The Acts of the Apostles 27

Subtitle: Stephen's Defense III

Acts 7:17-29.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 11, 2022.

Stephen is still before the Sanhedrin of Israel, and he continues his walk down memory lane.  Though the council may find this insulting, it is important to know where you come from.  The history of a people is important because it has the kernel of why God has allowed the people to rise among the nations.

Remember, Israel was not one of the original nations that were created at the Tower of Babel (see Genesis 10).  To use phraseology from the Apostle Paul, we could say that Israel is like a nation “untimely born.”  None of those original nations exist today, though we all come from them. 

Israel was created by God for His purposes.  Stephen is reminding them of why they are a nation in the first place, and the purpose of God.  It is the How and Why of their existence.

It is also important to understand the truth about that history.  We know this quite well today as we see a struggle in our own culture over our origin story and how it should be understood.  We should not be shocked by this because Israel clearly had people of its own who did not buy the origin story of the Exodus.

As Stephen tells the story, we see that it is full of God’s Spirit trying to lead Israel, and yet only a remnant truly believing and following Him.  The others are resistant and even rebellious.

Do we not know that God has allowed these united States of America to rise up for a particular purpose?  It should not fill us with arrogance, but rather a humble attitude that asks, “God what are you doing, and what would you have us do?”  In a way, God has general purpose in all of the nations, but He does raise up certain nations at certain times for certain purposes, and Israel had a huge role to play in bring salvation to all of the other nations.

May God help us to hear Stephen’s appeal to believe God, and follow Jesus, rather than rejecting The One whom God has sent to save us from our sins.

Let’s get into the passage.

Remember the call of God upon Moses (vs 17-29)

Stephen fast-forwards from Joseph to Moses.  Just as God had a call upon the people of Israel, He also had a purpose in Moses.  Moses is as important to Israel as Abraham.  Abraham is seen as the Father of the faith, a friend of God.  Moses is the one who goes up Mt. Sinai and brings The Law down for Israel.  He is the mediator of God’s covenant with Israel.

By this time, the first generation of tribal patriarchs had passed away.  Israel was coming to the end of the 400 years that they had spent in Egypt.  During this time, they had flourished and multiplied in the best area of Egypt, numbering in the millions now.  This draws the ire of a new Pharaoh who “did not know Joseph,” at least he did not care about this history.  He could only see that there was a large group of foreigners in his land and he felt threatened by this.

We are not told how Israel was pressed into slavery, only that Pharaoh dealt “shrewdly” with Israel.  The word basically means “wisely,” but in this negative context, it would have the sense of craftily. 

How do you subjugate a free people?  This part is skipped over in the narrative, but something happened.  Brilliant minds have worked on this problem many different times throughout history.  However, in our day and age, it has become a science.  It is the science of subjugating large groups of people to become cattle and sheep for the pleasure of the elite.  It is a betrayal of humanity by other humans.

Pharaoh thought that subjugation and slavery would slow down the growth of the Israelites, but it did not work.  They continued to flourish and multiply under the harsh conditions.  This is a big problem for Pharaoh so he then commands that the midwives kill the male children.  When the midwives refused to do so, then the command is that the people are to expose their male babies, or pay the price.  It is important to see how God’s blessing upon the Israelites was a problem for Pharaoh. 

Of course, this brings up the hard question.  How can you talk about God’s blessing when they were in slavery?  This is the point.  God’s blessing was upon Israel all the time that they were in Egypt, not just when they left.

It is interesting how God moves in the light of our trials and difficulties in life.  I do not believe that God made Pharaoh make Israel slaves.  However, God knew that it would happen. 

Logically, there are three possible sources to our trial:  God is actively causing it, or God is letting us experience the results of our sin, or God is letting us experience the sin of people or spiritual entities.  No matter what the source of our trial, God is committed to helping those who turn to Him, even sinners who are repentant.  He will work it to your good if you will just trust Him, and wait upon Him in faith.

Here we might complain that God is letting it last too long and going to a point where children are being put to death.  How could he do that?  So, when should God step in?  If He steps in before any sin happens then we will complain when someone is judged, and God states that they were “going to sin grossly.”  If He steps in after a little sin, but nothing big, we will still feel that He is over-reacting when He sends someone into the Lake of Fire.  God in His wisdom allows us to experience the effects of our sin and the sinful choices of others.  None of us should leave this earth with the Pollyannaish notion that humans are basically good.  We have far too much evidence to the contrary.  We are the ones who chose the knowledge of good and evil, and God allows things to play out to the degree that He does so that we will understand the true nature of our sin, and His love.

The truth is that we do not like waiting upon the Lord.  We think that His timing is generally too late.  In fact, if you think that God finally turned things to the good on the day Israel left Egypt, then you are not paying attention to what He is teaching us in His Word.  The very difficulties that Israel went through in slavery would prepare them to hear God’s Word later when He tells them not to oppress the stranger in their midst.  They were not to have two sets of laws, one for Israelites and one for foreigners.  Of course, Israelites would have privileges that foreigners did not, but they should not be mistreated because they are foreigners.

God’s timing is always perfect for His purposes.  The reason we do not think it is perfect is because we are focused on our own purposes.  My purposes basically are not to have anything in my life that would challenge me to be like Jesus!  That would be things like difficulty, trial, rejection, and unbelievers in my face.  Part of the trial is to surrender to God’s wisdom and trust, to let Him help you become like Him.  Do you believe that the difficult things in your life were to prepare you to grasp and understand God’s Word?  At least the potential is there, if you will leave your purposes on the ground and go after His.  He loves you too much to give you a “perfect” life where nothing bad ever happens.  In fact, the perfect life is one where bad things happen because they teach us about God’s love that went to the cross while we were still sinners.

This does not mean that everything is easy now that I know He is working it for my good.  When a person wants to become stronger and begins lifting weights, they soon realize that the benefits that they are seeking can only be had by going through the pain of lifting, “No pain, no gain!”  We will discipline ourselves (okay, some people will) in order to gain physical strength, which only profits a little.  What pain are you willing to go through in order to be spiritually fit, like the Lord Jesus was?  No pain, no gain.  I do not just mean pain of being hurt and persecuted.  I also mean the pain of saying, “No!” to the lusts and desires of my lazy flesh, in order to obtain something greater spiritually.

What does it mean to be like Jesus?  For me, I see 4 important character traits.  I need to become a man of the Spirit of God, rather than my flesh, a man of the Word of God, a man of prayer, and a man living out the righteousness of Jesus.  Once you receive a clear vision of Jesus hanging on the cross for your sins, you really do not need any more evidence that God loves you and will do whatever it takes to bring you to Himself, the very definition of the ultimate good!

Did you notice in this story that it looked to Israel like God was not doing anything when He was preparing their deliverance.  We sometimes act as if we have the omniscient view.  Perhaps we have been reading too many novels, or watching too many movies.  Who am I, and what do I know?  Not only is God’s timing perfect, but He is always working in ways that we cannot see. 

I do not know about you, but God does not send me status updates on how He is bringing my situation to the good, like Amazon.  To the Israelites, it looked like God was not doing anything about their situation.

Yet, God was actually using the very commands of Pharaoh to bring about their deliverance.  Just think of it.  The mother of Moses does not have the heart to kill him, so she puts him in a basket on the Nile River.  She technically obeys the command of Pharaoh.  Exposure was the most common way of taking the life of a child.  Only in extremely barbaric places would they strike, burn, and actively kill a child.  She casts her son on the water, and entrusts him into the hands of God.  She may have had some direction from God.  She may have intended Pharaoh’s daughter to find the baby, but she had no guarantees of what would happen. 

God had a purpose for Moses that did not include being eaten by a crocodile, or found by an Egyptian who would kill him.  God made sure that Moses ended up in the hands of the one person who could protect him from Pharaoh.  I can hear her now.  “O, daddy, can I keep it?  Can I, huh?”  Pharaoh ends up bankrolling and training Israel’s deliverer.  Of course, we know that Moses does not deliver Israel.  God does, but He often uses people in what He does (the righteous and the wicked).  God was preparing their deliverance when it looked like He was doing nothing.  Thus, waiting on the Lord is a wise thing to do as well as being righteous.  Have you ever thought that it is wicked not to trust God who has shown Himself to be more than faithful, and more than able?

Waiting on the Lord requires faith.  I cannot always see what He is doing, but I know that He is working all things to the good of those who love Him.

Another part that we balk on is this.  God allows things to happen that we think He should not.  Yet, now we are back to the issue of over-reaction.  When God’s plagues start falling on Pharaoh from the God of Israel, he will not be able to feign innocence.  His wickedness towards Israel was far worse than anything God righteously did to him.  The problem of sin, and what it leads to, is serious and personal.

The Old Testament does not record the age of Moses when he decided to check on his people, but Stephen gives us the traditional view that Moses was 40.  For some reason, it comes into his heart to check on his people.  Of course, he knows that he is not an Egyptian, but a Hebrew that was spared by Pharaoh’s daughter.  I believe that it is God who puts it on his heart, even though Israel is not ready to be delivered yet. 

Moses sees that they are not just working hard, but being harshly treated.  Moses kills one of the taskmasters who was mercilessly beating a Hebrew slave and hides him in the sand.  Even this was part of “preparing their deliverer.”  On the next day, he sees to Hebrews fighting with each other, and he tries to help them reconcile.  Think of it.  You are in a trial of slavery as a people and you are fighting with your own people.  You are mistreating your own people.  And, we wonder how the enemy is able to keep us in slavery.  He only needs to keep you divided and fighting one another.  Moses means well, but the bitterness of servitude has embittered the hearts of many Israelites, particularly this one.  His acidic response hits Moses like a sucker-punch. 

Listen.  The enemy knows how to cut you off at the knees.  If God puts something in your heart and you go to do it, just know that he will be winding up to give you as many low-blows as he can (and he is good at it).    This incident is symbolic of all of Israel.  They are not ready to be delivered yet, though they would have said that they were.  They had bigger problems than a Pharaoh and his taskmasters.  They had gigantic spiritual problems that had built up strongholds in their hearts.  The rejection of Moses is symbolized in the question, “Who made you ruler and judge over us?” 

God was already stirring the heart of Moses for the plight of his people, but neither he nor they were ready yet.  Somethings need to simmer before they are ready.  Imagine every day you cry out about your situation, wanting relief, and yet at the same time you are lashing out in anger at the very thing or person God is wanting to use to help you. 

Moses would have to come back in 40 years, which is interesting.  They would have to wait another 40 years because of their rejection of him.  A similar thing happens when they get to the promise land.  They refuse to fight the giants at first, and so they go back into the wilderness for 40 more years.

Let me close this by comparing Moses with Jesus. We see many parallels between Moses and Jesus, though no human can perfectly picture Jesus.  In fact, this is our job, to image Jesus to the world around us. 

Let us first look at ways that Moses is not like Jesus.  We might note that Jesus did not kill anybody when he came to Israel.  He laid his own life down that they might be set free from sin and death. 

Also, Jesus dwelled among his people in their servitude under the Romans.  Whereas, Moses was in the palaces of Pharaoh.

Lastly, Jesus did not flee away, but ascended into heaven and sits at the Father’s right hand waiting for the day when it is time to make his enemies his footstool.

All this said, there are some striking parallels.  Jesus did spend time in the halls of heaven before he came down, became a kinsman to Israel through the incarnation, and experienced what his people were going through.

Jesus was also rejected the first time he came to Israel.  “Who made you judge and ruler over us?”  Of course, the answer to this is God the Father did.  Peter prophesied before Israel in Acts 2 saying, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” 

Jesus then goes away from Israel and ends up taking a Gentile bride.  To be fair there are Jews who are a part of this bride, and even the foundation of it.  Yet, the Church has a very Gentile flavor to it.  Yet, Jesu will come again, after a long period of time, and deliver all of God’s people.

This world cries out for a savior, but at the same time it rejects the One that God has given, Jesus.  Just as the cry of oppression from Israel’s slavery was heard by God, so the cry of sinners suffering under sin is heard by God today.  How tragic that God has done everything, but believe for us.  Yet, we still say that He is not good enough.  Jesus is not good enough.  We double down on trying to be our own saviors.

Israel was not saved by its own faithfulness from Egypt.  They were saved by the faithfulness of God.  May God help us not to look at our circumstances and become stuck in the quagmire of despondency.  Rather, let us look up in faith and know that our God is even now working these things for our good.  Perhaps He even has some great things He would do right now, if we would only dare to believe!

Defense III audio

Barriers to Jews Believing in Jesus

This sermon was preached on September 25, 2022 by Missionary Robert Specter of Rock of Israel Ministries.

There will not be an article on this sermon, but the audio is now available.

Barriers audio

The Wicked Tenant Farmers

Mark 12:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on August 2, 2020.

We live in a day and age where there are difficult tensions on every hand.  The parable that we will read today reminds us that not all who claim to be God’s ministers and His people actually are.  The world takes advantage of this to accuse the Church and project it as irrelevant and non-essential.  Thus, true believers have to wrestle with the reality that not all who say, “Lord, Lord…” belong to Jesus, and yet the only hope for those who don’t believe in Jesus is to hear his Gospel and connect in a fruitful life with him and his people.

Two things must happen in these final hours of our work in this Age of Grace.  First, believers must get serious about having a living connection to Jesus, the Lord of Life.  We cannot afford to superficially participate in the things of God, and this goes for the average Christian and Christian leaders.  Second, we must be more convinced than ever that unbelievers will perish if they don’t hear the Gospel, believe on Jesus, and connect to his people.

This is a day that calls for boldness, but not a boldness in wickedness.  Rather, we need a humble boldness that does the work that Jesus has sent us to do though the whole world (other “believers” included) rails against us.

Jesus teaches with a parable

We are entering a section of Mark that apparently lasts for several days (note that Mark 14:1 says, “after two days”).  During this time, Jesus is teaching in the temple compound and interacting with the incensed religious leaders.  The main point of this parable of the Wicked Tenant Farmers is concerning the religious leaders.  However, if we take this parable and link it with the many other Scriptures that speak of God’s vineyard and spiritual fruit, we will find that it explodes with much more meaning and teaching than what is presented in our passage.

Now, parables teach a lesson about spiritual things by using the natural things of this life.  If Jesus were teaching today, he would no doubt have a parable about wicked property managers, hedge fund managers, or even rush hour commutes.  The natural story provides an illustration to the spiritual message it underscores.  Let’s look at the different elements of this story.

The owner is God.  He is the one who called Moses to co-labor with him in planting Israel in the promised land and setting up its spiritual care.

The vineyard is Israel as a nation.  Israel represented the visible kingdom of God (i.e. what God is doing in the visible realm).  Each person is a branch on the natural vine of Israel, but can only be fruitful if they are connected to the spiritual vine, which is God.

The vinedressers or tenant farmers are the spiritual leaders of Israel.  Vinedresser or tenant farmer translate a Greek word that literally means ground/earth worker.  It is where we get the English name George.  Since this is in the context of grape vines, these are the workers who tend the vines, harvest its fruit, and manufacture its wine.  Everything they do should be about making the vine healthy and fruitful.  The spiritual leaders are, of course, vines themselves.  Israel was not made for them and it did not belong to them.  They were simply serving Israel so that it could bear the fruit God intended.

The servants sent by the owner are the prophets of God.  God had been faithful to send servants who were inspecting the fruitfulness of the leader’s work.  Historically, the prophets were treated poorly and shamefully.  There does seem to be an increase in the wicked treatment of these prophets, but the final statement is that many other servants were sent, some beaten, and some killed.  The point is that this owner has been extremely patient and forgiving with these leaders of Israel, and the leaders have been extremely wicked.

The son of the owner is Jesus.  Here, Jesus presents himself as a unique servant.  The other servants were not biologically connected to the owner, but the son is.  Of course, outside of the analogy, God is spirit and thus, the biological should not be placed upon the relationship between Jesus and the Father.  Jesus is the One and Only unique Son of God.  Yes, we have been given the right to be called Sons of God, but that is in the sense of an adoption, a legal action.  However, Jesus is a Son of God by right of his being.  He alone is of the same being as the Father and has existed with Him from eternity past in an eternal unity.  The owner sends his son with the hope that they would respect him above the other servants.

The killing of the son is the coming crucifixion, only days away.  The parable presents that the spiritual leaders will knowingly kill the heir so that they can have the land to themselves.  Thus, they are greedy, unwilling to surrender their control over God’s people, and wicked.

We should not miss another layer to this parable.  The devil and his angels will also be guilty of this in the crucifixion.  They too are usurpers who attempt to lord their power over humans to the exclusion of God.  They will find themselves in the same boat as the first century leaders of Israel.

Jesus gives the moral lesson

The story ends at verse 8.  In some ways, this story is a moral obscenity that doesn’t need too much explanation.  However, mankind is making the same mistakes today.  The leaders of this world, both religious and secular, are seeking to kill the concept of God so greatly that the only thing left will be for the people of the world to look to them as gods.  In a sense, they desire to harness the people of the world for their own plans and ignore the rightful claims of God who is the true owner.

The main lesson that Jesus intends is brought to the forefront by the question, “What will the owner of the vineyard do?”  God would destroy the spiritual leaders of Israel and get new ones who would do the job righteously. 

Jesus is warning that a destructive event is on the horizon that would wipe out these spiritual leaders who were confronting him.  The priestly tribe of Levi and the high-priestly line of Aaron were going to be rejected with new priests and ministers taking their place.  We should always remember that no one is indispensable among God’s people.  It belongs to Him.  John the Baptist warned his generation that God was able to raise up children of Israel from the stones on the ground if He needed.  If we use God’s people and institutions for our own purposes and abuse the true believers then we too will find a destructive event in our future in which we perish and God raises up others to take our place.

Jesus then reminds them that this had been foretold in Scripture (Psalm 118:22-23).  By the way, this is the Messianic Psalm that the crowds were quoting at the triumphal entry just days before this.  The picture is that the master builders will reject the cornerstone sent to them by God.  However, God will overrule their rejection and make him the chief cornerstone. 

We actually have a different analogy or picture that is one of a stone building.  The Son of God is the critical stone in the building of God, but the project workers are rejecting him.  The spiritual leaders were supposed to help Israel connect to the Son of God as the true vine of Israel.  In a sense, Jesus had always been the spiritual vine of Israel, but now he would walk among them.  Instead, the spiritual leaders were rejecting the true vine and keeping the people connected to them, or even worse, to an evil spiritual vine.

Psalm 118 then pictures believers rejoicing in the marvelous work of God overturning the leaders, and shouting, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD!”  Isaiah 28:16 picks up this same theme and declares that God Himself will set His precious cornerstone in the face of the rebellious leaders.  This also connects with the many passages that refer to a stumbling stone (see Isaiah 8:14).  Daniel 2:45 pictures a stone cut out by the hands of God, which crushes the beast kingdoms and fills the earth.  In 1 Peter 2:4-6, Peter pictures the rebuilding of a spiritual temple upon Jesus with those who believe upon him.

All the prophets had warned of this spiritual malpractice by the leaders of Israel, and the destruction that awaited them.  Thus, the leaders of Israel had no excuse.  God had warned them.  If this is true of them then what about Christian leaders?  If the leaders of Israel were without excuse then we are doubly without excuse because we have the Scriptures and the example of what God did to those first century spiritual leaders.  Christian leaders need to make sure they are not guilty of these same things “in the name of the Lord.”

This parable is also told in Matthew 21.  In verses 43-44, Matthew records some extra statements of Jesus that are not found in Mark 12.  Verse 43 says, “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it.”  Jesus speaks of a new nation because the problem was not just with the leaders of Israel.  The vineyard analogy goes back to Isaiah chapter 5, where the prophet says that the vineyard itself is bearing wild grapes that cannot be used.  Therefore, the vineyard itself will be destroyed.  The destruction of national Israel within 40 years of the rejection of Jesus becomes an event in which God removes Israel as a nation and raises up a new nation, the Church.  Branches of national Israel who believed upon Jesus were transplanted throughout the world with spiritual leaders that would be both Jew and Gentile, under the everlasting covenant of the Messiah.  This is what Peter is talking about in 1 Peter 2:9, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light!”  It is a nation that is not of one ethnicity, or of a particular geography, but a spiritual nation connected by the blood of Jesus and our capital city, the New Jerusalem, in heaven.  This new nation would receive the remnant of the old vineyard and increase it.

Clearly, the leaders of the Church have not all learned the lessons of the past, and not all Christians, who are not leaders, either.  Wake up Church of God!

Matthew 21:44 says, “And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”  There are only two options when it comes to Jesus, God’s cornerstone.  You will either fall upon him broken, or you will be crushed by him and ground into powder.

The first is a picture of a humbled person who is broken by the recognition of their sins.  They are falling on Jesus in repentance and responding to the Spirit of God to follow Him.  Though they are broken, he will be their healer.  The second is the picture of the wicked person who will be broken on the judgment day.  For most, that will be when they stand before him in judgment at the Great White Throne.  For some, that will be at the Second Coming when Jesus comes to cast out the usurpers of the earth and bring in everlasting righteousness. 

How about you today?  Are you casting yourself upon Jesus in humble repentance?  Are you connecting to him as the true spiritual vine, and drawing life?  Are you bearing the fruit that God desires, or is it only wild grapes?  This world needs believers who have the true fruit of God, so that they can have a chance of avoiding the coming day of God’s wrath upon the wicked.  May God help us to live for Jesus!

Wicked Tenant Farmers audio

The Results of Spiritual Victory

1 Kings 18:40-46.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on December 17, 2017.

Last week we saw how God had honored Elijah’s public display of faith by a miraculous fire from heaven coming down upon his sacrifice.  This was all in contrast to the pitiful failure of the prophets of Baal.  Today we will look at the fallout of that momentous event and talk about spiritual victory in our own lives. 

But before we get into that it might help if you familiarize yourself with the geography of this passage.  Click here for an online map from a great website called BibleAtlas.org.  Pay attention that we are in the northern part of Israel west of the Sea of Galilee.  The sacrifice has taken place on Mt. Carmel which is on the left of the map part way down (part of the name has been cut off).  Jezreel is basically in the middle of the map with the Kishon River (thin blue line) flowing from that area past Mt. Carmel and into the Mediterranean Sea (where modern day Haifa sits).

The enemies of God’s work are executed

When we read verse 40 the passage can be shocking to our modern, western sensibilities.  However, I would remind you right up front that we in the West are shocked by things that people in the East are not, and vice versa.  Just because it offends us does not mean it is wrong.  So try and get over the shock that the prophet of God Elijah orders the people to execute all the prophets of Baal and, instead of tossing God’s Word aside, take time to understand what God wants us to understand here.

A big question that often arises from passages such as vs. 40, is that of whether or not Christians are hypocrites when they proclaim peace and yet have such a thing in their “holy book.”    If fact, one of our recent presidents, who also claims to be a Christian, chided Christians about eating shellfish when it is forbidden in the Old Testament.  Others claim that Christians are hypocrites when they promote love for our fellow man because of passages that speak of the death penalty for sexual perversion.  Each of these statements or accusations has a problem in their logic.  They assume that the Bible itself, and more importantly God who is its author, teaches that Christians should obey the Old Testament Laws.  In fact, the Bible teaches the opposite.  You cannot point out one verse and ignore the context of the rest of the Bible and also hold the intellectual high-ground.  If we want to deal with the Bible honestly then we must recognize or determine what God’s purpose was in creating Israel as a nation.  He created then and made a covenant with them in which they promised to obey The Law that God had given them through Moses.  Clearly they did not do such a good job at that, but then we would be casting stones from a glass house.  God’s purpose with Israel and The Law of Moses was not to provide a positive template for all the nations of the world.  The salvation of the world is not found in converting the whole world over to follow the Law of Moses.  The whole purpose of The Law was to shut the mouths of those who claim to be righteous.  Israel had divine laws (i.e. better than the wisest minds of mankind could come up with at the same time period).  Yet, the people of Israel were not divine and there lies the problem.  The Law of Moses failed to save Israel for the same reasons that the Constitution of the United States cannot save us.  Nations are run by people who are weak and condemned by the very laws they claim to follow.

So let’s look back at this situation.  Ahab is completely stunned.  Only moments ago, he held all the power.  He would execute Elijah when this was over with and he would continue to lead Israel into worshipping Baal rather than the God who had created Israel, Yahweh/Jehovah.  Much like a jury nullification of the law, the powerful demonstration of Yahweh’s power nullifies Ahab’s command.  The people and even his soldiers have just seen for themselves the power of God.  Notice that Ahab does not speak until the next chapter.  Even if Ahab would have tried to command for Elijah to be executed, who would have dared to carry it out?  Ahab rolled the dice and they came up “snake eyes,” or “dogs” as the ancient Romans used to say.  The stakes were Ahab’s life against the lives of the prophets of Baal and they lost.

But, Elijah’s command could not come from a truly righteous person could it?  We need to understand that Elijah is not some murderous psychopath who loves killing people.  The Law that God had given Israel (i.e. their constitution) stated that any prophet who led Israel to worship foreign God’s was guilty of a capital crime.  Thus these prophets new they were breaking The Law and committing a capital crime.  However, they could care less because they were under the protection of Israel’s Law-breaking king.  Ahab had been leading Israel in a direction that was illegal and treasonous.  These men have been helping him to commit this treason.  If you want to verify this then read Deuteronomy 13, especially verse 5.  Several times in Deuteronomy 13, 17, and 18 God declares these things a capital crime.  So now that we have exonerated Elijah from the guilt of homicide, we must deal with God.  It was His Law.  Is it barbaric?

Whether or not we agree with such a punishment today, we must agree that this was Israel’s law.  Part of understanding why God commands the death of false prophets is to understand the difference between God’s purpose with Israel and God’s purpose with the Church of Jesus Christ.  Israel was given the task to bring forth the Messiah or Savior for the world.  But, they also modeled to the world the problem with trying to create a perfect society through legislation.  All societies have to have laws to function.  But, even with divine laws it becomes a bloody business filled with hypocrisy.  This is true whether you are looking at the government of Israel or Sidon in the 9^th century B.C., or you are looking at the modern governments of The United States of America, Russia, China, Iran, Turkey, et. Al.  In the West we keep telling ourselves that if we just make better laws it will fix everything.  Yet, things keep getting worse and worse (yes, not everything is getting worse, but hear what I am saying).  We have to quit fooling ourselves.  Even divine laws, or laws created by an Artificial Intelligence, will fail to fix mankind because our problem is a spiritual one and is deep in each heart.  The best we can expect from laws is that they will slow down the evil nature of our hearts and give hope for people to see it and seek God’s help.  The only way to change a heart is repentance from our own dead works and turning towards belief in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  God’s laws of capital punishment on one hand teach us that some sins are worthy of death.  However, the cross teaches us that God does not want to execute us.  He is giving us a choice.  It is appointed unto a person once to live and then the judgment.   Through the Church God is warning the world of a coming judgment or execution.  Yet, He is also giving opportunity for people to make peace with Him by putting their faith in Jesus.  The Church is not about building a perfect kingdom, but rather, it is about calling people to become citizens who are being perfected by God.  Israel focused on a geographical place on earth that required capital punishment to keep it pure, and even that failed.  The Church focuses on the spiritual geography of our own heart.  Definitely Christians should obey the laws of the nation, as long as it doesn’t break God’s commands.  And, we should also work for better laws.  But laws are not our hope.  The return of Jesus our King is the hope that we hold out to the world.  This makes a big difference and makes the Gospel far more potent in light of Israel and The Law.  We await the Kingdom of Heaven to be brought down at the Second Coming of Jesus.  Until then, we do our best to live at peace with even those who disobey God.  Instead of executing those who break God’s command (as God told Israel), Christians speak the truth in love to them, while executing those things within our own heart and mind that would lead us astray from God’s Word.  That is why Christians should be restrained in the amount of laws that they promulgate.

A contrast of character

I spent a lot of time on verse 40 because the contents are important in our day and age.  In the rest of this chapter, we see a sharp contrast between the character of Elijah and that of Ahab.  Elijah is a wise leader and Ahab is a foolish one.  After the execution of the prophets of Baal, Elijah tells Ahab to go eat because of the sound of a great rain.  Now it is clear from the passage that there is no sound of rain at the moment.  What is Elijah talking about?  Elijah is speaking by faith.  Even though there is no outward sign, Elijah is confident that God will keep His word.  God had told him what would happen and we see him acting and speaking upon that.  As I said earlier, Ahab doesn’t speak here.  But his administration has been one, big lack of faith in God’s Word.  Now it is important to guard our heart, mind and our mouth.  We should be careful of our decisions and the way that we speak about things.  Am I trusting in God’s Word or doubting it?  Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.  However, speaking by faith is not a matter of wish fulfillment, or only speaking “positive things.”  Christians should not fall into the error that tries to draw good things to us by acting and speaking positively.  Regardless of what you say and do, God is going to do certain things.  God is going to judge all the governments of the world in the future through the Second Coming of Christ.  It will be a great negative thing to those who are not on His side, but a great positive thing to those on the side of Jesus.  Speaking by faith is remembering what God has said and agreeing with it in our speech.  In other words we actually believe that God means what He says, and is not a liar.  May God help us to speak by faith in His word.

Although it is Elijah’s idea, Ahab is a king and can do what he wants.  Notice that King Ahab is feeding his belly while Elijah is praying for the rain to come.  Ahab is a man of the flesh, not because he eats food.  We all eat food and even Elijah ate food.  But something powerful and spiritual has just happened in Israel.  But one man is praying for God’s will and the other is satisfying the will of his stomach.  God’s people can enjoy the physical joys of life within godly boundaries.  However, we must not let our lives be only about them.  Though God has promised rain, Elijah will not rest until it comes.  He goes back up to Mt. Carmel and begins praying for God to fulfill His word.  Then we see a cycle of Elijah praying, and asking his servant to check and see if any rain is coming.  This goes on seven times until the servant notices a small cloud on the horizon of the Mediterranean Sea.  This seven times is intended to highlight that Elijah was not a man who would quit in prayer.  He persevered in prayer until God kept His word.  He waited upon the Lord completely and kept himself watchful through prayer.  We should be the same way concerning the Second Coming of Christ.  We should not be apathetic towards what God has said He will do with a kind of que sera, sera attitude (whatever will be, will be).  Jesus is not coming back for a people who have an intellectual assent that He will do so, but for those who have desired it and have spent their lives praying and watching for it (like Elijah).  When a cloud the size of a man’s hand is seen, then Elijah knows the fulfillment has come.  May God help us also to remain faithful even in the day of small things.  It may not seem like anything big, but God is in it and rejoices to make it happen.

In the end, it is God’s will working with Elijah’s faithfulness that brings rain to the land.  Elijah’s speech and life have been lived by faith in what God had said in the past and what He was personally telling Elijah.  In contrast, it was the unfaithfulness of Ahab and the people of Israel who followed him that led to the drought and famine, both naturally and spiritually.  We must be careful that we do not give up living lives faithful to God and His Word simply because the society around us does not pat us on the back for doing so.  Even in the face of active persecution, the hope of our land depends upon Christians living out lives faithful to Jesus.  We concern ourselves not with just physical rain and dry land, although that is important to people’s livelihood.  We concern ourselves more importantly on spreading the rain of God’s Word into the lives of those who are dry as deserts from years of rejecting or being ignorant of God’s Word.

Lastly we see that God’s power is upon those who are humble.  The power of God comes upon Elijah as the rain comes and he runs ahead of Ahab’s chariot to Jezreel.  Now in our competitive modern minds we would read this as God empowering Elijah to outrun the chariot of Ahab and to be the first to Jezreel.  Now this is no small feat.  Jezreel was about 10-15 miles away.  However, an ancient person reading this would see a servant running ahead of his master.  Elijah is running ahead of Ahab’s chariot, like a servant who is letting people know that the king is coming.  It is as if God is showing Ahab what could be.  God, and His servant Elijah, do not have to be enemies of Ahab.  Elijah was not seeking a crown, though he could have tried to take it after such a powerful display.  Who wouldn’t want a king who could call down fire from heaven?  Instead, Elijah’s run says to Ahab, I will take my place as your servant if you will take your place as God’s servant.  May the Lord help Christians today to have such a humility and empowerment from the Lord.   Instead of seeking to have the highest place, may we be the influence that those who have it need, to become what God wants them to be.

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