Protection From False Acquisition - 1 Kings 17-22

1 Kings 21:8-14 (ESV)

So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name and sealed them with his seal, and she sent the letters to the elders and the leaders who lived with Naboth in his city. And she wrote in the letters, “Proclaim a fast, and set Naboth at the head of the people. And set two worthless men opposite him, and let them bring a charge against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.” And the men of his city, the elders and the leaders who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had sent word to them. As it was written in the letters that she had sent to them, they proclaimed a fast and set Naboth at the head of the people. And the two worthless men came in and sat opposite him. And the worthless men brought a charge against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, “Naboth cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones. Then they sent to Jezebel, saying, “Naboth has been stoned; he is dead.”

Jezebel was not a good person.  She was wicked and did wicked things.   Her husband, Ahab, wanted a vineyard owned by Naboth.  He offered to purchase it from Naboth, but Naboth refused.  This is where his wicked wife Jezebel steps in.  She arranged what we read above.   We might think of something like this happening today, as well.   One person makes sure another person is removed or damaged so that they get what they want. This is an example of modern day politics.   This is an example of some corporate worlds.  This is, regrettably, an example of things that happen in churches, today.  People like Jezebel are always looking to use untruth to bring demise onto others.  God promises, however, the following:

Psalms 31:20 (ESV)

In the cover of your presence you hide them

from the plots of men;

you store them in your shelter

from the strife of tongues.

Proverbs 30:5 (ESV)

Every word of God proves true;

he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

We need to trust God to protect us from the falsehood of the world.  

Faithful Obedience Produces the Glory of God - Leviticus 7-9

Leviticus 8:1-4 (ESV)

Consecration of Aaron and His Sons

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil and the bull of the sin offering and the two rams and the basket of unleavened bread. And assemble all the congregation at the entrance of the tent of meeting.” And Moses did as the LORD commanded him, and the congregation was assembled at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

God is about to have Aaron and his sons consecrated to service for Himself.  To do this, much work must be done.   Moses is to do several things:

1. Bring Arron and his sons to the Tabernacle entrance. 
2. Bring the priestly garments just made for Aaron and his sons.
3. Bring the anointing oil (which was a picture of the Holy Spirit).
4. Bring a bull for the sin offering. 
5. Bring two rams for the sin offering. 
6. Bring a basket of unleavened bread for the sin offering. 
7. Bring the entire nation to the entrance of the Tabernacle. 

Moses did all that.  Imagine the scene in the wilderness.   We were told earlier that there were over 600,000 men.   So, with the men, women and children, there would have been over one million people gathered at the “entrance of the tent of meeting.”   It is unimaginable how everyone could see and hear this awesome moment of anointing of Aaron and his sons.  At the end of this scene, however, this is what is written:

Leviticus 9:23-24 (ESV)

And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people. And fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

It is through obedience that we see the glory of God.   They did what they were told and God’s glory floods the place.   However the logistics occurred, the end was the glory of God.   One million people were watching one man (Moses) dress another man (Aaron) in his priestly robes and anoint him with oil and offer a bull and two rams.  The audience was not, however, them.  The audience was God.   His approval for their actions was His showing them His glory.   That is the formula for all the times we worship today.  The audience is the congregation. When we realize the audience is God and our obedience is to Him, His glory shows up.   

 

Put Off - Put On - Ephesians 4-6

Ephesians 4:31-32 (ESV)

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

One of the keys to the Christian life (and to life in general) is the idea of replacement theory.   To move away from something is great.  But to have continued success keeping away from it you must bring something in to replace what you moved away from.   In the above passage we have that thought expressed by Paul.  He is telling them to move away from bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander and all malice.  Those are good things to avoid in your life.   That alone would be a major life change.   But notice what Paul tells them to do instead.  He wants them to put on kindness, tenderness, and forgiveness.  This is the transformation of the Christian life.   We are to put off on thing (our human desires) and to put on another thing (Christlikeness).   

Paul actually just said this, earlier in this same chapter:

Ephesians 4:22-24 (ESV)

to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. 

God saved us to live a life that is different than before we came to Christ.   Putting away the list Paul gives us is important.  But putting on what Paul tells us is the difference maker.   A lot of people living their natural life can put away something.  But it takes the Spirit of God in our lives to give us genuine kindness, tenderness and forgiveness.  Those are acts of the Spirit of God.   When we navigate life, let us not be just comfortable putting something away, but also put on the acts of the Spirit of God.  

Go Lower to Go Higher - Luke 13-14

Luke 14:7-11 (ESV)

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Jesus came to build a Kingdom.   Believers are invited to His Kingdom.  But Christ’s Kingdom it is not like the kingdoms of the earth.   In those kingdoms hierarchy matters.  In Christ’s kingdom humility matters.   In man’s kingdoms we are attempting to move up the ladder.  In Christ’s kingdom we are higher when we are first lower.   Those exalted in man’s kingdoms are those who flex and exert themselves into higher positions.   In Christ’s Kingdom it is different.  Those who are exalted are those who first a humble.  Christ came in humility and in the form of a servant.  

Philippians 2:7 (ESV)

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

If we want to have position in Christ’s kingdom we have to take on the form of Christ and become a servant to all.  

God’s Love vs God’s Holiness - Ezekiel 7-12

Ezekiel 7:1-4 (ESV)

The word of the LORD came to me: “And you, O son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now the end is upon you, and I will send my anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, and I will punish you for all your abominations. And my eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity, but I will punish you for your ways, while your abominations are in your midst. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Chapter seven of Ezekiel begins one of the most gloom and doom sections of the entire Bible.   The nation of Israel has committed abominations against God. They have profaned the Temple.   They have completely disobeyed God’s commands.   Ezekiel is sent to be a voice against them and an example for them.  He was even to be an object lesson for them:

Ezekiel 12:6 (ESV)

In their sight you shall lift the baggage upon your shoulder and carry it out at dusk. You shall cover your face that you may not see the land, for I have made you a sign for the house of Israel.”

The nation is about to experience utter ruin.   Ezekiel is not to hold back the words that God gives him to speak to them.   For those who know that God is love, these chapters can challenge our understanding of Him.     It is important that we recognize that God is the God of love but He is also a holy and righteous God.  God loves unconditional but also expresses holiness in fidelity.   The thought that God is love and holy are not in contrast.  They are complimentary.  Because God loves He cannot love with impurity.   God’s holiness fuels His love.   His love fuels His holiness.   Because God loves us, He disciplines us.  

Hebrews 12:6 (ESV)

For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and chastises every son whom he receives.”

Revelation 3:19 (ESV)

Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

These chapters are the discipline portion of God’s love.  A father that loves a son will discipline that son.  

Proverbs 3:12 (ESV)

for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,

as a father the son in whom he delights.

Be Warned: Proverbs 5-6

Proverbs 5:3-4 (ESV)

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

..."

In the Book of Proverbs Solomon uses the picture of an adulterous as an actual woman enticing young men to sin sexually and as a metaphor for folly or foolish living. In the above proverb you see the former and understand the application to the later. No adulterous uses foolish speech to warn her victim of what is their most certain death. No, she uses enticing words; words that drip like honey off the lip. But the end is bitter and cuts through a life and family like a sword. Satan’s bait in our lives is the same. He drips honey in front of us only to stab us with the sharp knife he holds behind his back.

The book of Proverbs is about the contrast between Wisdom and Folly. The first nine chapters are more pronounced in that message.  Often, Wisdom and Folly are personified as a woman. In chapter 8 we will read of wisdom as a woman on the street soliciting passer-bys to turn to her. In chapter 7 we will read of folly as a prostitute doing the same thing on the corner of the street. In chapter five we see a similar graphic description of folly. In the above two proverbs we see the contrast between a person of wisdom, whose "lips" hold onto knowledge and the "lips" of the foolish women (again, an adulterous) who rather than "ponder" her path finds an "unstable" road and doesn't even know it. Those who fail to ponder will fail to even know they are in unstable areas. Wisdom (that which flows from God and is found in Christ ... 1 Corinthians 1:30) is available to those who wish to hold it or "reserve" it (verse 3). But to those who reject it (reject God and Christ ... Psalm 14:1) also reject safety and security. God will lead those who seek wisdom with discretion and clarity (see Proverbs 5:1-2). But reject it and instability and chaos takes over. Those who seek wisdom are warned to avoid this women of the street (folly) and turn to and trust God to supply their needs. Folly will pretend to supply what we want but only God via wisdom found in Christ can really provide stability and peace. Seek wisdom and avoid folly is the message of proverbs.   When we meet folly we have to remember that her speech is like precious oil and fine wine.   We might like the taste of folly but in the end it is like eating a wormwood, a sharp two-edged sword.  The wormwood plant was known to be bitter and poisonous (see below).  Therefore, Solomon is telling us that taking part with folly is like thinking you are having a dinner full of honey and oil, only to be later found dying from a meal laced with poison.    

Wormwood:  Proverbs 5:3-4 (ESV)

For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,

and her speech is smoother than oil,

but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,

sharp as a two-edged sword.

..."

Note:

Wormwood (Pulpit Commentary)

Bitter as wormwood. The Hebrew, laanah, "wormwood," Gesenius derives from the unused root laan, "to curse." It is the equivalent to the absinthium of the Vulgate. So Aquila, who has ἀψίνθιον. The LXX. improperly renders χολή, "gall." In other places the word laanah is used as the emblem of bitterness, with the superadded idea of its being poisonous, also according to the Hebrew notion, shared in also by the Greeks, that the plant combined these two qualities. Thus in Deuteronomy 29:18 it is associated with rosh, "a poisonful herb" (margin), and the Targum terms it, agreeably with this notion, "deadly wormwood." The same belief is reproduced in Revelation 8:11, "And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter" (cf. Jeremiah 9:15; Amos 5:7: 6:12). The apostle, no doubt, has it in mind when he speaks of any "root of bitterness," in Hebrews 12:15. The herb is thus described by Umbreit: "It is a plant toward two feet high, belonging to the genus Artemisia (species Artemisia absinthium), which produces a very firm stalk with many branches, grayish leaves, and small, almost round, pendent blossoms. It has a bitter and saline taste, and seems to have been regarded in the East as also a poison, of which the frequent combination with rosh gives an intimation." Terence has a strikingly similar passage to the one before us

Enter the Sanctuary of God - Psalms 72-74

Psalms 73:16-17 (ESV)

But when I thought how to understand this,

it seemed to me a wearisome task,

until I went into the sanctuary of God;

then I discerned their end.

The writer of Psalms 73 (Asaph) is finding himself in an odd place.  He is envious of the wicked.  By his personal observations he is noting that the wicked seem to have advantage over those who serve God.   He states earlier in the chapter:

1. They have to pangs in their death (v. 4)

2. They are not in trouble as others are (v. 5)

3. They are covered with violence with no regard (v. 6)

4. They are so full of fatness their eyes bulge out (v. 7)

5. They scoff and speak with malice (v. 8)

6. They set their mouths toward heaven (v. 9)

In all this, God seems to allow them to live the way they want.  This is making Asaph jealous and bitter.   This is where the above passage comes into play.  He was in total confusion and in total weariness trying to understand this.  His mind could not wrap around this injustice.   It was not until he went into the sanctuary of God that he understood.   It is in God’s presence that we can understand the world and what God is doing in the world.   God has not closed His eyes to the wicked.  Once Asaph comes into God’s presence he understands their end.  When He sees God’s holiness he knows that God, in the end, will deal with these presumptuous people.   They can laugh and rejoice now, but in the end, God will deal with them.  Note what Asaph concludes at the end:

Psalms 73:18-20 (ESV)

Truly you set them in slippery places;

you make them fall to ruin.

How they are destroyed in a moment,

swept away utterly by terrors!

Like a dream when one awakes,

O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.

It is only when we understand God that we can understand the world.   Let us not envy the world.  Let us have pity and prayer because their fate is sealed by the holiness of God. To do that we must come into the sanctuary of God.