayed to give chance after chance. What pursuing love. Why do we not seek Him and Him alone? His glory demands it! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Colossians 2
I love a good mystery. It's fun to try to figure it out. What is the mystery of Christ? Throughout the Old Testament the holiness, righteousness and justice of God is revealed. The sin of man is laid bare in comparison to God's perfect justice. Over and over it is revealed. The overriding question is, "How is God going to deal justly with man without completely destroying Him?" Next to the justice of God, man's sin cries out for the justice to be executed by the death of all sinners, i.e. all men. The mystery of the O.T. is, "How can God be just and not destroy man?" The O.T. constantly hints and prophesies about Jesus but does not come right out in a western fashion and speak exactly what God would do.
The answer is simple but inexhaustible in its wisdom. God the Son would add the nature of a perfect man to His person. All the fullness of the Godhead would dwell in Him bodily. As perfect God and perfect man, He could be a perfect substitute. As an eternal being, He could bear in a point in time all the sins of all people and be punished with the eternal punishment due their sin. As a man He could die. He could pay the penalty due us.
Now that our penalty has been carried out in Him, we can be nourished and built up and brought back into a relationship with Holy God through Him. All of God's justice is met in Him. All of our needs are met in Him! Mystery solved! The philosophies and wisdoms of the world can't touch this! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
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