SACRIFICED STONES
1 Kings 18:36 And it came to pass at the time of the
offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said,
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou
art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these
things at thy word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that
thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. 38 Then
the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and
the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. 39 And
when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord,
he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.
Ahab’s wife Jezebel had killed every prophet of God she
could find. The King’s chamberlain
Obadiah had managed to save 100 prophets of the Lord by hiding them in two
caves and feeding them until it was safe to move them. The queen had taken 450 prophets of Baal
under her wing and caused Israel to follow Balaam rather than God. Elijah had hidden himself because king Ahab
had sought him for bringing a famine upon the land. When the famine had become so severe that all
the animals in the land were in danger of starvation God sent Elijah to
Ahab.
This portion shows us the desperate need for godly
leadership. It used to be that most of
the liberal politicians of questionable morality were visibly in one party and
the more conservative and godly were in the other. Now both parties are about as corrupt as they
can be and for all their powerful rhetoric they espouse, the true source of
their allegiance is filthy lucre, the almighty dollar. In this country it is becoming more and more
difficult to be a believer. So-called
Christian churches who bow to homosexuality, political expedience and a social
rather than spiritual gospel are rising in power and those who believe in
salvation through faith in Christ alone are being persecuted.
This is not a new thing.
After mocking the prophets of Baal, telling them their god
must be locked in a bathroom somewhere, and praying to the true and Living God,
the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, he was gratified to see the fire of heaven
come down and consume the sacrifice, wood, water and even the stones used to
make the altar. The people around him
shouted and gave one another high fives.
They cried, “The Lord! He is
God! The Lord! He is God!!
Elijah used his new-found celebrity and put all 450 prophets
of Baal to death. Now you would think
that this action might make Jezebel run for her life but no. She was far too calculating and conniving for
this to happen. Her vicious threats were
so violent that Elijah forgot for a moment just who he served. He ran for his life and hid in a cave. Elijah begged God to kill him since he was so
ineffective. God sent all sorts of
violent weather but He Himself came as He so often does in a still small
voice. He rebuked Elijah and said He had
more than 3000 people who had not bowed their knee to Baal.
I know that is a wonderful thing to have so many who have
not turned their backs on God but consider this… Most people in Israel HAD turned their back
on God. Millions lived there and yet
only 3000 still trusted in God. When
scripture says, “Many are called but few chosen,” it means it. Thousands will fall and fail God; a few will
trust in Him no matter the cost. When
God’s judgment finally comes and the earth is depopulated by ninety percent or
more, He is simply judging those who failed to acknowledge Him.
When God consumed the stones of Elijah’s sacrifice, many
rejoiced to see the miracle. When Jesus
died (consumed by our sin) and rose again, many rejoiced to see that miracle
and came to serve Him. Sadly, our
attention span is no better today than it was thousands of years ago. After every great move of God people
forget. Even knowing it was God and
that there is no other explanation will not change this sorry fact. Take care that you are not one of those who
sees himself saved and sanctified in a mirror and then forgets (James 1:22-24).
NEVER MOCK THE LIVING STONE
2 Kings 19:15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and
said, O Lord God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the
God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven
and earth. 16 Lord, bow down thine ear, and hear: open, Lord, thine eyes, and
see: and hear the words of Sennacherib, which hath sent him to reproach the
living God. 17 Of a truth, Lord, the kings of Assyria have destroyed the
nations and their lands, 18 And have cast their gods into the fire: for they
were no gods, but the work of men's hands, wood and stone: therefore they have
destroyed them. 19 Now therefore, O Lord our God, I beseech thee, save thou us
out of his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art the
Lord God, even thou only.
Hezekiah was one of the few godly kings after David. As king of Judah he removed the high places
of pagan worship, broke up all the stone altars and idols and cut down the
groves of the fertility worshippers (2 Kings 18:4). Scripture says that after him none of the kings of
Judah lived up to his example. Under his rule, Judah obeyed the laws of
Moses fully and completely. Because of
this he had a moral authority and relationship with God that none of the foolish kings
of the North and later years in Judah could boast. They chose to fight against the righteous
judgment of God and were defeated.
Hezekiah fought against an overreaching Assyrian king and God made him a
winner.
Unlike all the other kings who rebelled against the pagan
empires who demanded annual tribute from Israel after the God ordained split
into two kingdoms, God protected and honored Hezekiah for his godliness and
faithfulness. In Hezekiah’s fourth year
as king of Judah, the king of Assyria besieged Samaria the capitol of the other
ten tribes and conquered it after three years of siege. This would mark the end of the divided
kingdom for all practical purposes.
It was this event that has falsely started the idea that
there are ten lost tribes of Israel dispersed into the world. The fact of the matter is that those who
chose to serve the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had long since moved to
Judah to get away from the pagan lifestyles in the north. Jerusalem became a holy magnet which drew all
who served the Lord. From the days of
Jeroboam the son of Nebat who caused Israel to sin, the godly in Israel
continued to flock into the City of David.
When Samaria fell the majority of people lost were those who had long
ago ceased worshipping Yahweh exclusively or those few who were too poor to
make the move south. In other words,
God’s prophetic warning of Samaria’s fall caused an exodus to Jerusalem and
safety for those who obeyed Him (2 Kings 18:9-12).
Amos was one of the prophets who warned those in Samaria who were
at ease and lived in great wealth but were morally bankrupt:
Amos 6:4-8 “Woe to
those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and
eat lambs from the flock and calves from
the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like
David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and
anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of
Joseph! Therefore they shall now be the
first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch
themselves out shall pass away.” The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares
the Lord, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his
strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it
How often do we hear men and women speak against God these
days. They call Christians and Jews
troublemakers and deluded fools. Quite
often they lie and use false, even blasphemous rhetoric to make it appear that
we are nothing but angry tricksters who will do anything to snare others in our
supposed delusions. There are enough
angry wounded Christians in poorly served churches to bolster their outrageous
claims because many of the wounded and broken souls in these churches will lash
out in their pain rather than allowing God to heal them. These sad souls attack everyone to defend a
God who in His strength does not need their defense, and leave the general
public with a dirty taste in their mouth for religion.
2 Kings 18:19 is a marvelous example of this. The king of Assyria believed that Samaria and
Judah were both cut from the same bolt of cloth because they are all Israelites
and those he conquered in Samaria were almost depraved enough to make him blush. The truth is that these two kingdoms couldn’t
be more different if they were on opposite sides of the earth. Samaria and Judah are a perfect example of
the world today. That world is one
because we are all human beings created in God’s image. Like the nation Israel, at least ten out of
twelve men and women on earth serve false gods, no god or Satan himself. It would not surprise me to discover that the
percentage of lost to saved in Israel and Judah during the fall of Samaria is
exactly what it will be worldwide during the tribulation.
Satan’s attack in Jerusalem was exactly the same as it is
now where we live. Those who hate God
will falsely represent those who serve Him and sell those falsehoods to those
who do not know any better. The king of
Assyria sent his armies to destroy all Israel and to say that God Himself had
given him the order to destroy all Israel.
What God wanted was for those who had abandoned Him to be destroyed but
those who still served Him to be left alone.
When he refused to stop at the proper border and Hezekiah cried out for
God’s intervention, God was more than happy to answer.
At first, Hezekiah responded in fear and asked the King of
Assyria what it would cost to buy his peace.
The answer was 300 talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. Hezekiah robbed the temple to provide this
tribute but it wasn’t enough. They
wanted more and eventually sent the army.
They made the fatal mistake of mocking God before a righteous man. When God has ordained judgment, your
protestations of a family bond to Abraham will not save you but if you are
righteous, He will move heaven and earth to assist you.
In chapter 18 of 2 Kings the Assyrian delegation began to
mock Hezekiah and threaten the residents of Jerusalem. In verse 32 he begins to mock Hezekiah and
the God of Israel without understanding that God had sent Assyria to punish the
Northern kingdom and not Jerusalem. He
was about to learn that the living stone of Israel was more than a match for
the king of Assyria. Scripture says,
“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord (Zechariah
4:6).” God did not defeat Assyria by a
great army or outwardly supernatural means.
In verse 21 of 2 Kings 19, the Lord begins to speak forcefully against
the loudmouth from Assyria. He lets them
know the difference between a god of stone and the Living Stone.
That very night God sent an angel who slew 185,000 men from
the Assyrian camp. There was no cry or
sound of battle. When the camp awoke,
dead bodies were everywhere. In the face
of this great terror, the king of Assyria went home where he was murdered by
his own sons. Don’t mess with the rock
of ages.
STONES OF OFFENSE
Nehemiah 4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat
heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and
mocked the Jews. 2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria,
and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they
sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of
the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? 3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by
him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even
break down their stone wall. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn
their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of
captivity: 5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out
from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.
Israel has always had to live with the foxes who spoil the
vine (Song of Solomon 2:15). In John
15:1 Jesus said, “I am the vine and ye are the branches.” There are always foxes, spiritual enemies of
the work of God who lead and control those natural enemies of God’s plan. When Cyrus the King of Babylon freed the
Israelites to return home and rebuild the Temple of God, only 42,000 men left
to complete the work out of the millions of Jews in Babylon. They left with all the gold and implements
removed from the previous temple as well as much gold, silver and offerings
from the people of Babylon who wanted the God of Israel’s blessings over their
lives.
Sadly, due to the low number of men and women who made the
journey, they had insufficient numbers to continue the work of rebuilding the
temple in the face of all those who sought to defeat God’s plan. Because of this constant nipping of the
‘foxes’ they were forced to cease their work until a decree might come from the
new king of Babylon. In the midst of
this confusing period God raised up two prophets, Haggai and Zechariah who
encouraged the people to continue the work.
Under their direction the temple was finally finished after God touched
the heart of the Babylonian king to see the work completed (Ezra 6).
After this God raised up Ezra who had a great love for the
law (Torah) of God. Ezra had a strong
desire to teach that law to the people of Israel in Jerusalem. In the seventh year of King Darius of Babylon
he left Babylon with that king’s blessing and gifts. Ezra was embarrassed to ask for soldiers to
protect his party since he insisted that God was with him and sending him on
this great journey (Ezra 8:21-23). He
fasted and prayed and after gathering the Levites he needed for the work of the
house of the Lord he began his journey.
Can you imagine the look on Ezra’s face when he heard the
king of Babylon order him to serve God and to teach others to do the same? He made sure Ezra had all the finances,
supplies and manpower he needed to make sure he was on God’s good side (Ezra
7:13-23) and even went further to prevent any taxation of the workers and
Levites (Ezra 7:24-26) and ordered that anyone who went against his decree
would be put to death or banished completely.
In verse 27-28 of that chapter Ezra is absolutely beside himself with
joy over the grace that God has extended.
None of this took place because of armies battling one
another or money changing hands. This
was all begun and completed by a sovereign act of God. As I said before, Zechariah 4:6 says, “Not by might, nor
by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord!”
Does it ever appear that you are stuck in a place and nothing is
happening? Have you prayed? Fasted?
Studied His Word to be sure your requests and desires line up with it? If you have done these things and still seem
to be locked in one place then you simply do whatsoever your hands find to do
according to His Word and wait.
Many do not like the concept of waiting and in this case
Israel waited 70 years because of their sin.
After that 70 years of waiting they had to battle complacency (most Jews
did not want to leave Babylon), backbiting and lies from the pagan people who
populated Israel, as well as hardships of hunger and privation. All these things will come against you. We are more than conquerors (Romans 8) but
though we have already won by the power of our God, we must still fight the
fight. We must press on.
It seems I have been writing a lot for this particular
portion of scripture. In case you’ve
forgotten, we’re not talking about Ezra, but about Nehemiah. To understand Nehemiah we must first
understand all the difficulties in Ezra.
Thirteen years later Nehemiah was about to endure a whole new area of
difficulty. While Ezra was an obscure
scribe who knew the Word of God very well, Nehemiah was a highly respected,
highly placed servant of the King of Babylon.
When Nehemiah heard of the trials of affliction being heaped
upon those who had returned to Jerusalem, he was moved to fast and weep before
God. I appreciate how he doesn’t’ try to
make light of Israel’s past sins. He
lets God know that he, Nehemiah knows Israel’s current condition is well
deserved. He acknowledges all the sins
of the people and how badly they failed God.
Not one stone had been left upon another and all the walls of Jerusalem
had been pulled down and the gates burned with fire. Simply processing this great sorrow caused
him to take a leave of absence of several days from his duties as cupbearer for
the king of Babylon.
This particular king was known to be mercurial with violent
flashes of temper. When Nehemiah came
before him to serve he was expected to be pleasant and happy. The king immediately picked up on Nehemiah’s
grief over Jerusalem and commented upon it.
The King James translation of “sore afraid” does not quite bring across
the true feeling of stark terror Nehemiah experienced. He was in fear for his life for appearing
before the king in a bad mood. Consider
the book of Esther when she had to come before the king unbidden to save her
people (Esther 5). Had he not extended
the scepter her life would have been forfeit.
She knew this and knew as well that the kings previous wife had been
killed for insubordination. There are
times when you simply have to do what God requires … come what may.
Even after the king asked what his request was Nehemiah took
a brief moment to pray before answering.
Due to his station as the king’s cupbearer, Nehemiah had asked for
soldiers and letters to make his life easier.
That did of course help, but as we saw in Nehemiah 2:10, there are
always those who would like to see God’s work stopped. One thing you see in Nehemiah 2 is that you
don’t have to go about broadcasting what God has called you to do. Whenever you do so there are those who might
want to help you but think you should do it their way. Others will try to stop you because they are
offended you might do something they do not want to see done or because you
aren’t doing it their way. Some people
simply do not like change and will come against you for that change.
In the end of chapter two we see another reason someone
might fight against you. If you have a
heart to serve God fully there are always those who say it does not take all
that effort to serve God. In this case Sanballat
the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian all
gathered together to nip and bite at Nehemiah’s heels to prevent his
success. They also were deeply offended
because Nehemiah turned down their feigned offer of ‘help.’ He knew they only wanted to do whatever they
could to slow down the work of God and he could not allow that. His king had only given him so much time to
complete his task and so he had a schedule to keep.
Israel (for the most part) was thrilled to begin work on the
walls. There were groups who disagreed
and refused to work (there always will be), but most were anxious to make
Jerusalem a proper city again. Some
worked on the walls and others upon the gates to restore her security.
The stones surrounded Jerusalem are a symbol of the chief
cornerstone of the Lord. They alone were
unable to protect Jerusalem, they were but a symbol. Israel knew her true strength lay in the God
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The walls
might mean something to those who thought to harm them, but in truth the
strength of those walls had always been spirit.
This brings us to our scripture above. In spite of orders from the king, they were
trying to battle against Israel by nipping at their heels and weakening their
resolve. In later verses we see them try
to interrupt Nehemiah and the others with requests for meetings and
opportunities to talk. Nehemiah never
for a moment stopped the great work they were doing. Men worked on the wall with a pick or hammer
or axe for the work and a sword on their belt should battle ensue. They were prepared to fight the good fight.
Our faith in God is like a well built wall of stone. Waters may rise and insults may ensue, but if
the wall is kept strong they will not prevail.
It is said that the stones in the walls and temple were so well cut that
they went together so well that neither water nor outsiders could press
through. How about your faith? Is it strong enough that the constant
dripping of complaint or the constant nibbling of the foxes cannot knock it
down?
STONES OF ADVERSITY
Psalm 91:9 Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my
refuge, even the most High, thy habitation;
10 There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh
thy dwelling. 11 For he shall give his
angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 They shall bear thee up in their hands,
lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Psalm 91 is all about protection in trials and service to
God. The word dash is nagap which means to push. It is used of pushing something away or
pushing a sword at someone. The word
leaves the flavor of someone doing something that will cause themselves harm if
they are not careful. God is not
responsible to keep you from suicide or self harm, but He sends His angels to
guard us from the stones of adversity that may sometimes block our paths.
There is a remez to this scripture in Matthew 4:6 and Luke
4:11. In those verses Satan quotes the
scripture to make it appear that God will send His angels to protect Jesus even
if He threw Himself headlong off of a precipice. Jesus’ answer was to quote Deuteronomy 6:6
and say you shall not tempt the Lord thy God.
God’s promises are sure and His protection is powerful. They do however require your obedience to His
leading and even then He may allow your wounding or even death. Romans eight says we are sheep for the slaughter which means if
our life is necessary for His purposes He is more than willing to spend it
knowing our eternal life in Heaven is always secure. To God our death brings us closer to Him, not
more distant. It should not be a
frightening idea. The more we learn to
trust in Him, the more at peace we’ll be.
Always remember, “The
God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my
salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou saved me from
violence. I will call on the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be
saved from mine enemies (2 Samuel 22:3-4).”
Blessings to you in your assurance of God.
Bishop J
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