1 Kings 13
Kingdom, Come • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Scripture Reading: Galatians 1:6-10
1 Kings 13
1 Kings 13
Last Time, We Saw King Jeroboam of Northern Israel…
Completely Change the System of Worship in His Kingdom
He Made 2 Golden Calves…
To Be Worshiped as God at the Northern & Southern Borders
He Built Temples on High Places
He Established a Non-Levitical Priesthood
He Established an Unauthorized Feast Day
All of These Things were Contrary…
To the System of Worship that God had Established
He was Rejecting God’s Word/Will
Our Text Tonight May Seem a Little Odd or Out of Place
But it’s Directly Connected to What Jeroboam is Doing in Israel
This Text is Going to Be Primarily Focused on a Prophet
He could’ve Been One of the Greatest Prophets to Ever Live…
But We Don’t Even Know His Name
We’ll Find Out Why in the Text
1 Kings 13:1–6 (NET)
1 Just then a prophet from Judah, sent by the Lord, arrived in Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing near the altar ready to offer a sacrifice. 2 With the authority of the Lord he cried out against the altar, “O altar, altar! This is what the Lord says, ‘Look, a son named Josiah will be born to the Davidic dynasty. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who offer sacrifices on you. Human bones will be burned on you.’ ”3 That day he also announced a sign, “This is the sign the Lord has predetermined: The altar will be split open and the ashes on it will fall to the ground.”
4 When the king heard what the prophet cried out against the altar in Bethel, Jeroboam, standing at the altar, extended his hand and ordered, “Seize him!” The hand he had extended shriveled up and he could not pull it back. 5 The altar split open and the ashes fell from the altar to the ground, in fulfillment of the sign the prophet had announced with the Lord’s authority.6 The king pled with the prophet, “Seek the favor of the Lord your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” So the prophet sought the Lord’s favor and the king’s hand was restored to its former condition.
So, a Prophet From Southern Judah…
Came to the Altar at Bethel in Northern Israel…
To Prophesy Against it
He Foretells of a Future King of Judah Named Josiah…
Who will Sacrifice Pagan Priests and Burn Human Bones on this Altar
Jereboam Doesn’t Like this, So He Tries to have Him Arrested…
Only to have His Arm Shriveled Up
It’s Obvious:
King Jeroboam is No Match for God and His Prophet
So, What Do You Do When You Can’t Beat’em?
You Sweeten’em Up
1 Kings 13:7–10 (NET)
7 The king then said to the prophet, “Come home with me and have something to eat. I’d like to give a present.” 8 But the prophet said to the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I could not go with you and eat and drink in this place. 9 For the Lord gave me strict orders, ‘Do not eat or drink there and do not go home the way you came.’ ” 10 So he started back on another road; he did not travel back on the same road he had taken to Bethel.
This Prophet is the Real Deal
He’s Paid Careful Attention to What God Told Him to Do…
And He’s Sticking to it
There is No Bribing this Guy
He’s Here to Do What God Said…
Exactly the Way God Said it…
Unlike King Jeroboam
He’s the Man of God
1 Kings 13:11–17 (NLT)
11 As it happened, there was an old prophet living in Bethel, and his sons came home and told him what the man of God had done in Bethel that day. They also told their father what the man had said to the king. 12 The old prophet asked them, “Which way did he go?” So they showed their father which road the man of God had taken. 13 “Quick, saddle the donkey,” the old man said. So they saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
14 Then he rode after the man of God and found him sitting under a great tree. The old prophet asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “Yes, I am,” he replied. 15 Then he said to the man of God, “Come home with me and eat some food.” 16 “No, I cannot,” he replied. “I am not allowed to eat or drink anything here in this place. 17 For the Lord gave me this command: ‘You must not eat or drink anything while you are there, and do not return to Judah by the same way you came.’ ”
This is Where the Story is Going to Get a Little Confusing
Sometimes the Scriptures Tell You What Happened…
Without Any Explanation as to Why They Happened
We Meet Another Prophet
He’s an Old Man Who Lives in Bethel (Where the Golden Calf is)
And When He Hears About What the Man of God Did/Said…
He Wants to Meet Him and Invite Him Over for Dinner
He Knew that the Man of God was Told Not to Do that…
But He Asks Him Anyway
Why would this Old Prophet Try to Get the Man of God to Disobey God?
We aren’t Told, and We have to Be Okay with that
But, the Man of God Doesn’t Disobey
He Sticks with God’s Instructions and Says “No”
But, Then We Read:
1 Kings 13:18–34 (NLT)
18 But the old prophet answered, “I am a prophet, too, just as you are. And an angel gave me this command from the Lord: ‘Bring him home with you so he can have something to eat and drink.’ ” But the old man was lying to him. 19 So they went back together, and the man of God ate and drank at the prophet’s home.
20 Then while they were sitting at the table, a command from the Lord came to the old prophet. 21 He cried out to the man of God from Judah, “This is what the Lord says: You have defied the word of the Lord and have disobeyed the command the Lord your God gave you. 22 You came back to this place and ate and drank where he told you not to eat or drink. Because of this, your body will not be buried in the grave of your ancestors.”
23 After the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the old prophet saddled his own donkey for him, 24 and the man of God started off again. But as he was traveling along, a lion came out and killed him. His body lay there on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it.
25 People who passed by saw the body lying in the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and reported it in Bethel, where the old prophet lived. 26 When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”
27 Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, 28 and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. 29 So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. 30 He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”
31 Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”
33 But even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil ways. He continued to choose priests from the common people. He appointed anyone who wanted to become a priest for the pagan shrines. 34 This became a great sin and resulted in the utter destruction of Jeroboam’s dynasty from the face of the earth.
What a Strange and Depressing Story
A Faithful Prophet Prophesies Against the Evil Practices of a King…
And Gives Infallible Proof that What He Says is Coming From God
Then An Old Prophet Lies/Deceives Him into Disobeying God
And Instead of the Deceiver Being Punished…
The Prophet Who was Deceived is Killed By a Lion…
And Then Buried with the Prophet Who Deceived Him
And to Beat it All…
The King Who Witnessed All These Things…
Continues in His Disobedient/Evil Practices
What an Odd and Depressing Story
When We Run Across Stories Like this in the Scriptures…
We Usually have a Lot of Questions that We Want Answers to
But Many Times, the Authors aren’t Interested in Answering Our Questions
But Surely There’s an Answer to the Most Basic Question:
“Why Did the Author Share this Story with Us?”
“Why Did the Author Feel this Story was Necessary to the Overall Story of the Book of Kings?”
There’s at Least 2 Reasons
One that is Pretty Obvious
Another that is Not as Obvious
The Obvious Answer as to Why We have this Odd/Depressing Story in Kings is:
Because it Contains a Prophesy that Directly Relates…
To the Sinful Practices of King Jeroboam
The Man of God Prophesied that a Future King of Judah (Josiah)…
Would Sacrifice Priests and Burn Human Bones on Jeroboam’s Altar…
In Order to Desecrate and Destroy it
We See this Prophesy Fulfilled in 2 Kings 23:15-16
2 Kings 23:15–16 (NLT)
15 The king also tore down the altar at Bethel—the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made when he caused Israel to sin. He burned down the shrine and ground it to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole. 16 Then Josiah turned around and noticed several tombs in the side of the hill. He ordered that the bones be brought out, and he burned them on the altar at Bethel to desecrate it. (This happened just as the Lord had promised through the man of God when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the festival.) Then Josiah turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things.
So the First & Obvious Reason this Story is in the Book of Kings is…
It Contained a Specific Prophecy of Something We’ll See Later
The 2nd, Less Obvious, Reason the Author Tells Us this Story is Because…
The Man of God Shares a Very Important Similarity with King Jeroboam
Jeroboam Listened to Bad Counsel Instead of God’s Direct Instruction
1 Kings 12:28 (NET)
28 After the king had consulted with his advisers, he made two golden calves. Then he said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to go up to Jerusalem. Look, Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
The Man of God Listened to Another Prophet Instead of God’s Direct Instruction
I Believe this is Exactly Why We See this Story…
Directly in the Middle of Jeroboam’s Story
Not Only are the Stories Interconnected…
But They are Extremely Similar
Both Jeroboam and the Man of God Disregard God’s Direct Instruction
And it Led to the Downfall of Both Men
Application
Application
We Often Criticize People of Other Belief Traditions…
Because They’re Prone to Listen to Their Preachers…
Or Follow Long Held Traditions…
Over Listening to and Following the Scriptures
But I’m Afraid We can Be a Little Hypocritical in Our Judgment of Them…
Because I’ve Known Far Too Many Christians in the Churches of Christ…
That Do the Very Same Thing
Whether it’s a Family Member Whom We Deeply Trust…
Or the Local Preacher/Elders of Our Own Congregations…
Or a Beloved Preacher From 100 Years Ago…
Or a Celebrity Preacher that Everyone Wants for Their Gospel Meetings…
We are Extremely Prone to Believe Information…
Based Upon Where it Comes From
Paul Told the Thessalonians:
1 Thessalonians 5:20–21 (CSB)
20 Don’t despise prophecies, 21 but test all things. Hold on to what is good.
Compare Everything that is Said with Scripture
If it Matches Up with Scripture, Hold onto/Believe it
If it Doesn’t, Throw it in the Trash
This is the Very Thing that the Jews in Thessalonica Wouldn’t Do
Acts 17:11 (NASB95)
11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
We Cannot Be the Type of People…
Who will Believe Something Because of Who Believes/Teaches it
We’ve Got to Think for Ourselves
We’ve Got to Test Everything Against the Scriptures
It Doesn’t Matter if it’s Something We’ve Never Heard Before…
Or if it’s Something We’ve Heard Our Entire Lives
Something can Be Wrong Even if You’ve Believed it Your Entire Life…
And All Your Favorite Preachers Teach it
And Something can Be Right Even if You’ve Never Heard it Before…
And All Your Favorite Preachers Teach Against it
The Man of God Disregarded the Direct Instruction of God…
Because Another Prophet Told Him Something that Contradicted it
Paul Told the Galatians:
Galatians 1:8 (LSB)
8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the gospel we have proclaimed to you, let him be accursed!
“We’ve Proclaimed the Truth of the Gospel to You”
“If Anyone Teaches You Any Different, They are Accursed”
“I Don’t Care if it’s Me or Even an Angel From Heaven”
Trust the Truth that is Provided in the Scriptures
Not Anyone or Anything Else