JUNE 17
You can see by the number of chapters we'll
read about Elijah, that this time was very crucial and deciding for Israel.
Actually the people of both Judah and Israel are looking on, not to mention
people in the surrounding countries.
1
Kings 18
Vs. 1-6 It is interesting that it never says
that there was a famine in Judah. Jehoshaphat was a very godly king in the line
of David, and somehow his kingdom, just south of Samaria, didn't suffer the
same damage. I wonder if this was a case of it raining on one side of the
street and not on the other. That would have made the testimony of this event
even clearer.
V. 4 This is not the same Obadiah who wrote
Obadiah years later after the fall of Jerusalem, but he is a very good guy.
Imagine the tension he must have lived under as a secret believer who was
keeping the remnant of God's prophets alive in the northern kingdom.
Actually, Jezebel's influence was responsible
for setting up Baal worship in Israel (1 Kings16:31-32 and 18:19). In clearing
the way for her brand of worship, she sought to exterminate everything that
remained true to Yahweh. We'll find out later that there was a remnant of 7000
men who had not bowed the knee to Baal. That's not very many people among
hundreds of thousands.
Vs. 7-16 Elijah knew it was time to meet Ahab
because God had made this clear. Apparently for the past three years, there had
been many "Elijah sightings" and God had swept Elijah away.
Apparently some people had died as a result. In a way, this is kind of funny.
Obadiah definitely wanted assurance from the Lord that Elijah would stay put
and meet Ahab.
Vs. 17-19 You would have thought that
everyone understood that the famine was God's doing, but here, the messenger
was blamed.
Vs. 20-25 This event would have taken days or
weeks to set up and to have everyone gather at the Mediterranean Sea, miles
away from the city of Samaria. Mt. Carmel was thought to be the dwelling place
of Baal. There were the 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of Asherah,
Baal's girlfriend. So then, the 400 prophets of Asherah were the cheerleaders.
Everything here would have been an advantage for Baal, if Baal had been real.
Vs. 26-29 The prophets of Baal had the first
go. Baal's power, supposedly, was at its peak at noon. They finally stopped at about
3 p.m., making this a very bloody and very long six-hour ordeal.
Vs. 30-40 Notice the significance of Elijah
rebuilding the altar of the Lord which had been destroyed.
The water that was used was from the
Mediterranean Sea. There is a sense of quietness about what Elijah did here.
There is no yelling and crying out by Elijah. Elijah's prayer showed he knew
what God's purpose for him was. The prayer also showed that Elijah knew the
Lord.
V. 39 It's hard to say what the total effect
of this was on the people, but here they were awestruck and willing to see the
prophets of Baal as fakes, and the people were willing to kill them under
Elijah's direction. You wonder if the prophets of Asherah were also killed.
Vs. 41-46 Apparently in the planning for this
event, Ahab made allowance for a festive "afterglow" and feast. You
might wonder why Ahab went up to enjoy the feast and why he didn't feel
defeated. I think it is because Ahab was a spiritually eclectic, wishy-washy
man. I'll bet he was totally amazed at what God had done. It's interesting to
me that the Gospels refer to King Herod as a man like this. He imprisoned John
the Baptist, yet he was afraid of John and protected him from Herodias. He was
perplexed when he listened to John in prison, yet repeatedly Herod was glad to
have John called in to speak to him. Ahab was a similar lost, pseudo-spiritual
guy like Herod, fascinated by the spiritual and believing that Yahweh was real,
just not convinced he needed to follow Him. I think there are lots of these kinds
of people in the church.
V. 43 Elijah knew the cloud would come, but
he persisted in prayer until it appeared. And look at how he prayed with all
his body and all his soul. Elijah's persistence is God's lesson for us all.
V. 46 Elijah was given super human power to
run these 25 miles, beating the chariot.
With all of this wonder and all of these
signs, guess what happens next?
For us as disciples our hearts need to be
focused on serving our Lord in the harvest as we follow, but not to be
surprised by results or the lack of them. Surely some people had been moved to
repentance by all of this, but not many. As we'll see tomorrow, Elijah might
have had higher hopes and expectations.
Acts
11
Notice the ears.
Vs. 1-8 Now this council or trial was very
important. God would use it to make some people face the fact that His Word and
His offer of salvation in Christ was going out to all men. Remember earlier
when it said that many of the priests became believers, well so did many
Pharisees. Between those two groups, a party came into being in Jerusalem that
became a threat to the mission of the church.
Vs. 2-3 Notice that these men didn't have any
hesitation criticizing Peter. As former Pharisees, their education and social
standing would have been better than Peter's, but God had intentionally given
Peter an honored status through the signs and through the conversions of
thousands that they couldn't touch. It was God's purpose, not Peter's faith or
ability.
Vs. 4-10 Notice the detail Peter gives here.
Anyone who knew Peter might have been interested by Peter's own objections and
that God had to repeat this three times to convince Peter. I'm sure the stories
of Peter's three denials and Jesus' three questions to Peter were very well known.
Vs. 11-18 Probably the most interesting thing
here for me is what Peter says in v. 16. Peter apparently had a lot of exposure
to John the Baptist, and as he saw the Spirit descending on Cornelius he must
have had an "aha" moment.
V. 18 I was reading this morning that when
Jesus answered the Pharisees and Herodians regarding paying taxes to Caesar,
they marveled and were silent. Silence doesn't always mean that people are in
agreement. When we get to chapter 21, we'll see that there are still problems
in the Jerusalem church regarding following the law.
In all of what Peter says here, you see how
beautifully and graciously God set this up. Not only did this happen to Peter,
but it also happened to six other brothers of the circumcision party. Not only
did God open the door to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but He also did it
in such a way that it sliced through any objections, saving the church from a
possible division. God used Peter and now Peter's actions in Acts are almost
finished.
Vs. 19-30 The center for outreach will now switch
to Antioch.
V. 19 Notice that as they went out, the
Christians only spoke to Jews. Doesn't that amaze you? As we read this it seems
that this might have just been weeks after the birth of the church, but
actually more than 10 years had passed since Pentecost. But God was working and
setting up pockets of Christians that no one knew about.
V. 20 Again, it was the Jews from Cyprus and
Cyrene (Barnabas was from Cyprus and remember Simon of Cyrene), who were open
to speaking to non-Jews [Hellenists (or Greeks) is used to refer to all
non-Jews], and many were saved.
Antioch was 300 miles north of Jerusalem.
Eventually Peter would visit there, probably fleeing Jerusalem. Peter’s future visit
to Antioch is mentioned by Paul in Galatians 2:11. At this point the church
fathers in Jerusalem didn't want to send Peter and John, but Barnabas. Barnabas
was well respected and he was used to dealing with Gentiles.
V. 22 The ears
of Jerusalem may be a veiled criticism of the very conservative and narrow
leadership that existed in the Jerusalem church.
V. 25 The words used indicate that Barnabas had
to search and hunt down Paul. Barnabas apparently never fully lost contact with
Paul over these 13 years but his exact location was unknown. His contact with
Paul was good enough to know that Paul was gifted for this work. Not only that,
Barnabas must have known from Paul's testimony, that Paul would be sent by the
Lord into Gentile ministry. Or it could just be that the Spirit told him to get
Paul, or all of the above. Paul was working in Asia Minor, preaching and
traveling.
V. 26 Agabus isn't exactly known for good
news. We'll see him again in 20 years in Acts 21.
V. 28 Finally we have a time reference. In
Galatians 2:1 Paul says he returned to Jerusalem after 14 years. Claudius
reigned from 41-54 A.D. So, if Jesus was crucified in 30 A.D. and Paul first
visited Jerusalem 3 years after his conversion and now 14 years later, it might
be 17 years since Jesus died and was raised, so around 47 A.D. This means that
Paul had dropped out of sight for 13 years, working up in Asia Minor (Turkey),
as he says, where no one knew him.
In Galatians, it says that Paul and Barnabas
took Titus, a Greek, with them just to test the water, and no one required
Titus to be circumcised.
Just like in the OT, we sometimes think
things just happened without gaps of time. Even here, God prepared Paul in
isolation. After Paul's conversion he disappeared for three years and returned
to Damascus. Then after visiting Jerusalem, Paul disappeared for 13 years. Paul
worked by himself, learning a skill, studying the Scripture, testing out all
his arguments, preaching to people, getting over his past mistakes and
overcoming his radical Jewish-ness, being prepared to become the apostle to the
Gentiles. This didn't happen to him overnight.
Many times in the Bible, people God used,
disciples included, were trained in adversity and in isolation. The isolation
was not just the removal from ministry or people. It was a time of wrestling
with God and self, and learning to depend on Him alone. Vision and personal
mission are things which are formed in quietness and conviction. Sometimes
being around people and in the stew of tolerance keeps firm convictions from
forming. When Barnabas found Paul and mentored him for that year, he saw in
Paul someone God had already prepared to do some mighty things. All Barnabas
needed to do was what he did best, encourage this disciple to make disciples in the
harvest.
Psalm
135
It is interesting that the psalm begins and
ends with the servants of God who serve God by serving the people.
Vs. 1-2 This is the song of the pilgrims
coming to Jerusalem, encouraging the priests and Levites to rejoice and praise
the Lord.
Vs. 3-4 They are to praise God because God
chose Israel for His possession. The priests and Levites were leading worship
for this possession of God.
Vs. 5-7 The priests and Levites are leading
the worship for the God of creation. Isn't it interesting that this is the
second time today that we've heard of a cloud rising at the end of the earth?
Vs. 8-12 They are leading the worship for the
God who freed His people and humbled nations to give Israel this heritage and
place to worship. What a privilege.
Vs. 13-14 The name of the Lord and His people
are eternal and eternally honored. The priests and the Levites were leading
worship in this eternal plan.
Vs. 15-18 They were representing the true God
who had saved them from error and shown them what was true.
Vs. 19-21 This song seems to reach a peak
here of joy and blessing and praise to the Lord. The priests and Levites should
be honored to lead the worship for God, for His people and possession.
Proverbs
17:12-13
To meet a fool in the middle of his
foolishness is dangerous. Not only is foolishness a hazard for others, but for
the fool himself. I take it that a fool would return evil for good and so bring
a curse on himself.
If you’re reading along
and don’t have a One Year Bible, click on this link http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/every-day-in-the-word/. If that doesn't work, go to http://www.esvbible.org/devotions/ and click on “Every Day in the Word.”
I'm writing these
comments to and for those who are following a One Year Bible and interested in
growing deeper as a disciple, following Jesus in the harvest. My hope is to see
the growth of a discipleship culture in the church. Groups of 3-4 disciples,
meeting weekly, encouraging each other to follow Christ and work to reach out
and make disciples who make disciples. The Bible itself is the most universal
manual we have and key to our growth and service in Christ. Nothing keeps us
more focused on why we are here or what we are to be doing. My comments are only
meant to provide some explanation of the events or to show the flow of God's
plan of redemption. My comments are in no way exhaustive, but are designed to
keep us focused on Christ and our role in His harvest. My hope is that the
people in these groups will grow in Christ and be willing, after a year, to
find 3 others to meet with and encourage in their growth as disciples,
disciples making disciples in the harvest.
If you would like a
complete description of this model of being and making disciples you can find
it in my book: Simply Disciples*Making Disciples.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B011WJIDQA?*Version*=1&*entries*=0
If you would like a more
descriptive commentary that is still readable and concise, I'd recommend the
Bible Knowledge Commentary. It's keyed to the NIV, so the result is the
commentators are constantly telling you what the Greek or Hebrew is. That never
hurts.
I am not endorsing any
particular One Year Bible; in fact, I read something you don't, die revidierte
Lutherbibel 1984.
Anyone reading along with
us is welcome to do so and is encouraged to take their own notes and make their
own observations. If the comments made do not agree with your particular
tradition or understanding, that's OK. Nothing I've written is meant to
criticize any point of view, but only to express the truth of what God has
written to us, as I understand it. Send comments or feedback to dgkachikis@gmail.com.
If you would like
documents containing an entire month of the Reading Notes, go to https://sites.google.com/site/dlkachikis/reading-notes. You can download these to use on your computer or to
print.
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