The Prophets

Now we come to the prophets in our timeline series. Can’t we just skip those and get to the part where Jesus loves me? I realize that the prophets are books of the Bible they you may not spend much time in. But here’s the challenge with that. The bible is not a social app that you can just swipe left like a picture you don’t want to look at. There is no “like” button or thumbs down button you get to use when you get there. We have to come to grips with what the prophets are about and why they are in scripture.

These days, prophets are a hot topic in some church circles. We mostly think of the spiritual gift of prophesy as someone being able to get special revelation from God about future events. They are kind of Christian fortune tellers. We love to “get a prophetic word” from a prophet who tells us that we will be abundantly blessed, because we follow their ministry. Not everyone who calls themself a “prophet” is speaking for God.

Here are a couple of verses that tell us how we can know for sure that someone is not speaking for God.

Deuteronomy 18:21-22 “21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has notspoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

If you hear somebody say “Thus sayeth the Lord”...and then they proceed to talk about what will happen in the future, you should keep a close eye on what happens to see if they were right. If they end up not being right, a red flag should go up immediately.

If God is truly speaking through someone, what they say will come to pass. If not, they were not speaking for God, they were speaking what they wanted to have happen. If God has truly decreed a thing, there will be no need for a “prophet” to be general or vague.

How many modern day “prophets” said Trump would remain president? How many of them apologized and confessed it wasn’t from God when it didn’t happen? Almost none. There are churches that teach that a modern prophet doesn’t have to be right every time. This seems beyond ludicrous to me.

Now I’m not saying that the gift of prophesy is not active today.

I’m just saying that everyone who claims to be a prophet...isn’t actually a prophet. You have to use wisdom and discernment to judge any prophesy you hear. Is the prophesy so generic that it could apply to almost any situation? Or is it specific enough to know if it has come true or not? Does it align with scripture. Lot’s of things can sound good, but they aren’t actually biblical.

Jeremiah 14:14 “14 And the Lord said to me: “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name. I did not send them, nor did I command them or speak to them. They are prophesying to you a lying vision, worthless divination, and the deceit of their own minds.”

True prophesy isn’t about feel good emotions or getting what you want. The main job of the biblical prophets was to warn people to repent of their idolatry and turn back to God. If they didn’t, then their future was predicted to be exactly what God said...bad stuff.

And who were the people they were mostly warning? The kings.

The Kings Andy talked about last week always had a prophet to point out their idolatry and call the nation back to repentance and

following God. This is why they were hated by the kings. Prophets held kings accountable.

I don’t claim to be a prophet, but let me show you some things I saw while we were away the last couple of weeks. And let them be a warning to some people who would tend to follow this modern day king and to repent of their idolatry and turn back to God.

We visited Rome and while there we took a tour of the Vatican. If you don’t know, the Vatican is the center of power for the Roman Catholic Church. I’d always wondered what was there, and I quickly found out. This is not rumor or speculation. You are aware of how often we talk about idolatry here at FUEL and that we believe the gods really exist and that The One True God has warned us not to worship them nor mix with them.

So imagine my surprise when I saw statues (graven images) of those gods in the Vatican. There were lots of them, but the ones who stood out were Hercules, Artemis of the Ephesians from Acts 19 and a guy named Antonios who was the gay lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian.

Now, you may say, well those are just in the Vatican museum because they were the greatest works of art of their time. OK, let me ask you this. How would you feel if next week when you showed up here at FUEL, we had life-size paintings of all the greek gods out in the lobby? Would that seem like a mixed message? Would it make you question my theology concerning who we are here to worship? It should.

Just because an artist creates something beautiful does not make it ok in a church...and that goes for music also.

Andy talked last week about the kings of the Old Testament who mixed the worship of God with the worship of other spiritual

beings. As I walking around the Vatican, I was hit with a realization that I should have been aware of but it had never really occurred to me. The Pope is a king...and he rules over his kingdom of Vatican City.

It’s a 100 acre plot of land that is it’s own sovereign country...and the Pope is the absolute authority. The pope is a king just like some of the kings Andy talked about last week. A king who is ok mixing a little Jesus into the other gods in the Vatican. The church on the Vatican property is St. Peter’s Basilica. A church built over the grave of the apostle Peter, and I sure if He could see what they’ve done there he’d be rolling over in his grave.

St. Peter’s Basilica is nothing more than a monument to the various pope’s who have ruled as a king over the catholic church. It is full of statues of the popes in honor of their greatness. Does that sound like they were interested in conforming to the image of Christ? Where is the humility? Where is the selflessness? It is the worst example of each king trying to outdo the last one I’ve ever seen. This kind of behavior is expected from the kings of countries, but it should have never been the way church leadership is portrayed. And yet, it is exactly what Andy showed us last week with the kings of Israel and their wicked behavior.

Speaking of kings and their wicked behavior, let’s look at King Ahaziah and his relationship with the prophet Elijah. To set the stage, we need to look at a story from the New Testament.

Luke 9:51-54 (NKJV) “51 Now it came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that He steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem, 52 and sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him. 53 But they did not receive Him, because His face was set for the journey to Jerusalem. 54 And when His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You

want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

Well, that seems awfully harsh doesn’t it? Jesus had a nickname for James and John. He called them the “Sons of thunder”. Based on the passage we just read, you can probably figure out why. James and John were brothers and were known for being a little too aggressive.

In this passage, they are looking for a place for Jesus to stay while traveling through Samaria on His way to Jerusalem. And since the Samaritans and Jews didn’t like each other, the Samaritans rejected their request. Now this made James and John so angry, that they asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to consume the Samaritans, like Elijah did.

They wanted to justify their question by bringing up the fact that Elijah had called down fire also.

Do you remember the famous bible story of Elijah calling down fire from heaven to show that he served the one and only true God? But here’s the thing, I don’t remember any people being consumed by the fire that Elijah calls down on the sacrifice. So why do James and John mention Elijah?

It’s because that’s not the event James and John are referencing here. They are referencing a passage from 2nd Kings chapter 1. Here’s how it starts.

2 Kings 1:2 “ 2 And Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber which was in Samaria, and became ill. So he sent messengers and said to them, “Go, inquire of Baal- zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this sickness.”

Obviously, we have a couple of problems here. First, Ahaziah had been badly injured by falling from a second story window and must have thought he was dying. So he did what a lot of people

would do, he decided to ask his god if he would die from this injury. The second, and bigger problem, was that his god was not Yahweh, it was Baal-zebub, the prince of devils.

Ok, Let’s back up for a minute and look at who Ahaziah was and why he’s important. Ahaziah was the 8th king of Israel. Yes, that’s right, a king of Israel was not serving the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who had delivered the children of Israel from Egypt.

King Ahaziah was serving one of the little “g” gods, Baal.

But it shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise that he had rejected God, because he was just doing what his parents had taught him. You may remember hearing about his parents, they were Ahab and Jezebel.

King Ahab and queen Jezebel were very wicked. Ahab was the king when Elijah confronted the prophets of Baal. And Jezebel promised to kill Elijah because of what happened that day.

It seems that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree, because Ahaziah is following in their footsteps. Parents, the example you set for your kids is important. Their relationship with God is normally a reflection of your relationship with God that they witness growing up.

So, when Ahaziah is injured, he sends messengers to consult Baal to find out whether he will live or die, but God interrupts their journey and has a message for the king. And He delivers it by having Elijah the prophet to go talk to the messengers.

2 Kings 1:3-4 “3 But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and say to them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?’ 4 Now therefore thus says the Lord, ‘You shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but you shall surely die.’” Then Elijah departed.”

So Elijah delivered the bad news to the messengers, but back in verse 3, did you catch what God called king Ahaziah? God called him the king of Samaria.

Now, does that ring a bell about anything I said in the beginning of the passage? What city were James and John in when the people rejected Jesus? Yep, Samaria.

2 Kings 1:5-6 “5 When the messengers returned to him he said to them, “Why have you returned?” 6 They said to him, “A man came up to meet us and said to us, ‘Go, return to the king who sent you and say to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed where you have gone up, but shall surely die.’”’”

If you were one of those soldiers, you’d have to be pretty sure “the man” who stopped you on your way to see Baal was a man of God in order to go back to the king without doing what he told you to do. And on top of that, they told the king he was going to die. I’m sure that just put the king in a great mood.

Well, of course the king was furious and wanted to know who this man was. I’d be willing to bet he already had a pretty good idea who it was. I really like these next couple of verses.

2 Kings 1:7-8 “7 He said to them, “What kind of man was he who came up to meet you and spoke these words toyou?” 8 They answered him, “He was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins.” And he said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”

So now Elijah, the same prophet that his mom and dad hated is continuing the family feud. I’m sure he knew all about Elijah and the bad blood between him and his family. This is how he responded to Elijah.

2 Kings 1:9 “Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him, and behold, he was sitting on the top of the hill. And he said to him, “O man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’”

So the king sends a captain and 50 of his soldiers out to capture Elijah. Now you would think that 50 soldiers would be enough to bring back one guy, wouldn’t it? They find him on a hill in a place where they couldn’t get to him, and the captain command Elijah to come down. It seems like Elijah perhaps anticipated their arrival, since he was familiar with his parents behavior.

The captain did get one thing right, he addressed Elijah as a “man of God”. But here is where things get a little crazy.

2 Kings 1:10 “Elijah replied to the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty.” Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.”

The king doesn’t give up easily. He sends more soldiers, and of course the same thing happens to them.

So, let’s pull these two biblical events together.

The king of Samaria, who had rejected God, sent soldiers to get Elijah. And so Elijah asks God to send fire from heaven to consume them.

The Samaritans rejected Jesus staying in their town, so James and John asked Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven to consume them. Now it is starting to become clear why James and John referenced this event.

The problem was that James and John were working from knowledge of the old testament. In the old testament, when you reject God, you get consumed by His righteous judgment.

But Jesus is about to give them knowledge of the new covenant.

In the new covenant, when you have rejected God, you get His mercy and a second chance.

Let’s go back to our original text and pick it up at verse 55. Remember, James and John have just asked Jesus if they should call down fire to consume the Samaritans for rejecting Him.

Luke 9:55-56 “55 But He turned and rebuked them, andsaid, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”

Jesus clearly doesn’t want them to be consumed with fire, but to be saved. It doesn't matter how they have treated Him, He wants to show them mercy and love.

As a believer, are you known for showing love to those who are currently rejecting Jesus? Or are you being consumed by your own righteous judgment of them?

The love that Jesus shows to the Samaritans becomes a powerful lesson that John will not soon forget. How do we know this? Because John ends up becoming known as the Apostle of love. He is no longer remembered as one of the Sons of Thunder. As a matter of fact, he was the one who recorded in his gospel the most famous verse in the Bible about love.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

We have all been Samaritans and rejected God. That is why Jesus came, so we could have a second chance.