Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20030608.htm

1 AND 2 KINGS: ENJOYING GOD'S BLESSINGS IN AN APOSTATE ERA
Part XII: Blessing In Taking God's SERVANTS Seriously In Apostate Times
(1 Kings 13:33-14:20 with 1 Kings 11:29-39)
  1. Introduction
    1. God raises up mortals to serve HIS interests as messengers of the Lord.
    2. However, due to the human frailties of such a messenger, those who hear him may assume he can be taken lightly or manipulated as such hearers may not believe what he says is the Lord's message to them.
    3. That is a big mistake, and 1 Kings 13:33-14:20 in light of 1 Kings 11:29-39 illustrates this fact as follows:
  2. Blessing In Taking God's SERVANTS Seriously In Apostate Times, 1 Kings 13:33-14:20; 11:29-39.
    1. When God wanted to make Jeroboam king of ten of Israel's twelve tribes, He sent the prophet, Ahijah to Jeroboam to inform him of this fact, 1 Kings 11:29-32.
    2. In giving Jeroboam this news, Ahijah explained the REASON for Jeroboam's reception of this kingdom arose from Solomon's errant idolatry, something Jeroboam himself had reason then to avoid if he was to enjoy God's blessing in his own reign, 1 Kings 11:33, 37-38.
    3. Yet, as we have learned thus far, Jeroboam himself became apostate, creating his own false idol worship to keep his subjects from returning to Judah lest they be influenced to follow after Rehoboam, 12:26-28.
    4. In fact, as we learned in the last lesson, even when Jeroboam was warned about his idolatry by a man of God whose prophecy was supported by his own death in God's judgment in 1 Kings 13:1-32, Jeroboam not only failed to repent, but created his own false priests from the lowest of the people, 1 Kings 13:33-34.
    5. Later when Jeroboam's son, Abijah became quite ill, Jeroboam tried to obtain healing for his son from the now aged prophet of God, the prophet, Ahijah who had first told Jeroboam of his rise to power, 14:1-2.
    6. However, thinking he could deceive Ahijah possibly because Ahijah was BLIND, and thinking Ahijah was just a MERE, HANDICAPPED MAN with whom he was dealing, Jeroboam sent his wife in disguise to Ahijah with a bribe to request anonymously that his son be restored, 1 Kings 14:2-3, 4.
    7. However, though BLIND, the prophet Ahijah was INFORMED by GOD about Jeroboam's ruse, and God told him what to say to Jeroboam's wife when she arrived, 1 Kings 14:5.
    8. When Ahijah heard the sound of the feet of Jeroboam's wife coming in through the door of his house, Ahijah announced who she was before she could deceptively introduce herself as somebody else, and explained he knew she had come pretending to be somebody else, 1 Kings 14:6.
    9. Ahijah then revealed that God had news of judgment for her to announce to Jeroboam as follows:
      1. First, though God had given Jeroboam the ten tribes as a kingdom, but since Jeroboam had not led it with a pure heart as had David, but had even promoted idolatrous worship, God was about to destroy Jeroboam's royal line, 1 Kings 14:7-10. In fact, his offspring would be slain and eaten by animals without burial, a terrible insult to a man in his culture, 1 Kings 14:11; Bib. Know. Com., O.T., p. 516.
      2. Second, when Jeroboam's wife walked into her home town, her ill son, Abijah, would die, 14:12. All Israel would mourn for him and bury him because he was a good enough person for burial, 14:13.
      3. Third, God would raise up a man who would destroy Jeroboam's line, and that man we know from a later account would be Israel's king Baasha, 1 Kings 14:14; Ibid.
      4. Fourth, God would cause the Northern Kingdom of Israel ruled by Jeroboam one day to be invaded and taken captive by Gentiles because of the idolatry Jeroboam had led Israel to adopt, 1 Kings 14:15-16.
    10. When Jeroboam's wife returned to her city, in line with Ahijah's prophecy, her son, Abijah expired, and the people buried and mourned for him, 1 Kings 14:17-18.
    11. Eventually, Jeroboam himself died, a man whose lineage was doomed for extinction, 1 Kings 14:19-20.
Lesson: Since Jeroboam failed to realize AHIJAH'S words comprised GOD'S WORD to HIMSELF, Jeroboam failed to heed AHIJAH, and thus came to SIN against GOD to his OWN great HARM.

Application: (1) Though God's HUMAN messengers are but mere (and, as in the case of the prophet, Ahijah, often also frail) men, when they heed God in their calling, their MESSAGES come from GOD, and GOD watches OVER their ministries so they can fulfill what GOD wills that they achieve, cf. Jeremiah 1:4-10, 11-19. (2) We MUST then take the MESSAGES of God's servants seriously enough to TEST them in light of SCRIPTURE lest we MISS what GOD intends for US to HEED from THEM!