URIJAH THE PROPHET - BIBLICAL PEOPLE I'M CURIOUS ABOUT (PART 3 OF 6)

The Murder of Zwingli by Karl Jauslin

I'm sure there's several questions about this entry. Such as "Who is Urijah the Prophet?" "Is this the same as Urijah the Hittite?" "Why does he have a picture of a Reformer when the blog's about a Biblical character, and why does it have to be a depressing one at that?"

I'll start with the last question first. You know I usually include at least one picture, but when you're dealing with obscure people as this series is, you'll find there aren't many artists painting these. I was surprised and pleased to find an artistic rendition of Naamah (two weeks ago). So I'll have to go with loose connections, but by the end of the blog, you'll know the connection.

Urijah the Prophet is my moniker for him - he's not called a prophet, though he does what prophets do. And no, it's not Urijah the Hittite, Bath-sheba's first husband. But let me give the immediate context.

Jeremiah 26 starts with Jeremiah, as usual, warning of God's judgment. I've noticed that people love hearing about God judging others for their sins, but it's a different story when the spotlight shines on them. And the people were not happy with Jeremiah's gloom and doom, and wanted to kill him. 

One unique thing that happened here is that the princes came to Jeremiah's rescue (not so later in Jeremiah's ministry). They told the people that Micah son of Moresheth (the minor prophet) gave a similar message a century or so earlier and he wasn't executed. So they spared Jeremiah.

Then, we get to verses 20 - 23 of that chapter:

"Now there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath Jearim, who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoiakim the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death; but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled, and went to Egypt. Then Jehoiakim the king sent men to Egypt: Elnathan the son of Achbor, and other men who went with him to Egypt. And they brought Urijah from Egypt and brought him to Jehoiakim the king, who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people." Jeremiah  26:20-23, NKJV

No, we don't know more about this Urijah than this. Did God call him as He did Jeremiah? It doesn't say. Was his fleeing to Egypt a lack of faith? Maybe, but we have no record that his fear was disobedience to God. 

That is why I felt the painting of the murder of Zwingli the Reformer was appropriate for this blog. Not completely: Zwingli went into battle and was killed in the fighting. But we need to remember that obedience to God is not a guarantee that we won't face the consequences from an ungodly King.
 

SUNDAY PSALMS PART 1 OF 48 - PSALM 1

Cool Creek Park, Westfield, IN.

1   Blessed is the man
    Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
    Nor stands in the path of sinners,
    Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
2  But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    And in His law he meditates day and night.
3  He shall be like a tree
    Planted by the rivers of water,
    That brings forth its fruit in its season,
    Whose leaf also shall not wither;
    And whatever he does shall prosper.

4  The ungodly are not so,
    But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
5  Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment,
    Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6  For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Psalm 1:1-6, NKJV

Let me start with the obvious. I ended, for now, my Sunday Hymns. I'm starting this year with a 48 part series on Sunday Psalms. Each week I'll look at somewhere between one verse and the whole chapter (as today) from the Psalms. For the most part, they will be in numeric order, except for those that I think will be fitting for Easter, Pentecost, Reformation/All Saints Days, and Christmas and New Year's Eves. And if you're counting and say it's 52 weeks, not 48, you're right. But I will give a short interruption for the four weeks of Advent; I've got something different in mind for that month.

So let's look at the first Psalm. I always found it interesting that the first verse starts with the least intimate and moves to the most. My thought would start with the most and then go the opposite direction. But it may be that the Spirit is pointing out that it starts with something that doesn't seem that bad, but then progresses, which is typical. Relationships develop in that order.

Verse two gives the contrast. The blessed (also translated "Happy") man not only does not associate with the ungodly, but instead he's meditating on the Bible. Keep in mind - Jewish meditation focuses on filling your mind with a thought, contrary to Eastern meditation where the goal is to clear your mind of all thoughts. Memory work is one way to do this. So is praying the Scripture.

The third and fourth verses give pictures of the difference between the righteous and the not righteous. The former is like a tree, right on the river to get plenty of water, and fruitful (kind of like the seed that's on good soil). The latter is like chaff, blown away, no root, no fruit. 

It's interesting contrasting verse one with verse five. This Psalm begins of dealing with the voluntary separation of the godly from the wicked. In verse five, it states that God separates the two in the judgment. This is also clear in the last verse of this Psalm. 

IT MAY BE YOU MAY BE HIDDEN (Zephaniah Part 5)

 

    "The great day of the LORD is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the LORD is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. 'I will bring distress upon men, And they shall walk like blind men, Because they have sinned against the LORD; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, And their flesh like refuse.' Neither their silver nor their gold Shall be able to deliver them In the day of the LORD's wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured By the fire of His jealousy, For He will make speedy riddance Of all those who dwell in the land.  

    "Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation, Before the decree is issued, Or the day passes like chaff, Before the LORD's fierce anger comes upon you, Before the day of the LORD's anger comes upon you! Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger."

Zephaniah 1:14-2:3, NKJV

 This is a long section, but allow me to deal with two issues.

First, judgment is coming. The term "Day of the LORD" deals with judgment, and often corresponds to the seven year Tribulation period. At times, it also includes the millennial kingdom, but in this case it deals with wrath.

We need to remember God judges sin. Each sin is against God (Ps. 51:4). Jesus died for our sins, and that's proof that sin is not a trivial matter. In 1 John 3 and 5, sin is equated with lawlessness. In other words, you can call sin treason against God.

The other issue is God will forgive if we turn from our sin. The first three verses of Zephaniah 2 is a call to repentance. That theme is throughout the Bible. Isaiah 55:7 states that if a wicked man turns from his ways and an unrighteous man from his thoughts, God will pardon. 2 Peter 3:9 says that He is not willing that any should perish but that all come to repentance. Ezekiel 18:32 informs us that God does not delight in the death of man, and so calls us to turn and live.

The final promise is precious. It may be that God will hide us in the day of His wrath. This is why some believe in a rapture. And note - in Scripture it doesn't mean we will be free from tribulation and/or persecution - John 16:33 and 2 Timothy 3:12 informs us otherwise. But we will be saved from eternal wrath (John 3:16; Romans 6:23), and it may be that we're saved from God's wrath on the wicked world as well.

SETTLED IN COMPLACENCY? (Zephaniah Part 4)

 

        "And it shall come to pass at that time That I will search Jerusalem with lamps, And punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.' Therefore their goods shall become booty, And their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine."  Zephaniah 1:12-13, NKJV

For those who have been following this series, you may noticed I jumped from verse 6 of the first chapter of Zephaniah to the twelvth. The reason is I want to focus on verse twelve. But allow me to catch you up, especially since its been two weeks since I posted in this series.

You may recall that Zephaniah was a descendant of King Hezekiah, and prophesied during the days of Hezekiah's great grandson, Josiah. The first words of the message was that God will utterly consume everything from the land. Why? The first point he made was that there were idolatrous priests who worshiped the heavens, swore by gods in addition to the true God, and have turned from following God nor have sought Him.

Verse seven reads, "Be silent in the presence of the Lord GOD; For the day of the LORD is at hand, For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests." The Day of the LORD, which will be dealt with later in the chapter, is a day of judgment, and normally connected to what is known as the Seven year Tribulation.

Verses eight through thirteen look at judgments on four groups of people. Let me introduce the first three groups:

1. The princes and king's children who are clothed in foreign (KJV reads "strange") clothing;
2. Those who leap over the threshold and fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit; and 
3. Merchants and moneyhandlers.

Some of these groups are not clearly identified, and I doubt most of my blog readers fall into any of them. In our country and especially in the church, the fourth group is the biggest problem.

Who is that fourth group? Those settled in complacency. The notes in my Bible say it's litterally the dregs in the wine barrel. I'm not familiar with wine dregs, but I'm very familiar with the dregs at the bottom of a cup of hot chocolate. And if you leave them for a while, they can be tougher to clean.

Verse twelve gives a concise definition of what complacency is like - it is saying that God won't do good and that He won't do evil. He won't bless us, and He won't judge us. In other words, we're on our own. It is like the mindset of Deism, that God wound this world up and then sat back and watched what would happen. Or as the classic song "From A Distance" says, God watches us from a distance. He's not nearby, He's not actively involved.

Both extremes are evident today. On the one hand, there are those who quote that verse from 3rd Hezekiah or The Acts Of The Apostates or another non-existent Biblical book that says "God helps those who help themselves." For example, they claim that our Presidents aren't raised up or appointed by God (Dan. 2:20-22; Rom. 13:1), but are elected by the people. Or they prescribe activism because that has more results than prayer.

On the other side, we have a God who one professor I heard said has love more like a grandfather than a father. This God is a god of love, not of wrath. This God's definition of evil is pretty consistent with our society. If we have no problem with a behavior that is described as sin, then God's not concerned about it and we've probably misinterpreted the Bible.

We need to realize God will bless the righteous and punish the wicked. Sometimes, it seems the reality is the opposite, but that's because we're looking at the temporary things which we can see rather than the eternal things that aren't seen (2 Cor. 4:18). 

One can look at Zephaniah 1:7-13 and say it was more for the people of the prophet's day, and the coming judgment was accomplished by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. But there is an application for us today. Plus, God has promised there will be in the future a resurrection of all - some to eternal life, and some to eternal contempt (Dan. 12:2; John 5:28-29).

In your life, do your actions reflect that you expect God to do good when you're obedient? Do they show you expect His chastisement when you sin or judgment when a society or God's people reject Him? Or are you settled in the complacent mindset?

 

 

IS GOD REALLY GOING TO JUDGE THE EARTH? (Zephaniah Part 2)

 

 "The Great Day Of His Wrath" by English painter John Martin, 1851-1853.

Last week I looked at the first verse of Zephaniah last week, which merely introduced Zephaniah. As far as geneology, it was the most detailed of any prophet, but not much more than that. So what is Zephaniah's message?

 "'I will utterly consume everything From the face of the land,' says the LORD." Zephaniah 1:2, NKJV.

First question is what this is referring to. Is it talking about the near event of Babylon conquering Jerusalem? Or is it describing God's ultimate judgment on the nations in the last times before He returns as King? I believe the answer is yes.

Psalm 24:1 states the earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof. In both Testaments, it deals with God punishing the nations as well as His chosen people. God is capable of bringing catastrophic judgments on the earth.

But most people fall into two groups. One are those who believe a God of love cannot cast the lost into hell or send physical judgment on the earth. Others believe God will punish the wicked (meaning our enemies) but not His people (that's us).

Peter tells the believers to "conduct yourselves throughout your stay here in fear (1 Pet. 1:17). Paul wrote that we should "cleanse ourselves of all filthiness of the body and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Cor. 7:1).

Whenever we hear about fear from most preachers and teachers, it is to tell us to fear not, quoting "God has not given us a spirit of fear" (2 Tim. 1:7) and "Perfect love casts out all fear" (1 John 4:18). It is true through the Scripture we're to trust God to protect us and that is to not fear.

But then we read repeatedly we're to fear God, and so we take the encouraging message to not fear and apply it to those texts to say it doesn't mean what it seems to say but is really telling us to be reverent and honor Him. So we end up letting our conceptions dictate the meaning of Scripture.

The reality is that we sometimes have no fear for God in the literal sense, which may result in not having fear in the sense of reverence either. Many who oppose eternal security/"once saved always saved" claim the adherents of that view are saying we can do anything we want and still be saved (and unfortunately some of those adherents have that mindset). 

We don't expect chastisement (Heb. 12:5-11) and don't seem to tremble at the Judgment Seat of Christ (Rom. 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 3:10-17; 2 Cor. 5:9-11). As an eternal security advocate, I don't fear losing my salvation, because this is a judgement of works, not sin like the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev. 20:11-15). But believe me, my knees are knocking at giving an account of my life before my Lord and Savior.

I do believe that while there are applications of Zephaniah 1:2 and following having taken place when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem in 586 B.C., the complete fulfillment will take place in the future. Both believers and unbelievers will face the consequences of their answers.

So if we believe that God will someday judge the world, how will that affect the way we live? What effect will it have on how we relate to others?