1 Kings 21-22

21
Ahab asks for Naboth's vineyard, to use as a vegetable garden since it's close.  But it's Naboth's ancestral inheritance, and he refuses.  Ahab has no right to "eminent domain" in this way.  Ahab sulks again.  Jezebel gets it for him by false witness and murdering Naboth.  Elijah rebukes him and threatens punishment; Ahab repents of it, and God delays punishment as a result.

22
Ahab wants to attack Syria to retake some land.  When Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, visits, Ahab suggests an alliance, and Judah agrees.  The prophets predict success, but Judah wants a prophet of Yahweh to speak.  Micaiah predicts doom, and Ahab jails him.  In spite of Ahab's selfish scheme to protect himself, he is mortally wounded, and the dogs lick up his blood when they wash out his chariot back home as prophesied (21:19).

Jehoshaphat was Judah's king after Asa, and like him was generally faithful, though he made peace with Ahab.  His sailing expedition for gold was a failure, and he refused to ally with Israel (Ahab's son, Ahaziah) on another one.  Ahaziah was wicked, like Ahab.


How this is about Jesus
Ahab is an anti-type, a photo negative image of Christ.
Ahab takes an inheritance for himself; Jesus gives us one.
Ahab sulks when denied his desire; Jesus prays (in another garden/vineyard of Gethsemane) but remains faithful.
Ahab's wife lies to get his way; the leaders of God's people lie to get Jesus killed.
Kings shows the importance of a prophet to check the king.  Jesus is prophet and king.


Application
Those in power must use it to serve justice to people, not to serve themselves; and they must heed God's direction in His Word.

How are we responsible if God is sovereign?

Part 7 - Doctrine of Man
Chapter 35 - Human responsibility and freedom

How is man responsible if God controls even his decisions?

Man is indeed called to be holy, as God is holy (Lev. 19:1; Matt. 5:48).  It is God's sovereignty is the foundation of our responsibility to Him.

Most people think we are only responsible for what we do freely.  While ignorance or inability sometimes lessen or alleviate guilt they do not always completely eliminate it (Luke 12:47-48; Romans 5:19).  "Scripture... urges us to inform sinners not only of the senses in which they are unable to believe, but also of the ways in which they are able" (822).

Freedom
"Freedom refers to various kinds of abilities" (823).
The freedom to do good is moral freedom.  We lost this in the fall.
The freedom to do what we want is compatibilist freedom.  Compatible with predestination!
The freedom to choose a or b with "equal ease."  If we don't have it, we aren't responsible.  Frame calls this "Libertarian" freedom.

Libertarian freedom refuted:
The Bible doesn't teach it.  It assumes our responsibility because God made us, not because we are "Free to Choose" [HT: Norm Geisler].  Not even civil courts seek to prove that we are guilty because there was no cause but our will.  The Bible rejects we have a freedom of will independent of God.  God Himself is not morally responsible by this theory, since He cannot act against His holiness.  Libertarianism requires you reject God's exhaustive foreknowledge of anything.  It often relies on intuition that free will is right.  It requires that God has limited His sovereignty in some way, which the Bible never says He has.

The common objection to this is that we are robots, or that God shouldn't judge man for what He is responsible for making us to be.  But the Bible speaks of us as clay in the potter's hands.  We are creatures other than God, and He ordains our lives in a way that is consistent and maintains our integrity.  He gives us a role to play so that we are free, responsible and significant.  Arminians want to affirm this in a way that denies God's sovereignty over man; hyper-Calvinists want to deny this.

Being made in God's image involves choosing.  "We act according to our desires."  Not in a way that is independent of God's causation, but we participate in (copy?) His creativity.

Analogies?
Pilot and co-pilot.  No good, as only one of them flies the plane at a time.
Teacher and classroom.  Fits the libertarian view: God sets boundaries and students act freely.
Primary and secondary cause.  Common among Calvinists, but how is God not responsible for being a remote and primary cause?
Commander and Troops.  Gets at the authority aspect, especially through the Word, but only describes it, and not much else.
Author/characters.  This analogy works quite well.  The author is the ultimate cause of everything, but writes in a way that the characters are consistent and act according to their nature.  Macbeth is responsible for murder, but Shakespeare made him do it!  Macbeth is not technically responsible to Shakespeare for his murder, though the author is his judge, and it is possible to write the story such that the author is the One to whom we are responsible.

The last analogy of author and characters in a story also fits with the idea of covenant presence.  God the author is present at every point of the drama He writes.  He interacts with us as persons, not robots.  This analogy doesn't answer all our questions, but it does help us think biblically.

1 Kings 19-20

19

Jezebel threatens Elijah's life, and he runs far south.  God sustains him and he comes to Mount Sinai.  God asks why he is here, and he complains of Israel's disobedience (discouragement and self-pity abound, vss. 10, 14).  After an impressive display of power in wind, earthquake and fire, God speaks again in a still, small whisper.  He commissions him to go back to work in the north, anointing a king of Syria, Israel and a prophet, Elisha.  He rebukes his self-pity by pointing out the faithful remnant who are with him.  He calls Elisha and lets him go say goodbye to his parents first.

20

Syria threatens Israel militarily.  After some trash talk, Israel attacks and wins.  They win the next fighting season, too - Syria underestimates them and thinks Israel's god is local and can't fight as well in the plains.  Ahab gets help from prophets of God, and takes it, but he is too easy on Syria when he wins, letting the king go free.  A prophet confronts Ahab about it, and he goes home sullen.

How this is about Jesus

He also is in the desert 40 days and 40 nights, but without food to sustain Him.  He discerns God's voice, but without the self-pity.

He is greater than Elijah, which is why He doesn't let disciples say goodbye to their parents first (Luke 9:59-62).

He can help us anywhere - He is not local to Israel or any one country.
He is the prophet who is not threatened by the power of kings (John 19:9-11).

Application

When things get tough, remember the one you serve.  Discern and heed His voice.  Remember His plan is bigger than you.
Trash talk and presumption when you're the big guy are usually a bad idea.  Pride goes before a fall.
When you are corrected, sullenness is a sure sign you aren't taking it well.

1 Kings 16-18

16

Jehu the prophet (not the king) predicts the downfall of King Baasha's house, and it happens just two years after his death and his son's succession.  Zimria assassinates him and takes power for 1 week. Israel's army makes its commander Omri king.  The people set up another guy, but Omri defeats him.  [This sounds like a military dictatorship, now!]  Omri reigns 12 years, and Ahab takes the throne after him for 22 years.  He marries a princess of Sidon and builds her a temple to Baal and Asherah in Samaria.  An ancient curse from Joshua's day comes true when he allows Jericho to be rebuilt (vs 34; Joshua 6:26).

17

The prophet Elijah announces to Ahab that there will be no rain unless he (Elijah) permits it.  He hides east of the Jordan.  God sends him to Sidon (Jezebel's land!) and a widow lodges him.  Though her pantry is down to its last meal, her flour and oil miraculously don't run out for a long time.  Her son almost dies, but Elijah prays and God revives him.

18

God prompts Elijah to confront Ahab.  He goes through Obadiah, a faithful prophet of God in Ahab's court, hiding and providing for 100 prophets out of Jezebel's sight, while she subsidizes 850 pagan prophets.  Elijah calls Ahab, the prophets and all Israel to Mount Carmel.  He calls Israel to decide between Yahweh and Baal, as Joshua did long ago, but they don't answer.  They want it both ways.  He proposes two bulls be readied for sacrifice, and the god that lights the fire himself is the true God.  The Baal prophets call on him all day, but no answer.  When it is Elijah's turn, he repairs Yahweh's altar, pours tons of water all over the sacrifice, prays two sentences, and God answers with fire that consumes the sacrifice and all the water.  Elijah takes the opportunity to have the people kill all Jezebel's 850 pagan prophets.  Elijah warns Ahab that rain is coming, and it does.  Elijah running beats Ahab in his chariot back to town.

How this is about Jesus

Jesus is our king, never deposed - His kingdom is stable, unlike Israel's in chapter 16

Jesus is our daily bread, never exhausted, like the widow's food in chapter 17

Jesus is the living water that Israel was longing for in the famine

Application

• Ahab almost always listens to Elijah.  He is weak-willed.  It's his wife that's the bigger problem.
• Elijah called for people to give God their first, best and only, and trust Him for the rest.  He asks the widow with only one meal left, to make it for him (instead of for her son!), and God will supply.  He does.  He has Israel pour what little precious water they have on the altar to Yahweh.  When they do, it rains.
• Like Abraham with Isaac, we must relinquish to God what is precious to us.

Proverbs 30

"Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."

Verses 8-9

This seems such a wise desire for God to provide, and to remain dependent on Him.

The last half of the chapter has a series of 3 or 4 things that strike the author, and usually the last in the list is the main focus.  The theme seems to be the mystery of love (vss. 19, 23), and the limitations of kingship (vss. 28, 31-33).  The last three verses are quite a rebuke to a prideful king who is pushing too hard.

Proverbs 29

Verse 11 - "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back."

Self-expression is almost an absolute good in our time. but Scripture cautions us.  Maybe being understood isn't the most important thing in the world.  Where it conflicts with the law of love, we ought to give way.

Verse 12 - "If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his officials will be wicked."

Not only wicked rulers, but incompetent ones will encourage wickedness.  This is one way that power corrupts people.

Verse 18 - "Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint,[j] but blessed is he who keeps the law."

This one is often quoted as "Where there is no vision the people perish," asserting that leaders need to cast a vision for people to follow.  This mis-applies the text.  The point is more that without God's Word, we wander off discouraged or run off into folly.

Flags in Church / Baptismal View Changes How You Disciple Kids - Mark Jones

Mark Jones describes the difference between raising a child as a credo-baptist and as an infant baptist.  It's a great personal reminder of why God has included our children in His covenant with us.

On Trinitarian worship, also by Jones.  Two zingers:
"The problem with contemporary worship today is not that it is too emotional. No. The problem with contemporary worship is that it is not emotional enough. Our emotional life, because of our union with Christ, should reflect the full range of emotions found in the Psalter, which was Christ's hymnal and balm to his suffering soul on earth."

"An American flag in a church basically says: we don't ascend any higher than the land upon which this building stands."

1 Kings 14-15

14

Jeroboam doesn't consult his prophets, but Judah's when it really counts (his son is sick).

God prophesies the complete demise of his house, and the death of the child as she re-enters her house, to his wife.  Jeroboam reigns 22 years, though.

In Judah, they start to worship like pagans.  Within 5 years, Egypt conquers and takes all their temple treasure.  Rehoboam tries to act like he's still fine (vss. 27-28).  Solomon's question in Ecclesiastes is answered: when I die, what will happen to all my life's work and legacy?  Israel and Judah fight constantly.

15

Rehoboam's son Abijam reigns just like Rehoboam - ungodly.  But God spares him and Judah for the sake of His promise to David.

Abijam's son is Asa.  He gets rid of as much paganism as politically possible, but the people love the high places.  He allies with Syria against Israel (2 Chronicles 16 shows the folly of this).

Jeroboam's son Nadab is assassinated soon after taking the throne by Baasha, who kills all Jeroboam's house.  This fulfills the prophecy from chapter 14.

How this is about Jesus

He prophesies the doom of Israel's house, too (Matthew 21:43-46), and the people believed He was a prophet as He said it.  It happened within one generation.

He plunders the strongman, instead of letting pagans plunder Him.

We are spared destruction by God for the sake of God's promise to Jesus.

Application

Like for Asa's reforms, piety has a corporate dimension we seldom consider - a culture of societal expectations that is more or less in line with God's Word.  You can reform your own life a great deal, but will hit some walls when society isn't on the same page (examples: Sabbath and holiday observance, and exposure to impurity/profanity).

1 Kings 12-13

12

Solomon's son Rehoboam becomes king when Solomon dies.  Jeroboam sees his chance, and gets Israel to pressure him to loosen Solomon's burden on the people.  Solomon's counselors agree and urge Rehoboam to do it, but his peers advise the opposite - make it heavier and show them you're the boss.  Israel refuses to have him as king, and they stone the tax man he sends to them.  When he raises an army to force union, God stops it with a prophet's warning.

Jeroboam fears Israel will reunite with Judah if they all worship in Jerusalem together, so he sets up golden calves in Bethel and Dan, giving the people something new, on the wrong dates with the wrong priests, against the Word of God.

13

A prophet from Judah goes to Bethel and prophesies its altar will be torn down and its priests killed on it at the hand of a man named Josiah (this eventually happens).  As Jeroboam calls for his arrest, the hand that points at the prophet withers.  He repents and invites the prophet to lunch to give him a gift.  The prophet refuses and heads home.  A prophet from Bethel chases him down and invites him back for lunch, lying that God told him to invite him.  So he goes.  At lunch God speaks through the Bethel prophet rebuking the Judah prophet for going back.  He'll die before getting home.  Sure enough, a lion kills him, but then stands by the body without eating it.  The Bethel prophet retrieves the body (with the lion standing right there!) and buries him with honor.

How this is about Jesus

God's people are torn in two, and only in Christ will they be reunited.  He is the prophet who comes foretelling doom for Israel if they will not return to God's ways, but He does not listen to lies but only to God.

Application

Leaders should listen to older counselors more than to peers.

Don't mess with the worship of God for political reasons - to get people to like you.

The point of chapter 13 seems to be that Israel needs to listen to Judah's prophets; Judah shouldn't listen to Jeroboam's sham prophets.  Discerning who speaks for God is important.

Acts 12

Herod sees an opportunity to get favor from the Jews, by persecuting the church.  (This means hostility from Jew to Christian was getting intense and widespread.)  He kills James, brother of John (not of Jesus, not the author of the book following Hebrews), and imprisons Peter.  God frees Peter, with lots of Passover overtones (angel, door, sandals and cloaks, death of enemies).

Herod later dies, receiving idolatrous worship without stopping it.

The Word of God grows while its enemies are left in the dust.

Barnabas & Saul are a new Moses, mediating a new covenant to a new people, after a new Passover.

Proverbs 28

Verse 4 - "Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law strive against them."

The Supreme Court just forsook the law to praise the wicked.

Verse 7 - "The one who keeps the law is a son with understanding, but a companion of gluttons shames his father."

Though gluttony is seldom a crime, it's paralleled with keeping the law.  We aren't just talking about criminal and legal law, but moral law.
Having understanding isn't talking about knowing a lot of Bible facts or worldview theology - it means knowing when to restrain yourself.
Your lack of restraint brings shame on those associated with you.

Verse 26 - "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."

Notice that wisdom is outside of your mind.  You can either trust your own smarts or walk in wisdom.  In our pride we convince ourselves that they are the same.  But if wisdom comes from a multitude of counselors, we will learn wisdom from outside our skull more often than from inside it.

Acts 11

When Peter gets back to Jerusalem, news of baptizing Gentiles had beaten him there, and those zealous for the law in the church criticize him.  He retells the story, highlighting that Jesus baptized the Gentiles with the Spirit just as He baptized them.  This silences the criticism.

Most of those who scatter after Stephen's persecution go preach to Jews, but in Antioch lots of Gentiles believe.  Barnabas is sent there from Jerusalem, and he encourages them all.  He recruits Saul to help, and believers in Jesus are first called Christians there.

When the Spirit warns of a coming famine, the Antioch church sends financial aid to Jerusalem by Saul and Barnabas.


How this is about Jesus
What settles the controversial action of including Gentiles in the church is the Lord's work.  HE is the one baptizing Gentiles into their midst - they have the same faith in the same Lord and the same promises.  Torah-keeping is no longer the distinguishing characteristic of a Yahweh-worshiper, now it is faith in His Son Jesus, and submission to His apostles who are setting up a new order of God's people.


Application
When you hit conflict, you need to talk it out, and submit to the Lord instead of push your own agenda.
When new and unexpected things happen that aren't unlawful, be ready to encourage like Barnabas, and give like the Antiochians, instead of criticize.

Acts 10

While Peter is staying in Joppa, an angel appears to Cornelius, a Roman soldier who worships the God of Israel.  The angel tells him to send for Peter, and he does.  God shows Peter a bunch of unclean food, Levitically speaking, and tells him not to reject as unclean what God accepts.  The Spirit still needs to speak to Peter for him to get it, and accept Cornelius and his story and go to him.

Peter preaches Jesus to Cornelius, his family and friends.  The Spirit comes on them, they believe and speak in tongues.  The Jews there are amazed and can't object to baptizing them.

How this is about Jesus

He arranges for the gospel to extend beyond the nation of Israel to the Gentiles.

Application

• This passage proves the food laws of Leviticus pointed to something bigger - the distinction between Israel and Gentiles, God's people and unbelievers.  Health may have been a side benefit, but it wasn't the main point.
• Be on the lookout for the Lord to lead you to someone who needs Him, and needs you to tell them about Him.

Ecclesiastes 10-12

10
Folly ruins things.
Perfume, a country, your body, productivity, a conversation, a journey, and a house.

11-12
Work diligently at a diversity of things, for you don't know what God will prosper.
Enjoy life while you can, before old age sets in.

I tried hard to find good words, they are from the Good Shepherd.
Don't study too much, it wears you out.  The summary is: "fear God and keep His commandments."


How this is about Jesus
He is the Shepherd who gives inspired words through His Spirit.
He restores what our folly ruined.
He does not grow old and decrepit like we do - He is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Book Review: Catherine

Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Cushman writes as a 14 year old girl in 1290, whose father is negotiating her marriage to a local baron, a "beast."  Spunky, fiesty and imaginative, Catherine refuses marriage and doesn't understand why anyone would want to marry at all.  Her developing maturity comes painfully slowly.

Cushman colorfully shows what Medieval life was like, from church and festival customs, to the Jews and the crusades, to marriages, births and home life.

Great reading for a 12-15 year old girl.


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