November 11, 2012
Scripture:
Hymn 282 - What a friend we have in Jesus
Prayer
1 Kings 19:1-15
Imagine you are in the arctic and you see a wolf chasing a pack of caribou. This sighting seems very natural. But then, say you see the same wolf being chased by an arctic hare. You would think that after chasing the caribou, the wolf wouldn’t be frightened by a little hare. In our story today Elijah, having been so bold for God before the king, is faced with a smaller problem and he runs from it.
When King Ahab got home that day, he told Jezebel what had happened at Mount Carmel. This made Jezebel furious. She sent a message to Elijah telling him that she was going to have him killed. Previously, Elijah has been a man of prayer, trusting in the Lord. Our hymn told us that we can tell the Lord our troubles and He will care for us. Elijah didn’t seem to tell God his troubles this time: he ran away from Jezebel into the wilderness. In Hebrews 13:5 & 6, it tell us that the Lord will never leave us or forsake us; we don’t have to run from our problems.
After walking in the wilderness for some time, Elijah fell asleep under a tree. While he was sleeping, an angel came and woke him up. The angel gave him some food and told him to eat it. This was going to be Elijah’s last meal for forty days. The biblical meaning for forty is testing. It rained forty days and forty nights while Noah was in the ark and the Lord fasted for forty days.
In the forty days that Elijah was fasting, he traveled to Mt. Horeb. Here the Lord came to Elijah and asked him what he was doing. Elijah told the Lord how the children of Israel had left the Lord and had killed all the prophets and how Jezebel was seeking to kill him. Then the Lord told Elijah to go and stand on the mountain. While he was standing there the Lord shows his power in high winds, an earthquake, and fire … but the Lord wasn’t in these things. After the wind, earthquake, and fire, there was a still small voice: that was the Lord. The Lord told Elijah to go again.
Next time, we will talk about the directions that the Lord gave Elijah. May we each remember that the Lord will never leave us. Elijah was afraid that Jezebel was going to kill him, but he shouldn’t have been, since he had seen the power of God in so many other places.
Luke 17:20-37
So the Pharisees are back with a question: when will the Kingdom of God come? They thought that they were ready for the kingdom, and were wondering when the kingdom would be ready for them. They didn’t see that the true king—Jesus—was already among them. What they were talking about was the Millennium; they wanted to get rid of their Roman rulers and have their own kingdom. The Lord told them that there was more than one aspect to the kingdom of God. The Millennium was the full kingdom, but some parts of the kingdom were a mystery. Jesus had told Nicodemus over in John 3 that he had to be born again in order to see the kingdom. Nicodemus could have entered the kingdom right then. God has a part in this kingdom, and it’s our privilege to enter it. As Christians we are part of His kingdom of priests
Jesus was the King, and the kingdom was among them. What they were really looking for was the Kingdom of Heaven (the Millennium). The Kingdom of God is a moral condition that they could have had, if they were ready. Romans 14:17.
Jesus then warns them against false prophets but also tells them that He must suffer before they come. The days of the Son of Man refer to the Millennium, and before those days come our Lord had to go to the cross and be rejected of that generation.
That generation was like several others. The physical kingdom will come, but will find some people more concerned about the physical aspect of this life than they will be about the kingdom. It will be like the time of Noah, when God repented that He had made man: they ate, drank, were married, etc, but God brought a general judgement on everyone except Noah. It was the same with Lot, except on one city, not the whole world. Instead of leaving by faith, though—like Noah—Lot had to be dragged out of Sodom. Noah built in faith, but not Lot. His heart, and the heart of his wife, were in Sodom. These were two very different men. You wonder, are the days we live in worse than the days of Sodom and Gomorrah?
This passage doesn’t mention the rapture, because that will be a private event. We don’t look for a kingdom or for judgement; we look for the coming of our Lord and Saviour.
V.33 Sounds like a paradox; but you have to ask yourself: which life do I want to save? As with Lot’s wife, God is not pleased with a worldly saint. Jim Elliot, missionary martyr, once wrote in his journal “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.” He couldn’t keep his life anyway, and now he has a new one. We are to give up our lives for Christ; to live for him. Philippians 1:21.
In Noah’s and Lot’s days there were indiscriminate judgements, but there will be a discriminate judgement before the Millennium. Verses 34-36 don’t refer to the Lord’s coming, but rather to people being taken from the Kingdom for judgement. There will be quite a sifting; and it will be global, with people doing different things at different times of day. But what does v.37 refer to? Well, firstly this won’t be done in a corner; and secondly, where judgement is needed, judgement will be meted out. Where the body is, there the eagles will be.
These things aren’t the most pleasant to discuss, but at least we have a better portion to look forward to!
Hymn 279 - I’m waiting for Thee Lord
Prayer