1 Kings 13
I'm sure that this chapter of Scripture is a strange one for all of you, and you're sure that it qualifies for inclusion in a book titled, Parts of the Bible No One Can Figure Out. I've had my own question about it for some years now. I came upon it again during my daily Bible reading this past week. As I began reading the chapter I remembered the story and its curious twists that left me wondering all the other times I read it. This time I grabbed a couple of commentaries to see if they would be of any help. They weren't, but this time a couple of things were a bit clearer than before. One thing led to another, and I found that the Spirit opened up this part of His Word to me so that I could see something helpful here. We're going to work our way through the text, starting with what we know and, with the blessing of the Spirit, gain some incite into what it means to follow Jesus.
Let me give you a bit of background first. After David ruled the twelve tribes of Israel, Solomon took over. Solomon had a son, Rehoboam, who was the next king. It was during his reign that the twelve tribes split in two. Ten tribes formed the northern kingdom and continued with the name 'Israel'. The two other tribes formed the southern kingdom and took the name 'Judah'. The first to rule the ten northern tribes was the king in our text, Jeroboam, and he was evil. One of the things that he did was to establish a new place of worship. Up to this point, Jerusalem was the only place for the people to offer their sacrifices. Jerusalem, however, was in the southern kingdom and King Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom, didn't want his subjects going there to worship. So, he set up an altar in Bethel for the people to use for sacrifice. And that's why the man of God from Judah shows up in Jeroboam's kingdom. This is where our text begins.
Erecting this altar was wrong and the man of God from Judah said so. 'And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord.' As we read, the king reacts, is cursed – remember what happened to his hand – and then cured when the man of God prayed for him. King Jeroboam then speaks to the man of God. 'Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.' The king invites him to dinner. What the man from Judah says next is important. 'If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, "You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came."' This command from God is not just some arbitrary thing. This gets us to what might be called a theology of food. Sharing a meal is a sign of friendship. That's why covenant-making was associated with a meal. And that's also why betrayal after sharing food was especially heinous. The man of God had just condemned what Jeroboam was doing. It would make no sense for him to then go and share a meal with him. The king was a man who was being cursed by God. How could there be friendship? So, the man from Judah refuses and starts home. That's the end of Act One.
Act Two begins with the old prophet who hears the latest news of this strange man from Judah. He searches him out, finds him and invites him to dinner. The man of God responds to the old prophet in the same way that he did to the king. 'No! God told me to go straight home.' Now, it's here that things get interesting. The old prophet, for some unknown reason, lies. 'Oh, I didn't tell you about the angel. An angel spoke to me said that it's okay, now, to share a meal.' So, the man from Judah goes with the old prophet and enjoys a meal. It's at that point that the old prophet gets a true word from God. And that message boils down to this. 'You disobeyed the word of the Lord! There will be consequences for your disobedience and you won't like them.' On the way home, the man from Judah is struck down and killed by a lion. But the lion does not maul him or the donkey he was riding, as you would expect. He just sits there with the dead man and the donkey. This was to show that this was from God. End of Act Two.
Now there are a lots of questions here. Let's look at some. You might not have considered this first one, but it's important. Answering it correctly is critical. What does this have to do with us? This is intriguing, but so what? Let me offer a verse from Romans. '...whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction...' Paul is writing about the importance of the Old Testament. Our text in 1 Kings exists to teach us how to follow Jesus well. There are principles of discipleship here that we need to get. Understanding the text is important and not just for curiosity's sake. This passage speaks directly to us.
Second question: Even though some things in this text are very unclear, some things aren't. So, what do we know about what happened? We know that the man from Judah disobeyed God. We know that because there was a word from God that said that. We also know that he was held accountable for his disobedience. The lion killed him at God's command. These things are clear.
Now, our answers to the first and second questions lead to this question. Could what happened to this man happen to us? When we disobey, could we be held accountable for that disobedience, even to the point of death? Now, there's a good question. We're no longer just taking a look at an interesting passage. Now, we're dealing with issues of life and death, our life and death. So, let's consider this man from Judah. Is there some difference between him and us that would justify our saying that what happened to him couldn't happen to us? One common suggestion is that he was in the Old Testament age, and we're in the New Testament age. But does that really make a difference when it comes to our question? He was a believer just as we are. Here, I would remind you of Ananias and Sapphira who were New Testament people. They lied to the Spirit and, at Peter's word, they both dropped dead. They were held accountable for their disobedience and faced the consequences. Then there's Paul's comment to the Corinthian believers about the Lord's Supper. 'For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.' So, back to our question. Could what happened to the man from Judah happen to us? I don't see why not. '... whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction...' Now we have one lesson from our text: careful obedience is not just important. It's crucial. And one reason it's crucial is that there can be consequences to our disobedience.
At this point someone might ask, 'But did the man from Judah end up in heaven? Were his sins still forgiven or did he forfeit that also?' I honestly think that, at this point, that's the wrong question because what's really being asked is this. 'If this happened to me, would I end up in heaven?' Imagine if I say, 'Well, of course you would still end up in heaven'. The next thought is, 'Well, then, these consequences aren't so bad'. And that would lead to the thought that obedience isn't all that crucial. Do you see what's going on with this way of thinking? 'The only thing that matters is my making it to heaven. If that's secure, regardless what I do, then obedience to God is optional.' But we all need to bear in mind that Jesus didn't come to reserve a comfy place in heaven for us. Jesus came to restore our relationship with the Father. And at the heart of that relationship is the acknowledgement that He is the Creator and we are His creatures who are here to do whatever it is that He wants. Our obedience really is important. Imagining heaven in a way that blunts the importance of obedience ruins everything. So, we need to stay with the thought that disobedience has real consequences.
There's still more of the text that we need to sort out. So, another question. How could the man from Judah be held accountable if the old prophet lied to him? The old prophet said that there was a new command that wiped out the earlier one. Isn't it reasonable to expect the man from Judah to believe the old prophet? We need to hold onto what we know. And we know that God did hold him accountable. That must mean that the old prophet's lie was no excuse. The man of Judah was supposed to have been able to see through the lie. Is that realistic? Yes, it is. And this brings us to an important theme in the Scriptures. From Hebrews: 'But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.' Here, maturity is related to discernment, being able to distinguish good from evil. The Father expected the man from Judah to see what was going on. The Father expected the man from Judah to have discerned that what the old prophet said was not to be trusted. The Father expected a measure of discernment from him, and there were consequences for that lack. He should have known better. What makes that significant is that the same is true when it comes to us. The Father holds us accountable for what we really should know. And we should all find that very sobering.
Now, there is one more thing that you know and, in light of what we've seen in our text, it is surprising. You know that you're not dead. You haven't been struck down by a lion or by anything else. You haven't faced the consequences of your disobedience as the man from Judah did. And none of this is because you've done a better job at obedience than he. So, how do you explain that? He was struck down for his disobedience and you haven't been. Why?This gets us to the real point of the sermon. Let's face it. At any moment, the Father could call us on the carpet and decide that we need to face some serious consequences for our failure to obey Him. Has your conscience never told you, 'You deserve a serious smack for what you just did'? But nothing happens. Why? Why didn't you met some catastrophe this past week, some just consequence sent by God? The popular answer, in its full honesty, goes something like this. 'I'm forgiven of everything so it doesn't matter what I do. There will never be any consequences for me. And that's because I'm a Christian.' Is that true?
Listen to a familiar passage. 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.' This bit of the Psalm makes a bold point. The only reason that we are not struck down for our many sins is that our God is merciful and gracious to us. How many times have we repented of some sin only to do again – and again. And yet, He does, in fact, forgive. This is the legacy of the Gospel, and we should revel in it. But the Psalm makes a second point that is too often missed. '..the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.' He does not show compassion to those who are cavalier about their sin or those who don't even consider the possibility of consequences. He shows compassion to those who know that He could, with complete justice, send a lion to strike them down. It is those who fear God who understand His compassion best. The puzzling question for those who fear God is not, 'Will He send me consequences?' but rather, 'Why hasn't He?'
So – and this is important – we need a balance. There have been some Christians who have cowered before God, almost afraid to breathe lest they do something wrong and the temperamental God cast them into the depths of hell. These saints need to see that because of Jesus the furious Judge of heaven has become their tender Father. But there are other Christians who forget that the God of heaven has expectations and that there can be consequences for failing to meet those expectations. These need to see that the Father is someone to fear. [You may want to review my sermon on the fear of God.] So, there needs to be a balance in our lives. We need to grasp, appreciate and enjoy the grace of God that wipes away our every sin. Because of what Jesus has done our consciences are clear, our hearts rejoice, we are full of hope. Grace for wicked sinners like us! How amazing! But at the same time, we need to grasp, appreciate and enjoy the fear of God that reminds us that obedience to the Father is not just a nice extra. Obedience is crucial. It is through our careful obedience that Jesus will be served well. It is our obedience that will make Him look good. And so, fearing God and the consequences that He might send our way is an aid to motivate our foolish hearts, hearts that are way too comfortable with our sins. The fear of God gets us to live more faithfully for Jesus.
So, we need to experience both of these: the grace of God and the fear of God. And that's how we'll change the world.
I'm sure that this chapter of Scripture is a strange one for all of you, and you're sure that it qualifies for inclusion in a book titled, Parts of the Bible No One Can Figure Out. I've had my own question about it for some years now. I came upon it again during my daily Bible reading this past week. As I began reading the chapter I remembered the story and its curious twists that left me wondering all the other times I read it. This time I grabbed a couple of commentaries to see if they would be of any help. They weren't, but this time a couple of things were a bit clearer than before. One thing led to another, and I found that the Spirit opened up this part of His Word to me so that I could see something helpful here. We're going to work our way through the text, starting with what we know and, with the blessing of the Spirit, gain some incite into what it means to follow Jesus.
Let me give you a bit of background first. After David ruled the twelve tribes of Israel, Solomon took over. Solomon had a son, Rehoboam, who was the next king. It was during his reign that the twelve tribes split in two. Ten tribes formed the northern kingdom and continued with the name 'Israel'. The two other tribes formed the southern kingdom and took the name 'Judah'. The first to rule the ten northern tribes was the king in our text, Jeroboam, and he was evil. One of the things that he did was to establish a new place of worship. Up to this point, Jerusalem was the only place for the people to offer their sacrifices. Jerusalem, however, was in the southern kingdom and King Jeroboam, the king of the northern kingdom, didn't want his subjects going there to worship. So, he set up an altar in Bethel for the people to use for sacrifice. And that's why the man of God from Judah shows up in Jeroboam's kingdom. This is where our text begins.
Erecting this altar was wrong and the man of God from Judah said so. 'And the man cried against the altar by the word of the Lord.' As we read, the king reacts, is cursed – remember what happened to his hand – and then cured when the man of God prayed for him. King Jeroboam then speaks to the man of God. 'Come home with me, and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.' The king invites him to dinner. What the man from Judah says next is important. 'If you give me half your house, I will not go in with you. And I will not eat bread or drink water in this place, for so was it commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, "You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came."' This command from God is not just some arbitrary thing. This gets us to what might be called a theology of food. Sharing a meal is a sign of friendship. That's why covenant-making was associated with a meal. And that's also why betrayal after sharing food was especially heinous. The man of God had just condemned what Jeroboam was doing. It would make no sense for him to then go and share a meal with him. The king was a man who was being cursed by God. How could there be friendship? So, the man from Judah refuses and starts home. That's the end of Act One.
Act Two begins with the old prophet who hears the latest news of this strange man from Judah. He searches him out, finds him and invites him to dinner. The man of God responds to the old prophet in the same way that he did to the king. 'No! God told me to go straight home.' Now, it's here that things get interesting. The old prophet, for some unknown reason, lies. 'Oh, I didn't tell you about the angel. An angel spoke to me said that it's okay, now, to share a meal.' So, the man from Judah goes with the old prophet and enjoys a meal. It's at that point that the old prophet gets a true word from God. And that message boils down to this. 'You disobeyed the word of the Lord! There will be consequences for your disobedience and you won't like them.' On the way home, the man from Judah is struck down and killed by a lion. But the lion does not maul him or the donkey he was riding, as you would expect. He just sits there with the dead man and the donkey. This was to show that this was from God. End of Act Two.
Now there are a lots of questions here. Let's look at some. You might not have considered this first one, but it's important. Answering it correctly is critical. What does this have to do with us? This is intriguing, but so what? Let me offer a verse from Romans. '...whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction...' Paul is writing about the importance of the Old Testament. Our text in 1 Kings exists to teach us how to follow Jesus well. There are principles of discipleship here that we need to get. Understanding the text is important and not just for curiosity's sake. This passage speaks directly to us.
Second question: Even though some things in this text are very unclear, some things aren't. So, what do we know about what happened? We know that the man from Judah disobeyed God. We know that because there was a word from God that said that. We also know that he was held accountable for his disobedience. The lion killed him at God's command. These things are clear.
Now, our answers to the first and second questions lead to this question. Could what happened to this man happen to us? When we disobey, could we be held accountable for that disobedience, even to the point of death? Now, there's a good question. We're no longer just taking a look at an interesting passage. Now, we're dealing with issues of life and death, our life and death. So, let's consider this man from Judah. Is there some difference between him and us that would justify our saying that what happened to him couldn't happen to us? One common suggestion is that he was in the Old Testament age, and we're in the New Testament age. But does that really make a difference when it comes to our question? He was a believer just as we are. Here, I would remind you of Ananias and Sapphira who were New Testament people. They lied to the Spirit and, at Peter's word, they both dropped dead. They were held accountable for their disobedience and faced the consequences. Then there's Paul's comment to the Corinthian believers about the Lord's Supper. 'For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died.' So, back to our question. Could what happened to the man from Judah happen to us? I don't see why not. '... whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction...' Now we have one lesson from our text: careful obedience is not just important. It's crucial. And one reason it's crucial is that there can be consequences to our disobedience.
At this point someone might ask, 'But did the man from Judah end up in heaven? Were his sins still forgiven or did he forfeit that also?' I honestly think that, at this point, that's the wrong question because what's really being asked is this. 'If this happened to me, would I end up in heaven?' Imagine if I say, 'Well, of course you would still end up in heaven'. The next thought is, 'Well, then, these consequences aren't so bad'. And that would lead to the thought that obedience isn't all that crucial. Do you see what's going on with this way of thinking? 'The only thing that matters is my making it to heaven. If that's secure, regardless what I do, then obedience to God is optional.' But we all need to bear in mind that Jesus didn't come to reserve a comfy place in heaven for us. Jesus came to restore our relationship with the Father. And at the heart of that relationship is the acknowledgement that He is the Creator and we are His creatures who are here to do whatever it is that He wants. Our obedience really is important. Imagining heaven in a way that blunts the importance of obedience ruins everything. So, we need to stay with the thought that disobedience has real consequences.
There's still more of the text that we need to sort out. So, another question. How could the man from Judah be held accountable if the old prophet lied to him? The old prophet said that there was a new command that wiped out the earlier one. Isn't it reasonable to expect the man from Judah to believe the old prophet? We need to hold onto what we know. And we know that God did hold him accountable. That must mean that the old prophet's lie was no excuse. The man of Judah was supposed to have been able to see through the lie. Is that realistic? Yes, it is. And this brings us to an important theme in the Scriptures. From Hebrews: 'But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.' Here, maturity is related to discernment, being able to distinguish good from evil. The Father expected the man from Judah to see what was going on. The Father expected the man from Judah to have discerned that what the old prophet said was not to be trusted. The Father expected a measure of discernment from him, and there were consequences for that lack. He should have known better. What makes that significant is that the same is true when it comes to us. The Father holds us accountable for what we really should know. And we should all find that very sobering.
Now, there is one more thing that you know and, in light of what we've seen in our text, it is surprising. You know that you're not dead. You haven't been struck down by a lion or by anything else. You haven't faced the consequences of your disobedience as the man from Judah did. And none of this is because you've done a better job at obedience than he. So, how do you explain that? He was struck down for his disobedience and you haven't been. Why?This gets us to the real point of the sermon. Let's face it. At any moment, the Father could call us on the carpet and decide that we need to face some serious consequences for our failure to obey Him. Has your conscience never told you, 'You deserve a serious smack for what you just did'? But nothing happens. Why? Why didn't you met some catastrophe this past week, some just consequence sent by God? The popular answer, in its full honesty, goes something like this. 'I'm forgiven of everything so it doesn't matter what I do. There will never be any consequences for me. And that's because I'm a Christian.' Is that true?
Listen to a familiar passage. 'The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.' This bit of the Psalm makes a bold point. The only reason that we are not struck down for our many sins is that our God is merciful and gracious to us. How many times have we repented of some sin only to do again – and again. And yet, He does, in fact, forgive. This is the legacy of the Gospel, and we should revel in it. But the Psalm makes a second point that is too often missed. '..the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.' He does not show compassion to those who are cavalier about their sin or those who don't even consider the possibility of consequences. He shows compassion to those who know that He could, with complete justice, send a lion to strike them down. It is those who fear God who understand His compassion best. The puzzling question for those who fear God is not, 'Will He send me consequences?' but rather, 'Why hasn't He?'
So – and this is important – we need a balance. There have been some Christians who have cowered before God, almost afraid to breathe lest they do something wrong and the temperamental God cast them into the depths of hell. These saints need to see that because of Jesus the furious Judge of heaven has become their tender Father. But there are other Christians who forget that the God of heaven has expectations and that there can be consequences for failing to meet those expectations. These need to see that the Father is someone to fear. [You may want to review my sermon on the fear of God.] So, there needs to be a balance in our lives. We need to grasp, appreciate and enjoy the grace of God that wipes away our every sin. Because of what Jesus has done our consciences are clear, our hearts rejoice, we are full of hope. Grace for wicked sinners like us! How amazing! But at the same time, we need to grasp, appreciate and enjoy the fear of God that reminds us that obedience to the Father is not just a nice extra. Obedience is crucial. It is through our careful obedience that Jesus will be served well. It is our obedience that will make Him look good. And so, fearing God and the consequences that He might send our way is an aid to motivate our foolish hearts, hearts that are way too comfortable with our sins. The fear of God gets us to live more faithfully for Jesus.
So, we need to experience both of these: the grace of God and the fear of God. And that's how we'll change the world.
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