According to ancient records, King Ahab did a good job in building the Israelite economy. He also made strategic alliances, evidenced by his marriage to Jezebel, that brought security to Israel’s borders.
The problem with Ahab was that he did not serve the Lord. In fact, he was worse than the bad Israelite kings who came before him. The previous kings had worshiped the Lord, Jehovah, but in a wrong way, through a golden calf. Ahab worshiped the gods of the nations around them, Baal and Asherah, the fertility gods of the Canaanites.
Enter Elijah
God had promised that if His people turned away to other gods, He would call them back to Himself through judgments and through messengers or prophets. At this low point in the life of Israel, God called one of the greatest of those messengers into public service. His name was Elijah.
People looked back on Elijah with a veneration equal only to that given to Moses. They looked for another Elijah to come in their time of need. He was from the hill country on the east bank of the Jordan, a sort of highlander or mountain man. During his labors, God did amazing things. This is captured wonderfully in the song, “The Days of Elijah.”
In spite of these amazing things, the story of Elijah is remarkably human, just as Moses’ is. It conveys the fears, challenges, exhilaration, doubts, loneliness, and difficulties Elijah faced in doing such momentous work. In a time of crisis, Elijah’s ministry offers us many lessons for how God takes care of us in the ups and downs in life in general and the more wild swings of a time of great anxiety. Continue reading “The Challenge of Isolation & Insecurity”
In times of extremely dangerous threats, it can be hard to see hope.
The time of Isaiah the prophet was one such time (8th century B.C.). For a long time, the kingdoms of Israel and Judah had enjoyed relative prosperity without major threat of invasion. Now, the Assyrian Empire was brutally subjugating the territories around them and menacing the nations of Israel and Judah.
As this threat arose, Isaiah called on the people to consider the state of their lives. Were they living the right way? What were they living for? Had they forgotten the needy around them? Were they living for luxury and sensual pleasure rather than finding their enjoyment in God? This was a time for introspection (see Isaiah 1).
But it was also a time in which the people needed hope. Scary times don’t seem like times to hope. They seem like times for fear and fear. It’s very easy in those times to see only the threats and not see the things that are above them and beyond them.
So, Isaiah preached hope. He preached about a time when a descendant of their kings (from the house of David, see Isaiah 11:1, 10) would rise and create a glorious, prosperous, and peaceful kingdom. Isaiah describes this kingdom using different pictures, like those of the animal world. In this kingdom, for example, the lion will lie down with the lamb. This is the emblem under which he represents the amazing peace of the kingdom of the future King.
Not only that, the nations would actually submit to this King, and this would usher in peace and justice throughout the world. “In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious” (Isaiah 11:10). It would be a glorious worldwide kingdom of peace and justice.
The Apostle Paul was a Jewish Rabbi who was nourished on those promises and looked forward to their fulfillment. He was looking for God to intervene and set up that kingdom. In Jesus, Paul saw a threat to this future kingdom. He was so upset by people following Jesus that he sought to imprison anyone who followed Jesus.
Then, all of a sudden, Paul shows up in Damascus, Syria arguing with everybody that Jesus was in fact the very King Isaiah was predicting! What in the world happened?
According to Paul, Jesus was alive, though crucified, and he met the risen Jesus on the way to Damascus. As he explains it, Jesus spoke to him in a vision so convincing that it changed his life forever. In addition, he was convinced that Jesus was not only the King for the Jews but for the entire world. He saw it as His mission to tell everybody about this risen King.
Years later, Paul wrote a letter to the followers of Jesus in the great city of Rome. As he reflected on Jews and Gentiles coming together to confess Jesus as Lord and Savior, he realized that all that Isaiah had prophesied was coming to fulfillment. He writes, “And again, Isaiah says, ‘The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; in him the Gentiles will hope'” (Rom. 15:12).
And we are still seeing it fulfilled in our day. In the past 100 years, we have seen more people from more nations become followers of Jesus and submit to His reign than ever before. In places where the name of Jesus was unknown, prayers and praises to Him ring out all over the world. There is much more to come, but Jesus is reigning now.
So, we have more reason to hope than Isaiah did. Isaiah could only see the kingdom far off. We have seen it fulfilled in Jesus who said that the kingdom of heaven was here because He was here. We have seen it fulfilled in people submitting to His reign all over the world.
It’s easy to lose sight of that hope in the midst of a dangerous threat. We need to remind ourselves and one another of the reality that Jesus is now reigning and His kingdom is expanding over all the earth. That is the hope beyond the headlines.
It’s not always easy to see and feel this hope. To see and feel it more clearly and fully, we need God’s help. That’s why the Apostle Paul told the followers of Jesus in Ephesus that he continually prayed that God would enlighten their eyes to see the greatness of Jesus’ power and reign (see Eph. 1:18–23).
The more they could see it, the more they would become what Richard Lovelace calls “a new center for the reordering of life on earth as it is in heaven” (Dynamics of Spiritual Life, 47). Jesus wants His reign to manifest itself in how we live as people of His kingdom in every sphere of life: family, business, school, state, the arts, and everywhere else.
But we don’t have to do it alone. God has given us the church to help us. One of the major purposes of the church is to equip people to make an impact on the world, living out Jesus’ reign in all of life (see my explanation of the four major purposes of the church here). How do we help each other do that?
We pray for each other to see the reign of Jesus more clearly like Paul did for the church in Ephesus.
We seek to make the church look more like the kingdom of God. We accept one another and “make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification” (Romans 15:7, 14:19).
We help each other think through what it means for us to live out our lives, marriages, parenting, work, and play in light of Jesus’ reign.
We pray for God’s leading and working in each aspect of our daily lives, not just the so-called “spiritual” parts.
If we do this, we can really become a people who live in light of the hope that comes from the reign of Jesus, even in the darkest hours. This is the day of Jesus’ reign. God will help us and answer our prayer, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13).
Ecclesiastes 7:16 contains a statement one would not expect to find in the Bible: “Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself?”
How can you be too righteous or wise?
I was reflecting on this passage in connection with the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. There he tells us, “[If you can be] lied about and yet don’t deal in lies or being hated, don’t give way to hating . . .” In other words, don’t let the wrongs other people do pull you into wrongdoing.
At the same time, Kipling adds, “and yet don’t look to good, or act to wise . . .” This is virtually a paraphrase of Ecclesiastes 7:16. He explains the concept by using the word “look,” which reminds us of Jesus’ warnings in Matthew 6 not to do our good deeds to be seen by men.
The verse in Ecclesiastes is a bit stronger. “Don’t be too righteous.” How are we to understand this? Matthew Henry in his commentary on the whole Bible provides a very full and helpful explanation.
“Be not righteous overmuch,” Ecclesiastes 7:16.
In the acts of righteousness govern thyself by the rules of prudence, and be not transported, no, not by a zeal for God, into any intemperate heats or passions, or any practices unbecoming thy character or dangerous to thy interests.
Note, There may be over-doing in well-doing. Self-denial and mortification of the flesh are good but if we prejudice our health by them, and unfit ourselves for the service of God, we are righteous overmuch. To reprove those that offend is good, but to cast that pearl before swine, who will turn again and rend us, is to be righteous overmuch.
“Make not thyself over-wise.”
Be not opinionative, and conceited of thy own abilities. Set not up for a dictator, nor pretend to give law to, and give judgment upon, all about thee. Set not up for a critic, to find fault with every thing that is said and done, nor busy thyself in other men’s matters, as if thou knewest every thing and couldst do any thing.
Why shouldst thou destroy thyself, as fools often do by meddling with strife that belongs not to them? Why shouldst thou provoke authority, and run thyself into the briers, by needless contradictions, and by going out of thy sphere to correct what is amiss? Be wise as serpents, beware of men.
I think this is a warning that I, as a conservative religious person, need. It’s happened to me over and over again in my life. I make some progress in life or in understanding, and it goes to my head. It becomes a tool of my own conceit.
For those who seek after an authentic moral and religious life in God, it’s good to remember: “Don’t be overly righteous or be overly wise.”
This week, I have been studying the high priest in Exodus 28. In some ways, it is so simple. The high priest went before God on behalf of the people in the temple of the Lord.
On the other side, the detailed garments and activities call for serious reflection. As the 17th century Dutch theologian Wilhelmus à Brakel said: “The entire priesthood, and particularly the high priest, was a glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostle subsequently shows us in his letter to the Hebrews. Furthermore, each particular matter had its specific meaning.” He found what I have found: “meditation thereon [is] a sweet work.”
The high priest teaches us much about God, the world, humans as God created them, Jesus, and the restored humanity in Christ. All of this is worth reflecting on in detail.
Here let me just point out one of my favorites. On the shoulder straps, the priest would have onyx stones, and on those onyx stones, an engraver would engrave the names of the tribes of Israel. Thus, “[The high priest] is to bear the names on his shoulders as a memorial before the Lord” (Ex. 28:12).
The high priest would not only wear the names of Israel on his shoulders. He would wear them over his heart. On the breastplate, he bore 12 different types of stone that each represented the tribes of Israel. The workers would engrave the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on the stones. In this way, “[w]henever [the high priest] enters the Holy Place, he will bear the names of the sons of Israel over his heart on the breastpiece of decision as a continuing memorial before the Lord” (Ex. 28:29).
What is the significance of this? I think this is especially fulfilled in Christ. He is our great high priest who carries the names of His people on His heart before His Father. We should think of Jesus as the One who has us on His heart and written on His hands: “See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands . . .” (Is. 49:16). As the author of Hebrews writes: “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Heb. 7:25).
This should afford us tremendous comfort and joy. We have an advocate before the very throne of God who will not fail to pray for us and seek our good, Jesus! A colonial New England Pastor, Samuel Mather, captured this beautifully:
How should faith triumph in this? Is not our High Priest in the Sanctuary? Is He not clothed with garments of righteousness and salvation? And doth He not bear the names of His people upon his shoulders and upon his breasts before the Lord? Thy particular concerns (if thou are a believer) are written upon His heart with the pen of a diamond, in such lasting letters of loving-kindness as shall never be blotted out.
More than 3,000 years ago, God instructed His people to build a tent where His presence would dwell and heaven and earth would meet together.
Eventually, King Solomon replaced the tent with a permanent temple. Then, the temple was replaced with a non-geographic, portable worship in the Great Commission (Mt. 28:18 20). Nonetheless, reflection on this tent and its contents is a very pleasant thing. It teaches us about God, the world, human beings, Christ, worship, and the church. It’s not always easy to discern the exact meaning of every detail in it, but it is pleasant to think about. As the 17th century Dutch theologian Wilhelmus à Brakel said speaking of the high priest but equally applicable to the tent and the temple:
The entire priesthood, and particularly the high priest, was a glorious type of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the apostle subsequently shows us in his letter to the Hebrews. Furthermore, each particular matter had its specific meaning. However, we do not presume to be an expositor of each particular. We do indeed have our thoughts concerning this subject, and find meditation thereon a sweet work, but as we cannot speak about it with certainty, we shall remain silent, leaving everyone free in his thoughts concerning this. I wish to neither concur nor contradict, since we would not be able to agree with others in all things.
I think Brakel’s caution is helpful, but I believe we can share with each other our ideas that will help each other reflect on the meaning of the tent of God for us today.
To begin with, here is an overview of the structure of the tent with its furniture:
Here are a few suggestions for thinking about this structure:
The tent is constructed as a picture of the universe. Earth is the outer court. The holy place is the heavens. The holy of holies is the highest heaven, the throne room of God (see the helpful discussion of this in Mitchell Kim and G.K. Beale’s excellent book on the temple, God Dwells Among Us).
The ark represents God’s throne and law that is over the world. Note that the tablets of the Ten Commandments were in the ark.
The altar of incense represents the prayers of the people by which they commune with God.
The bronze altar and basin in the outer court represent the cleansing that sinners need and that God provides in order for them to come into His presence.
The seven lights on the candlestick represent the seven visible lights in the sky and the light that God gives to the world through His Word.
As you think about the tent of God or the temple, one can conceive of a variety of ways in which the tent points to other realities in God’s revelation beyond the tent itself.
The tent points to Jesus who is the One in whom heaven and earth meet (John 1:1, 14).
The tent points to the work of Christ who is our great High Priest (Heb. 2:14 18), where earth and heaven meet in His atoning sacrifice.
The tent points to the worship of the church because in it heaven and earth meet together (Heb. 12:22 24).
The tent points to us, for with God’s Spirit dwelling in us, we become a place where heaven and earth meet together.
The tent points to the new heavens and new earth when heaven and earth are finally and fully united together (Rev. 21:23).
There are innumerable other connections that one can draw. I find that these images help me see aspects of God and His work with us that I would not see as clearly otherwise. The Old Testament represents jewels just below the surface; the New has them on the surface. Both provide riches for our growth in grace and knowledge.
In times of extremely dangerous threats, it can be hard to see hope. 
Ecclesiastes 7:16 contains a statement one would not expect to find in the Bible: “Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise—why destroy yourself?”
This week, I have been studying the high priest in Exodus 28. In some ways, it is so simple. The high priest went before God on behalf of the people in the temple of the Lord.
More than 3,000 years ago, God instructed His people to build a tent where His presence would dwell and heaven and earth would meet together. 