May the mumbling commence!
As children of God, we live differently. At least we do when we are faithful to our
Lord. We neither go to the highest
bidder nor buckle under to the strongest influence. We know that knuckling under is fraught with
peril. Read about the life of King Ahaz
of Judah from Second Kings chapter sixteen:
King Ahaz sent
messengers to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria with this message: "I am your servant and your vassal.
Come up and rescue me from the attacking armies of Aram and Israel." Then Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple of the Lord and the palace treasury and
sent it as a gift to the Assyrian king.
So the Assyrians attacked the Aramean capital of Damascus and led its
population away as captives, resettling them in Kir. They also killed King
Rezin.
King Ahaz then went to Damascus to meet with King
Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. While he was there, he noticed an unusual
altar. So he sent a model of the altar to Uriah the priest, along with its
design in full detail. Uriah built an altar just like it by
following the king's instructions, and it was ready for the king when
he returned from Damascus. When the king
returned, he inspected the altar and made offerings on it. The king presented a
burnt offering and a grain offering, poured a drink offering over it, and
sprinkled the blood of peace offerings on it.
Then King Ahaz removed the old bronze altar from the
front of the Lord's Temple, which had stood between the entrance and the new altar,
and placed it on the north side of the new altar. He said to Uriah the priest, "Use the
new altar for the morning sacrifices of burnt offering, the evening grain
offering, the king's burnt offering and grain offering, and the offerings of
the people, including their drink offerings. The blood from the burnt offerings and sacrifices should be sprinkled
over the new altar. The old bronze altar will be only for my personal
use." Uriah the priest did just
as King Ahaz instructed him.
Then the king removed the side panels and basins from the
portable water carts. He also removed the Sea from the backs of the bronze oxen
and placed it on the stone pavement. In
deference to the king of Assyria, he also removed the canopy that had been
constructed inside the palace for use on the Sabbath day, as well as the king's
outer entrance to the Temple of the Lord. (Verses 7-18)
Where do you turn to when everything seems to be coming
crashing down upon you? King Ahaz went
not to the Lord but to King Tiglath-pileser of Assyria. Ahaz robbed the Temple of the Lord for silver
and gold to bribe the king of Assyria to help against the invading armies of
Aram and Israel.
And Ahaz was successful, so he went to pay respects to
the king of Assyria. Ahaz copied their
altar of worship and used it to replace the altar of the Lord in the
Temple. He led all Judah to worship God
in an alien way. Ahaz deferred to the
power of Assyria and ignored the greater power of the Lord. May we never fall into the same trap!
May we be careful to follow the call of the Lord and
recognize the power of God far above the power of even the strongest of human
institutions. Read about Paul’s witness
as he awaited judgment in Rome as recorded in the last chapter of Acts (chapter
twenty-eight):
Three days after Paul's arrival, he called together the
local Jewish leaders. He said to them, "Brothers, I was arrested in
Jerusalem and handed over to the Roman government, even though I had done
nothing against our people or the customs of our ancestors. The Romans tried me and wanted to release me,
for they found no cause for the death sentence.
But when the Jewish leaders protested the decision, I felt it necessary
to appeal to Caesar, even though I had no desire to press charges against my
own people. I asked you to come here today so we could get acquainted and so I could
tell you that I am bound with this chain because I believe that the hope of
Israel – the Messiah – has already come."
They replied, "We have heard nothing against you. We
have had no letters from Judea or reports from anyone who has arrived
here. But we want to hear what you believe, for the only thing we know about these Christians
is that they are denounced everywhere."
So a time was set, and on that day a large number of
people came to Paul's house. He told them about the Kingdom of God and taught them about
Jesus from the Scriptures – from the
five books of Moses and the books of the prophets. He began lecturing in
the morning and went on into the evening. Some believed and some didn't. (Verses 17-24)
Paul taught the people as Jesus did – from the books of
Moses and the Prophets. Some believed. Some didn’t.
But preach we must. It is our
call as Christians.
Enough mumbling for
now…
Peace Out
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