Dr. Ben Merkle Archives - Page 36 of 39

What are You Doing Here, Elijah?

Joe Harby on June 30, 2013

1-8 Back to the Desert

Elijah returns to the gates of Jezreel, running ahead of Ahab, to find Jezebel waiting for him. After having heard about what he did to the prophets of Baal, Jezebel sends him a death threat. And so Elijah runs for his life once more, to Beersheba, far to the south.

Elijah is beyond frustrated with his predicament. His ministry appears to have been no better than any of the prophets that have gone before him. And so he asks to die. A century later, Jonah will give us a reverse image of Elijah’s attitude (Jonah 4:8). But notice Elijah’s resilience. While it apparently takes nothing for the Israelites to go from serving God to serving Jezebel once again, it just takes two meals and a nap for Elijah to be ready to head back into the desert. Here he goes forty days and forty nights, fasting all the way, just as Jesus would (Mt. 4:1). Now Elijah is being prepared for something greater than anything he has yet experienced.

Elijah is going to Mt. Horeb, which is another name for Mt. Sinai, where he has one of the strangest encounters in the Old Testament. Now when Jonah was unsure about his mission, he ran from the presence of God. But Elijah, when he gets discouraged, he runs to God’s presence, he runs to Mt. Sinai. Here God renews Elijah’s strength by revealing himself to Elijah.

There is a theological puzzle here. First, we know that God is invisible. We are told this throughout Scripture (1 Tim. 1:17, 6:16). There are two parts to our inability to see God.

1. God is spirit and therefore he cannot be seen by human eyes ( John 4:24, Luke 24:39). Jesus was God the Son, who became a man so that he could inhabit this physical world in a way that he could reveal God to us (Heb. 1:3, Col. 1:15, John 1:18, 14:9).

2. God’s glorious holiness is of such an intensity that standing before God and beholding him in all his goodness would destroy us (Ex. 33:20, Is. 6:5).

Theophanies

Throughout the Old Testament, there are many places where God appeared to men. He walked with Adam and Eve in the garden (Gen. 3:8-10). He appeared to Abraham a number of times (Gen. 12:7, 17:1, 18:1-2). He appeared to Isaac (Gen. 26:2, 24), Jacob (Gen. 28:13, 32:1-2, 24, 28-29, 35:9, 48:3), Moses (Ex. 3:2, 24:9-11, Num. 12:6-8), Samuel (1 Sam. 3:21), Manoah ( Jud. 13:15-23), David (2 Chron. 3:1), and Solomon (1 Kings 3:5, 9:2, 2 Chron. 7:12). The theological term for these is theophany. These are moments when God the Son, before his incarnation, took on the form of a man to speak with men. It was God that they were speaking to. But he was veiled and his glory was hidden.

But there a couple of moments in the Old Testament where something a bit stronger happens, where a much more powerful encounter with the glory of God happens. One would be when Moses was on Mt. Sinai. Moses asked if he could see God’s glory. God places Moses in a cleft of the rock and causes his glory to pass pay with his hand covering Moses.

He then pulls away his hand and allows Moses to see his back, because no one can see his face and live (Ex. 33:18-23). The other most memorable example of this kind of encounter would be our text, where Elijah stands in a cave on Mt. Sinai and the Lord passes by. But first there is a wind, then an earthquake, then a fire, and then finally the Lord passes by. We are easily distracted by displays of power. But that is not where God is. If God had been in the fire, wouldn’t everything have been fixed on Mt. Carmel? God’s power is in an easy word. The “still, small voice” is such a great phrase, but the Hebrew indicates something even quieter “a small, silent voice.”

9-12 Elijah’s Discouragement and God’s Presence

Seeing God

13-18 What Are You Doing Here, Elijah?

Elijah gives his complaint “It doesn’t look like it’s working.” God corrects him and sends him back out again. But he has to see that God’s plans for Israel are larger than just Elijah’s generation. The Apostle Paul quotes this section (Rom. 11:3-4). But God answers that a remnant is preserved by grace, preserved by the power of his voice. When we find ourselves tempted to despair, we need to hear God asking us “What are you doing here, __________?”

19-21 The Call of Elisha

Elisha is plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. This is an indication of Elisha’s great wealth. Upon receiving his call to follow Elijah, Elisha hesitates for a moment and Eljjah confronts him with the question he got from God. Elisha’s response of killing the oxen demonstrates that he is now all in.

The Vision of God

The way that God related to his people in the period of the Old Testament portrayed the distance between God and man. The coming of Christ changed all this so that we now declare the nearness of God. But we should understand that just as the Old Testament situation was a picture, so too we are just picturing a much greater reality. Elijah and Moses’s encounters with God were just a faint shadow of the glory that awaits us on the other side of this life. When mortality is swallowed up by immortality, we will come face to face with an incomprehensibly joyful glory. That is what all of this is aiming towards. We live now by faith. But there is a time when faith itself will tear away as the wrapping paper holding a much greater gift ( Job 19:25-26, Ps. 17:15, 1 Cor. 13:12-13, 2 Cor. 5:7, 1 John 3:2).

The Prayer of a Righteous Man

Joe Harby on June 6, 2013

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18:1-2 Three and a Half Years

Elijah was introduced in the last chapter, receiving a word from the Lord telling him to run and hide. Now this chapter begins with a word from the Lord saying that rain is on the way and so Elijah should go and show himself to Ahab. The passage here says three years, but in the New Testament (Luke 4:25 and James 5:17), we are told more precisely that the drought would last exactly three and a half years. The time is significant because it is the customary length of time that God allows for Gentiles to trash his house before he drives them out (see – Daniel 7:25, 9:27, 12:7 and Revelation 11:2, 12:6, 12:14, and 13:5). 18:3-15

Obadiah and the Famines

There is no reason to not think that this is Obadiah the prophet, whose short book we also have, although the book of Obadiah is aimed at the nation of Edom. There were two famines in the land – a famine of God’s word (Amos 8:11) and a famine of food. Ahab, unconcerned that the prophets have been “cut off,” is scared that the livestock might be “cut off ” (18:5). This is the opposite of what Paul teaches in 1 Cor. 9:9 and 1 Tim. 5:18 (citing Deut 25:4).

18:16-19 The Troubler of Israel

So Elijah shows up before Ahab and Ahab calls him the “troubler of Israel.” Ahab is attempting to scapegoat Elijah, to make him the problem in Israel. Just as when he tried to kill Elijah at the beginning of the plague, he still credits it to the preacher instead of to God. Elijah corrects him. Ahab is the troubler of Israel. But the question of who is the troubler is, more fundamentally, a question of who is God.

18:20-40 Victory on Mt. Carmel

Mt. Carmel is a peak on the northern boarder of Israel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. Because of its height it was a prominent place for pagan sacrifices. Egyptian Pharaohs from centuries before the time of Ahab listed it as favorite location for sacrifices. The Phoenicians had altars on it. And apparently, the Israelites had their own high place to Yahweh on it. Since it was on the border between Israel and Phoenicia and since it appears to have had a number of different worship services on it, it made a perfect place for a showdown between the one true God and Baal.

18:20-24 – The Israelites gather to watch and Elijah rebukes them for their hopping back and forth between two opinions. He challenges them to pick between Baal and Yahweh. But they remain silent (21). So he proposes the terms of the contest and now they are ready to say something (24).

18:25-29 – The priests of Baal offer their sacrifice and nothing happens. Elijah enjoys himself and taunts them. They begin cutting themselves. Self-mutilation was one of the ways that pagan mourners indicated their grief. This was also common in the worship of Baal. They then began prophesying around the altar and did so until evening. And it had no effect.

18:30-40 – Finally the people, having seen the failure of Baal to answer, respond to Elijah. He repairs an altar that had once been used to worship Yahweh. The people bring twelve stones, representing the twelve tribes of Israel. This was done in –

Ex. 24:4 At Mt. Sinai as Israel made a covenant with God

Josh. 4:1-9 – As Israel crosses Jordan into promised land, twelve stones were set up as a testimony to Israel.

The effect is to call attention to the fact that these tribes belong to God, they are in covenant with him. He re- enacts moments from Israel’s history when they were called out as a nation to serve him. Notice that he calls attention to Jacob having been renamed Israel (18:31). And this is emphasized again (18:36) with the formula “Abraham, Isaac, and Israel.” Jacob’s name was changed to Israel right after God tells Jacob to put aside all foreign gods (Gen. 35:2-4, 10). Israel, above all else, is the name of a nation that does not serve foreign gods. He is saying to them, “You are all Israel, my twelve tribes. You serve Yahweh and not these false gods.”

18:38 – And fire fell from heaven, confirming that Yahweh is God. Why would Elijah now sacrifice on a high place, in what seems like a violation of Deut 12? Some just say that this was an emergency exception. But consider this. The temple fire was lit by God (Lev. 9:24, 2 Chron. 7:1). The priests were required to keep this fire perpetually burning (Lev. 6:9, 12-13). Nadab and Abihu were judged because they brought in their own strange fire (Lev. 10:1-2). So a likely explanation would be that the problem with offering sacrifices on the high places was that it necessitated using strange fire. Elijah does not use strange fire here, but God lights the sacrifice just as he did in the inauguration of the tabernacle and temple sacrifices.

18:39-40 – When the people see the fire, they finally move. The prophets of Baal are seized and executed.

18:41-46 The Prayer of a Righteous Man

Covenant ceremonies usually conclude with a meal. That’s why we finish our worship service here with the Lord’s Supper. The same thing happens in this passage. Elijah sends Ahab up to the meal. Meanwhile, Elijah give himself to prayer. Now the strange thing is, James later saw this prayer as proof of the power of prayer (James 5:17).

Into the Desert

Joe Harby on May 26, 2013

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1. After the death of Solomon, the son of David, the nation of Israel was divided into two kingdoms. Only the southern tribe of Judah continued to follow the rightful king Rehoboam. The rest of Israel rebelled and began a new line of kings. But because the temple was in Jerusalem, which was in Judah, and the Jews were only supposed to sacrifice to God in the temple, the political divide between Judah and Israel separated Israel from the right worship of God. This led the Israelites to either continue worshiping and sacrificing to God, but on the high places and not at the temple in Jerusalem, or to outright worship of other gods. 1 Kings 12-16 describes the very swift decline of Israel, culminating in Omri and Ahab.

1 Kings 16:29-34 describes how Ahab led Israel to worship Baal, a storm god who brought rain and fertility. His wife Jezebel, a princess from Sidon and the great aunt of Dido, led him into this. If Jesus was the second Adam, then we might think of Ahab as Adam 1.5. Here is a king who has been given a land to guard and to tend. But he is led astray by his wife to forsake the one true God (1Kings 21:25). The culmination of this is at a tree (1 Kings 16:33). And this sin brings his land under a curse.

Then, to drive home how wicked the nation has become, the author points out what happened in Bethel (1 Kings 16:34). Hiel’s actions were a fulfilment of Joshua’s prophecy ( Josh. 6:26). The land has turned to worship Baal, the god of rain and fertility. And look at what happens – the rain stops and they start killing their own children. Into this scene, Elijah enters.

2-7. Immediately, Elijah must flee to the desert. Ahab falls into the ancient mistake of thinking that shooting the messenger will accomplish something. God likes to take his people into the desert, usually being chased by someone who wants to kill them. Moses fled to the desert as a young man after he had killed the Egyptian (Ex. 2:15). All of Israel fled to the desert with the Egyptian army chasing them.

In the book of Revelation, the church is described as a woman, being chased by the beast. And God takes
her to the desert to protect her (Rev. 12:14). And notice that at the beginning the curse on unfaithful Israel and the trial for faithful Elijah look very similar. Israel is being turned into a desert because of her sins. And Elijah is led into the desert. But there is a difference. When we are in the desert, God takes us through temptations, trials, and suffering. It is hard, but it is how God purifies us.

8-16. Elijah is received by the widow of Zarephath, a city in the region of Sidon. The irony is that this was where Jezebel was from and would have been a city given to the worship of Baal. But the widow has faith in God and gives her last morsel of bread to Elijah. Jesus later cites this story to illustrate how the hard- heartedness of Israel will mean the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles (Luke 4:25-26).

17-24. After Elijah’s arrival, the widow’s son dies and she blames his death on Elijah, who isn’t exactly a good luck charm. Elijah’s resurrection of the boy looks a lot like Jesus’ resurrection of the son of the widow of Nain (Luke 7:11). In the end, what looks like things getting worse and worse for Elijah, is just God preparing and equipping his prophet for glory.

Gospel Presence III: The Armor of God

Joe Harby on April 14, 2013

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In Christ

You have heard it pointed out that, even though it is important to have Jesus in your heart, the New Testament speaks more often of us being in Jesus. And the book of Ephesians easily illustrates this point, where, in six short chapters, the phrase “in Jesus” or “in Christ” or some equivalent is used over thirty times. Clearly Paul wanted us to understand this very important concept. We are in Jesus. But we need to keep in mind this emphasis on being in Christ as we read the rest of the book.

Chapter One: The Body

Paul starts right off with a strong focus on our position in Christ. Everything is happening in Christ. But he is in the heavenly places. How can any of this be any good to us, when he is so far from us? Paul tells us that there was a mystery that God planned from the beginning, that at the right time God would gather all things together by bringing them into Jesus. This happened at the incarnation, when God the Son became a man and took on a body. By taking on a body and becoming our brother, he united himself to us (Heb. 2:11).

Chapter Two and Three: The Mystery

Remember that Paul said the incarnation was a mystery, which God had planned from the beginning as a way of bringing together heaven and earth. Before the coming of Jesus, the way to God was only hinted at through the temple sacrifices. And so all of the worship of God, all the laws and regulations of the Old Testament, stressed the distance between God and man. One of the ways that this was illustrated was by the separation between Israel and the Gentiles. But this distance was destroyed by Jesus. In particular, the distance between Jew and Gentile, between heaven and earth, was destroyed by a body. And that body is the mystery that the world has been waiting for (3:3-6). So the reconciliation of Jew to Gentile was a sub-mystery, a junior mystery, which was intended to show us all the larger mystery, the great mystery of the reconciliation of God and man in Jesus.

Chapter Four and Five: Body Life

Ephesians 4 is about unity, one body (4:4-6). This is the one body of Jesus – which doesn’t just represent, but actually, through the mystery of the Gospel, is the meeting point of God and man, meaning it is our redemption. It is where we are reconciled to God. This is all a profound theological point. But it is also a very practical point. Paul teaches that if we are the body of Christ, then we need to act like it.

Corporate life and gifts (4:11-13, cf. 1 Cor. 12). Notice that this is all to serve the one body of Christ and that it is leading us to become one perfect man. Who is that perfect man? Christ. We are growing up into this man. We think of the new man individually. And we all have to do this as individuals. But the new man that we are putting on is something that is done in this corporate community. We are putting on the man that God is making out of the church, the man who has been being described throughout this book.

This all means that you don’t grow in sanctification on your lonesome. You grow corporately as the Gospel shapes you. And you get shaped in community. In all the relationships that Paul describes here – your marriage (5:22-33), your job (6:5-9), your parents and your kids (6:1-4), your fellow Christians (those you share a baptism with 4:1-6), the officers of the church (4:11-16).

Chapter Six: The Aristea of God

And notice the last thing that Paul tells this body, this new man, to do (6:10-20). We usually read this passage as individuals. But Paul is speaking about arming this corporate body, this new man – the church militant. When we read this as individuals, we set our sights too low. We think of putting on the armor of God as a matter of being diligent about our quiet times. But Paul is talking about us as the body of Christ being on the march here in Moscow.

We are the presence of Christ here in Moscow. We are the presence of this mystery, the Gospel, here on the Palouse. And the way we live out our marriages, our friendships, our relationships with our employers and employees – this is the presence of Christ here, the aroma of life. And each of these relationships is an opportunity to advance his kingdom here, to put on the armor of God as a collective body and to declare this mystery to the watching world.

Romans 5:1-11

Joe Harby on February 24, 2013

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The Text

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1-11

Peace with God

When Jesus first appeared to the gathered disciples after his resurrection, he focused his message on this one word – peace (John 20:19, 21, and 26). Jesus had just brought about the reconciliation of God and sinners, and the result was peace. Jesus couldn’t get over it. We’re at peace now. We don’t understand the full significance of the word because we probably don’t fully appreciate the severity of the sentence that was against us. But Jesus knew what that sentence was. He knew the wrath that we were under. And he returned to his disciples, bursting with the news that he was at peace with us.

The glory of God was once death for us (Exodus 33:18-23, Ez. 1:27-28). When a sinful man stood before the glory of a perfect God, the result was an all-consuming terror. But now the apostle Paul says that we rejoice in it Rom. 5:2, that is we rejoice in what we were once terrified of, and we are now at peace with God’s holiness. This change in our relationship to God’s holiness, from terror and fear to peace and joy, is what it means to be justified.

And Not Only That

Paul is describing a surprise reversal. Now that we are standing in this grace – “We also glory in tribulations . . .” Tribulation really ought to lead us to despair. But Jesus saw it as an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed. Outside of Christ, tribulation on earth is merely a foretaste of the eternal condemnation that is waiting for us. But when we are in the grace of God, these tribulations produce something altogether different in us.

Holy Spirit

This is why we are given the Holy Spirit now. The Holy Spirit is regularly described as a guarantee (Eph. 1:13- 14), a deposit, a promise. The reason that this deposit is so important is that it is going to look, at times, like you aren’t headed towards eternal life. When you suffer it is going to feel at times like you are headed towards death and destruction. But the Holy Spirit is poured into your heart as a confirmation that God is actually moving you towards eternal life. It is a supernatural peace and confidence in the face of suffering.

The world describes people who endure suffering as “fighters.” It is a hollow boast. Because we all know that any victory that they might experience is a temporary victory, a remission from suffering. But Paul promises us that in Christ “we are more than conquerors” (Rom. 8:37-39). Because through Christ we have conquered death itself, our hope will not be disappointed.

For When We Were Without Strength

Paul is about to explain the reason why we can have this confidence, this peace. The answer is – while you were still an absolute jerk, Jesus died for you. And if he was willing to die for you in that condition, then how much more is he going to give his life to you, now that you have been forgiven? We have peace in suffering because we have Jesus’ eternal life promised to us.