May 18, 2002
Trinity After Dark
1 Kings 16:29-17:1
“The consequence of Bad Choices”
One thing I love about being in America is the number of choices we have. Every time I sit down to watch the television I have 80 channels to choose from. I can’t decide on any one so I end up watching all 80 stations at once. Think of the enormous array of makes of cars we can choose, fast food outlets to eat at and consider all the brands of soaps we can buy. In all these areas I am free to choose. But when it comes to God, God’s people are not free to choose.
This sermon series is about the prophet Elijah, through the end of 1 kings and the start of 2 Kings, covering 7 chapters in total. This series title is from Elijahs’ very words “If the LORD is God, follow him.”
Elijah demanded that God’s people choose one way or the other. They had to decide who was god and worship him. They were not to hedge their bets and choose a cocktail of religions. This is an important message to us who face a tide of growing pluralism. Pluralism is the belief that there are many ways to God and no one religion can claim to have a monopoly on saving truth. This is not only a predominant belief among non Christians, it has now come to dominate the thinking among those who claim to be Christians. A recent Gallup poll showed that 3 out of 4 Americans believe all religions have at least some elements of truth. The Presbyterian church of the USA rejected a statement declaring Jesus is the only savior and Lord” at its recent convention.
I want us to study the message of Elijah, because our confident trust in the God of our Lord Jesus Christ being the only true god is under attack. The other reason for choosing the Elijah narratives is because I want us to have a healthy diet of Scripture from all parts of the Bible. This way we receive the full counsel of God. Last year we did a New Testament letter, then a Gospel, then Ralph took us through a topical series, and so it’s now time for an Old Testament narrative.
1 Kings 16. contains the record of the Kings of Israel. There existed 2 kingdoms, the Northern kingdom was known as Israel and the Southern as Judah. The book of Kings alternates between the stories of the Northern Kingdom and the Southern.
In chapter 16:29 we meet a king called Ahab. He was a king of Israel. Verse 30 gives us a great deal of information about this King. 16:30 “Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.” This is certainly not a very flattering description, but as you read through the book of Kings this seems to be a description given to many of the kings. Take for instance King Baasha, who was the 4th king preceding Ahab 15:34 “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord” And we can read about Zimri, “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And then there was Ahab’s Father Omri, 16:25 “But Omri did evil in the eyes of the LORD and sinned more than all those before him” In other words, we can see a spiraling downwards in the quality of the kings of Israel, with each king out doing each other in evilness. Now we come to the rock bottom. This king, Ahab, was more evil than all the rest.
Sin is like that, unless there is repentance, it spirals downward, getting worse and worse. Whether it be the sins of nations, or those of individuals, if we keep practicing sin we end up wallowing in a cess pit of sin, which we somehow become blind to.
The question could now be raised: What was so evil about King Ahab? Firstly he was an apostate. Verse 31 says: “He considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat.” This may not jump out at you as very serious, but that depends on who Jeroboam was and what he did. Jeroboam was a king of division. After Solomon’s death there was disagreement among God’s people. So Jeroboam took the 10 tribes and formed a new kingdom in the North, it took on the name Israel. That left 2 tribes which formed the Southern kingdom called Judah. Israel was split in 2 and never united again.
Secondly Jeroboam was an imposter. Jeroboam was made king of the Northern kingdom while the Southern kingdom continued to operate under the kingship of the true kingly line of David. Through assassination and military coup, the Northern kingdom (Ahab’s kingdom) had nine different dynasties, whilst Judah only ever had one, that of David.
Thirdly Jeroboam was an apostate. He was concerned that Jerusalem and the temple were in Judah and he didn’t want his people going there to worship God. So he set up 2 of his own alters in his kingdom, Bethel and Dan. He built 2 golden calves and set them up as images to be worshipped, and he appointed his own priests to carry out his new religion regardless of whether they were from the priestly Levi tribe.
But verse 3:34 30 says that Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him.
Jeroboam led God’s people in false worship, was a terrible role model, and 6 chapters later Ahab was still being compared to him and committing the same sin.
Secondly we see King Ahab made a bad choice in his bride. Verse 31 says “he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of Sidonians and began to serve Baal and worship him. God’s people were not to marry foreign women. But Ahab did. He married a most revolting woman Jezebel who had an enormous influence over him lead him into apostasy, murder and theft.
1 Kings 21:25 says “There was never a man like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the LORD, urged on by Jezebel his wife.” You will learn more about Jezebel as we progress through Kings, she was a frighteningly wicked woman.
In verse 32 we learn that king Ahab set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. In verse 33 it says that Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than did all the kings of Israel before him.
Israel was in effect a pluralistic nation. They were only too happy to mix religions. This way they could hedge their bets and appeal to both gods. You have to keep in mind this wasn’t 21st century America. They didn’t have the predictability that we have. They didn’t have irrigation or modern fertilization. They couldn’t trade perishables with distant lands, so they were at the mercy of the gods for survival. They could not control the climate patterns so they made sacrifices to appease the gods. If they didn’t appease the right god it could prove fatal, so they covered all their bases and worshiped more than one god.
Baal was the chief god of the Canaanites and was a god of natural forces, so it made sense for their survival to worship him. But the LORD will not tolerate shared loyalty. He is a jealous God. This point is illustrated in Deut 32:16 which says: “They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols.”
God may be slow to anger but this behavior will certainly do it. God told his people how they were to worship him. They were not to get their lead from surrounding nations. Deut 12:3 ”You must not worship the LORD your God in their way.” He promised them judgment if they did.
We also receive this short reminder that ignoring God’s warnings eventually catches up. Vs 34 In Ahab’s time, Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundations at the cost of his firstborn son Abiram, and he set up its gates at the cost of his youngest son Segub, in accordance with the word of the LORD spoken by Joshua son of Nun. To understand this we must cast our minds back to when Jericho was captured and destroyed under Joshua. “And Joshua pronounced a curse on Jericho that if any man built it, it would be at the cost of his firstborn and youngest son.” God did not ignore this curse and more than 600 years later, it came to pass. If God remembered this obscure curse, he will certainly remember his warnings to those who flaunt with his people the way Ahab did.
At this point Elijah enters the story. It is obvious from the start that Elijah is not going to be popular. To start with he brings bad news.
17:1 “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”
This pronouncement meant famine for the people of Israel. This seems somewhat ironic, since Elijah claims to be a servant of God and of their land. But the point he wanted to make was that there was one living God and that He was the one who controlled the climate. The people believed that Baal was the god of nature, that was why they made sacrifices to him. They thought that Baal was the one that brought the storms and the rain. But through Elijahs’ pronouncement they would learn that if there was rain and if their crops were fed, it would be because the LORD willed it. And if the LORD decided to shut up the skies, then there would be no rain. Israel was about to learn a lesson in worship.
What hope did Israel have with a king like Ahab? How could they be the nation they were meant to be with an apostate king, married to a vile woman who would lead them to an idolatrous dead end? But here Israel was at it’s lowest and God would not leave the situation alone. Through His prophet Elijah, God would intervene. Will God discipline or destroy?
We reach the point where we must ask what this means for us. How are we different from God’s people during Ahab’s reign? The answer is that our king is different.
While Israel had kings like Ahab it was being lead down a path of destruction. Israel could never be the special nation God intended it to be. God had to provide a true king of David’s descendancy. A king that would not lead God’s people in apostasy but rather in true worship. Ahab worshipped false gods and lead Israel into idolatry. Our king, Jesus Christ, does not tolerate such worship. When Jesus was taken to the desert, Satan promised him the kingdoms of the world if he would only bow down and worship him. Satan asked Jesus to do what Ahab did. But Jesus remembered God’s requirements
- “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
Jesus is not tolerant of other god’s or other ways of worship. The only god he recognizes is the one true living God who was revealed to Israel. All others were imposters.
Finally, in Jesus we have an uncompromising king. Jesus does not tolerate other ways and neither should we, his followers. Jesus has shown us the one living God and the one way to him. He does not legitimize any other way or entertain going anywhere else for the truth except to God’s word. I know that there are sincere believers of other faiths, good well intentioned people. But they are wrong, their gods are worthless and their worship a waste of time. In the book of Acts 4:12 Peter said to the Sanhedrin,
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Do you think Peter could have been clearer in terms of other ways to worship and other names to call on. Not only does he say that Jesus is the only one that provides salvation, but also that only those who call exclusively on his name will receive it. This is not a well received point of view in a culture where more than 3 in 4 believe all religions have at least elements of truth.
In a US News interview this year George Gallup summed up the current Christian belief by saying… “you have Christians saying ‘yes, Jesus is the only way and also, ‘Yes, there are many paths to God.’
Our King the Lord Jesus would never have said this. Instead He said: “Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
This is not Wal-Mart and we can not pick and choose our god or ways of worship. God did not approve of it in the days of Ahab. Jesus resisted the temptation to acknowledge another god and we must reject this as well.
This sets the scene for Elijah, and a contest between the Lord and Baal, to see exactly who is the living God. Israel will no longer be allowed to hedge their bets, they must either worship the LORD and reject Baal or have the LORD reject them.
