Seriously...think about that. If God ‘is true and every man a liar’ (Rom. 3:4) that would suggest that regardless of what you or I believe, feel, think, or have been taught...if it doesn’t fully line up with what God says, then we are building on a faulty foundation. Levels and plumb lines don’t lie. “Eye-balling” may work in some situations where the stakes are low and outcome is inconsequential. But when lives/souls and eternity are on the line, you’d think we would give ‘more earnest heed’ to the things which God has given us in His word ‘lest we drift away’. (Heb. 2:1)
The Apostle Paul made no attempt to delude the people with ‘soft messages’ in order to ‘tickle ears’. He was committed to declaring the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27) come hell or high water. He wrote admonishing us that if we ‘thought we were standing firm, we should take heed lest we fall’. (1 Cor. 10:12). He would later challenge this same body of believers (including us) that we would do well to ‘examine ourselves as to whether we are in the faith...to test ourselves to make sure we know Jesus Christ is IN us...lest we fail the test and are disqualified.” (2 Cor. 13:5)
He probably was quite familiar with Jeremiah’s indictment against the prophets and teachers of his day who failed to adequately warn the people of what was coming at the hand of God. Take a look at that 23rd chapter where Jeremiah flat out tells the people “Don’t listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you ...they speak a vision of their own hearts...Not from the mouth of the Lord” (16). “They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said you shall have peace” and to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say ‘No evil shall come upon you” (17).
“Those who despise Me”...now who in their right mind would openly confess they ‘hate God’? Yet...Paul tells us in Rom. 8:7-8 that the carnal mind (and those who continue to live in the flesh) are ‘hostile towards God and those in the flesh cannot please God.’ James would share a similar sentiment in his letter saying that “friendship with the world is enmity with God and that whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”(4:4). If any of this resonates with you then perhaps you are asking yourself at this moment what it means to be ‘friends with the world’. 1 John 2:15-17 should answer that for you.
So when Paul wrote in his first letter to the Thessalonians about how the day of the Lord would ‘come like a thief in the night’ (what does a thief come to do? John 10:10), then when “they were saying ‘Peace and safety!’, sudden destruction would come upon them...” (5:2-3). Again, maybe he was referring to the continuation of Jeremiah’s admonition who warned “Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury...a violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.” (23:19-20)
Again...I ask...What IF...God really meant all what He has said/written?
So why does God ‘bring calamity’? (or ‘allow’ as some might be more comfortable with). Well, scripture answers that over...and over... and over. There is a fascinating story found in 2 Kings 22. I’ve referred to it before where King Josiah came to the throne at a very young age and was steered in the right direction of ‘doing what was right in the sight of the Lord’. (2). His two predecessors, both his father and grandfather, really blew it in a bad way. (You can read all about them in chapter 21.). They were guilty of seducing or misleading the people...setting up multiple idols in the temple...causing them to worship other gods and such. You know...all those things God said to not do in his second commandment which we talked about the past few days. And what would happen if folks did that? God would ‘visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation’. (Deut. 5:9). There really is something about those ‘generational curses’ that are worth studying out.
So Josiah has begun work to repair all the damage of the temple that had come at the hand of God’s judgement where he brought in the ‘enemy’ to wreak havoc. Look at vs. 16 there in 2 Kings. 22 – “Thus says the Lord, Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants- all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read because they have forsaken Me and burned incense to other gods, that they might provoke Me to anger with all the works of their hands. Therefore My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.”
What is so significant in this story is that in the process of repairing the temple, a ‘book of the law’ was found buried in the rubble. It was brought to Josiah who had it read to him and after hearing all the words of the Law...the ‘light came on’ and it was clear to him as to why all this calamity had befallen them. God did what He said He would do. Sort of like - He really meant what He said!
Our actions have consequences; as does our lack of obedience. And for all the words we gush out about how much we love our kids and would do anything for them...seems like maybe a good start would be to obey God and do things His way if we really had our children’s best interest at heart. Because God’s word is pretty clear on this...if we turn...it can have devastating consequences for our kids and their kids. Just read through Deut. 28 to begin with.
So after Josiah’s ‘aha-moment’ of remorse and repentance, he gets about the business of making God’s word clearly known to all the people. And it’s the next chapter (23) that is very interesting to read through. He is adamant about taking down and destroying all the high places and idols and images that were erected in the previous reign of his predecessors. Read through that chapter and make note of all those things he had ‘removed, burned, smashed, destroyed, taken out, etc. of the temple.”
Do we not see a pattern here with what happens when people’s hearts are turned back to God? For the Israelites going in to the promised land, it was removing all the wicked Canaanite nations...one by one. In Josiah’s day...it was all those ‘idols’ that had ‘turned the people’s hearts away from God which he had removed one by one. (Deut. 7:4; 2 Kings 21:7-15)
What temple is God most interested in purifying today? (1 Cor. 6:19; 2 Cor. 7:1). And here we always thought that when Jesus got angry that day in the temple and started turning tables over that it was simply to drive out some money changers and a few birds in cages. Would you like to rethink that as to what He really wants to drive out from the ‘temple’ today?
If Josiah was set on removing all those idols from that OT temple, imagine what kind of ‘idols’ have been set up in our hearts that defile us (Mark 7:23; 2 Cor. 7:1)? And not only did John end his first letter with a warning to ‘keep ourselves from idols’ ( 1 John 5:21) Paul also, after cautioning us to be careful with over confidence in 1 Cor. 10:12...goes on to exhort us to “flee from idolatry”. (14). You might want to read that on down through vs. 22 where he suggest we may provoke God to jealousy with our entertaining ‘demons’. Yep...they are rooted deeply in ‘idols’...or anything that would steer our hearts away from God. (Lev. 17:7; Deut. 32:16-17,21; 2 Chron. 11:15)
Yesterday, I encouraged you to examine your own heart as to whether hidden ‘idols’ may lie there within. I even shared how one might be ‘set free’ from such things. Does John not warn us that if we ‘say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves’? (1 John 1:8). Jeremiah talks of how defiled and wickedly deceitful our own hearts are and that we cannot possibly know them. (Jer. 17:9). Want to take a guess how God shows us our own hearts? One way is through the ‘mirror’ of His word. (James 1:23-24). If you are not spending any time (or minimal time) in His word...well...you can figure that one out. But another interesting way are those ‘tests’. That silly slow driver who always manages to get in front of you when you drive...is not an ‘attack of the enemy’. It’s God’s way of revealing all that impatience and irritability that resides in your heart. Count it all joy...he’s wanting to ‘perfect’ you. ;- ) (James 1:2-4)
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