Luke 10:25-37 - Good Neighbours

This is another of the well-known parables, the Good Samaritan.

The parable arose out of an expert in the law (the Old Testament Law, that is) questioning Jesus. We all have questions for God and out of many differing motives. Occasionally it is because we genuinely want to know something. At other times it can be out of anger or frustration. Sometimes it is to accuse or trap, as were most of the questions from the Pharisees and teachers of the law. This question may have had a genuine intent, or may have been trying to test Jesus. 

As was normal, Jesus replied by asking the questioner a question. Questions are very important, and questioning ourselves is important as it can often reveal the truth about ourselves. The man replies with a good solid Biblical answer. Indeed Jesus used the same answer Himself elsewhere (Mark 12:28-31). 

Jesus commends the answer, but then adds "do these things and you will live". Knowing the facts is not enough, we need to do them as well (James 1:22). 

The man "wanted to justify himself". Justify here could be seen in the sense of wanting to prove that he was qualified to inherit eternal life.  Or it could be taken in the sense that he wanted to show that he was superior to Jesus, so he couldn't allow the exchange to finish with Jesus "on top".

So Jesus then tells the famous parable. Apart from the injured man, the key actors are the priest, the Levite and the Samaritan and it is the Samaritan who gets things right. Samaritans were a despised people by the Jews, looked down on both ethnically and spiritually. 

So this tale has multiple purposes. It shows what true love means. It shows what God really values, which is faith put into practice, not mere outward form. And it shows that God has little regard for many of the distinctions we draw.

Jesus closes by asking the man who was a neighbour to the injured man. The questioner has no choice in his answer. The key part is Jesus' final words here, "go and do likewise".

Luke 10:1-24 - Sending out

Earlier we had the sending out of the twelve (Luke 9:1-9). Now we have a second sending out, this time of seventy two. This reminds us that there were many more followers of Jesus other than the twelve. 

They were to go out "ahead of Jesus". In a way the same principle applies today. It is only the Holy Spirit who can convict someone and bring them to salvation, but He sends us out to bear witness and this prepares the way. God involves men in His work. 

We often feel that evangelism is a waste of time and get discouraged, but Jesus here says that the "harvest is plentiful". We are also sent out like lambs among wolves. We are being sent out into a hostile environment. We are to be dedicated to the task, not allowing for any distractions.

If they found someone who welcomed them then they were to accept that welcome and stay at that house. It is so easy to spend a great deal of time and effort on trying to get the best. 

The disciples' visit to a town could bring judgement or blessing. They were to heal the sick and proclaim the kingdom. But if a town did not welcome them they were to shake the dust off their feet. Judgement would come upon that town.

The disciples were sent out as Jesus' representatives. If the people listened to them they would listen to Jesus, if they rejected them they would reject Jesus. There is an identification between ourselves and Jesus.

The disciples returned full of joy,amazed that it worked! Even the demons submitted to them. Jesus replies that He has seen Satan fall and has given the disciples all power over the enemy. However, we need to be careful where out joy lies, what we delight in. We should delight in the fact that we are children of God.

Jesus then prayed to the Father, rejoicing in what was happening. And God's blessing pays no heed to human standards. He has revealed the truth to little children. 

Jesus then makes one of His claims to His uniqueness and divinity. The Son reveals the Father (ie who God really is) to people, He is the only one who can do that. Jesus is also the fulfilment of the Old Testament prophecies.

Luke 9:51-62 - No distractions

Jesus was going to return to heaven, ie to return to His Father. The road there was via the cross, but there was still work to be done and some of that had to be done in Jerusalem. Jesus was resolute in His determination to go there. There has long been hostility between Samaria and Jerusalem, going back hundreds of years, and the people of the Samaritan village did not welcome the disciples. James and John were keen to call down fire on the village. Perhaps they thought they would gain favour with Jesus for this suggestion, but if so they were mistaken for Jesus rebuked them. We are on a love mission not a hate mission.

Along the way they met a more favourable reception from a man who wanted to follow Jesus. Jesus warns the man of the cost. There are no guarantees of the exact course of our lives when we follow Jesus. The world hates Jesus and His disciples, so we need to be prepared for the cost. There is no record of whether or not the man still chose to follow Him.

Conversely, Jesus calls another man to follow Him, but this man makes excuses, or at least tries to delay the decision. "Let me bury my father" probably means wait until my father is dead. Jesus tells him there is a more important task at hand, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom.

Then there is a third man and he wants to say good bye to his family. Jesus warns him that we need to be absolutely determined in our course of action.

So what are we to learn from all this? When we make a decision to do something for Jesus we need to be fully aware of the cost. When Jesus calls us to do something we need to say yes, allowing no hindrances or distractions to get in the way.

Luke 9:44-50 - Wrong attiutudes

Jesus again tells His disciples of His death, telling them that he would be delivered into the hands of men. However, the disciples did not understand what Jesus meant. In fact it was hidden from them. This raises the question of why then did Jesus tell them? The reason is that they would understand later. We don't always understand what Jesus is doing in our lives at the time. 

Instead of asking Jesus to explain what He meant they had an argument amongst themselves over who was the greatest. This just demonstrates the complete lack of understanding that they had. We too can be guilty of this sort of thinking, or lack of thinking. If we are getting engrossed in petty arguments it may well be a sign that we are missing something really important. Jesus showed them that instead of worrying about who was the "greatest" they should focus on welcoming those that others consider unimportant. The kingdom of God is very different from any other kingdom.

Next Jesus tells them not to be exclusive. John says they someone else driving out demons in Jesus name and they tried to stop him because "he was not one of us". This raises the issue of how this person had gained the power to drive out demons. God will sometimes do things outside and beyond the particular part of His plan that He has revealed to us. We are terribly prone to this mistake. Whatever branch of church we are in, it is not IT, it is part of IT.

Luke 9:37-43 - Down to earth

Having been up the mountain of transfiguration and having seen great things the realities of life quickly hit the disciples. A man's son keeps having seizures, he asked the remaining disciples to heal the boy but they got nowhere. 

Now some will object to the Bible ascribing the boy's condition to an evil spirit, saying it is simply a case of epilepsy or some such illness. We need to take a balanced view here. It is wrong to ascribe all conditions to evil spirits, and it is equally wrong to deny that evil spirits exist. The Bible is clear, more to the point Jesus is clear, that evil spirits and demons are responsible for some conditions and part of the job of disciples is to drive them out. Now driving out demons does not need to be a dramatic event, and in most cases is not. There is misuse and abuse of "exorcism", but the remedy is right use. 

Note Jesus' reaction. He is despairing that they need Him to be there in person. The implication is that the disciples should have been able to deal with the matter, and that Jesus wants us to be able to deal with such things.

The demon threw the boy into a fit. Jesus rebuked the spirit and it was gone. Elsewhere Jesus says that this sort needs prayer and fasting. Some problems are very deep rooted and much prayer is needed.

Luke 9:28-36 - Reassurance

Peter, John and James were closer to Jesus than the other apostles. Jesus took them with Him up a mountain, probably Mount Hermon. Why did He do this? We need to remember what He has just told them about how messiahship works, and that it went against all there preconceived ideas. There would be an awful lot going on in their minds. This was to reassure them that He was indeed the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament.

Jesus was praying and then was transfigured into a brilliant light. Moses and Elijah also appeared with Him, and they too were in "glorious splendour". So there is assurance that Jesus is the Messiah, is covered in glory, and also that His followers will be covered in glory. Now it is so vital that we hold both parts of this. The path on earth is the way of the cross, it applied to Jesus, it also applies to us. But the final destination is glory.

Elijah and Moses spoke about Jesus departure, ie about His death. More reassurance, namely that it was always God's plan that Jesus died, as indeed was foretold in the Scriptures. 

Peter makes one of his frequent inopportune comments. 

Finally a cloud appeared and God Himself spoke, confirming that Jesus was indeed His Son and that they should listen to Him.

Luke 9:21-27 - What the kingdom really means

The disciples having realised that Jesus is the Messiah, He immediately reveals the true nature of the Messiahship. For although they realised Jesus was the Messiah, they did not understand how He would exercise that role. So Jesus tells them plainly that the "Son of Man" must suffer many things and be rejected by the Jewish religious establishment, even to the point of being killed. However, He would then be raised to life on the third day. Other places in the gospels make it clear that the disciples did not understand a word of this.

Moreover, this rather desolate prediction was relevant to His disciples also. For they too must deny themselves and take up their cross daily. If we truly want to live we need to be ready to die. So much of the stress that we can encounter is associated with concern about what happens to ourselves. We want to avoid suffering at all costs. However, it is only when we are prepared to suffer that we can be all that God wants us to be and achieve all that He wants us to achieve. 

In focusing so much on saving our own lives we only end up losing them. Conversely, when we lose our lives for Christ's sake we will find them. 

We need to stand up for Jesus, to identify with Him even when all of society is against Christ. The cost of doing otherwise is enormous and terrible. Moreover, one day Jesus will return with glory, and on that day it is those who deny Christ who will look foolish.

While the disciples did not appreciate what Jesus was on about now, they would eventually come to do so.

Luke 9:18-20 - If you want to know the truth, don't ask the people

This is one of the key incidents in the gospels, Peter's declaration of who Jesus is. Notice when it happens. Peter, along with the other disciples, had not covered themselves in glory over the feeding of the 5000, and immediately after this Peter would be rebuked for speaking on Satan's behalf (though Luke doesn't record this). 

Jesus was praying in private. Wouldn't it be good to know more about what Jesus actually prayed? Anyway, His disciples were with Him. He asked them who the people thought He was. To this there were all sorts of answers, John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the other prophets. All of them wrong. In our day we lay great store on asking what people think, politicians are always going on about listening to people. The truth is "the people" know precious little, and much of what we think we do know is rubbish. At the time of writing (30 Aug 13) the Archbishop of Canterbury has recently given a speech on homosexuality a lot of which seems to be based on the fact that society's views have changed. Well so what? This does not mean they are right to change, it does not mean that God's "views" have changed. The gospel is based on revelation, as we are about to see here.

Jesus then asks the disciples who He is and Peter declares that He is the Messiah. In Mark it is made clear that this truth was revealed to Peter by the Father. Luke's emphasis here is on the fact that Jesus is the Messiah and that the disciples recognised who He was.

Luke 9:10-17 - 5000 for tea

Now we come to one the most famous miracles, the feeding of the five thousand. Jesus had sent the disciples out to preach and heal and they had now returned to Jesus to report what they had done. Jesus wanted to have time alone with them. However, this does not happen as the crowds follow Jesus.

As an aside this raises an interesting (at least if you think about things like this, perhaps more sensible people never do!) question. Jesus is God, Jesus wanted to do something, namely spend time alone with the disciples, but this didn't happen because of the crowds. So how does this square with the sovereignty of God? God wanted to do something, people caused Him to do something different. Some Calvinist thinking seems to take as absolutely fundamental the sovereignty of God and men cannot force God to do something different. There are several instances in Scripture where  God's actions certainly seem to be influenced by men, so I think we should be wary of any oversimplistic concept of the sovereignty of God.

Jesus welcomed the crowds, taught them about the kingdom and healed the sick.

Late in the afternoon the disciples came to Jesus pointing out the practical matter that the crowds would need food and should be sent away. Why did they do this? Probably for a variety of reasons. One would be practical concern for the practicalities, one could be genuine concern for the people, and another could be that they were tired after their mission and wanted some time alone with Jesus.

Jesus, however, saw things differently and told them to feed the people. This seemed a totally impractical proposition to the disciples. We need to realise that God sees things differently than we do and knows far more than we do. Jesus gave them instructions and the famous miracle occurred. 

Luke 9:1-9 - To Proclaim and Heal

Jesus gave His disciples power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases. It is God's nature to give authority to others. He did this right at the beginning in Genesis when He told Adam and Eve to have dominion over the earth. 

They were sent out to proclaim the kingdom and to heal the sick. Now we need to get hold of this. Jesus gives His disciples power and authority, and sends them out to proclaim and heal. Jesus gives us authority too. There is a proclamation of the truth and a demonstration of the truth. Not just one or the other. We are also to proclaim as well as just teach and preach. The kingdom is a kingdom of power. 

They were also to have trust in God for provision. Now this does not mean that we never make any natural or sensible provision, but ultimately we are dependent upon God for everything, and we can be confident in His provision. This is an antidote to the failing of the seed that was choked by the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth. 

So the disciples went out proclaiming the good news and healing the sick.

All this put Herod in fear for he had had John the Baptist beheaded and was now hearing all sorts of strange rumours. He wanted to know who this Jesus was. He was realising that there was something going on that was far more powerful than he was.

Luke 8:40-56 - Steps of faith

Jesus now heals Jairus' daughter and the woman with the issue of blood. Jairus came and fell at Jesus' feet, pleading with Him to heal his daughter who was dying. 

There were large crowds around Jesus and a woman who had been subject to bleeding for about twelve years touched Him. As well as making her weak the condition would also render her ceremonially unclean, so she would not have a good life. 

As soon as she touched  Jesus' cloak she was healed. In the gospels we see all sorts of ways in which Jesus healed people. Sometime He touched them, sometimes, as here, they touched Him, sometimes He just said a word. There is no uniform pattern, the only common ingredients are the compassion of Jesus and the faith of people. 

Jesus asked who touched Him, and Peter was amazed that Jesus was asking this, given the vast crowds around Him. Jesus had felt the power flow from Him.  The woman then came and fell at His feet.  Jesus called her daughter. Why did He do this? It was to reassure her. The Old Testament often calls Jerusalem or Israel a daughter. Jesus is assuring her that she is a daughter of God. Moreover, He commends her faith. Our faith does matter. When she exercised her faith she probably wasn't at all sure what the outcome would be, even if it would "work", but she took the steps. Our faith may often seem uncertain, but it is the steps of faith, no matter how uncertain, that are the most significant steps that we take. 

Then someone came to announce that Jairus' daughter was dead. Jesus reassures Jairus and urges him to keep believing. 

Jesus went to the house and put a stop to all the wailing. Jesus took the child by the hand and told her to get up. Life returned and she did so.

Luke 8:26-39 - Set free from many demons

We now come to the encounter with the demon-possessed man. The man lived among the tombs and went about naked. He was someone whom no one would want to have anything to do with. As well as being ritually unclean because of his various activities, he is definitely someone you hope not to meet. 

When he saw Jesus he fell at his feet, pleading not to be tortured. He also recognised who Jesus was. It seems that Jesus had commanded the evil spirit to come out of the man. The demon had given the man supernatural strength and even chains could not restrain him.

Jesus asks the demon its name. So it seems that it was the demon who was controlling the man and speaking through him, rather than the man himself. We see here a demonstration of James' words that even the demons recognise who Jesus is and tremble with fear (James 2:19). The spirit then declares his name to be Legion because there were lots of him  

The demons knew their ultimate destiny was to be thrown into the abyss, and so pleaded to be sent into the pigs. Since pork was an unclean food the pigs probably shouldn't have been there. Jesus acquiesced to their request, but it didn't do any good as the pigs proceeded to throw themselves into the sea.

There are two interesting and differing outcomes to this. The man himself is restored. He was now dressed and in his right mind. He went around telling people what Jesus had done for him. The townsfolk pleaded with Jesus to go away. Maybe they felt condemned because of their keeping of pigs (in contravention of the Jewish law).

Luke 8:19-26 - Family and natural storms

Jesus' family came to see Jesus. Mark (Mark 3:20,21) tells us that they thought Jesus was "out of His mind". This is an entirely natural reaction. We know that Jesus is God, we know what He did, why He came, who He is. His family, apart from Mary having some understanding because of the unusual conception and events around the birth, did not. So they would worry about Him, and maybe also be offended by Him, and probably concerned about the consequences for themselves. It is likely that by this time Joseph had died as there is no mention of him.

Jesus replied that his "mother and brothers" are those who God's word and put it into practice. Jesus is emphasising the greatness of who He is and the significance of His mission.

Next we get the calming of the storm incident. The boat was in serious trouble, but Jesus remained sleeping. They woke Jesus up and He rebuked the storm, which immediately settled down. He then questioned the disciples for there lack of faith. See the implication that Jesus wants us to have more faith, and to have faith for things like this and for healings to happen. Now there are many "healers" who are charlatans, but we must not let this close our minds to the fact that Jesus quite clearly wanted His disciples (and that includes us) to have faith for miracles. 

Luke 8:16-18 - Lampstands

We have just seen that the word is to be spread everywhere, including where it seems to bear no fruit. Now Jesus tells another parable showing that the word is to be put on display for all to see. There are many excuses for not sharing the kingdom. Some we make up ourselves, many society and circumstances imposes on us. We must ignore them all. The kingdom is to be proclaimed. The gospel is the truth, and while there is a fog of confusion today, a time will come when the the truth is plain to all.

So we need to be careful how we listen. Now remember that Jesus is addressing a large crowd (v4). When people hear the gospel they need to be careful how they listen. You can think up a million and one excuses not to believe, you can focus on all sorts of problems or objections. If we use the faith that we do have we will receive even more. But if we dwell on the doubt, if we look for reasons to object, to not believe, then we will lose what understanding we ever had.

Luke 8:1-15 - Sowing lessons

This is the second tour of Galilee and Jesus went about "proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God". The good news is to be proclaimed, taught and demonstrated. And we are proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, the rule of God. Paul says in Colossians we have been brought into the kingdom of the Son (Col 1:13). We are in a completely different world when we come to Christ, everything is different.

Jesus was accompanied by His disciples and several women. Some of these had been cured of evil spirits and diseases, and they also helped to support Jesus financially. Jesus then told the famous parable of the sower to a large crowd.

Seed was sown in all sorts of places, some got absolutely nowhere, some started off well but then withered away, some was choked, but other produced a great harvest. 

Some use this as saying that we should sow into good soil, but this is not the purpose of this parable. Jesus is explaining how things work with the word of God. The word is spread all over the place. In many places it will produce no lasting fruit, but when it does bear fruit it will yield a great harvest.

Note also that Jesus speaks of those with a "noble and good heart". The condition of our heart does matter.

Losing Control

A recent sermon on mine preached at Gate Church International, Dundee can be found here.

Luke 7:36-50 - Knowing our sin, knowing we are forgiven

The emphasis on Jesus meeting those considered of little value, or worse, by society is continued. Jesus went to the house of a Pharisee for dinner. By the way, this demonstrates the wide variety of Jesus' contacts. He most certainly does not restrict Himself to the respectable people, but nor does He limit Himself to the poor. 

A woman who "lived a sinful life" came and stood at His feet weeping, and then poured perfume on his feet. The details of her "sinful life" are not make clear, but it is probable that her sins were of a sexual nature. 

Simon, the Pharisee, was shocked, thinking that Jesus should be turning this woman away. Jesus knew what the Pharisee was thinking and proceeds to tell him a parable.

The reason the woman made such a fuss of Jesus was that she knew her sinfulness and that Jesus had forgiven her her sin. Simon, on the other hand, thought he was OK. being a Pharisee he probably thought that he was doing quite well and that God should be pleased with him.

So we see the attitude that we need to have, and it is twofold. We need to be aware of our sin, and we need to know Jesus' forgiveness. So often the church majors on one or the other, and that is a travesty. If we focus on sin without forgiveness we just bind people up in guilt. If we talk about acceptance without acknowledgement of sin we are ignoring the truth. We need both.

Jesus pronounces forgiveness of sins to the woman. He only had the right to do this if He was indeed God.

Luke 7:18-35 - John the Baptist

John the Baptist was in prison by this point (Matt 11:2), but his disciples were able to keep in touch with him and informed him of all that Jesus was doing. John wanted reassurance that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. Why did he want this? Why the doubts? Partly it is down to the fact that he had been in prison for some time and this was no doubt deeply discouraging. Secondly, perhaps things were not going in the way John expected. Perhaps he shared some of the common misconceptions of what the Messiah would do. 

So John's disciples went to Jesus, who had been carrying out many healings of various sorts. The miracles demonstrated that Jesus was the Messiah. As did the fact that the good news was preached to the poor, and this is an element that Luke emphasises. A key sign of authentic revival is that people rejected by society will be reached, for true revival is instigated and directed by God, and He has very different ideas than we have.

"Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me". Jesus will surprise and shock all of us. We need to ensure that when this happen we let Jesus change our thinking, rather than us taking offence.

Jesus then speaks to the crowds to ensure John is respected and to correct their thinking. John was a great prophet, but he was pointing to one much greater than he, and to something much greater. Coming into the kingdom of God is the most important thing. 

Luke then notes that the tax collectors and other who had been baptised acknowledged Jesus, but the religious leaders did not. Repentance is the key.

However, there were many who rejected Jesus. They complained that John was too austere, and that Jesus was not austere enough. People will always find something to object to. We need to beware of this trend within ourselves. True wisdom is demonstrated by the fruit that it produces.

Luke 7:11-17 - The widow of Nain

Next Jesus raises someone from the dead. This time it is the only son of a widow, so again Luke is focusing on people whom society would not regard as particularly important. The son was being carried out on a bier, probably in an open coffin. Jesus' heart went out to the woman. Our God is a God of compassion. Jesus also knew what He was going to do, so He tells her not to cry. Now this would have seemed very strange, even heartless advice from Jesus. Sometimes God says things to us that make no sense, but that is because we do not know what He is going to do next, but He does. We can always trust the Lord, always be confident in His deep love for us.

Jesus went up to the bier and touched it. This would risk breaking the Jewish Law, for to touch a dead person made you unclean (Num 19:16). Jesus commanded the man to get up and he did so.

Not surprisingly this filled the people with awe. They knew that someone special was here, and also that He had come to help His people. The news about Jesus spread further afield.

Luke 7:1-10 - The Centurion's Faith

Back to Luke for a while now to continue from where we left off.

This incident involves the healing of a centurion's servant. There are a number of features to note right at the start. First the centurion is concerned for his servant's well being. We can assume that his motives were good because the rest of the section clearly indicates that he was a good man. Then note that the centurion sent some Jewish elders to Jesus. He is showing a respect for Jesus here. Now the Romans were the occupying power and could presumably treat the Jews like dirt if they so wished, but our centurion knows that Jesus is Jewish and shows respect, knowing that Jews were discouraged from mixing with Gentiles. The Jews spoke well of the centurion and encouraged Jesus to look kindly upon him. Now it is obviously true that the gospel is about forgiveness for sinners and not one of us is worthy by our own merits. However, this does not mean that the Bible places no value on virtue. Here Luke records the fact that the Centurion was a good man, as he does with Cornelius in Acts 9. 

While Jesus was on his way the Centurion sent friends to Jesus saying that He did not need to come to the house, but just to say the word. There is an enormous gulf between people who think God should behave on their terms, and those who humble themselves before the Lord. He knows that the word is sufficient, for he too is a man under authority. This is one reason why how we act towards people and to human authority is so important, for our attitudes to men will influence our attitude to God (and vice versa). 

Jesus was amazed and commends the faith of the man. We should note that Jesus was amazed. Sometimes in emphasising the sovereignty of God we can think that things just happen automatically, almost like fate. God's sovereignty is real, but so are the decisions that we make.

And the servant was healed.

1 Kings 22 - No escaping the word

Micaiah seems to have had a mischievous streak about him. Ahab is his usual confused self. First he reminds Micaiah that all the other prophets are predicting victory, implying that Micaiah had better do the same. Micaiah says he must tell only the Lord's truth, then precedes to give tongue in cheek prophecy of victory. Ahab knows this is just made up. He must surely have known that the tame prophets were just trying to please Ahab.

Micaiah then gives a true prophesy, telling that the battle would be a disaster. He also says that God is trying to entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead, and is doing so by sending a deceiving spirit. 

Ahab, having received the truth and being told what was happening, ignores the warning and has Micaiah imprisoned. However, he seems to think he get round the word of God by disguising himself. He even seems to be trying to get Jehosaphat to be a sort of decoy target. Why Jehosaphat agreed to this is a mystery. However, Aram was not deceived, and a random arrow hit Ahab. He eventually died and all Israel returned to their homes.

There is not way round the word of God.

Jehosaphat was generally a good king, following in the line of Asa. Still he did not remove the high places. 

Ahaziah succeeded Ahab and learnt nothing from his father's sins. He lasted only two years.

1 Kings 22:1-12 - False prophets can lead to large losses

For a time there was peace between Israel and Aram. There had been an alliance of various nations against Assyria. This had been successful for a time, but now tension was about to split the alliance. Aram had returned the city of Ramoth-Gilead. This had been part of Transjordan under the Law of Moses (Deut 4:43), and had been promised to Israel in the treaty made by Ahab (1 Kings 20:34).

Jehosaphat f Judea came to visit Israel and Ahab invited Jehosaphat to join him in a war against Aram, but Jehosaphat advised him to seek the Lord first.

So Ahab brought in 400 tame prophets and they all agreed that he should attack Ramoth Gilead. However, a prophet's job is not to tell someone what they want to hear but what the Lord actually has to say. Jehosaphat realised that these prophets were not worth tuppence and urges Ahab to inquire of a real prophet. Ahab reveals his true nature by saying there was one, Micaiah, but he didn't like him, precisely because he prophesied the truth. Seemingly he did not realise that the reason he got "bad prophecies" was because he was bad! If he changed his ways then the word would change as well. This is a very human trait. Society does not like what the word of God says, so it rebukes the word instead of changing its actions.

Micaiah was called. Zedekiah was the leader of the useless prophets and made a dramatic show of the false prophecies. This sort of behaviour still goes on today with charlatans of various sorts adding drama to their supposed words. The true word of God can be given simply.

1 Kings 21 - Naboth's Vineyard

This chapter further reveals the depravity of Ahab, the corrupting influence of Jezebel and the judgement of God. It really is amazing if you think about it that Israel's holy book devotes so much time to outlining in graphic detail the sins of Israel.

Ahab had a palace near Jezreel and wanted to buy Naboth's vineyard. Naboth refused because he had a far better idea of the importance of heritage than did Ahab. Because of the Law the king was unable to simply take the vineyard. Moreover, Naboth knew that the Law taught the importance of land belonging to families (Lev 25:23). Ahab accepted this, but was very sullen, acting like a spoilt child. Jezebel promised to do something about it. We see here the importance of heart attitudes. Ahab had outwardly accepted Naboth's refusal, but in his heart he was resentful, so when Jezebel offered to do something about it he went along with this.

So Jezebel set up a scam to falsely accuse Naboth. What was worse was that the accusation was that Naboth had cursed God, when in fact he was the one upholding the Law. So Naboth was stoned to death, and Ahab went to take possession of the land.

However, they had forgotten about God in all this. When men go about their corrupt ways they think that there is no God, they are wrong and there will be a price to pay. God speaks to Elijah and tells him to go and pronounce judgement on Ahab. See that God always uses men to execute His purposes. Jezebel was also judged and terrible death foretold.

Ahab is seen as the worst king Israel ever had. However, Ahab did repent, at least to a fashion, so God postpones the judgement. God is merciful and it is always worth repenting.

1 Kings 20 - Victory that brings defeat

This is a very strange chapter. Ahab is a thoroughly bad king, one of the worst, yet now we see God seeming to act favourably towards him.   However, Ahab manages to make things turn out badly.

The king of Aram sent demands for silver, gold and wives from Ahab, and Ahab agreed. He asked for the best of Ahab's wives, pity Ahab didn't send him Jezebel! Ben-Hadad then makes further demands and this time Ahab refuses and firmly resists him.

Meanwhile a prophet comes to Ahab prophesying victory, and gives specific instructions on how it will be achieved. Ahab followed the instructions and duly won the victory. This was also partly due to the complacent attitude of the enemy.

The prophet warned Ahab to prepare for a counter-attack in the spring. Aram mistakenly thought that the Israelite "gods were gods of the hills". Pagan gods were thought to have specific spheres of influence. So they decided to fight the battle on the plain. This was a big mistake. The Lord is Lord of All and is about to demonstrate to Aram that He has no limitations. 

Israel won again, and Ben-Hadad decides it is time to sue for peace. Ahab is lenient with him.

This was another of Ahab's mistakes. The victory was not Ahab's victory, but God's victory, and it was part of God's judgement upon Aram. Ahab should not have let Ben-Hadad go. 

We live for God, not for ourselves.

1 Kings 19:9-21 - Gentle Whispers

Elijah arrived at Horeb and went into a cave. This was probably for his protection, rather than a reflection of his mood! God appears to him and asks "what are you doing here?" Now why did God ask that? For God knows everything anyway, and God had sent the angel to tell Elijah to come to Horeb. The reason is to get Elijah to reveal his thoughts to God. God wants us to be open with Him, then we can receive from Him.

Elijah gives God a tale of woe, fearing for his life. God then tells Elijah to go out and stand on the mountain. We then get the famous wind and earthquake, with the statements that God was not in the wind, nor the earthquake, nor the fire. Then came a gentle whisper, and God was in the whisper.

So what is the message of all this? We need to be careful where we get our security from. God had done great things with Elijah, but he must not put his faith in these things. All sorts of events may happen, but there is always stillness in God. God may do many things through our lives, at the same time many things will happen to us. 

Elijah again gives God his sad tale. God then sends Elijah back and gives him several tasks to do, appointing kings, even over nations outside Israel. Also Elijah was wrong that all had turned against God, there were still seven thousand who had not bowed down to Baal. 

Elijah went to find Elisha, his successor. He throws his cloak on Elisha, signifying the passing on of the mantle. Elisha tries to follow Elijah, but Elijah seems to reject him. Why is this? Elisha goes back to his farm and burns the ploughing equipment and kills the oxen. Then he follows Elijah. In order to be the prophet he needed to be he needed to be 100% committed.

1 Kings 19:1-8 - Victory to fear

Elijah's actions did not go unchallenged. Ahab told Jezebel and she issued death threats against Elijah. This struck fear into the heart of Elijah. Now this is amazing from one perspective, for Elijah has been living a life of miracles. He has raised the dead, seen fire fall from heaven, defeat all the false prophets and caused the weather! Yet now he is in great fear, so much so that it sends him into a deep depression. But this is a very human reaction. We must never build our lives on outward circumstances, they are a fickle foundation. The circumstances can change so easily, but more than this, they actually provide no foundation at all. Just as here, something else can come in, Jezebel's threat in this case, that totally undermines our life. God is the only sure foundation.

Why was he so afraid of this woman? She had power in the kingdom and had already had many other prophets of God killed. But why did Elijah not think that God could save him from her, especially after all He had already done for Elijah? Our hearts can be very fickle indeed. We often think that if only we saw great miracles we would have no problems believing. This is simply not true. There is also the possibility that behind Jezebel there was demonic power. Now Charismatics are beloved of speaking of the Jezebel spirit and there is mention of this elsewhere in the Bible, but not here. So we will leave things hanging for the time being. In a sense this is more realistic, for things often happen in life for which there is no obvious explanation.

Elijah ran out into the desert and wanted to die. An angel of the Lord appeared to Elijah. Now if an angel appeared to us we might expect it to say something significant to us, a great message from God. What did this angel say? "Get up and eat", and it had to do this twice. Sometimes God is much more practical than we are. Elijah did as he was told and went on to Horeb. Horeb is probably another name for Mount Sinai.

1 Kings 18:16-46 - Battle of Mount Carmel

We now come to the most famous incident in Elijah's life, the battle on Mount Carmel. 

Obadiah went to see Ahab, despite his misgivings, and so Ahab went to meet Elijah. Ahab called Elijah that "troubler of Israel", when in fact the truth of the matter was that it was Ahab and his idol worship that was the source of the trouble. This is what Elijah tells Ahab. Disobedience to God is the source of a nation's problems, not the prophet who tells them to repent. 

Elijah now summons the prophets of the false gods to a confrontation on Mount Carmel, there were over eight hundred of these. This is an indication of how deep rooted the baal and asherah worship had become in the nation.

Ahab agreed. When they had all gathered Elijah laid down the challenge. This was to see who was really God. The reason for worshipping the Lord is not philosophical, but the simple fact that He is Lord, He is the creator of all things and the sustainer of all things. The challenge was to the people, they had to decide who they would follow. But the people remained silent. However, Elijah was not leaving them to make the decision without evidence. Faith is not, despite the claims of atheists, believing something without, or even despite, evidence.

The challenge would be to see who would send down fire on a sacrifice, the baals or God. The battle was, in superficial terms, uneven. For there were over eight hundred false prophets, though verse 22 seems to indicate it was only baals prophets who were being challenged at this point. That still made it 450-1. The people agreed to this.

So the prophets of baal tried to get their "god" to send down fire, without any success. Elijah taunted the prophets. They tried all the harder, but to no effect. 

Elijah then restored the Lord's altar. Then he poured water over the sacrifice, just to make it clear beyond all doubt that only the Lord could send fire. Fire duly fell. The  people then had to acknowledge that the Lord was God. Elijah commanded that the prophets of ball be seized and slaughtered. 

Elijah then gives the message to Ahab that rain is about to come. This is a statement of faith. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel and told his servant to look for a cloud. Eventually a tiny cloud appeared. Elijah then knew that rain was about to come.

1 Kings 18:1-16 - Elijah and Obadiah

The Lord now instructs Elijah to go to Ahab and say that the Lord will send rain, this was probably after about three years of drought.
Menawhile Obadiah had been summoned by Ahab. Obadiah was working secretly to help save as many of God' prophets as possible from Jezebel who was seeking to kill of the prophets. The enemy does not want people who will speak the word of God. The same is true today which is why we witness our society trying to silence the preaching of God's word. So we see that God has people who work in outright opposition to the enemy, as Elijah did, and people who work in a more covert fashion. We should never imagine that God has only one manner of working.
The drought was getting very serious and Ahab was having to hunt harder and harder for food to keep the animals alive.
Obadiah meets Elijah on his way back and is not too pleased. He knows that Elijah is considered an enemy of Israel and can see only trouble. This is made even worse by Elijah's instruction to Obadiah to go and tell Ahab that Elijah is back. So Elijah goes himself to the king.

1 Kings 17 - Elijah

In the midst of all this disobedience God is still at work, and now we will read of His servant Elijah. No matter how rebellious a nation becomes God does not leave Himself without a witness.
Elijah goes to Ahab and tells him there will be no rain for several years until he says so. Why does God do this? It is to demonstrate to Ahab that God is Lord, not any of these baals who he is worshipping. Moreover, baal was a supposed god of fertility. The futility of this would be clearly demonstrated.
Meantime, Elijah would also be absent from the land, so there would be no natural nor heavenly rain (ie the word of the Lord) in the land. Elijah would be taken care of, would be provided for by rain from a brook, and ravens would provide food. 
Eventually the brook dried up. So we see that God's provision for Elijah was partly natural (the brook) and partly supernatural (the ravens). When it dried up the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath where He had directed a widow to provide for him. God speaks to all sorts of people and uses all sorts of people to fulfil His purposes.
When Elijah reaches the widow it seems that things have not be taken care of, for she has no food to give him. In fact she thinks she and her son are about to die. So we see more of God's provision here. God is going to save the woman as well, and do it supernaturally. We want to have everything worked out well beforehand, but that is not always God's way. Elijah pronounced the word that the resources would not run out, and this word was true.
Then the woman's son died and she was distressed and angry with Elijah. Elijah then brought her son back to life.

1 Kings 16 - Divsion and Violence

Jehu brought word of God's judgement to Baasha. He actually continued this ministry for about fifty years. When men become leaders we tend to become proud and arrogant, thinking we are there on merit and by our own efforts, and use the position to achieve our own ends. Jehu's word reminds the king that he is there purely because God has raised him to that position, Jesus reminded Pilate of the same truth (John 19:11), and that we are there to serve God's purposes not our own. As with many other kings, reference is made to the other things that the king did and achieved being recorded in the annals. Our lasting legacy is determined by our moral uprightness. Since Baasha did evil he left a legacy of judgement on the nation, not of blessing. 

His son succeeded him, but Elah was not better, getting drunk while the army was fighting. So Zimri killed him and assumed the kingship, killing all of Baaasha's family. However, Zimri did not last long, reigning for only a very short time.

For a time Israel was split in two, but Omri led the stronger faction and became king. "Sinned more than ..." The sin in the kings and in the nation increased. Then came Ahab, one of the worst kings they ever had (which is saying something). He married Jezebel and this led to baal worship spreading throughout the land, and Ahab himself worshipped baal. He rebuilt Jericho and suffered the judgement declared by Joshua (Josh 6:26).

We see a land of constant intrigue, division and violence, with no stability at all. This is the result of rebellion against God. We see this pattern repeated in many nations today. As rebellion against God increases a land becomes more and more ungovernable.

1 Kings 15 - More bad kings, plus one good one

Abijah was the next king of Judah (both Rehoboam and Jeroboam had sons called Abijah). Abijah did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Sadly it is a common refrain in 1 and 2 Kings that such and such a king did evil and was not like David, and the nation invariably followed the same road. The overriding message of Kings is the sinfulness of the people and the consequences of this sin. A point I have made several times before is, "if this book was purely man-made do you think Israel would really have written this book about herself?" For this book clearly shows, justifiably, Israel in a bad light.

The Bible makes reference to David's faithfulness, and also points out his sin against Uriah. 

There was continual war between Judah and Israel. The results are not mentioned here, largely because they are immaterial. The sin within each nation and the disunity between them were the fruit of their behaviour.

We then get a welcome break, Asa one of the better kings. He also reigned for a more substantial period, forty one years. Asa got rid of the temple prostitutes and cleared many of the idols away. He also deposed his grandmother from her position as queen mother. However, Asa did not get rid of the high places, though Kings speaks well of Asa's heart.

There was was war between Judah and Israel and it seems that Israel was the stronger. So Asa used silver and gold from the temple to get help from Damascus. So Israel was thwarted, and Asa built up some of the towns of Judah.

Meanwhile Nadab became king of Israel and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. There was strife within the kingdom and much bloodshed and Baasha succeeded Nadab. However, he just committed the same sins.

1 Kings 14 - Two bad kings

Jereboam evidently felt as though he was persona non-grata amongst the prophets, so when his son became ill and he needed help he sent his wife to the prophet Ahijah, and in disguise. He clearly knew that Ahijah was reliable, having earlier prophesied what would happen to Solomon's kingdom. 

However, this subterfuge did not work as God spoke to the prophet what was happening. Men cannot defeat God! Ahijah then gave Jereboam's wife the word of God. This condemned him for his disobedience in not following the way of David. So disaster would come upon him and the nation. Moreover, the boy would die. The boy was the only one who would be buried in Israel, and the only one in whom the Lord found anything good. Now this seems rather strange to us that the boy's "reward" for this is to die.

The key lesson from all this is that ruler's need to know that they are there to fulfil God's commands, not follow their own way.

Meanwhile things were no better in Judah. Rehoboam set up all sorts of idols. It seems to be inferred that this is partly a result of Rehoboam being the son of an Ammonite woman. Egypy attacked Judah and took off the gold shields, along with other goods. So Rehoboam was reduced to using bronze shields, but then seemed to carry on as before. Rehoboam died and was succeeded by his son Abijah.