by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 21-22
Should we say, “Corruption in government?” When we see lies, cover-ups, and greed in our modern government, we sometimes think that it’s a new thing. It isn’t.
Jezebel and her entourage were masters of corruption. When the honorable Naboth wouldn’t sell his land to King Ahab, Jezebel flippantly devised a plan to have people give false testimony and have Naboth murdered. To her, it was just a matter of course – and her followers were so very willing to comply. Such evil!
Elijah had gone up on Mount Carmel and had confronted the priests of Baal. So all of Israel had a demonstration of the one true God, but Jezebel wasn’t moved. The Word says, “Surely there was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife incited him.”(21:25)
Jezebel controlled her husband through and through.
Then here come the false prophets. When evil leaders are in power, they definitely have an influence over those around them. There are some who will do anything to gain the praise of these leaders.
It’s worth noticing that Ahab says, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil.”(22:8) Imagine that! A true prophet. The majority are dishonorable “yes men.”
The king is warned that when he goes into battle he will not prevail, but he locks up the true prophet in a dungeon and goes anyway, disguising himself, thinking that he can outsmart God.
But, no! He can’t outsmart God, and the evil king is killed in battle, just as was prophesied. His evil son, Ahaziah, takes over the reigns of Israel.
In the meantime, Jehoshaphat is king in Judah, and he is more honorable. In fact, he is considered to be a “good” king in the sight of the Lord.
As I go through these books of the Bible and these times in history, I often see our modern era. I’m sure that you do also.
When prosperity and sophistication come to a nation, there is always a tendency to start changing God’s message. The culture gets mixed with the gospel, and a hybrid gospel appears.
For any generation to remain true to God’s plan the plumb line has to remain in place. The plumb line of God’s Word.
When the building doesn’t look straight, move the building, not the standard.
Luke 23:26-56
As Jesus is taken to the cross, He makes a poignant remark. The women are crying and mourning over Him, but He tells them to stop.
He says, “For behold, the days are coming when they will say…to the mountains, ‘fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘cover us.’ For if they do these things in the green tree, what will happen in the dry?”(v.30-31)
Jesus is speaking of the judgment which is coming on the Jewish nation. They are the green tree, and should know when the Savior finally arrives. After all, the underlying reason for God’s covenant with this nation over these many centuries was to bring forth an understanding of God and to bring forth the Messiah.
Here He is: the Savior, and they are killing Him. There is no way that the blessing will be remaining on this generation. They will be dry, and no telling what will happen.
Jesus is saying to the women who are crying, “Mourn for yourselves and your nation. Hard times are coming.”
There may be times when God seems to be quiet and His Word seems to be far away. However, His Word is true, whether we believe it or not. All that He says will come to pass.
Just thinking about that makes me want to stick close to Him!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 16-18
The kings of Israel get worse and worse, until we come to the abominable Ahab, who marries Jezebel, daughter of the Sidonian king. She slaughters all of God’s prophets and has Ahab build altars to Baal throughout the land.
Thankfully, the Lord raises up a prophet in the land – and not just any prophet. Elijah is one of the greatest prophets of all times. He knows his God and he believes Him.
Elijah speaks the Word of the Lord and calls for a drought on the land – and it happens. Of course, without rain, the brooks dry up and the crops can’t survive. Thus there is famine.
In the midst of the famine, however, God protects Elijah and miraculously saves the widow who helps the prophet.
After three years of drought, it’s time for a showdown, and Elijah meets 450 prophets of Baal up on Mt. Carmel. As they prepare their sacrifices, the true God is to answer by fire and consume His sacrifice. The 450 priests of Baal jump around, cut themselves, and yell loudly, but nothing happens. Then Elijah ups the ante by pouring water all over his wood.
It must have been a dramatic moment when all of the people see fire come from heaven and burn up Elijah’s sacrifice – even licking up the water he had poured. What a display of God’s might. The people turn back to God … and the rains come.
It seems sometimes that our world is in the place of Israel. The prevailing voices in the land seem to say that there is another god besides the true One. These voices want to proclaim their own laws and reasonings which go against God’s wisdom.
Yet there is only One true God and He is the One we should heed.
My prayer is that in the days to come, He will show Himself strong to our society. I pray that there will be a mighty breath of His Spirit across our land, causing hearts to turn back to Him – to realize that He is the One and the only One.
Luke 22:47-71
Do you sometimes wonder how Judas could have betrayed Jesus? I do.
To think that he walked with Jesus, listening to the teaching and seeing the miracles. He partook of His love, just like the others. Yet he betrayed the Lord and led the chief priests and temple officers to Him by night, so that they could take Him away for crucifixion.
It’s reminiscent of Lucifer, the beautiful archangel who rebelled against God and turned into Satan. Even in the midst of heaven itself, there was betrayal. Judas seems to have fallen into the same vein.
In contrast, we see Peter. He too falls away – out of fear. Yet when he hears the cock crow, just as Jesus said it would, he goes away and weeps bitterly. He can’t believe that he has denied his Savior.
Judas will not recover from his betrayal, but Peter will from his denial. Peter is repentant, and later will become one of the Lord’s strongest apostles.
It’s all about the heart. It’s always about the heart.
Peter denied Jesus because of a weak moment during his time of temptation, but his heart wanted to stick with the Lord. Judas, out of a cold heart, betrayed Jesus because he wanted some money. He was cold, calculating, and deceitful – as he kissed Jesus on the cheek.
There was no hope for Judas.
As the many voices of our generation try to deny our Lord and his Word, we should stay girded up. We want to continue as a strong voice of redemption in the land. There are many who have been sidetracked by false doctrines and phony “believers.” They need to hear our voices of the pure gospel.
I want to be one of those voices, and I know that you do also.
Forever upward!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 14-15
There seems like there is no hope for Israel and Judah.
It’s been about 450 years since Joshua led these people into the Promised Land. They have been taught to remember the covenant and all of the miracles which God had performed on their behalf. He had delivered them from Pharoah with many signs and wonders, and had led them into this land. They had an unprecedented history with their Creator.
Of course, they didn’t have the Bible as we know it, but they did have the Law of Moses and all of the traditions handed down by the priests. The kings had been taught about the God of Israel and the importance of remaining faithful.
Yet what a mess! The kings are going after every heathen god imaginable, and observing their practices. All of this is an abomination.
In 14: 25-27 there seems to be a prophetic statement when the king of Egypt comes and steals all of the treasures out of the house of the Lord. These treasures were all of the gold implements put there by Solomon. There were shields, cups, vases, and many more works of pure gold. Rehoboam replaces the shields with bronze.
It seems that this is symbolic for the true worship of God being replaced with artificial. No longer real, but phony – a substitute for the real.
Unfortunately, there will never be another good king in Israel, which consists of the majority of the great covenant-people of God.
However, God keeps his covenant with the one remaining tribe. He still will lead Judah, because He had promised David that He would watch over his throne.
Then, too, the Lord needs to have a people who will be faithful so that they can eventually bring the Savior on the scene for us.
It’s hit or miss on Judah’s kings, but there is a hit on Asa. He removes the cult prostitutes, and he even removes his mother from being the queen mother, because she is worshipping Asherah.
As we are moving through this history of Israel, it’s a good idea to relate the incidents to modern times. A secular culture is always trying to penetrate the church and its teachings, and hearts are always being swayed.
We can learn some lessons, if we pay attention.
Luke 22:21-46
The hardest moment of Jesus’ life is about to come. For the first time in all of eternity, He is to be separated for His Father.
As He prays in the garden, sweat drops of blood fall to the ground. The stress is tremendous.
Several years ago, the Lord awoke me in the middle of the night and had me go into my den. He began to teach me from these passages, as He took me to every account of this Gethsemane experience, and He showed me what was happening.
While in the garden, Jesus knew that He was going to pull off the most extreme measure in the history of the world. He was going to be separated from His Father, as He died and paid the price for our sins. He was going into hell for three days, and then, after paying the full price to the devil, the Holy Spirit would come into Him and lift Him up from the dead for the greatest feat known to man.
The only assurance that this feat would work was Jesus’ faith in God’s plan.
You and I might be striving to enter the rest of faith as we undertake our challenges, but we’ve never faced anything like this. Think about what Jesus was going through.
He is a forerunner for us. Don’t misunderstand me. I am not by any means saying that what we do is as significant as what He did. I am just saying that there is a pattern here.
There are times when we know that God’s best is not being performed yet in our lives. As we pray and meditate on the Word, there are times when we know that our faith needs to improve. We just aren’t really believing what we have read yet. We are saying, “Lord, help my unbelief.”
As we follow the leading of Jesus and continue to pray, we will come through to a bright moment when we will know deep down within ourselves that we have what we are believing for. We won’t see it with our eyes, but we will know that we will be seeing it.
Our faith has become a reality.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 12-13
So the kingdom is split. Sad, sad, sad. To think that just a generation ago Israel was the greatest nation of all time so that people would come from afar to see the wealth and wisdom. Now look at it.
Solomon’s sin causes God’s favor to wane and Jeroboam rises up to take most of the nation to himself.
Now we have two nations. Judah and Israel. Judah remains with Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, and Israel is ruled by Jeroboam.
If the division isn’t enough, Jeroboam wants his people to have a place to worship, so he has two golden calves installed in his territory. The inhabitants are encouraged to worship the calves instead of Jehovah God.
The fires of revival have to be tended. That is true today as well as in these Biblical times. When one generation gets lukewarm, the next generation could be totally cold. That’s what seems to be happening in Israel and that is what is threatening to happen in our world today.
I pray that the bellows of the Holy Spirit will blow on the coals of awakening in our land. We need a fresh fire from God – to wake us up to the truths of His Word.
Blow, Holy Spirit, blow!
Luke 22: 1-20
Jesus and His disciples partake of the “covenant meal” before His crucifixion.
He is introducing a new concept to them; He is introducing a new covenant. These Jews have known for many centuries that they were in covenant with God through their father, Abraham. God and Abraham made a covenant, and all of Abraham’s descendants would be blessed if they would keep their part of the covenant. (The laws and principles laid down by God through the Law of Moses).
This is different. I wonder what’s going on in the minds of these disciples as they drink the wine and take the bread with Jesus. This is a new covenant.
Jesus is saying that when we eat the bread and drink of the wine (or grape juice), we are ceremoniously agreeing to the covenant He is making.
See, the covenant Jesus is making is not like the one that Abraham made. Abraham made a covenant that required bulls and goats to be sacrificed every year for remission of sins. Once was not enough. During those years, our Father was pointing to the day when He would make His own sacrifice for our sins.
That day is here, as Jesus lifts His cup and drinks with His disciples. I’m sure that it’s difficult for the disciples to understand this new concept.
Jesus is going to the cross to make a final sacrifice for all time. The final sacrifice for our sins. He is God’s lamb, and all of the animals which were slain over the centuries were pointing to this one moment – the final sacrifice.
The revelation of what is happening cannot come through someone’s mind. You can hear about it and talk about it, but only someone who has received the new birth can actually begin to understand. It’s understood only by the Spirit of God.
I pray that my spiritual eyes, and yours, will be opened more and more so that we can come to know Him better. The tremendous gift given to us through Jesus is more than a human mind can comprehend. Only God can show us glimpses of what He has for us.
I pray that you and I will be some of those who truly walk with Him and comprehend all that He wants to share with us. It’s amazing.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 8-9
Here we see the high moment of Solomon’s reign. After all of those years of procuring the materials and artisans, building the house of the Lord, and fashioning all of the furnishings of bronze and gold, the ark is moved to be set in its place under the cherubim in the holy of holies.
And God shows up! He is pleased with Solomon as he establishes this house, and Solomon is pleased with God. The glory of God fills the house like a tangible presence – a cloud, and the priests could not even stand because of that glory. (8:11)
Solomon’s prayer is touching. “There is no God like Thee in heaven above or on earth beneath, who art keeping covenant and showing lovingkindness to Thy servants who walk before Thee with all their heart.”(8:27). Thus begins Solomon’s long prayer with supplications to God for forgiveness to remain with the Israelites as long as they stay repentant.
After this celebration, many sacrifices, and feasting before the Lord for many days, the Jews return to their homes “joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that the Lord had shown to David His servant and to Israel His people.”(8:66)
When the Lord appears to Solomon a second time, He reminds him of the need for faithfulness. If Solomon will continue in faithfulness to God, he will not lack an heir to sit on the throne. However, if he turns away from God, then the throne will be removed.”(9:1-9)
Why is our Father so determined to keep our hearts pure before Him? He is determined because He is the only source of life for us. Since his fall, Satan has tried to fabricate other gods and have men worship them – demonic gods, which bring only death. Then men over the ages have lifted themselves in pride and created other “gods,” with the same results – death.
There is only one true God – the Creator of the universe, and only this true God has life to offer. He is full of love and wisdom – everything good that can be obtained. He alone should be worshipped.
“Every good and perfect gift comes down from above, from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, nor shifting shadow.”(James 1:18)
He is the only One I want to worship!
Luke 21:1-19
Jesus reveals some of the end times events, and He gives us a charge.
“and you will be hated by all on account of My Name, yet not a hair on your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.”(17-19)
Just as the Lord spoke to Solomon, He is speaking to us “stay faithful, endure, don’t waiver in your beliefs.”
Most of us haven’t had to give our lives for the gospel, and we usually don’t feel hated because of His Name. Yet there is rising up an attitude of mocking toward those who really believe Him.
In many parts of the world, persecution is indeed real for Christians. In some places, ministers and believers are being beaten, jailed, and even killed because of their beliefs.
In other parts of the world, people are not being killed, but they are being mocked for their beliefs. Truth is being twisted and contorted so that many don’t even know what to believe.
We are called to stay faithful to the end. We can’t let other men, who don’t believe, be the ones to determine our beliefs. We may be mocked, but that doesn’t matter. We know that God’s Word is true – regardless of what others say.
“By our endurance, we will gain our lives.” I am determined to endure!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
I Kings 6-7
Don’t try to tell me that God isn’t a God of detail!
Whew! Just reading these two chapters, it’s clear that there is nothing incidental in Solomon’s temple. The length, width, height, shape, color, texture – everything is noted about the temple and its implements.
It gets confusing to me trying to imagine what it looks like with all of the handiwork.
One thing is for certain. Only the choicest materials are used and only the finest artisans are procured for the job. Solomon even brings a worker of bronze from Tyre to fashion the bronze work.
It takes seven years from start to finish, and it must be a beautiful place indeed.
Tomorrow, we’ll read about the dedication. Can’t wait!
Luke 20:27-47
Jesus turns the tables. The Sadducees bring a question concerning a woman whose seven husbands die and each time she would marry another brother. Which would be her husband in heaven?
Now the Sadducees did not believe in a resurrection, so they are trying to show that resurrection doesn’t make sense. Yet Jesus turns the question back to them.
He says, “That the dead are raised, even Moses showed…Moses calls the Lord, the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”(v.37-38)
He has them in a bind now, because these people say they believe in Moses. Why would Moses call Him the God Abraham, etc. if Abraham was dead?
Then He goes in a little deeper. “Why did David say the Lord said to my Lord… if Christ is his Son?”
As usual, these intellectuals don’t know how to answer.
Intellectualism can really get you into trouble, because our minds aren’t large enough to comprehend God. Even the most educated, when they start trying to come against the Word of God, wind up with inconsistencies in their reasoning.
I learned a long time ago that God is smarter than we are. We just might as well accept that fact and live with it.
We can’t out figure God and we can’t always figure Him out. We receive Him by faith, and walk with Him. He proves that He is real in a thousand ways as we walk with Him. We will know lots of things, but those things won’t come through our reasoning.
After all, He is our Creator.
