by Logan Ames
As our nation recently celebrated our 242nd year of independence, I found myself thinking about how many people must have dreamt about it and pursued it only to never fully experience it. We in America certainly take it for granted because we’ve all been born into freedom and have never known what it’s like to be oppressed by a nation or a government. But that’s not how it was for the original patriots who risked and in many cases gave their lives for this cause. That being said, we still have a role and a responsibility today to continue that cause for two reasons: 1) so that those who come after us will continue to enjoy the freedoms we have enjoyed, and 2) so that the sacrifices and efforts of those who went before us would not be wasted. In other words, it’s up to US to carry the torch of freedom and keep it burning.
When you think about it, this has been true about any noble cause that has ever existed. Other than Jesus dying for the sins of the whole world on the cross, God never intended for one person to do it all. Martin Luther King, Jr. didn’t begin the Civil Rights Movement (Rosa Parks and others came before him) and he certainly was assassinated before he got to experience the fullness of the freedom and desegregation that he dreamt of. Others had to keep the torch burning. Robert Gould Shaw (portrayed by Matthew Broderick in the movie Glory) was a white man who fought and died in the Civil War for the cause of freedom for slaves. His torch would’ve burned out if others didn’t keep it going. It’s true about ministry as well. I have a friend who is leaving in September to go to Ecuador for a year to help develop pastors and churches there who are ministering to the natives. The organization he’ll be working for put out a publication that states the work of evangelism in Ecuador began with Jim Elliot and the men who were with him in 1956. They were all martyred, but the seeds they planted were watered by others and now missionaries and native Christians are beginning to reap the harvest there.
It reminds me of the words of the writer at the end of Hebrews 11. As I have taken you through this chapter, faithful hero by faithful hero in a series that started over ten months ago, I pray that these examples of faith have ignited a fire within you to carry on their torch. That’s what the writer of Hebrews also desired. In Hebrews 11:39-40, he reminds us, “These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect." The idea of being made perfect is actually that they are made “complete." In other words, all these heroes of the faith that we’ve talked about over the past ten months had a faith that was not yet made complete. Now, that’s not to say THEIR faith was incomplete. They followed God with boldness and total dependence on him. But the faith to which they devoted themselves was based on something God had promised but had not yet come to fruition. In that sense, the universal, Christian faith was not made complete until Jesus came, lived, died on the cross, and was raised to life again.
What does this mean for you, me, and all believers and followers of Jesus? The writer tells us as the next chapter begins. In Hebrews 12:1, we see the word “therefore," which directly refers back to every single mention of a hero of the faith, as well as the very last words from chapter 11. The writer tells us that we have some advantages that these faithful heroes didn’t have. The Church (capitalized to signify all Christians past, present, and future) ought to consider what each and every one of these faithful heroes did and how they stood firm in the incomplete faith that had not yet seen the arrival of the Messiah. Hebrews 12:1 calls them “witnesses," which is actually from the Greek marturos and is where we get the English term “martyr." You see, a martyr isn’t just someone who loses their life; it’s what all Christians are called to be to the extent that God asks of us. I might have to give up my life or I might only be asked to give up my desire for popularity and approval of those who would have me compromise the truth to obtain those things. Either way, every follower of Jesus must decide whether they will stand firm in their faith or be on shaky ground in something else.
The writer of Hebrews then tells the Church that, since we are surrounded by these witnesses and their stories - an advantage many of the faithful didn’t have as they stood out among the unfaithful - we have reason to get rid of the things in our lives that hinder us from faith and avoid the sins that ensnare us (v. 1). He says we ought to persevere in the “race marked out for us” even when it’s difficult. The way to do that is what the writer explains is another advantage that we have - we can “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2). None of the ancient heroes of our faith described in Hebrews 11 could fix their eyes on Jesus because he had not yet come! They knew of him only in the sense that they believed in the promise, but it was still something they could only imagine. To our knowledge, the name “Jesus” was not revealed to any of them. So, when the writer mentions our Savior by his human name, only those who have come after him can find strength from his endurance.
We are reminded in verses 2-3 of what exactly our Savior endured. The cross was not just physically painful but also publicly shaming. Yet, Jesus “scorned its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." The author of Hebrews tells us that when we are struggling, we should consider not only all of those other faithful heroes, but the most faithful of them all - Jesus of Nazareth. If we consider all that he went through and endured, as well as his great reward of sitting at the right hand of God (the highest position of honor there is), we “will not grow weary and lose heart” (v. 3).
The heroes of the faith in the past chose to stand firm even though they had yet to see what was promised. If they could endure so much without seeing the promise come true, how much more reason do we have to continue to keep the torch of faith burning, knowing that God has been faithful in keeping his promises? If you are part of the Church, you have this responsibility for the next generation. I don’t know what God will ask you to endure, but I know that you have examples right in front of your eyes of those who have endured and have overcome even more. By the same faith that was central to the lives of so many before you, you can reason that God is bigger than your problems, that he has a plan, and that following him even when circumstances seem to be against you is more logical than rejecting him and his commands. As I said at the beginning of the series, faith in God is not blind. Follow the evidence, which includes all these faithful stories before you, and make your choice to stand firm in that faith. May God bless and reward you as you do!
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by Logan Ames
Irena Sendler, whose story can be found here, was a woman who risked everything to save the innocent and oppressed. She valued God’s standard of justice, mercy, and humility (Micah 6:8) over the current laws of the land. Her “land” happened to be Nazi-occupied Warsaw, Poland during the time of the Holocaust. Irena actually did what many of us would like to think we’d do if we were in her situation. She used her position as a social worker to rescue some 2,500 Jewish children by smuggling them out of the Warsaw ghetto, giving them fake identities, and arranging for them to receive the care and shelter they needed in safe places. She had an understanding, just like Queen Esther in the Bible, that God had probably given her the position she had for such a time as the one she faced. Irena is quoted as saying, “Every child saved with my help is the justification of my existence on this Earth, and not a title to glory." She did not see it as something for which she could boast, but as the ONLY reasonable choice for a true follower of God to make in that situation. She risked everything to save those children and endured severe torture and imprisonment, but never gave up the names or locations of the children she rescued. Irena Sendler is a true, contemporary hero of the faith.
Her story reminds me of a man from the Old Testament, who will be the final specific hero of the faith I will address in this series. As we come toward the end of Hebrews 11, the writer tells us that “the world was not worthy” of the faithful heroes about whom he’s been writing (v. 38). In other words, the collective group of the despised, mistreated, and martyred servants of God were of greater worth than all the rest of humanity combined. The world did not see them as valuable and likely forgot about them after they were gone, but the writer reminds us that God will not forget about them and neither should we if we want to know what it’s like to live out our faith in the midst of the trials we face today. But then, after making what appears to be a concluding statement about the heroes of the faith, the writer surprisingly adds one more description of them: “They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground” (v. 38). We can’t be sure why the writer came back to this, but it’s worth noting that two of the most well-known heroes from the Old Testament, David and Elijah, would BOTH fit this statement. Both men followed the Lord and were forced to live as fugitives as the evil kings leading God’s people sought to kill them. Since we’ve already discussed those men in this series, I want to turn your attention to a lesser known faithful hero, but one who still played a major role in the history of faith and specifically in the story of Elijah.
The man’s name is Obadiah. Now, we know that someone named Obadiah wrote a book of prophecy in the Old Testament, but we can’t be sure which one it was because there are numerous “Obadiahs” mentioned other places in the Old Testament. The name means “servant of Yahweh” and that’s no surprise because the Obadiah of Elijah’s day certainly fits that moniker. You can find his role in the story in 1 Kings 18:2-16, which are the verses directly preceding Elijah’s confrontation with the prophets of Baal. This is where I can begin to draw similarities between Obadiah and Irena Sendler. Obadiah was the palace administrator under the evil King Ahab. This means he was in a unique position to work for justice even as the maniacal king and his crazy wife Jezebel were slaughtering many of the Lord’s prophets. We might think that he should’ve stood up to them, but remember that even Jesus told his followers to be “as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16). Sometimes, we’re too quick to leave bad situations. We see discomfort for ourselves or evil all around us and we conclude that God must want us to leave. But maybe God wants us to be the change agent, or maybe he just wants us to use the platform he has given us to do his work in some way. This is a perfect example of understanding what it means to be in the world but not of the world (John 17:15-16).
Obadiah was put in a position, within an administration where he clearly didn’t agree with the rulers, to do God’s work even at great personal risk. 1 Kings 18:3-4 tells us that he was a “devout believer in the Lord” who “had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water." I understand that all indications are that Obadiah himself did not have to go live in a cave, so the writer of Hebrews was likely talking about the great faith of the prophets who trusted him. There’s no doubt that they also are to be commended. But they faced a certain death had it not been for Obadiah risking his life for them.
Obadiah’s faith didn’t end there. As the story continues, he is commanded by Ahab to go look for grass to feed their mules and horses because they are nearing starvation during the major famine across the land. As he follows the command of his superior, he is out walking and stumbles across Elijah (v. 7). Elijah tells him to go and tell Ahab that he has found Elijah. Obadiah, knowing that Ahab has been searching all over God’s green earth looking for Elijah to kill him, understandably has a brief moment of trepidation. He is certain that the Spirit of God is leading Elijah and worries that if he goes and tells Ahab that Elijah is there and then Ahab cannot find him, he’ll be called to account with his life (vv. 9-14). Elijah simply gives him the assurance that he would present himself to Ahab later that day, because we all know that if you’re following the Lord wholeheartedly there really is nothing and no one to fear. After that, we see that Obadiah puts his faith in God and in the promise from Elijah and spills the beans to Ahab. He had already been willing to die if he got caught hiding the 100 prophets, so why not keep leaving his life up to God anyway?
Obadiah’s part of the story ends there. We know what took place between Elijah and Ahab after that, but we don’t know what part, if any, Obadiah continued to have. We don’t know how much longer he served Ahab, or whether he was alive or dead when Ahab finally got what was coming to him. What we do know about Obadiah is that he was faithful. God doesn’t call us to worry about the results. We can trust those to him. He just calls us to be faithful. Obadiah was faithful in smuggling prophets into caves just like Irena Sendler was faithful in smuggling children into homes. Both individuals didn’t stop there but continued to supply those they had rescued with their daily needs. Both of them put doing what was right in God’s eyes ahead of loyalty to an evil and wicked man. Are you willing to live like these individuals, or do you constantly seek whatever is most comfortable and then try to tell yourself and others that it’s what God wants? What he truly wants is obedience and faithfulness regardless of the comfort level. He has put you on this earth for a reason. You do not exist unto yourself alone, but you have a purpose and a responsibility to use whatever platform or position he has given you to bless, love, and serve others. What’s stopping you and why? Surrender it to the Lord this very day!
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by Logan Ames
“Imagine how much more we could get done in the church if no one cared who got the credit.” (author unknown)
The above quote was brought back to my attention two months ago when I received life ordination as a minister in the Churches of God, General Conference denomination. A wonderful woman from my church surprised me by knitting some of my favorite quotes onto a pillow as a gift to commemorate the occasion. When I saw this quote and two others, I asked what in the world would’ve made her think those were specifically my favorites. Little did I know that once you put something on your Facebook profile and don’t ever look at it again, others might still find it! I signed up for Facebook in 2009 and immediately picked quotes as my “favorites” that were important to me at that time. Nine years later, I didn’t remember the above quote or its source, which was likely a random seminary book I had to read. Nevertheless, reflecting on the quote makes me think of so many of the heroes of the faith we’ve been studying who sought the rewards of eternal life rather than temporary fame and fortune.
For the second time in this series, I’m going to veer away from those that the writer of Hebrews was likely talking about and discuss someone of whom the New Testament believers would’ve been aware even if they didn’t have the writings that we now have. In Hebrews 11:37, the writer tells us some of the faithful “went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated." This description could probably best be applied to Elijah from the Old Testament, but we already discussed his faith in regards to escaping the edge of the sword. The question would then be whether there is someone else who fits this description. It just so happens that a man who entered the scene in the New Testament was just like Elijah, so much so that Jesus himself referred to this man, John the Baptist, as “the Elijah who was to come” (Matthew 11:14).
John the Baptist, who was related to Jesus through their mothers (Luke 1:36), served as a forerunner whose mission it was to prepare the way for the Lord. This means he went around preaching and proclaiming that the kingdom of heaven was near and it was time for people to “repent” (Matthew 3:2). Matthew tells us in 3:3 that John the Baptist fulfilled a prophecy from Isaiah 40:3 that said there would be one in the wilderness who would call for people to get prepared for the Lord and “make straight paths for him." That isn’t the only prophecy John fulfilled. Malachi 3:1 tells us that God will send a “messenger” ahead of the Lord and Malachi 4:5 specifically says that God will send “the prophet Elijah” before the day of the Lord. Elijah the Tishbite, the man who confronted Ahab and Jezebel, was long gone at this point, so the prophecies had to be talking about someone else, and Jesus confirmed that John the Baptist was he.
Now, what kind of living circumstances do you think a man who spent his time in the wilderness would have to endure? While he wasn’t specifically forced to wear “sheepskins and goatskins," he did wear “clothes made of camel’s hair” and “his food was locusts and wild honey” (Matthew 3:4). The big question is, “Why?” Well, Luke’s gospel account tells us that the wilderness is where the word of the Lord came to John (Luke 3:2). How many of us receive the word of the Lord and then try to arrange our circumstances to our liking so that we can “comfortably” do what God has asked of us? That’s certainly not what John the Baptist did. The word came to him in the wilderness, so he began to preach IN THE WILDERNESS. Luke 3:3 says that “he went into all the country around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." John knew what God had called him to do and preached around the Jordan River because that’s where he baptized those who came. There wasn’t time to waste. The kingdom was near. If he was going to preach true repentance and people were going to want to respond, the quickest and most outward way to show it was by being baptized. This was a public confession of the inward change and it happened IMMEDIATELY.
So, what exactly was he talking about when he told people to repent? I once wrote a 10-page paper on this one word in seminary and I learned that the Greek word is from the root metanoeo, which is a combination of meta, meaning “against," and noeo, which means “to think." This tells us that when John, and later Jesus, urged the crowds to repent, they are talking about literally changing their ways, which begins with a complete change in thinking. It could be said that repentance is literally “going against one’s current thought or understanding." As people encountered John the Baptist and heard about the coming of the Messiah, they were moved to completely change their thoughts and ways and do a complete 180-degree turn. John told them that the water baptism was a symbol of what was to come - the baptism of the Holy Spirit that happens only through Jesus.
John the Baptist became quite the popular figure as more and more came to him, but he remembered his mission and didn’t seek anything more. Even as some thought he was the Messiah, he reminded them that he wouldn’t even be worthy to carry the sandals of the true Messiah (Matthew 3:11). He didn’t seek a building to fit a megachurch, didn’t ask for a large salary with good benefits, and didn’t demand respect and authority. He simply hung out in the wilderness, munching on locusts and wearing camels’ hair, and preached what God gave him to preach. When specific people like soldiers and tax collectors asked what repentance would look like for them, John was direct in telling them how to live rightly (Luke 3:12-14). He urged people to not just feel sorry for their sins, but to confess them and to bear fruit that shows the change that came from repentance (Luke 3:8). His message was well-received by most, but not all. Because he was so focused on speaking truth and not what was in it for him, he boldly rebuked King Herod for marrying his brother’s wife among other wicked acts, which unfortunately landed John in prison for the rest of his life until Herod had him killed (Luke 3:19-20).
John the Baptist was certainly a copycat of Elijah in many ways. He lived in humble circumstances, boldly called out the wickedness of a pagan ruler, and urged repentance from God’s people. But John the Baptist said something that, to our knowledge, no one else did. Despite his boldness in challenging wicked authority, his response to Jesus was marked by humility like no one else had seen. When some of his disciples complained that people were going to Jesus rather than him, he simply reminded them that he was not the Messiah and was given only the joy of preparing the way for him (John 3:26-29). Then, he spoke the words by which we should remember and emulate him. Speaking of Jesus, he said, “He must become greater; I must become less” (John 3:30). Are you willing to become “less” so that you can make Jesus “greater” in the eyes of the world? One thing’s for sure: you wouldn’t be able to care who gets the credit. Let John’s faith and his willingness to accept his role in God’s story of redemption speak to you today. Use his example as a catalyst for repentance and humility in your own life.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Logan Ames
There is an old legal saying with an unknown original source that goes like this: “If you have the facts on your side, pound the facts. If you have the law on your side, pound the law. If you have neither on your side, pound the table." Clearly, this would lead to a lot of anger and pounding regardless of the actual truth. I remember my first day in class when I started college in the criminal justice program and one of the professors said, “The criminal justice system is a game, and the goal of the game is to win." In other words, he and many other professors wanted us to know up front that it’s not really about the truth, but how you can best navigate the system to achieve your desired result.
Despite this way of the world, the Christian faith tells us no pounding is needed. Jesus himself said, “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” (John 8:36). If you are on the side of the truth and have been set free by the Lord, then literally nothing else can take you captive. There is a little-known man in the Bible who showed his faith by doing what he knew the Lord would want him to do, and when it was clear that it would ultimately cost him his life, he simply stood by the truth. In Hebrews 11:37, we see that some of the faithful heroes of the past “were killed by the sword." God’s people went through several dark periods in their history when his servants were intensely persecuted. One of those periods was when King Ahab and his wife Jezebel were slaughtering the Lord’s prophets and Elijah spent much of his time on the run but still boldly spoke God’s word. Another time was when eighty-five priests, along with their families and livestock, were killed with the sword by Doeg the Edomite at the command of King Saul in the town of Nob (1 Samuel 22). One of those priests was Ahimelek and he is our hero of the faith for this week.
Ahimelek became part of God’s story when David, who had been anointed as the next king of Israel, had to flee because the reigning king, Saul, had become hellbent on killing him. Since the Bible is in part a history book, it helps to know the context of what happened to Ahimelek and the other priests. Saul was the first king of Israel when the people demanded a king to lead them so that they could be like the other nations (1 Samuel 8). Initially, Saul had the Spirit of the Lord on his side and gave credit to the Lord when a battle was won. As time went on, however, he walked away from the Lord and became obsessed with self-preservation. He was afraid to take on Goliath in 1 Samuel 17 despite the fact that he was bigger and badder than anyone else in all of Israel. God anointed David as Saul’s eventual successor and David proved himself to the people by killing Goliath.
After David’s victory and sudden rise to fame, Saul became increasingly jealous of him and tried to protect his throne at all costs, even if it meant killing David who he knew was innocent. He tried to kill him several times, but the Lord kept David safe and he was able to escape. David then had to flee for his life and ended up going several different places, one of which was Nob (1 Samuel 21). There, David went to the right place when he sensed that he was in trouble - the house of the Lord. That’s when he met Ahimelek, the priest at Nob. The story can be found in 1 Samuel 21:2-9. David lied to Ahimelek, pretending that Saul had sent he and other men on a secret mission when in reality he was completely alone and running from the king himself. David desperately needed food so he asked Ahimelek to give him whatever he has to eat.
This is our first look at the heart of Ahimelek. As a priest, he had certain customs to follow regarding the “consecrated bread” that was kept at the house of the Lord for the priests. But here, there was a human need right in front of him. In giving David the bread, Ahimelek went against the priestly customs but did not go against God’s word. God never said that ONLY priests should eat the consecrated bread; that part, while logical, was an addition to God’s word. We must never put our interpretations or applications of what he said on par with what he ACTUALLY said. Jesus spoke of Ahimelek’s example as the Pharisees questioned his disciples for picking heads of grain on the Sabbath when they were hungry in Matthew 12:1-8. He used it to make the point that human need is more important than religious tradition. Jesus’ words show us that Ahimelek was to be commended for putting his faith in the Lord over traditions and customs.
In addition to the bread, Ahimelek also gave David the very sword that he had previously used to kill Goliath. Unfortunately for Ahimelek, Doeg the Edomite witnessed all of the help that Ahimelek gave to David under the impression that David was on a mission from the king. Later, in 1 Samuel 22:9-10, this eyewitness evidence sealed the fate of Ahimelek. Doeg reported to Saul, who was already off his rocker, that he saw Ahimelek helping David, whom Saul continued to intentionally refer to as “the son of Jesse” just to remind everyone that David was just a little man from a poor family. Saul then asked Ahimelek and many other priests why they would conspire against him. Ahimelek’s response is listed in 1 Samuel 22:14-15, where he simply stood by the truth, which was that he clearly knew nothing of the conspiracy. He praised David to Saul, showing that he truly did not know Saul wanted to kill him, and also admitted to helping and praying for David other times, which revealed that he believed David’s lie that Saul had sent him on a mission.
Ahimelek’s defense was the honest truth. Once he had spoken it, he simply asked the king to not falsely accuse him or his family. We don’t hear of another word from Ahimelek as Saul had already made up his mind to have him killed. Verses 16-19 that follow tell us that he, his family, and most of his town were put to death by Doeg. Ahimelek did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and his death could be blamed on David’s lies as much as Saul’s anger. But in the end, Ahimelek valued love for a human in need over religious tradition and valued standing firm in the truth over his own life. While he is not mentioned by name in Hebrews 11, the faith of he and the other priests at Nob was known to Jesus and the believers that came after him. Ahimelek’s life ended when he was killed by the sword, but even today his example urges us to put the needs of others above our traditions and to let the truth stand on its own when we are falsely accused. If you are facing either of those dilemmas in your life today, learn from this man of faith.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Logan Ames
This past week, I got to watch the last hour of a movie that, having grown up in the 1990s, I consider a classic. Braveheart is the story of William Wallace, who led the Scottish revolt against the king of England beginning in the late 13th century. The theme of the movie is Wallace’s quest for independence for his people in the face of the uncertainty of so many of his comrades, who at times boldly followed him and other times questioned his willingness to take on the establishment. During one conversation with his close friend and fellow rebel, Hamish, Wallace is considering taking the Scottish nobles up on their offer to join forces to go after the enemy. Hamish tries to convince Wallace that it’s a trap (he would be proven correct on that), but Wallace is willing to take that chance because he knows it’s the only way they could possibly achieve victory. Hamish, fearing the trap will lead to their gruesome torture and death, declares, “I don’t want to be a martyr." Wallace responds, “Nor I. I want to live. I want a home, and children, and peace. I’ve asked God for these things. It’s all for nothing if you don’t have freedom."
Even after William Wallace was captured, he held true to the cause of freedom, refusing to confess his “crime” and swear allegiance to the king of England, even while being tortured and killed. He demonstrated that it is better to die fighting for what’s right than live having accepted what is wrong. In Hebrews 11:37, we read about the unnamed heroes of the faith who experienced excruciating pain as they were martyred but never abandoned their allegiance to God. One of the descriptors is that “they were sawed in two." This is an interesting category of martyrs because we do not find any specific stories of someone being killed for their faith in this way anywhere in Scripture. As I’ve found in doing some research, a theologian named John Gill explains in his exposition of the Bible that other historical Jewish texts, including the Talmuds and the Midrash, have references to the death of Isaiah the prophet. These texts and Jewish tradition hold that Isaiah feared the evil King Manasseh, who took issue with some of his prophecies. Isaiah then ran away from the king and hid inside a cedar tree, but the outer edges of his clothing were visible and he was found. King Manasseh ordered that the tree be sawed in two while Isaiah was still in it, and this is how he was martyred.
Admittedly, I don’t have copies of any of these historical texts in my posession, so I cannot verify their words. However, I do believe that Hebrews 11 is true because, like the rest of Scripture, it is inspired by the very breath of God (2 Timothy 3:16). As the writer of Hebrews was putting pen to paper, we can be certain that the Holy Spirit was guiding him and that the Jews who would’ve read it would’ve been familiar with the tradition of Isaiah’s martyrdom. But that’s not all.
We can certainly look at the Scriptures that do describe this time in history and consider whether it’s possible and even likely that King Manasseh might have killed Isaiah. Isaiah 1:1 tells us that Isaiah was a prophet during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, who were all kings of Judah. 2 Kings 20:21 tells us that Manasseh was the son of Hezekiah and succeeded him as king. So, we already know that Isaiah’s prophecies ended when Manasseh came into power after Hezekiah. Logically, we can ask ourselves whether it is likely that a man who proclaimed the word of the Lord for the reigns of four straight kings would’ve suddenly just decided to stop for any reason other than his own death. Prophets of the Lord didn’t plan for retirement! Plus, Isaiah 6:11-13 tells us that God sent Isaiah to prophesy until Judah is forsaken and ruined and the Lord has sent everyone far away. As we look further into the story, that piece of information becomes important.
The reign of Hezekiah lasts from 2 Kings 18-20, and during this time, Hezekiah seems to accept the prophecies of Isaiah. Hezekiah trusts, follows, and seeks the word of the Lord. In 2 Kings 20, he becomes very ill and Isaiah tells him that God says he is going to die (v. 1). Hezekiah pleads with God to remember his faithfulness and heal him, and God tells Isaiah to go back and tell him that God has heard his prayer and will add fifteen more years to his life (vv. 2-6). Isaiah speaks everything God commands and then even tells Hezekiah how to treat his condition and also reveals the sign that God has given to show him he will be healed (vv. 7-11). After this, Hezekiah accepts envoys sent from the king of Babylon and essentially shows off everything in his kingdom. He doesn’t realize how foolish of a move this is until Isaiah declares that God has spoken and that one day, everything Hezekiah has shown off to the envoys will be carried off to Babylon and some of his own biological descendants will be taken as captives and made eunuchs there (vv. 12-18). Certainly, this is common sense. If you boast about your wealth to a pagan country who has the means and the ruthlessness to attack you and take it for themselves, you can expect that they’ll come for it at some point. Hezekiah doesn’t seem to be too alarmed by this because he figures it will happen after he is long gone.
After Hezekiah died, Manasseh took over and “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (2 Kings 21:2). The rest of 2 Kings 21 goes on to tell us the evils that Manasseh committed, but verse 16 is where we specifically see that he “shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end." It’s not difficult to surmise that Isaiah was likely one of those innocents who was killed, especially since he was so prominent during Hezekiah’s reign and we never hear from him again chronologically after this.
You might be wondering what Isaiah’s faithfulness and willingness to speak the word of the Lord truly accomplished. Well, 2 Chronicles 33:1-20 gives us another view of Manasseh’s reign. Verses 11-13 shows us that what Isaiah had prophesied to Hezekiah in the last known prophecy of his that we have outside of the book that bears his name came true! Manasseh, obviously a biological descendant of Hezekiah, is taken captive to Babylon after his kingdom is attacked. He likely knew of Isaiah’s words about this and may have murdered him over that specific prophecy, yet now he realized that it came true. Manasseh humbled himself before the Lord and the Lord rescued him and brought him back to his home and kingdom. “Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God” (v. 13). This changed everything for Manasseh and he spent the rest of his reign and life worshipping and following God, even while his people continued to sin.
Like William Wallace, Isaiah stayed loyal to his cause even to his death. Neither of them wanted to die and each of them tried to avoid it with all they could. Wallace had a wife who had been murdered and spoke of a desire to have a home and children and peace. Isaiah 8:1-4 tells us that the prophet had a wife and at least one child. I’m sure he dreamed of living happily ever after with them, but God commanded him to speak truth and he never abandoned it, even though he knew it could cost him his life. In the end, his willingness to proclaim God’s word planted a seed in Manasseh that caused him to turn back to the Lord when it came true. Isaiah may have met an awful end to this life, but he is surely counted among the faithful heroes who chose to die being right with God rather than live in opposition to him. May we boldly follow his example if it ever comes to it in our lives.
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by Logan Ames
What kind of legacy are you leaving for those who will come after you? This question is one that haunts some people as they near the end of their lives and causes many others to make changes when they consider it early enough in their time on this earth. It’s why so many young couples show little or no interest in church until they have children and begin to think about how it would be good for their little ones, even if they still don’t follow Jesus themselves as adults. It’s also why those same adults have no problem with colorful language until their children begin to repeat after them, at which point they shudder at the thought of the example they are setting!
There’s a great Christian song in country music called Three Wooden Crosses. The song is about a terrible traffic accident in which 3 out of 4 people riding on a bus are killed. Three wooden crosses are eventually put up on the side of the highway and the singer says he doesn’t know why there isn’t four there. It turns out the four individuals were a farmer, a teacher, a preacher, and a prostitute. The song tells us that it’s not what we take with us when we leave this world that’s important, but what we leave behind us when we go. The farmer left a harvest, a home with 80 acres, and faith and love for growing things in his young son’s heart. The teacher left her wisdom in the minds of her students. The preacher laid a blood-stained Bible in the prostitute’s hand and asked her to look toward the promised land. It turns out the singer is saying that his preacher is the son of the prostitute, proving that the preacher who died in the accident left a legacy just like the farmer and teacher did, and his dying gift set the prostitute on the road to Jesus and resulted in kingdom benefits for generations to come.
Today, I want to briefly share the story of a faithful hero in the Bible who left a legacy with his dying words just like that preacher. In Hebrews 11:37, we’re told that some of the past martyrs “were put to death by stoning." The man I want to tell you about this week, who was one of the Old Testament heroes murdered by stoning, was actually mentioned by name by Jesus. If you look at Matthew 23:35, Jesus is in the midst of pronouncing his woes on the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Here, he specifically mentions that blood will come upon them from the righteous blood that has been shed by previous martyrs, beginning with Abel and going all the way to Zechariah. A commentary by David Guzik says this is because Abel was the first faithful martyr (that makes sense since he is the first one mentioned in Hebrews 11 and the first in this series) and Zechariah was the last one listed in the Hebrew Bible, which ended with 2 Chronicles.
Zechariah is the same man who was a prophet and wrote the Book of Zechariah, but the story of his martyrdom is found in 2 Chronicles 24. Zechariah, like many of the previous heroes we have discussed in this series, took center stage while so many others around him were wicked. After his father Berekiah (aka “Jehoiada”), a priest who was influential toward King Joash, passed away, Joash and the people of Judah turned away from the Lord and worshiped idols (v. 18). God tried to get their attention and get them back on track by sending prophets who proclaimed his word, but they refused to heed the warnings. One of those prophets was Zechariah and he once became bold in the Spirit, stood before everyone, and said, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you disobey the Lord’s commands? You will not prosper. Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you’” (v. 20).
At that point, the people’s reaction wasn’t merely not listening to him in the sense of ignoring him. Rather than listen to the warning, repent, and plead with God to come back to them, they go the other direction. Their anger gets the best of them and they plot against Zechariah and even receive an order from King Joash to stone him to death in the courtyard of the temple (v. 21). It’s somewhat shocking how quickly Joash could be willing to kill a man whose father had meant so much to him, but that just goes to show us how quickly sin can destroy us if we don’t continue to repent and seek the Lord every day. But as Zechariah was dying, in his final moments he left a legacy statement: “May the Lord see this and call you to account” (v. 22).
Zechariah’s statement comes off a little bit like he wants revenge on them. It doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it that Stephen’s plea for the Lord to not hold their sin against him as he was being stoned in Acts 7:60 has. Yet, when Zechariah declares that he wants the Lord to call them to account, that doesn’t necessarily mean he is asking for God to destroy them. The truth is we all have to give an account for our careless words and sins. There are only two ways we can give that account - we either experience the natural end result of our wickedness and die, or we trust in Jesus whose blood was “poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). Zechariah understood that a savior was coming, and with his final words he pointed the people who murdered him toward that time when they would either pay for their sins themselves or trust in that savior.
Many Old Testament books talk about the savior who would come, and they present prophecies that would only be fulfilled by Jesus of Nazareth. Some of the clearest of these prophecies about Jesus are found in the book of Zechariah. He seemed to visualize what was going to happen to Jesus and how it would impact his own people. Toward the end of his book, Zechariah writes the word of the Lord about the death of the savior: “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son” (Zechariah 12:10).
Zechariah’s legacy as he lived and preached among the wicked was that he didn’t hesitate to point them toward the One who is both Savior and righteous Judge. It ended up costing him his life, but that didn’t stop him from proclaiming what the Lord had him proclaim. The One about whom he prophesied mentioned him along with all the other faithful martyrs. That’s probably all we really need to know about Zechariah. Jesus himself considered his spilt blood to be “righteous." I’d say that means he did something right in leaving a legacy for those after him.
What is your legacy? What would others say is most important to you? If you are spending time, money, and energy on something other than pointing people to Jesus, it’s time to evaluate your priorities.
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by Logan Ames
Without a doubt, one of the most iconic movie scenes in history comes from A Few Good Men. Even if you haven’t seen it, you probably know the scene. Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee, the attorney played by Tom Cruise, has the brazen, corrupt Colonel Nathan R. Jessup, played by Jack Nicholson, on the witness stand as he tries to get to the bottom of what took place that led to the death of a young Marine stationed in Cuba under Jessup’s command. As they go back and forth playing their legal “games," the conversation escalates to Lt. Kaffee emphatically demanding the truth. Colonel Jessup screams back, “You can’t handle the truth!” Jessup goes on to express his displeasure with those who enjoy the freedom he provides but constantly question the manner in which he provides it.
There is some truth in Jessup’s words. As we gather this Memorial Day weekend for food, fun, and family fellowship, it’s necessary for us to stop and honor the sacrifices of those who have given everything in order to provide us with the freedom we enjoy year-round. As I personally think about those who have given their lives for me, the list of course starts with Jesus but includes so many whose names I’ll never even know. Those men and women were willing to run toward danger and do jobs that so many others are unwilling to do. They deserve to be called “heroes” because they stood up to fear when so many others could not or would not. Some of them even experienced opposition from their own countrymen as those who opposed military action hurled their insults and frustrations directly at the soldiers who were just trying to serve their nation. They are heroes because they went against the grain.
The heroes of our faith that we’ve been reviewing in this series ought to be seen the same way. What made them stand out in most cases was their willingness to go against the grain, against what was popular, or even against what was comfortable in order to be counted as faithful and obedient to the Lord and his will. This week, we look at a man who was briefly mentioned in the post on Jehoshaphat earlier in the series. Hebrews 11:36 says that some of the anonymously faithful faced “chains and imprisonment." This might not seem like it’s as harrowing as what so many others went through. I’ve been in multiple prisons doing ministry in my life and I’ve yet to see someone being tortured or even greatly mistreated. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, but we have to understand that what we know as imprisonment today in our country is far from what it was like for those who were hated during biblical times.
One man who suffered greatly and was imprisoned for following the Lord and going against what was popular was the prophet Micaiah. We don’t know a lot about him since his presence in the Bible is short-lived, but we do know that he was faithful and bold. His story is part of the story of the evil King Ahab of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah. It is found in multiple places, but I’ll be looking at the account in 2 Chronicles 18. King Ahab wanted to go to war and capture a city called Ramoth Gilead, but he wanted King Jehoshaphat to join forces and help him. Jehoshaphat wouldn’t do it unless Ahab first sought the counsel of the Lord (2 Chronicles 18:4). Ahab then summoned four hundred men who all said that God would give the city into Ahab’s hand. This somehow prompted Jehoshaphat to ask if there were any ACTUAL prophets of the Lord whom they could ask. Something about the way those four hundred men carried themselves made it somewhat obvious that they were merely “yes” men who couldn’t have cared less what God was actually saying. Maybe they were scared of what the king would do if they gave him bad news (we’ll see in a bit why they had reason for this fear). Maybe they had originally been true prophets but had abandoned the Lord in order to do what was popular.
Ahab told Jehoshaphat that the one prophet left through whom they could inquire of the Lord was Micaiah, but Ahab admitted right off the bat that he hated Micaiah because he only prophecies bad things about Ahab. This shows us what Micaiah was known for. Four hundred other “prophets” were known for saying whatever pleased the evil king. But one man went against the grain and was known for speaking the truth about an evil man who disobeyed the Lord. It’s not that he had it out for Ahab. Prophecy is not always a mystery. If a man does bad things, worships idols, marries a foreign woman who makes it her mission to murder prophets of the Lord, and continues to reject God completely, how can any prophet worth his salt suggest that such a man has a bright future and will be blessed by God? Micaiah was simply the only one who was willing to say what was TRUE.
When Ahab sent for him, Micaiah was brought out by officials. This, combined with his RETURN to the officials at the end of the story in verse 25, reveals that Micaiah was most likely already in prison before he was summoned by Ahab. It’s no wonder so many of the other prophets were afraid to deliver bad news to Ahab. If he didn’t like what you said, he just sent you off to prison until he felt like letting you go. As Micaiah is summoned, Ahab’s messenger urges him to prophesy in agreement with the other four hundred, but Micaiah declares that he can only speak as the Lord directs (vv. 12-13). It was preposterous in his eyes to think that a mere man can change or control the words of the immortal God. It wasn’t even about what Micaiah desired. I’m sure he desired to say something that pleased the king so that his own suffering would end, but he didn’t even see that as an option.
Micaiah’s first response to Ahab was, “Attack and be victorious," but Ahab reminded him that he wants the truth (vv. 14-15). This tells us that Micaiah’s initial response was likely very sarcastic. Something about it told Ahab that he wasn’t being serious. It’s ironic that Ahab demanded the truth because he had shown for his entire reign as king that he couldn’t handle it! Micaiah could’ve channeled his inner-Jessup and blasted Ahab for demanding something that he couldn’t accept deep down in places he doesn’t talk about at parties. Instead, Micaiah just went right back to speaking the hard truth he always did and declared that Ahab would be killed when he went into battle. Another prophet, Zedekiah, slapped Micaiah in the face, because when you can’t handle the truth, you resort to violence. Ahab then ordered Micaiah back to prison and ordered that he be given only bread and water until Ahab would return safely (vv. 25-26). The NKJV of this passage calls it “the bread and water of affliction," which basically meant that Micaiah would be stuck in prison and only receiving the bare essentials for the rest of his life.
Ahab’s real problem was with God, yet he couldn’t do anything to get back at God so he took out his frustrations on God’s true servant. Micaiah never wavered in his resolve to be faithful and obedient to God. He responded to Ahab that if he were to ever return safely, that would mean the Lord had not spoken through Micaiah at all (v. 27). Micaiah didn’t worry about the circumstances he faced. He stood his ground on the truth of the Lord’s word and was willing to be judged by whether the prophecy was fulfilled rather than the popular opinion of man. Ahab wanted to inflict as much suffering on Micaiah as he could without killing him, and I know of no evidence that Micaiah ever got out of prison. But the prophecy came true and Ahab was killed in the battle for Ramoth Gilead. Micaiah wasn’t hailed as a hero among his peers, but he certainly was a hero of the faith. As you are reminded of his story, as well as so many others who heroically stood up against evil and went against the grain, be one who is obedient and true to the Lord regardless of personal cost. Be bold. Be courageous. Be a hero.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Logan Ames
Have you ever stopped and reflected on your life and wondered how in the world you ended up where you are? This can happen in either a very positive or a very negative light. Personally, I’ve had those moments when I’ve found myself leading a church in Marion, Ohio or ministering to the homeless in Findlay, Ohio after spending the first twenty-seven years of my life in Pennsylvania. Currently, I’m living back in Pennsylvania, residing and ministering in a town forty minutes from where I grew up yet still very familiar to me because of the four years that God allowed me to earn an income as a driver for FedEx Ground here. I’m experiencing all of this with my wife who “just happened” to wind up in Ohio at the same time I was and “just happened” to get a job at the homeless shelter where I was working, even though she spent most of her life growing up in Virginia. When I look back on my life, I realize not much of it could’ve been predicted and most of it is an example of God’s grace, his providence, and his GOOD plan.
Most of you could probably say the same thing about your own lives and the directions they have taken. We don’t always realize that God is working when he is, but it’s fairly easy to see when we take a moment to reflect on our lives. However, the question I shared above can also be asked when we find ourselves in the midst of negative circumstances. I can think of very specific times in my life when I looked around at the destruction and misery that surrounded me as a result of my own choices and wondered how I could have ever gotten that far down the wrong path. Again, I’m sure many of you reading this could say you’ve had those moments as well. The results in our lives can often be traced back to either God’s goodness or our own sins.
What we should know as believers in the Lord is that when we follow him, it’s a dangerous thing to evaluate our decisions and lives solely on our circumstances. While “reaping what you sow” is generally a true concept and is even Biblical (Galatians 6:7), the reaping doesn’t always make sense to our finite minds and worldly ways of examining our circumstances. One thing we’ve seen through this series on the heroes of our faith is that God sometimes blesses them even when they are caught in sin and allows them to suffer when they appear to be following him wholeheartedly. God uses everything according to his will and sometimes we don’t reap the rewards of our faith until we spend eternity with him.
One faithful hero who likely often wondered how he could end up where he did was the prophet Jeremiah. Despite his faithfulness to God, he was known as “the weeping prophet” and rarely reaped any positive consequences from his obedient sowing. More than just mental anguish over the state of his people, he also experienced great physical and emotional torment. Hebrews 11:36 tells us that some of the anonymously faithful “faced jeers and flogging," which could probably be characterized today as severe verbal and physical abuse. Jeremiah was one of several people from the Old Testament who would likely fit this description. In Jeremiah 20, we see that a priest named Pashhur, who at the time was the official in charge of the temple of the Lord, has Jeremiah “beaten and put in stocks” because he was upset about the things Jeremiah was preaching regarding the Lord’s anger toward the sins of the nation (vv. 1-2). A commentary I was reading from Enduring Word suggests that the expression translated as “beaten” most likely referred to the “forty lashes minus one” concept applied during a severe flogging. If you read last week’s post, you may remember that the Apostle Paul experienced this most painful of beatings five times. In addition, the “stocks” refers to a structure in which a prisoner was locked into a twisted and confined position to cause increasing pain and discomfort. By the way, this was likely AFTER he had already been flogged. So, it’s not like his wounds were healed before his body was forcefully contorted. Verse 3 tells us that Jeremiah was released the next day, which means he was kept in that position for the rest of the day!
This didn’t stop Jeremiah from continuing to speak whatever the Lord commanded him to speak. He was a prophet of the Lord and was not willing to water down the message in order to make people happy and save himself from harm. Jeremiah would face many other obstacles and extreme punishments during his time as a prophet, including being thrown in prison in Jeremiah 37 and then lowered into a cistern with no water and only mud in Jeremiah 38. That last punishment was intended to kill him; he was done. Jeremiah 38:6 says that he “sank down into the mud." If those are the cruelest of circumstances for someone who has done nothing but obey God, I don’t know what is. He was literally sinking into the mud in a cistern deep in the ground with no way to save himself or meet any of his other needs. He would die by either suffocation in the mud or starvation, whichever happened first.
God moved in the heart of one of the officials to rescue him before it was too late, but Jeremiah was certainly aware of how much pain had come to his life because he was obedient. There is a section in the book that specifically lays out Jeremiah’s complaint to God. It’s found in Jeremiah 20:7-18 and I encourage you to read it yourself. At first glance, it may come across like he is deranged and literally going back and forth between worship and whining. But such is the life of one who obeys the Lord in the face of intense opposition and endures all of the pain that comes with it. He says he is “ridiculed all day long” and mocked by everyone (v. 7). He adds, “The word of the Lord has brought me insult and reproach all day long” (v. 8). And we already know about his being beaten/flogged. He reflects on his life and has the thoughts most of us would: “Why did I ever come out of the womb to see trouble and sorrow and to end my days in shame”? (v. 18) Yet, even in the midst of all the pain and suffering he faced, Jeremiah reminds himself that he was born to be the very prophet of the Lord that he was: “But if I say, ‘I will not mention his word or speak anymore in his name’, his word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot” (v. 9).
Jeremiah knew what he was born to do (God told him in Jeremiah 1:5 that he knew him BEFORE he was even born and that he had appointed him as a prophet to the nations) and the thought of not doing it was worse than enduring the pain and suffering that came because he was obedient to the Lord. This is a faithful hero if I ever read about one. He may have faced jeers and flogging, but his obedience forced the people who should’ve been honoring God all along to have to face their own wickedness. And while they ultimately did not listen to Jeremiah and were overtaken by the Babylonians as a result, Jeremiah could rest knowing that he did everything he could to stop it. Are you willing to speak the truth of God’s word to others no matter what it causes to take place in your life? People may not listen to you, but that’s between them and God. What you share and how you represent God’s word to them is between YOU and God. You may not reap good circumstances for yourself in this lifetime, but trust in God as your full reward and reap the benefits for all of eternity.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Logan Ames
I recently had a conversation with a man from my church about how every day there are examples of the reality that life is all about choices. He’s going to be sharing a sermon at some point that is based on Deuteronomy 30:15, which says, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction." The Lord has been basically telling the Israelites through Moses that this isn’t rocket science. The choices are clear and each person must make their decision regarding what they really want.
The man from my church was telling me that he had a recent opportunity to begin to teach his 5-year old son about this. They went to a baseball game for the local independent league professional team and were sitting in the grass just beyond the fence. As they were watching, a home run was hit and landed very close to them. The little boy got excited and told his dad he wanted to get a home run ball. As they continued to pay attention waiting for the next one, the little boy looked over and saw a playground nearby. He wanted to go play with other children, so he asked his dad if he could. His dad reminded him that he wanted a home run ball and said that if he goes to the playground, he won’t be there to catch a ball if it’s hit there. The boy asked when the home run ball is going to come and his dad said he doesn’t know and it might not happen either way, but that the boy would have to choose which fun thing matters more to him.
In Hebrews 11:35, we see that some of the anonymously faithful also faced a choice, and some “were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better resurrection." The idea of it being a better resurrection pertains to the beginning of the verse, which was discussed in last week’s post, about “women who received back their dead, raised to life again." The writer is reminding believers that while those women had faith and received the joy of their loved ones being raised back to life, those individuals merely returned to a hurting, broken, and imperfect world. The writer explains that those who endured torture all the way to death will receive a resurrection that is “better” because it takes us to glory. It is a permanent and perfect resurrection.
Now, I have to say that this particular description of faithful heroes presents a problem because there is no specific story from the Old Testament that seems to directly correlate to what the writer of Hebrews is describing. We have to remember that there were other writings besides the books of the Bible that were not considered to be part of the canon, but were likely known to many of the educated Jews. Two such books would be 1 and 2 Maccabees, and it appears that 2 Maccabees is where we would find the story of a scribe named Eleazar and the torture he endured. Scholars seem to agree that Eleazar’s story is what the writer of Hebrews was referencing in this description. There’s no doubt in my mind that the writer of Hebrews, whether it was Paul, Peter, or some other educated Jew, knew of the story of Eleazar. That being said, I have no idea whether scholars are right or wrong, so I’m going to veer off the beaten path a bit on this one and talk about someone from the New Testament that fits this week’s description.
When considering who might be the author of Hebrews, many traditionally believed it was Paul, but more recently people have agreed that only God can truly know. Of all the possibilities that scholars have thrown out there, it seems clear that if it wasn’t Paul, it was someone who knew him very well. My personal Bible happens to be the Men’s Devotional Bible from Zondervan and it specifically lists the approximate dates that each book was written. This is certainly not an exact science, but it’s worth noting that 2 Corinthians is said to have been written around 55 AD, while the book of Hebrews is said to have been written 10-15 years after that. If it was written by either Paul or someone who knew him, it stands to reason that they could’ve had Paul’s torture in mind even if they weren’t directly describing his faith in the way they described Eleazar’s.
In 2 Corinthians 11:23-26, Paul explains some of the tortures he experienced because of his faith in Christ. He states that he was imprisoned, severely flogged, beaten with rods, pelted with stones, and constantly in danger because of those who were dead set on killing him. He specifically says, “Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one." This is a reference to some of the most cruel torture ever invented. The Jews believed that 40 lashes would kill any person, so the way to exact the most pain on a person without killing them (though at times someone would die well before the 40th lash) was to whip them 1 time less than what would kill him. Paul lived his life for the cause of Christ and to share the good news of Jesus with everyone he could. He didn’t worry about death or pain. In fact, some of his letters lead you to believe that he frankly couldn’t wait for death!
Paul was assured of the glory and resurrection that awaited him after his very temporary suffering and torture in this world came to an end. He wrote, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). He also spoke to his friends and elders in Ephesus, knowing it would be the last time he would see them, before he went to Jerusalem: “I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me - the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (Acts 20:23-24). Earlier, in Acts 16, Paul and his ministry partner Silas had been unfairly thrown into prison after being “severely flogged," then refused to leave the prison even after it appeared that God had supernaturally opened the doors for them to do so. Because they stuck around, the jailer who was seconds away from killing himself came to know Jesus along with his entire family and they were all saved and baptized (vv. 26-34).
Paul had many opportunities to choose what was easier at the time. He could choose to follow Jesus fully, knowing it would lead to great suffering temporarily in this world but believing in the “better resurrection," or he could choose to walk away from that task Jesus had given him and take an easier worldly road. You and I face the same choice regularly. Knowing Jesus means you have to do away with sins of comfort and follow him even when it isn’t easy. It means you may face suffering from resisting temptation and eventually may receive it in the way of persecution. But the knowledge that this is all temporary and that someday we’ll be in paradise with Jesus just like the thief who suffered tremendous pain right next to him on the cross motivates us to endure anything we face on this earth. Make the right choice today, then make it again tomorrow. Pretty soon, it’ll be a habit and, like Paul, you’ll live in true freedom!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Logan Ames
We’ve all heard that actions speak louder than words. I can preach a good sermon and talk for 30-40 minutes straight and people might even say I’m a good preacher, but that won’t go very far in determining what they think of me as a Christian. In fact, for Christians, the better thing to say would be that actions speak louder than “beliefs." Many of us know what we’re supposed to believe as Christians and we even know how to talk the talk. But even Jesus said that not everyone who calls him “Lord” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who DOES the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21 [caps mine]). The Church is in an age when an increasing number of so-called “believers” either show no evidence of their stated faith or boldly show evidence that contradicts it.
Continuing in the series on the heroes of our faith shows us individuals who did more than just talk about what they believed. In many cases, they didn’t talk about it at all and in other cases, they weren’t even considered part of God’s people until the acts of faith for which they are now known. In Hebrews 11:35, the writer continues to tell about the faithful anonymous, reminding us that “women received back their dead, raised to life again." There are only a couple people from the Old Testament who would fit this description, and the one I will address this week wasn’t just anonymous to the writer of Hebrews, but also to whoever recorded her story in the first place. She is known as the widow at Zarephath and her story is found in the midst of Elijah’s story in 1 Kings 17:7-24.
The faith of Elijah and that of the widow are intertwined during a desperate time for both of them. Elijah has been on the run ever since he decided to confront King Ahab and his evil wife, Jezebel. God sends him to the middle of the wilderness and far away from any civilization where Ahab could possibly locate him, and he lives daily by depending on a brook for water and ravens who have been directed by God to bring him food. His faith is strong as he depends on God daily for his needs and doesn’t worry about the next day. But then, God decides it’s time for another move, which means another huge step of faith. The brook, Elijah’s one source of water, dries up, and God tells him to go to Zarephath in the region of Sidon because God has directed a widow in that place to supply Elijah with food (v. 9). Now, what we need to understand is that widows in those times were considered to be extremely poor because they had lost their source of income when their husbands had passed away. To Elijah, it probably made more sense for him to wait beside the dry brook and see what happens. When God calls us to move on, however, we can try to depend on the past and get the blessing back as much as we want and it still won’t change God’s mind.
God clearly had a plan to not only grow Elijah’s faith, but to bring this desperate widow to faith and knowledge of him. That’s often how it works. You might complain about your circumstances to the Lord, but they may not change because he may want to use the testing of your faith as an example to someone who doesn’t know him. Elijah goes to the widow as directed and he finds her gathering sticks at the town gate (v. 10). Elijah was probably hoping he would find that this widow was unusually rich, but what he found in reality is that she was even poorer than most widows. She didn’t even have firewood! After Elijah asks her to bring him water and a piece of bread, she declares that she has no bread and that she is gathering the sticks just so that she and her son can enjoy one last meal before they starve to death (v. 12).
At this point, Elijah has learned not to pay any attention to his circumstances when he knows what God’s word is and he is ready to live out his faith in front of the widow. He tells her not to be afraid because the God of Israel has promised that her oil and flour, the last resources she has available to her, will not be used up until the Lord sends rain on the land (v. 14). There had been no rain in the land because of Ahab’s wickedness and the lack of rain ultimately led to a great famine, which made the situation even more desperate for people like the widow. Yet, despite all of this, Elijah declared that God would miraculously meet her needs if she just trusts in him. That’s a big “if," for the widow at Zarephath and for all of us. God wants to bless us and we may “say” what we think we’re supposed to say to try to get the blessing, but our actions always speak louder than words when it comes to faith. Elijah boldly told the woman that she could make food for herself and her son, but the way she would show trust in the God of Israel would be by making a small loaf of bread for Elijah FIRST (v. 13). What if Elijah was wrong? What if he was selfishly taking advantage of a poor woman? Sometimes, God calls us to do things that will lead to us being misunderstood. But again, true faith trusts God with even those concerns. He can handle meeting daily food needs and he can definitely handle our reputations.
The woman has a choice to make. God is ready to bless her and Elijah knows it, but neither one of them is going to force her to LIVE her faith in this situation. The connection to our faithful choices and eventual blessing are all throughout Scripture. The blessing may not always look like prosperity, and the widow did not get rich off of her faith. But she did get her daily needs met. She did exactly as Elijah, who had spoken the word of the Lord, told her (v. 15), and she learned to put her full faith in the true God of Israel who could and would meet her daily needs.
The rest of the chapter tells us that her son would later get sick, so sick in fact that he stops breathing (v. 17). She assumes maybe Elijah has caused this but then immediately begins to look at her own sin as a possible reason. Elijah takes the boy and cries out to the Lord on his behalf, reminding God that the widow does not deserve this because she was very poor, trusted and followed him, and even continued to allow Elijah to stay with her. Elijah questions whether God would bring this tragedy on her and verse 22 tells us that God heard Elijah’s cry and allowed the boy’s life to return to him. The end result in verse 24 is that the widow at Zarephath states that she knows Elijah is a man of God and, more importantly, that the word of the Lord that flows through Elijah’s mouth is the “truth."
The widow learned that even in her most desperate circumstances, faith was about her actions and not words. She probably figured she had nothing to lose with the food. Whether you eat one more meal and die or eat no more meals and die, what’s the big difference? So, she did what God commanded through Elijah and received the blessing that came from it. But when it came to her son, she had everything to lose. Yet, she turned to the Lord then. Her newfound faith as a Gentile woman taught her that this God was real, and that his power could meet all of her needs and fix any situation if he wanted it to. When she put her full faith in God and his servant Elijah, she even received her son back to life even after he had been dead. The same can be true for you. I don’t know what you’re facing now in your life, but I do know that it’s there because God is giving you an opportunity to put your faith in him beyond your words and into your actions.
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by Logan Ames
In 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the gulf coast and even the inland parts of multiple southern states. Many of those places were hit hard again several weeks later when Hurricane Rita made an appearance. As many know, the biggest city that was impacted to the point it was almost completely under water during these events was New Orleans, Louisiana. As a response to the devastation that was occurring in her state, then-Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco made a statement where she called on Louisianians and all people everywhere to pray for those affected and for their state. At the time, I often listened to sports talk radio as I drove around in my work vehicle all day and one host in particular was Colin Cowherd. He is still someone I enjoy listening to today, but he decided one day to comment on Governor Blanco’s plea for prayers in a way that showed his ignorance toward the things of God. His response was something to the effect of saying that the people of Louisiana elected her to come up with something better than prayer. He was dumbfounded that asking for prayer was the best solution she could come up with and declared that she was not fit to lead and handle this crisis.
While I can understand that many use prayer as a substitute for action and that doing so is not necessarily the point of faith in God, Colin Cowherd simply failed to see any power in seeking the Lord during a crisis. As we continue to look at the heroes of our faith in this series, we find out that most of these people were eyewitnesses to the power of God long after they had run out of human options and plans to save them from their crises. King (don’t call him “Jumpin”) Jehoshaphat was no different.
In Hebrews 11:34, we’re told that some of the faithful heroes “became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies” through their trust in the Lord. This achievement could be applied to many of the heroes, but Jehoshaphat is certainly near the top of that list. His story is found in 2 Chronicles 17-20 after he succeeds his father Asa as king of Judah. In 2 Chronicles 17:3-6, we see that Jehoshaphat followed the Lord and the ways of his ancestor, David, and that he did away with idols and their symbols and refused to consult them. The Lord chose to establish his kingdom and he gave great wealth and honor to Jehoshaphat. Verse 9 tells us that he also appointed teachers to go throughout Judah teaching the Book of the Law of the Lord. In other words, he didn’t just do away with idol worship, but also replaced it with a renewed national focus on the Lord. As Jehoshaphat made good choices and kept his focus on the things of God, he grew more and more powerful, and other kings surrounding Judah were afraid of him to the point that they brought gifts, likely to get on his good side.
In 2 Chronicles 18, Jehoshaphat almost falls into a trap set by the evil King Ahab of Israel. He does make the mistake of allying himself with Ahab by marriage first, but then agrees to join him in war (vv. 1-3). However, he urges Ahab to seek the counsel of the Lord first (v. 4). Ahab, probably somewhat begrudgingly, calls on all the prophets at his disposal and asks them if he should go to war specifically against Ramoth Gilead. They all tell him how awesome he is and that he should do it and will have victory. I say he probably consulted them begrudgingly for several reasons. First, he has shown little to no regard for the word of the Lord at any time during his reign up to this point. Second, his actions in the rest of the chapter show that he didn’t care much for it at this point either! Peer pressure can be a good thing in the Church, and it seems to me that Jehoshaphat put the pressure on Ahab to seek the Lord if he truly wanted Jehoshaphat’s help.
Ahab had 400 prophets who just told him the good news he wanted to hear and didn’t speak the Lord’s true word if it meant bad news for Ahab. Jehoshaphat caught onto this and asked, “Is there no longer a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?” (v. 6) Ahab responds that there is still Micaiah, but he hates him because everything Micaiah usually prophesies is bad news for him. Both Jehoshaphat’s question and Ahab’s response reveal that BOTH men recognized that the 400 “yes-men” were not true prophets but only gave lip service. The difference is that the Lord’s word truly mattered to Jehoshaphat, while Ahab was content to, as Paul later says in 2 Timothy 4:3, surround himself with those who said what his “itching ears wanted to hear."
They talk to Micaiah and true to form, Micaiah prophesies the bad news that Ahab predicted. Ahab would be deceived into thinking he could win the battle, but instead would be killed. Hearing all this, Ahab continues to get further away from the Lord spiritually and tries to use all the resources available to him to save himself. He puts Micaiah in prison until he returns safely, as if Micaiah is the one who had the power to doom him. He then tries to get Jehoshaphat to stand out in battle so he would be killed while Ahab disguised himself. Jehoshaphat realizes he has been duped after it’s too late and he’s about to be killed, but 2 Chronicles 18:31 tells us he cries out to the Lord in that moment of crisis and God rescues him. Ahab would later be killed “at random” (v. 33) and the prophecy was fulfilled.
In 2 Chronicles 19, Jehoshaphat returns from battle, is held accountable by a seer named Jehu for joining forces with the wicked Ahab, then returns to seeking the Lord completely. He appoints judges throughout Judah and urges them to judge carefully because they are judging for the Lord and not for mere mortals (vv. 5-7). In 2 Chronicles 20, we see the climax of Jehoshaphat’s story. He is told that a vast army made up of the Moabites, Ammonites, and Meunites is coming to wage war against him and God’s people (v. 1). Any one of these groups alone would have been a tall task to defeat. This would be like the three best NFL teams all coming together to take on the Cleveland Browns! Jehoshaphat doesn’t panic and he doesn’t spend a lot of time coming up with a “plan” to win like Ahab did. Instead, he stands up before all the people of Judah and begins to pray to God, reminding him of his awesomeness and power, reminding him of what he’s promised and what he’s done in the past, and acknowledging that they are in trouble and need the Lord to show up (vv. 5-11). He finishes with these great words in verse 12: “Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you."
Friends, that’s the essence of humility before the Lord and admitting you need him during a crisis. It could be an army attacking your nation, a natural disaster destroying your home and everything you’ve worked for, or something that hits even closer to home like battling addiction or losing your job. Whatever crisis is facing you, there is power in prayer and in sincerely giving it all over to God. He has the power to win the battle FOR you, so that all you need to do is whatever little bit he tells you. Read the rest of 2 Chronicles 20 on your own and see how the Lord delivered Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah without them having to lift a single sword or kill a single soul. All they had to do was trust the Lord, put their faith in action by marching against their enemies while praising God with a song we still sing today - “Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever” (v. 21) - and then gather the plunder the Lord had given them after he used the pagan armies to literally destroy each other. God almost always calls us to ACT out of our faith and trust in him, but even then the battle belongs to HIM. Stop trusting in your plans and efforts today and seek the Lord with all your heart!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
