1. Friday Night Genesis, Friday, December 7, 2012 – 1 Kings
Scripture reading: Matthew 24:23-26
Intro to the book
In 1 Kings we continue where we left off at the end of 2 Samuel. David is at the end of
his life, and passes the kingdom to his son Solomon. We have the account of the
majestic temple and palace that Solomon built, his wisdom and his many excesses.
Shortly after the death of Solomon the kingdom is divided between the 10 northern tribes
which continue to be called Israel and the tribe of Judah, which formed its own kingdom.
These will never again be fully reunited into a single kingdom, and would occasionally
even go to war against one another.
(slide) Geographically, it is during the reign of Solomon that Israel reaches its climax
both in territory and influence. The borders are not entirely certain, but this is the best
guess of people who study these things, with the green areas representing kingdoms
known to be under Solomon’s rule and the red line representing the potential area of
control – kings who were subject and paying tribute to Solomon. After Solomon’s death,
the kingdom shrinks and splits – 10 tribes staying together in the north and Judah by
itself in the south. Levites, you will remember, had no territory of their own, but were
scattered among the tribes.
Historically we begin the book with the reign of Solomon, which is thought to be from
970-931 BC and we end the book with the death of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah who is
believed to have reigned from 873-849BC. So the book covers a time span of roughly
120 years.
Who to believe?
I was about 10 years old and we were still living in what was then Yugoslavia, when a
college choir from England came to our church as part of their spring break tour. Since
this was done on a budget, members of the church were asked to host the students for
the night after the concert. My family was assigned 3 young ladies. However, as people
dispersed after the concert one of the students was still aimlessly hanging around. No
one was sure what happened, but for whatever reason he didn’t have a host. So he
came home with us. With three girls bunking in our guest room, the only other available
place to put him was in my room. And so I got to meet Clifford Sellors or Cliff, as
everyone called him. In his late 20’s he was older than most of the other students, he
was as British as they came, and he was also an incredibly talented artist. I remember
him showing me some of the sketches he did in pencil while they were traveling on the
bus, and they were really good – almost life-like. Before he graduated, he painted this
incredible painting of the 7 days of creation which later hung in a prominent place at the
college.
Being so much younger I never did keep in touch with him, but a few years after he
crashed in my room for the night I heard that he had died. Many of you may remember
these images from the spring of 1993. Cliff Sellors ended up with Branch Davidians lead
by David Koresh and he died in the inferno at their compound in Waco, TX. He used his
talents to design the Mt Carmel flag, the logo for Camp Apocalypse and the now

2. infamous David Koresh “God Rocks” T-shirt. As people tried to make sense of what
happened, stories emerged of David Koresh holding Bible studies in private homes,
close to the college. These would be late at night, there was a lot of music and then
David Koresh would teach for hours, and occasionally right through the night. David
Koresh knew his Bible, he could quote you a text, and then give you chapter and verse
without ever looking it up.
And so one has to wonder – who can you trust? How does an intelligent, educated and
talented young man like Cliff Sellors end up being so tragically deceived? How do you
know that you are on the right path and not drinking Kool-aid with Jim Jones or heading
for a fiery inferno with David Koresh? It is a question that we also encounter a number of
times in 1 Kings.
Our children’s story today is actually based on events described in chapter 13 of 1
Kings. A young prophet did indeed come from Judah to prophesy against Jeroboam and
his altar, and was then deceived by the older prophet on his way back to Judah.
It is an incredible story, one that really makes us ask some tough questions. Here is a
respected old prophet who one minute lies, claiming to speak in God’s name, and then
later prophesies the truth – a catastrophe for which he is in great part responsible! So
how do you know who to trust? More over, even if the person is deemed to be
trustworthy, like an old prophet, how do you know when you can trust them, and when to
run the other way?!
In similar vain is a story in chapter 22. Jehoshaphat who was king of Judah at that time
came to visit Ahab, king of Israel and together they deliberated whether to attack and
retake the town of Ramoth Gilead from the king of Aram. Jehoshaphat, being a God
fearing king, wanted to inquire of the Lord, so they brought out 400 prophets and they all
said – sure, go for it, the Lord will give you victory. Evidently, this seemed too much of a
performance to Jehoshaphat, so he asked for a second or actually a 401st opinion. So
they sent for this fella Micaiah. The messenger who went to summon Micaiah filled him
in as to what the party line was and suggested it would be good if Micaiah stuck to it.
And Micaiah at first did stick to the party line, but when king Ahab called him out on it, he
told him the truth. At this point things got really intense. We pick up the action in 1 Kings
22 verse 23 with Micaiah finishing his speech: “So now the LORD has put a
deceiving spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours. The LORD has decreed
disaster for you.” Then Zedekiah son of Kenaanah went up and slapped Micaiah in the
face. “Which way did the spirit from the LORD go when he went from me to speak to
you?” he asked. Micaiah replied, “You will find out on the day you go to hide in an inner
room.” The king of Israel then ordered, “Take Micaiah and send him back to Amon the
ruler of the city and to Joash the king’s son and say, ‘This is what the king says: Put this
fellow in prison and give him nothing but bread and water until I return safely.’” Micaiah
declared, “If you ever return safely, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he
added, “Mark my words, all you people!” (1 Kings 22:23-28)
Following this Jerry Springer moment with the other prophets, Ahab decided to ignore
Micaiah and went off to war and his own death. We never are told what happened to
Micaiah in the end, since Ahab never returned. Part of me expected to see the ending
that seems quite customary for 1 Kings – And Micaiah is in prison to this day, surviving
on only bread and water.

3. The more salient point, however, is that we have 400 prophets and they are all telling
you the wrong thing! If the kings of this world are getting such skewed advice, how is Mr
Joe Average supposed to know what is wrong and what is right?! We are often
admonished to ‘just believe’, to ‘have faith’. And faith is a good and desirable Christian
virtue, so the more faith the better. Except it seems too many people have bought into
Mark Twain’s definition of faith: “Faith is believing what you know ain’t so.” At best, for
many people faith seems to be a leap in the dark – nothing to support it but the word of a
preacher. And as we have seen, how do you know which preacher you can really trust?
It is when we come to stories like these in 1 Kings and difficult questions that they raise,
that reading through the entire Bible becomes a powerful tool, because we can bring
together other instances in the Bible that throw some light on the issue. Are there other
places in the Bible that raise and maybe answer a similar question? Is there a pattern
that we can latch onto? I hope you will not mind if I take us on a bit of a tour of the Bible
and bring some things together as we seek to answer this crucial question: “How do we
know whom and what to trust?”
First of all, let’s have a look at how the Bible defines faith. Hebrews 11 has been dubbed
“The Faith Chapter” and it conveniently begins with a definition of faith. “Now faith is the
substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1). So
according to the Bible, faith is not a leap in the dark. It has substance, it has evidence. In
1. Peter 3:15 the Bible tells us to “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone
who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.” (1. Peter 3:15). In other
words, question it, examine it, study it until it makes sense to you and you have made it
your own. When someone asks you to explain it, you will be able to do so.
Actions speak louder than words, and so the best way to see how God understands the
question of faith is to look at how God deals with the issue of faith and trust. The
examples are numerous, and we have already looked at a few over the course of this
year. In Exodus we saw how through the plagues God led Pharaoh to know the truth
beyond any reasonable doubt before he chose to reject it. We saw how God dealt
conclusively with the question of leadership in the book of Numbers, by making Aaron’s
staff bud, blossom and produce almonds. Once again – it was beyond reasonable doubt.
In the book of Judges we read about a young man named Gideon. When God called him
to lead Israel in a campaign to free them from the Midianites, Gideon wasn’t sure he was
the right man for the job, so he asked for a wet fleece on the dry ground as proof. When
he got his proof he then asked for a dry fleece on the wet ground to double check the
proof. God wasn’t angry with him – he provided all the proof that he needed. And guess
what? Gideon is numbered among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11!
Right here in 1 Kings we have an excellent example. In chapter 18, when Elijah gathered
all of Israel on Mount Carmel, he did not merely say: the Lord is the real God and not
Baal. “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two
opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” (1 Kings 18:21)
And then they were all invited to observe the evidence, which also turned out to be
beyond all reasonable doubt.
If you had the opportunity tp be taught by Apostle Paul, I’m sure you would feel quite
awestruck. It would be very tempting to simply take his teachings as gospel. But in Acts
17 we read this account: “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than
those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and

4. examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many
of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek
men.” (Acts 17:11-12) The people of Berea were double-checking Paul, and the Bible
records it as a positive trait!
And finally, how did Jesus approach the issue of faith and authority. Luke 24 records a
trip two disciples took from Jerusalem to the village of Emmaus following the crucifixion
of Jesus. Jesus joined them along the way and pretended to be a stranger unaware of
the events of that weekend. When they explained about who Jesus was and what
happened, this is what Jesus said: “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that
the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then
enter his glory? And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them
what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27) Boy, I wish I
could have been there for that Bible study! But the point is, they did not recognize that it
was Jesus until He was done showing them all the evidence from the scripture that He
was the Messiah and this was all supposed to happen. It would have been so easy to
have come alongside them as Jesus, and a resurrected Jesus at that, and the two
disciples would have been completely awestruck. They would have been turned into
nodding heads, accepting everything He said without processing it, simply because of
who said it. Instead, Jesus approached them in such a way that He was able to walk
them through the evidence and have them understand it, before they had the shock and
awe moment of realizing that they were looking at the resurrected Jesus.
And then there was Thomas. We love to rag on Thomas for his lack of faith, we even
nicknamed him “doubting Thomas”! But Thomas just wanted evidence! What the rest of
the disciples were telling him was so wonderful, and at the same time so improbable that
Thomas wanted, in fact needed, evidence before he could buy the whole story. That’s
all. Jesus did not rebuke him for that. Instead He made sure that Thomas got the
evidence that he needed, and his witness for Jesus from then on was as strong as that
of any of the apostles.
So you see, when it comes to the question of faith, whom and what to trust, the Bible
provides overwhelming evidence that God wants us to gather evidence in support of our
faith. He will not be upset with us if we genuinely question or even doubt Him or
someone alleging to speak in His name. Instead, He will patiently provide the evidence
that we need. So for the young prophet in 1 Kings 13 this may mean taking a time out to
enquire of God before heading off with the older prophet. I’m sure God would not have
been upset at that course of action, but would have provided the necessary direction.
And that is also what Christmas is all about. We don’t usually look at it in that way, but
Christmas is about evidence. What is God really like? Jesus came to this earth as
Immanuel – God with us. He came to reveal to us the God whom we serve. He came to
show us that belief in Him is not and should not be a blind leap in the dark. He came to
show us that we should not trust God just because He said so. He came to give us the
reasons why we and the rest of the on-looking Universe should believe Him and trust in
His leadership.
Here is how one Christian author explained it: “Christ came to save fallen man, and
Satan with fiercest wrath met him on the field of conflict; for the enemy knew that when
divine strength was added to human weakness, man was armed with power and

5. intelligence, and could break away from the captivity in which he had bound him. Satan
sought to intercept every ray of light from the throne of God. He sought to cast his
shadow across the earth, that men might lose the true views of God’s character, and that
the knowledge of God might become extinct in the earth. He had caused truth of vital
importance to be so mingled with error that it had lost its significance. The law of
Jehovah was burdened with needless exactions and traditions, and God was
represented as severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary. He was pictured as one who
could take pleasure in the sufferings of his creatures. The very attributes that belonged
to the character of Satan, the evil one represented as belonging to the character of God.
Jesus came to teach men of the Father, to correctly represent him before the fallen
children of earth. Angels could not fully portray the character of God, but Christ, who was
a living impersonation of God, could not fail to accomplish the work. The only way in
which he could set and keep men right was to make himself visible and familiar to their
eyes. That men might have salvation he came directly to man, and became a partaker of
his nature.” (Signs of the Times, Jan 20, 1890)
Jesus was indeed Immanuel – God with us, so that we would have the substance of
things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen, because he who has seen Jesus
has seen the Father. (Matthew 1:23, Hebrews 11:1 and John 14:9)