[Thirtieth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: Elijah is not credited with any of the books of the Bible, but he is remembered as one of the most powerful prophets of the entire Old Testament. His stories are legendary for those of us who listened to our moms and dads read Bible stories before bed. He was the prophet who prophesied a 3-year drought. He was the prophet who worked the miracle of flour and oil, and raised the widow’s son from the dead. He was the prophet who called down fire on Mount Carmel among the Baal priests. And we can’t forget about him being taken up to heaven by a whirlwind and a chariot of fire.
Elijah was the Lord’s man. But even after great triumph and acts of the Lord, Elijah shows himself to be afraid. I should say, it is difficult to determine whether Elijah is worried or he is tired of preaching to people who do not believe. You can read Dr. Maier’s great commentary on Kings from CPH for that answer. But what we know is that Elijah runs to Mount Horeb, wishing to die because he thinks he is the only prophet of the Lord left. The Lord is merciful to Elijah. The Lord tells him the truth of the situation. The Lord has 7,000 men who have not bowed down to Baal.
What a great comfort to Elijah! He is not working in vain. The Lord worked to bring about repentance and faith during the time of great apostasy, and He still works now through the preaching of His Word. What great comfort for us now! The Word of the Lord remains the same.
In the days of Malachi, the Lord promised to send Elijah before the great day of the Lord. Jesus plainly tells his disciples that John was the Elijah. And we must not forget that Elijah was on the mountain of Transfiguration with Jesus and Moses, speaking about Jesus’ own exodus.
What a man of the Lord! Elijah was used by the Lord to bring about repentance and faith when few believed and worshiped the true God of Israel. Thanks be to God that in these days, when the world appears to be going in the same way, some preach the same message of Elijah.
[Twenty-ninth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: When God invited Solomon to ask for a blessing, Solomon asked for wisdom. Solomon’s request pleased God for several reasons. First, he was humble, realizing his limitations. He was still very young and had little experience in governing. Second, he sought to serve God first. He asked for wisdom — the ability to use knowledge well to meet needs — and discernment, the ability to tell right from wrong. He sought first God’s kingdom and righteousness. God granted him what he asked for — and riches, fame, and a long life as well.
King Solomon was the son of King David and Bathsheba. His life shows how completely God forgives, since David committed great sins with and because of Bathsheba. They deserved to die, but God forgave them, let them live, and gave them a second son. Solomon would be an ancestor of the Messiah.
Under Solomon, Israel became a prosperous and powerful nation. Solomon was a superb organizer. He reformed the kingdom’s bureaucracy, making it more efficient and effectively channeling its prosperity. He built God’s Holy Temple and numerous other buildings. He became a collector of proverbs, many of which appear in the Book of Proverbs. According to tradition, the Books of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs were written by the King, although there is much debate among scholars about this.
As great as he was, Solomon was a sinner also. He married hundreds of wives, mainly to secure treaties. He allowed them to worship the gods of their fathers and even constructed temples for them. For this reason, God caused the kingdom to be divided during his son’s reign. Yet, for the sake of the one greater than Solomon, his sins are forgiven, along with ours.
[Twenty-Eighth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: In ancient times, people poured oil on themselves for various purposes, including as perfume, medicine, and to signify that something or someone was dedicated to serving God. Doing this was called anointing.
Anointing was a part of the ceremonies to make a king the ruler of Israel or a priest to serve God in performing sacrifices. The word “Messiah” comes from the Hebrew word that means “anointed one.” It was translated into Greek with the word “Christ.”
Before Jesus was called “Messiah,” the title pointed to another anointed one: David. When God chose him to be king, the prophet Samuel anointed him with oil—not simply to crown him, but to mark him out as someone set apart for God’s purpose. Though David was the youngest son, overlooked by others, God saw his heart. That moment of anointing wasn’t about politics or ceremony; it was about calling. From then on, David became the pattern—a king with flaws, yet deeply loved by God—through whom the promise of the true Messiah would come.
As the prophets God sent to Israel predicted more and more about the coming of Jesus, they began to use these words as the title for God’s Son. When the prophet Nathan promised that a descendant of David would be the Messiah, they also came to call this promised savior “The Son of David.”
Jesus is the Messiah promised. He did not come to be served, but to serve others and give his life for us. In this way, he truly is the man after God’s own heart.
[Twenty-Seventh in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: David was a good man. He was a soldier who defended his king and his country. The people loved him and loved King Saul because of him. Prince Jonathan was his best friend. Princess Michal loved him and married him.
Yet King Saul was jealous of him. Like most kings, he was afraid of anyone who might take his kingdom from him. Because Saul saw David as a threat, he missed out on the good things a loyal and talented son-in-law could bring him. So, Saul tried to kill David. Jonathan and Michal warn David and help him escape Saul’s grasp. The future king seeks Samuel, and together they hide in the wild areas near Bethlehem. For a while, he hid in various Philistine cities and eventually returned to caves near Bethlehem. Members of his family and four hundred fighting men gathered with him there.
Soon, Saul would send an army to look for David and eventually led them. They played a cat-and-mouse game for some time. Twice, David snuck into Saul’s camp and took a personal item from him. Each time, he would display the item to Saul in the morning to prove his loyalty. Eventually, Saul gave up the effort to catch David and went after the Philistines. Saul, Jonathan, and most of Saul’s sons died in battle with them.
David would have been justified in taking the throne from Saul. No one would blame him if he killed Saul. But David loved God and Saul. He remained loyal until the day Saul and Jonathan died. Even when he had chances to kill Saul, he spared the king. After their deaths, he assumed the throne of Israel. For the rest of his life, he protected the disabled son of Jonathan.
[Twenty-Sixth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: When Saul and David lived, war was very personal. Most of the fighting was done with swords, shields, and other weapons in hand-to-hand combat. Sometimes it was very hard to predict who would win a battle. Yet everyone knew hundreds to thousands of soldiers on both sides would die. To spare the armies from such losses, the two sides would sometimes agree to have their two best soldiers fight the battle for their armies. These soldiers were called champions.
Goliath proposed to fight for the Philistines. If he won, Israel would surrender to them. If he lost, the Philistines would surrender. All of Goliath’s strength did him no good, since he couldn’t reach David with his sword. David used his sling. Men from the tribe of Benjamin were known for their marksmanship with a sling. Like them, David learned his skill with the weapon in fending off animals that attacked his sheep. God guided David’s stone, which killed the giant. He finished Goliath with the Philistine’s own sword. However, the Philistine army did not honor the agreement; instead, it broke ranks and fled. The army of Israel followed them, killing many as they ran.
Saul recognized talent when he saw it. He kept David with him and sent him out on military missions. As David won victory after victory, the people came to love him. David became a good friend of Saul’s son, Jonathan. Saul would eventually give his daughter Michal in marriage to David. Soon, Saul would become jealous of David’s fame and see him as a threat to his throne.
David’s descendant, Jesus, is our champion. He fought sin, death, and the devil for us on the cross, suffered and died for our sins, and rose from the grave to defeat them. Because our Champion died for us, we now will live with Him forever.
[Twenty-Fifth in a series of posts on Bible Stories] Encore Post: After Joshua’s death, God let each tribe of Israel rule their own lands. When needed, God appointed judges to settle disputes and lead them into battle. However, the tribes did not act as a single people. They were not impressed with the sons of their greatest judge, Samuel. So the people asked God for a king to unite them, fight their battles, and give them a sense of pride. What the people did not see was the downside — kings do whatever they want and take whatever they want. If they do not serve God, then the people would become slaves in their own country. They did not listen, so God granted their wish.
He sent to Samuel a handsome, tall, and charismatic young man named Saul. He was the son of a rich man from the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel anointed him king over Israel. At first, Saul was very successful. He raised a large army and liberated some Israelites from the Ammonites. He won a few victories against the Philistines with inferior weapons. He defeated the Amalekites and killed every one of them, yet spared their king against God’s command.
Ultimately, King Saul disobeyed God and did as he pleased. So God took the Kingdom of Israel back from him and gave it to a shepherd boy, David. A thousand years later, Jesus, the Son of David, served God and His people. He suffered and died for our sins and rose again to defeat sin, death, and the power of the devil. One day, he will return with the armies of Heaven to defeat these forces forever. On that day, we will live under the King of Kings forever.
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
I know that you are familiar with blue-colored paraments for the season of Advent and purple-colored paraments for the season of Lent, as you see here. But did you know that there are pink colored paraments? Or rather, I should say that we do not call it pink, but we call it “Rose.” You may not be aware of it as far as paraments go, but you are aware of it in terms of the Advent wreath. We have three candles that are blue and one that is rose.
Why do I bring this up? Well, there are two Sundays in the Church Year where “Rose” is the color of the day. One of those Sundays is in Advent, when we light the rose candle. And the other Sunday was this past Sunday during the season of Lent. This practice is meant to emphasize “rejoicing” and “joy.”
And it is especially important during the season of Lent. Lent is well-known as a repentant season, sackcloth and ashes and the whole bit. But right in the middle of the season is this message of joy. In the middle of the forty-day fast is a moment of feasting, of rejoicing at what the Lord has done for us.
The text from Zechariah for us today fits perfectly during this particular week. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Rejoice, o people of God! Again, I say, Rejoice! Break the fast! Worship the Lord. Serve the Lord with gladness. This message from Zechariah is so different in tone from all the rest of the Minor Prophets that we have read and pondered this year. While we did hear the words of Micah that prophesied about Jesus’ birth, today we hear the words of Zechariah that prophesy that Jesus will die.
Or rather, we hear about the arrival of the king, a king who we know is about to die. Zechariah says, Behold, your king is coming to you;righteous and having salvation is he,humble and mounted on a donkey,on a colt, the foal of a donkey. Dear people of God, you hear these words every year on Palm Sunday, and that day is surely drawing nigh for us in a week and a half. The King, greater than David, greater than Solomon, greater than Herod, is coming to you. I ask you, would you be excited if the President was coming to your house? I imagine you would want to clean the house and prepare the grounds for his arrival. That would be a big deal for any one of us.
And we would probably ask, Why is the President coming? I just mind my own business, I just work on my farm. But that is the point. The King is coming to earth to save. The King is coming for you. But this is where our preparations would go overboard. If we were expecting the king, we would plan the best food and have the best furniture for him. But your Lord is so much different than a President. Your Lord is in fact a humble King, one who rides on a donkey, and a small one at that. I mean, this is no bullet-proof motorcade. The King Jesus comes riding on a donkey, and His donkey would probably love to meet your donkey.
In fact, the Lord God does not come to earth to fight. He is not a King of war, but of peace. A King of war would come with sword and shield and helmet, but your King comes to you to bring peace. Zechariah says this in a few ways when he says of the Lord, I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace to the nations. In other words, Jesus the King is coming to end the battle between Jacob and Esau. He comes to earth to end the war between Cain and Abel. When you think of these words of Zechariah, remember what Pilate asks Jesus “Are you the King of the Jews?” And Jesus says, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Jesus the King does not come to wage war and to gain territory. Jesus the King came to earth to bring peace and to save souls.
His kingdom shall be the whole earth. His kingdom shall be saved and they shall believe in Him. That is what he means when he says, His rule shall be from sea to sea,and from the River to the ends of the earth. Too often, we think only about ourselves, like the people of Israel did. All they wanted was a political leader. Instead they received a heavenly leader. And we too want a political leader for our nation, one that will bring peace to nations and one that will protect us from the enemy. And yet this reading for today tells us in a word that God so loved the world, from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
He came for all people regardless of who they are. And he comes to save. That is something to rejoice greatly about. That is something to shout aloud to those who will hear it. But do not forget. Your King is coming for you, to make you His Christian subject. Your King is coming humble for you to ride with Him to heaven.
know, Your King has already come to earth to shed His blood and by that blood to bring peace and to set the prisoners free. Hear the Word of the Lord: As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit. In case you did not know, the “waterless pit” is instead the pit of fire, or rather the depths of hell. And your King by His Blood has rescued you from it and set you free.
And His sermon to you is simply this: Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope! Return to the church and sing. Return to the sanctuary and be at peace. Return and rejoice! For you are right now prisoners of hope. You live in the world, but have been set free to live in heaven forever. And you have no more enemies, for you today hope in the Lord who has come for you and who has promised to come again for you and me and for all those who believe.
Behold, your king is coming for you, humble and riding on a donkey.Rejoice and be glad. Eternity is yours.
