Forfeited Blessings (Part C)

Bethel was where that altar was that God dispatched the man of God to confront Jeroboam, the first king of the north, that cursed altar.

Laying the foundation and setting up the gates marks the beginning and the end of the construction process. It says, according to the word of the Lord, what God gets the last say. That's what the prophet is writing into this story after he has talked about these wicked kings and their defiance of God, their forfeiture of the blessings. He is saying to them, God gets the last word. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 1 Kings.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick will conclude his message called, Forfeited Blessings, as he teaches in 1 Kings chapter 16. Verse 14, Now the rest of the acts of Elah and all that he did are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel? Well, the records of the kings, their domestic and foreign achievements, again, that's not the spiritual. The kings and the chronicles, they document the performance of the kings in relation to God, their spiritual condition. The books that he's referring to here in verse 14 are their records of domestic and civil achievements, but not the spiritual losses. Verse 15, In the 27th year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri had reigned in Terzah seven days, and the people were encamped at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines.

Well, there's a little history there. The mention of the southern king again continues to date the northern king. Solomon has been dead, incidentally, about 51, 52 years, to give you a little timeline. Zimri, it says here in verse 15, reigned in Terzah seven days. Consequently, he couldn't hold on to the throne, and the people were encamped at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Now, Gibethon was where Baasha killed Nadab to take the throne. There was a Jewish garrison there because of the Philistines, a large military force to keep the Philistines in check. And they were there to probably take territory back when Baasha killed Nadab.

Well, they left troops there under the leadership of Omri, who is going to leave there and come to the capital and kill Zimri and take the throne. Looking back at 1 Kings 15, I hope you find this interesting. I think it's interesting. For one reason, God says it's interesting, and that's it. If I'm reading, you know, something on General McArthur, I find it intriguing. That's my preference, but it is nowhere near the authority of reading God's word. And God's saying, I've taken this out of history and preserved it for you.

And now, all of a sudden, I want to, you know, every jot, every tittle now has life in it. So, when we cross-reference back, it's because there are points to be made, and these points are to make us stronger because our understanding expands. And as a man is in his heart, so he is. In verse 27 of chapter 15, Baasha killed him at Gibethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel laid siege to Gibethon. So, that's the support behind my statement that the garrison is there. Verse 16, now the people who were encamped heard it, said, Zimri has conspired and also has killed the king, so all Israel made Omri, the commander of the army over Israel that day in the camp.

So, 45 miles away, this separates Gibethon from Terzah. And word gets to the garrison, hey, the king's been assassinated and Zimri has taken the throne. Omri and his people are saying, a major general is now king over me.

We're going to make you a general over all the army and we're going to make you king. He's got more clout. He's got higher connections than Zimri.

And so now he's promoted. Verse 17, then Omri and all Israel with him went up to Gibethon and they besieged Terzah. I hope I'm not losing you or the Bible's not losing us on these names. It would sure make it easier if it were names like Mitch and Dale and Jeff, but it's not.

And the temptation to substitute those names has been great, but I'm not going to do that. Anyhow, Omri, he doesn't waste any time. Evidently he discovers weaknesses in the fortification of Terzah because once he takes the throne, he's not going to leave the capital there. He's going to relocate it.

If I could take this place, other people, I don't know. Anyway, that likely did influence his decision. Verse 18, and it happened when Zimri saw that the city was taken. He went into the citadel of the king's house and burned the king's house down upon himself with fire and died.

Well, he's no hero. Verse 19, because of the sins which he had committed in doing evil in the sight of Yahweh and walking in the way of Jeroboam and in the sin which he had committed to make Israel sin. So the Spirit of God says Satan filled this guy, used him, and then when he was finished with him, he left him alone to his insanity. And God said, and I left him alone too because it was good.

It's a terrible end. What a wasted life. He evidently had some skills to become a commander of half the chariots. And yet wasted because of just his godlessness. So the writer claims that God's judgment was upon him.

And it was by simply, you know, when we come across the Lord's cursings on people, all he has to do is withhold the blessings and it now becomes a curse. Verse 20, now the rest of the acts of Zimri and the treason he committed, are they not written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? So he's remembered as a treasonous, whereas the other kings are doing the same thing.

But again, there are other facts that have been omitted that contributed to a stronger dislike for him evidently. Verse 21, then the people of Israel were divided into two parts. Half of the people followed Tibni, the son of Gidnath, to make him king and half followed Omri.

Well now here's the civil war. So Omri responds, goes up to Terzah, takes the city. Zimri kills himself and the people aren't satisfied with that and they have war. You see how the Bible works? It doesn't tell us here how long the war lasted until we move further down and we find out, we compare the date that Zimri came to power and Omri comes to power based on Asa's rule and then we say that's four years.

That's how long it took. Comparing verse 15 with verse 23, that gives you the answer. And I'm not going to take time to read it because we still got a ways to go. Omri is one of the few individuals in the Bible whose name has been preserved outside of the Bible from that time period. Not in a book but in a stone, the Misha stone.

And you can look that up on your own. Names him and Ahab by name. And the inscription is by King Misha of the Moabites bragging about his victories, giving glory to his God, Chemosh. And it's just a fact, an archaeological find that is interesting. He describes looting the temple at Judah and it actually even references the name of Yahweh. So anyway, I've not seen it.

I think it's in the museum in London but verse 22. But the people who followed Omri prevailed over the people who followed Tibni, the son of Genath. So Tibni died and Omri reigned. So it cost Tibni his life to get on the wrong team. The mention of, you know, the son of Genath. You know, you got to say, do we need to know that?

Yeah, I guess they needed to know that and it's just been preserved. He did not die of natural causes, this Tibni, but a violent death. Verse 23, in the 31st year of Asa, king of Israel.

There's a timestamp. Omri became king over Israel and reigned 12 years. Six years he reigned in Terzah.

So six years he's in Terzah before he relocates. Again, looking at verse 15 of 1 Kings 16, there we read, in the 27th year of Asa, king of Judah, Zimri, had reigned in Terzah, seven days. So that's our timestamp and then we compare that with verse 23 where it says, in the 31st year of Asa, king of Judah, Omri became king. Well, why did he become king when he burned the house down? Because they had that civil war and there's your four-year gap between the two.

I like when those things happen because when they don't happen, you say, how come it doesn't tell us? Verse 24, and he bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for two talents of silver. Then he built on the hill and called the name of the city which he built Samaria, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill.

Variations of that name, about 150 pounds of silver it seems like, according to those who measure those things out for us. This Omri, he's the father of Ahab who marries Jezebel. We're going to have a lot of things about them later, beginning next chapter actually. But these mountains of Samaria, whenever I say the name Samaria, doesn't it not sound like some area? But anyway, Samaria where he relocates to has better fortifications for sure. So much so that when the Assyrians come, it's going to take them almost three years before they take over Samaria. The giant Assyrian army could not just waltz right in there. The fortifications were that strong. And it was such an important city that after the Assyrians destroyed it, others came along, the Persians and Herod, and rebuilt it. The attackers would have to attack uphill the whole time because it was higher elevation. Anyhow, moving on to verse 25, Omri did evil in the eyes of Yahweh and did worse than all who were before him.

He and his son will top him, don't worry about that. Verse 26, for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam, the son of Nabat, and in the sin by which he made Israel sin, provoking Yahweh, God of Israel, to anger with their idols. The temptation is to say, well, why doesn't God stop these guys? Because when he kills that one, the next one comes in, he has to kill that one. It makes God this hit man for us.

He works with what he has, and this is what he's been given. This is the right move, and by faith we know that. We know that given what was before him and the rules that we are under, established by God, this was the right move. We do that with Adam and Eve. Why did God just kill those two and give us two more? Because well, they would have done the same thing because the free will does that without being resurrected life, imparting of God into us.

That awaits we who live now in its fullness, that is. Well, Amrai, according to men, he did well as a king. He just built stuff and he established the army and that's what's being told here, but still he provoked God. He was actually one of the most impressive kings of Israel in terms of those accomplishments, physical accomplishments, but God was not impressed.

What a lesson. God was not impressed, he was provoked. So you see a successful person. You know, we have them, these oliarchs, and they think that because they're successful that they're going to survive death. They're not.

They think that when they die somehow it's going to work out or it's not going to be that bad. They're provoking God and that is, a sane person would understand that worldly success does not offset insulting God. You can't say, yeah, I can insult God because look at all the good hospitals I've contributed to and what are all my good deeds.

It's not how it works. It says here, Jeroboam in his sin, we read it again, verse 26, for he walked in all the ways of Jeroboam son of Nabat in his sin, by which he made Israel sin, provoking Yahweh, God of Israel, to anger with their vapor, with their idols. Verse 27, and the rest of the acts of Amrai, which he did, and the might that he showed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings?

And that might that he showed is a physical might, it's not his spiritual might. David danced before the ark with all his might, different function there. Verse 28, so Amrai rested with his fathers and was buried in Samaria. Then Ahab his son reigned in his place.

And that's where you dim the lights because he was just a bad guy. Verse 29, in the 38th year of Asa king of Judah, Ahab the son of Amrai became king over Israel and Ahab the son of Amrai reigned over Israel in Samaria 22 years. This is the same guy that his wife had Naboth murdered because they wanted his land and he didn't want to give it up for his vineyard. This serves as the backdrop for the story of Elijah coming on the scene. And so now kings has moved from you know the struggle of Solomon and then these initial kings in the north.

Now we're going to next session get to the prophet Elijah and it gets more spiritual and I don't know about you, but I enjoy that a lot more. So King Ahab, his story will continue to chapter 22 of Kings. The spiritual rivalry between the two, Elijah and Ahab will be intense. Verse 30, and Ahab the son of Amrai did evil in the sight of Yahweh more than all who were before him. God says he was worse. So in this chapter we have Jeroboam mentioned he was king for 22 years in the north and he was bad. Nadab for two years, his son, he was murdered and he was bad. Baasha who killed him, 24 years, he was bad. You know, again, eight year term of a liberal doesn't seem too bad compared to these guys, but it still is bad.

Anyway, I wonder what gas prices were when these kings were. Anyhow, Elah, two years, he was bad. Zimri, seven days, he was too bad to go on. Amrai, extra bad. And Ahab, his son, the worst.

He's probably the worst of them all. Verse 31, and it came to pass as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Abed, he took as wife Jezebel, the daughter of Eph-baal, king of the Sidonians, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. Now it's starting to heat up. You can actually put this section in the next chapter where this precipitates Elijah showing up.

But where it says there, it came to pass as though it was a trivial thing. You have to love that. He inserts that. This was nothing for this guy. He's not finished. That's the kind of mood that goes with this.

You can tell he's irritated by him and justifiably so. As if it was a little thing, it was an idol worship. He goes and marries this witch, Jezebel, the daughter of a man whose name worships idols, Eph-baal, the king of Sidonians. Her influence really changes a lot of things.

So Ahab won't reign alone. He'll have the anti-Yahweh reigning this Phoenician princess at his side. She was extraordinarily evil, so evil that Jesus brings her up when he talks to the church at Revelation. And he brings her up as though she's the standard of evil influence in the church.

Revelation 2, verse 20, to the church at Thyatira. Nevertheless, I have a few things against you because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants who commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. So that's pretty bad when the Lord God uses you as the poster person for wickedness. She influenced Ahab to be evil and wicked like I said with the stealing of the vineyard of Nebah. When she wasn't around, we have one little section in chapter 20 where she's not around and he, Ahab, he has this moment of relatively promising behavior, but all for naught.

So within him there was a portal for good, but he made sure that door never stayed open. Well, and it says, and he went and served Baal and worshiped him. And as I mentioned in other messages, usually the apostate is worse than the unbeliever. The one that once was with Christ and turns away from him becomes worse. As Charles Templeton writes the book, you know, I said goodbye to Jesus. Oh God, whichever one he wanted, there was no difference for us. We know what he was doing. This was a man that was once an evangelist.

Anyhow, and there are other stories as such. Verse 32, and he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal which he had built in Samaria. He must have been very proud of himself. And it was, of course, for his wife until he stood before God when he died.

And he wasn't so proud after that. Verse 33, and Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke Yahweh, God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Now this wooden image, typically the one used here, is a sacred pole for the Canaanite goddess, Ashtore. You know, the Bible doesn't cover, anyway, these man-made religions. In comedy, there was this one skit concerning Festivus where his father just makes up this religion. You look at it as a Christian, you say, yeah, that's the same thing that they do. They do that in all sorts of ways. They follow the God that allows abortion. They follow the God that allows sexual immorality. They follow the God that allows, you know, greed. They just make up their gods. Just today, they don't waste time trying to build a little figurine out of them.

They just do it in their hearts. Verse 34, in his days, Baal, now this is kind of an interesting section, of Bethel built Jericho. He laid his foundation with Abiram, his firstborn, and with his secondborn, Segeb.

He set up its gates according to the word of Yahweh, which he had spoken through Joshua, the son of Nun. Well, I don't know if my name sounds goofy in another language. I don't think so. Maybe.

Those names are goofy to me. Well, the second one. Anyhow, this is not a random statement. You know, you're reading about these kings. All of a sudden, in his days, Hallel of Bethel built Jericho. It announces that there's this spirit of defiance that is critical that in his days, in the time of Ahab and Amrai, is significant. He's from the northern kingdom.

He's from Bethel. And the writer is telling us that. And he crosses over to Jericho. And this, as I mentioned, announces a spirit of defiance against God that it is roaming the land. Evil is being exalted. As we're seeing in our own land, evil is being exalted. It's being applauded. It's being embraced.

But not without consequence. You know, God supernaturally destroyed Jericho. We know the story. Joshua prophesied about it after that. Joshua 6, verse 26. Then Joshua charged them at that time, saying, Curse, be the man before Yahweh, who raises up and builds this city.

He shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest, he shall set up its gates. Well, in defiance. In defiance, Hallel, a Jewish man from Bethel, knows that verse. He knows this prophecy and this curse. And he fulfills it in defiance. He doesn't believe it at first. And the death of his firstborn was not enough to convince him. He continues with the project. Bethel was where that altar was that God dispatched the man of God to confront Jeroboam, the first king of the north, that cursed altar.

Laying the foundation and setting up the gates marks the beginning and the end of the construction process. It says, according to the word of the Lord. God gets the last say. That's what the prophet is writing into this story after he has talked about these wicked kings and their defiance of God, their forfeiture of the blessings. He is saying to them, God gets the last word. And the writer was not wanting the exile Jews who are reading this.

This is really compiled for the Jews in exile and that will be coming back into the promised land with men like Ezra and Nehemiah leading them there. He wants them to understand what is going on. That God's word is reliable. That it is serious. And when God says the dogs will eat the descendants of Jeroboam and Baasha, it happened. He meant it. The grass withers.

The flowers fade. But the word of God stands forever. Bethel was in Ahab's kingdom.

We're almost done. And therefore, the timing is very significant. Again, pointing to verse 34.

In his days. It is a not random, big part of the story. The defiance of God's word would be met with retaliation by God and the fulfillment of the prophecy of Joshua. So, realizing that he alone is God should stir the reader to say, I am not going to defy God by having these idols.

But they did not. So we close with this verse from 1 Peter chapter 3, verse 12. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.

And that evil that he is speaking about is rejection of the authority of the God of the Bible, the God of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, God the Son. That is what is being said here. And this is our message to the world. You can be like these defiant kings, but God will get the last say.

And it shouldn't be that way. Thanks for joining us for today's teaching on Cross Reference Radio. This is the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia.

We trust that what you've heard today in the book of 1 Kings has had a lasting imprint on your life. If you'd like to listen to more teachings from this series or share it with someone you know, please visit crossreferenceradio.com. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast too so you'll never miss another edition. Just visit crossreferenceradio.com and follow the links under radio. Again, that's crossreferenceradio.com. Our time with you today is about up, but we hope you'll tune in next time to continue studying the Word of God. Join us again as Pastor Rick covers more in the book of 1 Kings on Cross Reference Radio.