Stories of the Saints Digging Deeper

Prophets and Kings, Part I

Introduction
Things start to move rather quickly now through the story of Scripture. After the prominence of the first three kings of Israel Saul, David, and Solomon the story moves more quickly through the stories of their successors. There are multiple reasons for this. After Solomon, the one kingdom becomes split into two the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. After the death of Solomon (I Kings 11), the kingdom is fractured and Gods people are on their way to being exiled out of the land because of their continual rebellion against Gods covenant with them. This also gives rise to the second reason the kinds are featured less prominently after Solomon: God sends prophets to the kings and the people to speak His Word to them, and to call them to repentance and renewal of the covenant. So over the next three weeks we will be focusing on multiple, simultaneous storylines: Israel and Judah, and kings and prophets. We will see how the unfaithfulness of the people, coupled with the unfaithfulness of most of the kings, will lead the people into exile. Because of their unfaithfulness to God and His covenant, their promised land is removed from their possession. We will see Israel fall to the Assyrians in 722 BC and Judah fall to the Babylonians in 586 BC. Then after that we will see how God was still faithful to His promise to David, and how a remnant of the people is preserved through the exile and eventually return to the land. It will be a whirlwind! Today, we still have prophets. No, not those self-proclaimed prophets who set dates for the end of the world and then change them whenever the prophecy does not happen as predicted. In a sense, all Christians are prophets, in that we are all called by God to speak His word to one another. But the New Testament speaks of a formal office of prophet: there are those who are set apart to proclaim Gods Word to people. Part of the office of pastor is to be prophecy: publicly and formally speaking the word of God that we have been given in Scripture to people who gather publicly and formally to hear it.

Elijah and Elisha

As we move into the time of the kings and prophets, the first two most prominent prophets are Elijah and Elisha. Elijahs story starts during the time of king Ahab in Israel (the northern Kingdom). Ahab was the seventh king of Israel after Solomon, and Israel had yet to experience a good king over it. Ahab was no better than the previous six. God sent Elijah to speak to Ahab, and his story is told in I Kings 17 through 2 Kings 2. Elijah is probably best known for his showdown with the 400 prophets of Baal (I Kings 18). We dont have space to deal with all the amazing details of that encounter, but the point of the story is once again showing the supremacy of the One True God against all other gods. We have seen these demonstrations before (the 10 plagues of Egypt, Gideons battle against Midian, Joshua against Jericho, David and Goliath, etc.). This story is again noteworthy because not only does God show his power, but Elijah the prophet actually mocks those other prophets, and not in subtle ways. Other highlights of Elijahs life and ministry include the miraculous provision of oil and the raising of the widows son back to life (I Kings 17:9-24), his flight from Jezebel and the appearance of God not in thunder and lightning, but in a still, small voice (I Kings 19:1-18), and perhaps the most curious thing: he did not experience death but was taken up to heaven by God (2 Kings 2). The New Testament speaks of Elijah as the representative of the prophets, just as Moses represented the Law. They both appear with

Prophets and the Prophetic Word

During the story of Saul, we touched on the role of the prophet with the person of Samuel. The main point was that, though many of the Biblical prophets spoke of future events, the role of prophet was not the same as a fortune-teller. The prophet spoke the words God gave him to speak nothing more, nothing less. Most often it involved future events where the prophet would say something like, If you continue to rebel against God, here is what will happen

2009-2010 Concordia Lutheran Church. Used by permission. For more information, visit www.concordialive.ca

Stories of the Saints Digging Deeper

Jesus during His transfiguration, and Jesus speaks mysteriously about John the Baptist as the coming of Elijah, whom the Jews were expecting before the coming of the Messiah. Elijahs successor was Elisha, one chosen by God to succeed Elijah (I Kings 19:16). In a powerful display, Elisha is granted a double portion of Elijahs spirit when he witnesses Elijah being taken away to heaven (2 Kings 2:9-15). His story is found in 2 Kings 2-13. And we see many similarities in his life and ministry to that of Elijahs. He truly is a successor to Elijah. And he too is sent to the kings of his day, to speak Gods Word to them and call them to repentance. the Word. But all of our speaking and hearing is now governed by Scripture; everything is measured by it. So we judge a pastors preaching by how well it conforms to the Word not his word, but Gods. We judge our own experiences, thoughts, emotions, and still, small voices by Scripture; we do not presume to have heard Gods voice if that voice speaks against what Scripture says. So, as you hear Gods Word today and every time you encounter Scripture, know that it is God who is speaking; His Word is powerful and does what it promises (Isaiah 55:11-12, Hebrews 4:12-16)!

The True Prophet and King

As twenty-first century Christians, we have a great benefit: we can see the whole story of Scripture at once, and we can make connections that others werent able to make personally. And one of the most important connections we make is the connection between the Old Testament and the person and work of Jesus. Throughout this series we have seen these connections, but perhaps nowhere is it stronger than in these roles of prophet and king. You may have heard the term the threefold office of Christ. It refers to the fact that, in different times and ways, multiple people fulfilled three offices: prophet, priest and king. But all of those offices are wrapped up into one in the person of Jesus (Hebrews 1:1-4). He is the True Prophet, who not only spoke the Word of God, but was literally the Word with skin on (John 1:1-14). He is the True Priest, who sacrificed not animals on our behalf, but His very self, not in an earthly temple, but in the true temple of Heaven (Hebrews 8:1 9:28). And He is the True King, who reigns not on Earth for a short time, but reigns forever as Earthly and Heavenly King (John 18:36, Revelation 19:11-16). So for us who believe now, we look back at the prophets and kings of the Old Teestament with specific eyes: eyes that ultimately lead to Jesus. And that also carries implications for our Christian lives today: as Christians we do not have an earthly king; we are not a geo-political nation, but a spiritual one, with Jesus as King. Our lives are lived in submission to His will and rule, not our own. For us, prophecy is still speaking and hearing
2009-2010 Concordia Lutheran Church. Used by permission. For more information, visit www.concordialive.ca