“He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: ““O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.”
– 1 Kings 13:2
Hi James and Ellen,
If God – as God the Father, explicitly told you to do something, would you do it exactly in the way that He told you to do it? Would you ever allege that God – as God the Father, overtly told you to do something when in fact, He did not tell you to do anything? Do you think that there would be a serious consequence if you did not do something exactly just as God – as God the Father, explicitly told you to do it? Do you think that there would be a severe consequence if you did something that you said that God – as God the Father, overtly told you to do when He has not told you to do anything? The Kings Books historian includes a sobering occurrence that took place in the city of Bethel. The account of this disconcerting incident is in 1 Kings 13. This true story starts out with a prophet who God – as God the Father, had be a spokesman for Him to the guys and gals who lived in the southern kingdom of Israel – which was the country of Judah, being sent by God – as God the Father, to the worship center that was located in the northern kingdom – which was the country of Israel, in the city of Bethel. The prophet spokesman who God – as God the Father, sent from the southern kingdom of Judah to the northern kingdom of Israel – arrived in the city of Bethal just as Jeroboam – who was the king who was ruling over the guys and gals who lived in the northern kingdom, was about to make an offering. Verse 2 has the prophet – who God – as God the Father, had be a spokesman for him in the southern kingdom – making a pronouncement to the altar on which Jeroboam was getting ready to make his offering, “He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: ““O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’”” The backdrop for this moment – because of the self-centered egos of two guys, was the formation of two kingdoms in the land area that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people group guy and gals, to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . the southern kingdom at times was ruled by God-centered, just-driven kings – with Josiah becoming one of these kings. Josiah would be a king who ruled over the guys and gals who lived in the land of Judah – which became the southern kingdom, 300 years after Jeroboam was the king who ruled over the guys and gals who lived in the land of Israel – which became the northern kingdom. The northern kingdom was ruled by a succession of self-indulgent, sin-focused kings – with Jeroboam being one of these kings.
The prophet who God – as God the Father, had be His spokesman to the guys and gals who were living in the southern kingdom – who He had sent to the northern kingdom, went on to say that the LORD had a declared a sign to affirm as fact what he had just said to the altar. The sign was that the altar would be split apart and that the ashes on the altar would be poured out. What would your reaction be if you are told that the altar which you are just about to make an offering on is going to be split apart and that the altar’s ashes will pour out? Just as Jeroboam stretched out his hand to command his followers to seize the prophet spokesman who God – as God the Father, sent from the country of Judah to the city of Bethal, his hand immediately shriveled. The altar at the same time split apart and the altar’s ashes poured out. When Jeroboam asked the prophet spokesman who God – as God the Father, sent from the country of Judah to the city of Bethal to intercede for him to God – as God the Father, Jeroboam’s withered hand was restored to normal. When Jeroboam asked the prophet spokesman who God – as God the Father, sent from the country of Judah to the city of Bethal to go to his house to eat with him, the prophet told Jeroboam he had been told bey God – as God the Father, that he was not to eat bread or drink water while in the city of Bethel or go back to the southern kingdom on the same road that he had traveled on to the city of Bethel. Living in the city of Bethel was an old prophet. When the sons of the old prophet told their dad what the prophet spokesman from the southern kingdom had said and done, the old prophet went on his donkey to meet the prophet from the southern kingdom. The old prophet used a lie to get the prophet from the southern kingdom to go to his house to eat with him. The old prophet’s blatant lie was that he had God – as God the Father, send an angel to tell him that he was to invite the prophet from the southern kingdom to come to his house to eat with him. While they were eating, God – as God the Father, told the old prophet that because the prophet from the southern kingdom had defied him, that the southern kingdom’s prophet’s body would not be buried in his dad’s tomb. As the prophet was leaving the city of Bethel – riding on a donkey, for his home in the southern kingdom of Judah, he met a lion on the road. The lion killed the prophet.
It does not sit well with your grandpaa that God – as God the Father, would have a lion kill one of His prophet spokesmen because the guy did not obediently heed His clear instructions. Even though your grandpaa did what God asked him to do – which was to pursue a missionary vocation, your grandpaa knows that he does not always comply with what God has or is telling him to do or not do. Your grandpaa knows in his heart that if he is not always faithful in heeding God’s leading, that God will possibly . . . your grandpaa really does not want to have a ‘lion’ killing him.
1 Kings 13 (1020)