January 21, 2010

Evil Ahab

King Ahab

“Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.” “Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:30, 33).

These statements are rather incredible. When we look back at the number of evil kings over Israel up to this time, Ahab was the worst. Why was he so evil and what can we learn from his bad example? The passage where these verses are found gives us a few reasons for the statements.

“Now Ahab the son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab the son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord more than all who were before him.

“It came about, as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he married Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went to serve Baal and worshiped him. So he erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal which he built in Samaria. Ahab also made the Asherah. Thus Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel than all the kings of Israel who were before him” (1 Kings 16:29-33).

There were four factors that contributed to Ahab being classified as the most wicked king. Each one is something we must guard against in our own life.
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September 24, 2009

The Good Shepherd

Throughout the gospel of John, Jesus described Himself in various ways. One term He used is the good shepherd (John 10:11). In the context surrounding this claim, Jesus showed us what His work as a shepherd entails, how He can be called the good shepherd, and why no one else is more qualified than He is to do this work.

So what makes Jesus the good shepherd?
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May 22, 2009

Even Barnabas

Paul told the brethren in Galatia of the time when he came to Antioch and had to rebuke his fellow apostle Peter or Cephas (Galatians 2:11-14). The reason why Paul rebuked him was because of his hypocrisy. Peter knew that God accepted the Gentiles (Acts 10:34-35; 11:17-18). He also knew that God accepted them without them adopting certain aspects of the Law of Moses like circumcision (Acts 15:5-11). Yet when certain Jews arrived, he withdrew and refused to associate with his Gentile brethren.

Peter’s sin is usually what we emphasize in these verses, and rightly so. But Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, believed it was also good to single out Barnabas as one of the ones who went along with Peter. Paul said, “Even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy” (Galatians 2:13), indicating that Barnabas’ fault was significant. What lessons can we learn from Barnabas’ sin here in Antioch?
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December 1, 2008

The Christian and Civil Government

Capitol Building

Christians are “aliens and strangers” in this world (1 Peter 2:11). While we live here in the nations of men, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). However, even though we are a separate people (1 Peter 2:9), we cannot help but live among those in the world (1 Corinthians 5:9-10). So wherever we are, we must live under some form of human government. How then is the Christian to respond to and use the civil government?
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June 10, 2008

Love for Others

David and Mephibosheth

King David has been described as a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). While there are many qualities of David we should emulate, we will focus on one in this article – his love for others.

David showed love for a broad range of people. We can see the love and kindness he shared with his friends – namely Jonathan (1 Samuel 18:1; 2 Samuel 1:26). He loved his enemies, even sparing Saul’s life twice when he had opportunity to kill him (1 Samuel 24:1-4; 26:2-11). Both instances came when Saul was pursuing David in order to kill him. We also can see David’s love given to those in need with his example of caring for Mephibosheth (2 Samuel 9).
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October 1, 2007

Some Things That Christians Cannot Do

List

As Christians, there are many things that we should not do; but we also read in the Bible of some things that Christians cannot do. In this article, we will notice four such things that Jesus mentioned in the Sermon on the Mount. In this sermon, Jesus showed the type of character one must have to be a part of His kingdom. As we go through these, keep in mind that these are things Jesus said we cannot do. Let us not think that we might be the exception or that there is a loophole. Paul said, “Let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:4).
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February 1, 2007

Training Our Senses

Bible study

In Hebrews 5, the writer began a discussion in which he compared Jesus Christ with the high priest Melchizedek. He broke from this discussion in verse 11 before picking it up again in chapter 7. The reason for this interlude was because there was “much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.” So the writer had to pause to reinforce some more basic truths before finishing this discussion. By this point, these Christians should have been mature and able to consider such a discussion about Melchizedek; yet they were not. The mature are those who have trained their senses (Hebrews 5:14).

What is meant by the term senses? This is the part of us that can perceive or judge right and wrong. We might call this our conscience. The writer said that our senses – or our conscience – should be trained in such a way that it can “discern good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). We are striving to develop an inherent – almost subconscious – sense of right and wrong. This passage shows how we can train our senses in this way.
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