Elijah confronts Ahab in his sin of idolatry but also for
the murder of Naboth and the taking of his vineyard for his own. Do you see in this passage some parallels
with the story of David and Bathsheba and Nathan. David did much the same thing as Elijah in
that affair and Elijah’s reaction to the confrontation was similar to David’s.
There is also a small tie to the story of the Garden. Who is it that led Ahab astray, or incited
him as the text says? His wife was the
protagonist in idol worship. Ahab knew better since he was an Israelite, he
knew the law, Jezebel was a Baal worshipper, it was Ahab’s duty and
responsibility to lead her in the truth he knew. The Lord accepts Ahab’s repentance and the
punishment announced is delayed to the next generation, just as it was with
Solomon. The Lord knew that the son
would be as weak as the father, that Jezebel’s influence was simply too
powerful for either man.
Jesus’ residence in Galilee after His baptism and time in
the wilderness fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah.
Matthew, writing for a primarily Jewish audience, continually points to
prophetic fulfillment in the life and ministry of Jesus because he wants his
Jewish readers to see that Jesus was indeed the Messiah they expect. Here, however, the ministry beyond the nation
is in view, Galilee is described as Galilee of the Gentiles and the people who
dwelt in darkness and in the region and shadow of death who see this light. Jesus’ message at the start of His ministry
is familiar isn’t it, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Sounds an awful lot like John the Baptist’s
proclamation. Repentance is always the
first movement in preparation for the coming of the kingdom of God.
When I read Paul’s opening questions, asking where are the
wise, the debaters of the age, the scribe, I have in mind the failure of
atheist in chief, Richard Dawkins, to debate with the apologist, William Lane
Craig. When we stand in truth, we have a
wisdom from God that cannot be denied.
The cross is a stumbling block to all.
Jesus’ death is one problem the cross presents, His resurrection
another, the ascension yet another, and all these require us to accept truths
that simply cannot be true in an earthly sense.
Science doesn’t support the idea of physical resurrection from the dead,
so either Jesus didn’t really die or He wasn’t really physically resurrected
from the dead. The ascension is a
ridiculous idea based on a nonsensical cosmology of a three-tiered universe and
we all know better than that except we really don’t, we have no idea what lies
outside, above or below our universe if we can speak in such terms. If the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom, Paul says that the cross of Christ is its outer limit but in such a way
that wisdom has wrapped back around on itself, fear and love are knit together
in that event. Here, he says, we find “righteousness
and sanctification and redemption.” The
key is to repent of our own wisdom and confess we have walked not in light but
in darkness, we have, like Ahab, followed after idols of our own making, a
wisdom quite apart from God’s.
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