The Lord gives a word to the prophet that the people are not
to go up and fight to restore the kingdom in its entirety to Rehoboam. It is actually His will and His doing that
the kingdom is now divided and it would be futile to attempt to fight against
Jeroboam for that reason. Jeroboam knows
the pull of Jerusalem is strong in the people, it is the city of God, the place
of the beloved temple. He, therefore,
sets up rival altars and worship places in the older places Israel worshipped
prior to the building of both Jerusalem and the temple there. We know from John 4 that Jerusalem is indeed
the place God chose, Jesus affirmed that to the woman at Samaria which is sometimes
thought to be this place, Shechem, where Jeroboam lived. Isn't it absolutely amazing that Jeroboam
made golden calves and spoke the same words concerning them that Aaron spoke
when he made the calves? It is an utter
rejection of Yahweh and Jeroboam knew that it was He who had given him this
kingdom. From the start, the northern
kingdom of Israel was apostate.
Jesus is accused of blasphemy because "you, being a
man, make yourself God.” Jesus' response
is to quote Psalm 82, "I said, 'You are gods, sons of the Most High, all
of you…'" The defense is that we
are, likewise, gods, according to Scripture, because we are sons of the Most
High. Jesus refines that understanding
to include only those "to whom the word of God came." The indictment then is not against Him, but
against them for failing to live into the Word of God for themselves. He is claiming nothing more than Scripture
says about men generally, He is what we are intended to be, perfect
humanity. The rest of that particular
sentence from Psalm 82 is, "nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall
like any prince.” We were
intended for so much more than we live into and because we fail and live in sin
we will indeed die like men. The Good
News is that because of Jesus, we can begin living into our full potential now
through the power of the Holy Spirit and ultimately, in the resurrection, we
will be what we were intended to be.
Not, however, if we make our own gods and follow them.
The disciples, Peter and John, have healed a man who was
lame for forty years in the Name of Jesus and were brought before the council
not for healing but for using the Name.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit they were living into the fullness
of life. They were doing what Jesus had
done. What would Jesus do is more than
an ethical question it is much more.
They decided that what Jesus would do for the man who was begging wasn't
to sort out how much He could afford to give the man or what the law called
for, He would have healed him, made him whole rather than less poor. Seeing this, and being set free by the
council, the disciples prayed for more boldness, boldness in proclamation and
boldness to step out in faith and do what Jesus would do. We don't serve idols like golden calves, we
have been given the Holy Spirit and our God, through His Son is indeed the One
who delivered us from bondage. Let us
live into what He promised for us today.
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