Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Yesterday I left you in a remarkable and shocking moment in history. We were at the ancient city of Bethel, about 10 miles north of Jerusalem, in the year 930bc. This is the famous place Jacob had twice experienced very significant encounters with the living God! But that was long ago and our visit to Bethel at this time was because Jeroboam was the man the people of Israel were asking to be their leader as they revolted against King Rehoboam, the son of King Solomon. Jeroboam was well qualified for two reasons: He had served well on King Solomon’s leadership team (1 Kings 11:28) and also Jeroboam some years before, had a powerful, life changing, encounter with God. (1 Kings 11:29-31)
But both those credentials were now defiled since Jeroboam had done the unthinkable! Jeroboam had instructed his artisans to fabricate two golden calf idols and build great altars for them, one in the northern city of Dan, the other in the southern city of Bethel. (1 Kings 12:28,29) Jeroboam had then declared these golden calves to be the gods who had delivered ancient Israel from Egyptian slavery and Jeroboam urged the Israelites to discontinue going to Jerusalem and the Temple for worship, but instead go to either Dan or Bethel, whichever was more convenient, and worship these calves!
Yesterday we watched as God sent an unnamed ‘man of God’ to confront Jeroboam as he was in Bethel at the great altar recently erected. (1 Kings 13:1-3)That ‘man of God’ declared God’s judgment on Jeroboam and the altar, and suddenly the altar split open, the ashes pouring out, and Jeroboam’s hand shriveled up as he pointed soldiers to arrest this ‘man of God’. Look around. Everyone is speechless, shocked! God has spoken and God has struck this idol altar and Jeroboam with His great judgment. (1 Kings 13:4,5) We’ve had 24 hours or so to contemplate this shocking event, so let’s step back into the story to see what God did next.
Jeroboam, still in shock and with his hand shriveled and unusable, cried out to the man of God asking for mercy. He said, “Intercede with the LORD your God and pray for me that my hand may be restored.” (1 Kings 13:6) The man of God did pray and in His great mercy and grace, God did not further strike Jeroboam down for his great sin but instead God healed that shriveled hand, restoring it to full health. Now perhaps you are wondering why God was so kind to Jeroboam when Jeroboam had blasphemed God and made a mockery of God’s worship? It’s a clear picture dear friends, a picture of a New Testament promise of God. The Apostle Peter wrote is: “The LORD is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
God could easily have struck Jeroboam down in death that day, but all that would have shown is God’s power in Judgment. Instead, God is always looking to demonstrate His power in rescuing a person from the bondage of sin and despair in which they live. Jeroboam was enslaved to his own ego and pride and ambition. He was again at a crossroads of decision. God was listening for repentance and humility from Jeroboam.
But Jeroboam said nothing about any remorse for his evil deeds, instead he invited the ‘man of God’ to his home for a meal, wanting to reward the man! I salute the ‘man of God’ for his courageous response to King Jeroboam: “Even if you were to give me half of your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’ So the ‘man of God’ left and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.” (1 Kings 13:8-10)
Look again at the people! King Jeroboam keeps rubbing his restored hand, disbelieving what he has just experienced and imagining what it would have been like to be handicapped for the rest of his life with a shriveled hand! The priests who were lighting incense and giving sacrifices at the altar of the golden calf are now cleaning up the mess of the split altar and ashes poured out everywhere.
And everyone else is watching this man of God walk down the road having a sense they have just witnessed history and the undeniable power of Holy, Almighty God! What would you have done, my friends, if you had been among them that day? In all your life, have you ever had a similar experience where you’ve witnessed the unbridled power of God strike back at the power of the dark kingdom?
We have no record of anything further which King Jeroboam said or did in this remarkable event that day. What I do know is that Jeroboam was now again at a crossroads of decision. He knew God’s power, both to protect and bless as well as to judge and destroy. God had given Jeroboam a great opportunity to become a man of significant influence over a very large portion of the nation of Israel. He had thus far badly failed by constructing idols and commanding the people to worship golden calves rather than Almighty God.
But he now had a God given opportunity to repent of his terrible ways. He could demolish those idols and lead the people back to God. But instead, I find these summary statements about Jeroboam: “Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but appointed priests for these high places of idol worship from all sorts of people… This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam that led to its downfall and to its destruction from the face of the earth!” (1 Kings 13:33,34) It means Jeroboam did not repent but continued in his terrible ways of leadership, both of the nation of Israel and of his family!
God was patient with Jeroboam, as He is with you and me. Jeroboam reigned as King over the 10 northern tribes of Israel, who retained the name ISRAEL, from 930bc to 909bc. For 21 years God watched Jeroboam and waited. For 21 years Jeroboam rubbed his hand several times a day, remembering how shriveled it had been for a few moments before God mercifully restored it. But Jeroboam’s heart remained hard and there is no evidence he ever turned back to God in repentance.
What about your heart and mine, my friends? Hard or tender; prideful or humble; critical of others or encouraging; sensitive to God’s mercy and grace or oblivious? Let’s think about this, and tomorrow come right back here with me because I want us to see if the prediction of the ‘man of God’ came true about this altar and a future man named Josiah!?
For now, let’s listen to another worship song helping us thank God for the extreme to which He has gone so He could be patient with us and keep offering us His grace!
Today’s Scripture: 1 Kings 13:4-10, 33-35.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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