Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: lent 2025

“O altar, altar! place of slaughter, place of worship
And behold, a man of God .. cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord:

1 Kings 13:1-2 excerpt NKJV

Are you going to listen?

So SEVERE the message! And who is this anonymous Prophet? (I’ve never heard of him — and we’re in a church gathering after all..) Who is this man approaching the King?

WE worship a King and Priest with his own hill and altar of worship and praise of the People.

Will we hear God’s Voice through the true Prophet of the Almighty?

An Altar of Stone on the Stage of Worship

Surround it with towering Common Era walls of glass — or even a city built for worship of every ancient saint and yet another elevated arch–episkopos —

Stand over it and hold up so many sacrifices of the people,, stained with the Blood of unseen sins.. proclaiming the Altar on your stage for ‘Him‘ as Priest of Aaron and King over all your people..

And so.. you people gathered for a week’s sprinkling of grace.. a people of amplified praise of prepositional paraphrased worship.. have you who praise him as king who thank him as priest.. DO YOU hear the Prophet who rejects the Blood of your every sacrifice?

Prophet, Priest and King
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It's an ancient and little-noticed scenario of the present .. that of the specific roles of mortal men (yes, men) anointed as intercessors on behalf of those they lead in worship and in an ever-so-brief life in the flesh and blood of the created. 
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Have you heard this Scripture in your worship?

NOTE the roles of those involved:

1 Kings 13:

‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

1 Kings 13:2b NKJV
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IF you know this Scripture you will realize that I have intentionally omitted some of this introduction in order to focus on its participants. 

You most likely know that Josiah became a young King of Judah, right? 
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A Hebrew view of Scripture

Although you may recall a more famous Prophet from the book of First Kings, like me you may have wondered why the Christian Bible includes 1 & 2 Kings as O.T. History and not with the Prophets (who lived during these same historic times).

Old Testament [source]

Take a quick Jewish look back at a fallen and broken Kingdom of David.

Without noting Scriptures pointing to named authors of God’s written word in the Hebrew list of Nevi’im (Prophets) the Tanakh includes Joshua (the General of Moses), Judges, Samuel (a Priest of the God) and Kings with the former Prophets BEFORE the Exile and other books (i.e. Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet) as Post-exilic Scriptures.

Lamentations of our past in a Lenten path forward

The LEADERSHIP ROLES of GOD’s Chosen peoples have changed over time — both Before Christ and in these last days of Christ’s Chosen Church.

Has man (anthrōpos) misrepresented the WRITTEN instruction of the LORD?

Here in 1 Kings we read one (of many) Scriptural examples and warnings to worshipers of God.

(Have you heard them?)

Kings in charge (or so they thought)
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Let's examine this Scripture (or Hebrew book of the Prophets) in terms of leadership roles and relationships. 
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And behold, [in] Bethel .. Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then [the man] cried out against the altar..

1 Kings 13:1-2 excerpt

To set the scene:
- Bethel בֵּית־אֵל
```
Bethel was a royal city of the Canaanites (Joshua 12:16). It appears to have been captured by Joshua (8:7), and it was allotted to Benjamin (Joshua 18:22). 

To counteract the influence of Jerusalem as the national religious center Jeroboam embarked on the policy which won for him the unenviable reputation of having "made Israel to sin." Here he erected a temple, set up an image, the golden calf, and established an imposing ritual. It became the royal sanctuary and the religious center of his kingdom.
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source
- Jeroboam יָרָבְעָם
The LORD brought Israel to ruin before Judah. The decline began from the first kings of each divided nation AND the LORD sent prophets to them again and again.

Israel’s Rebellion
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READ more (from 1 Kings 12) for the context of the LORD's curse against the altar of Jeroboam. 

And do not presume, O divided Nation of this Common Era, that WE are so free from the judgement of the Lord our God.
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So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
12:19 וַיִּפְשְׁעוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּבֵית דָּוִד עַד הַיּוֹם הַזֶּה׃ ס
- Shemaiah
But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God..

” Therefore they obeyed the word of the LORD, and turned back, according to the word of the LORD.
- Jeroboam
12:25 Then Jeroboam built Shechem in the mountains of Ephraim, and dwelt there…

31 He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.

Jeroboam ordained a feast .. like the feast that was in Judah, and offered sacrifices on the altar.

So he did at Bethel, sacrificing to the calves that he had made.

And at Bethel he installed the priests of the high places which he had made…

So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel .. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.

1 Kings 12:33 NKJV excerpt

a Prophet from Judah
- a man of God
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Returning to 1 Kings 13 and the cursed altar where we began don't miss that an unnamed Prophet delivers this key message from the LORD.
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13:1 וְהִנֵּה אִישׁ אֱלֹהִים בָּא מִיהוּדָה בִּדְבַר יְהוָה אֶל־בֵּית־אֵל וְיָרָבְעָם עֹמֵד עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ לְהַקְטִיר׃

And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord:

‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’ ”

3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!”

Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself.

The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.

1 Kings 13:5 NKJV – more

6Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.”

So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before. Then the king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward.”
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Who with ears to hear does not tremble at this outcome spoken by the 'man of God' - an unnamed Prophet hearing the KING order his arrest; and yet a son of man healing the outstretched arm of Israel's King and self-appointed Priest? 

But have you even heard of such a thing in YOUR contemporary evangelical house of worship? 
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Before Christ in Gethsemane

אֱלֹהִים

And behold, a man of God…

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

Matthew 5:17 NKJV –
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Jesus preached from 'the Law and the Prophets,' which includes both books of Kings. 
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He went into their synagogue. And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand.. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.

Matthew 12:9a,10a, 13 NKJV
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So could a man of God have healed Jeroboam's withered arm? Do you believe that JESUS could have instantly healed this man in the Synagogue? 
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Garden of Gethsemane

And suddenly, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword, struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear… In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes,

“Have you come out, as against a robber, with swords and clubs to take Me? I sat daily with you, teaching in the temple, and you did not seize Me.

excerpt from Matthew 26 NKJV

“But all this was done that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”
Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.
Gospel of Matthew 26:56 NKJV

a Common Era Contrition for Lent – Ash and dust

Lent 2025 C.E. – a time for contrition
March 20, 2025
The Sun and the Moon Stood Still – Why won’t we?
The sun and moon stood still in their habitation:

at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.

Habakkuk 3:11 KJV

Sun and moon stood still before God

What’s the picture?

An illustrative celestial EXAMPLE to those created ones of GOD

bowed DOWN before the GLORY of our FATHER

Habakkuk – a Prophet burdened for a people humbled

1:2 עַד־אָנָה יְהוָה שִׁוַּעְתִּי וְלֹא תִשְׁמָע אֶזְעַק אֵלֶיךָ חָמָס וְלֹא תוֹשִׁיעַ׃
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The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
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IF you have not already felt the full weight of a Prophet painting a picture for men without eyes to see —

a sun and a moon which had stood still, — then you have sensed a low and quiet place where the Lord has prepared an unseeing Common Era people by a BLINDING LIGHT in the darkness of these last days…

O LORD, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
And You will not save.

Habakkuk 1:2 NKJV

Sound familiar?

(Even from your own arrogant lips?)

Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.

Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

Habakkuk 1:2-3
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The LAW of which the Prophet speaks 
-- the Commandments of the LORD 
-- NO LAW = No Justice! 

Do we blindly suppose that the righteous are US? 
AND therefore WE the named and claimed PEOPLE of God suffer by His Almighty Hand! 
COULD THAT BE JUST? 
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WHY does this sound so familiar to a Common Era people who rarely read or hear the oracles of WARNING by the Prophets of God?

And what does Habakkuk ask early-on in his plea to the LORD?

Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
14 Why do You make men like fish of the sea,
Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?

Habakkuk 13b-14 NKJV
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IS THIS any way to PLEA to the Lord our God of Whom WE are commanded to 'love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind’ even confirmed by the Messiah and Lord Jesus? 
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More Writing on the wall
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(for those casting a first stone at Habakkuk) 
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Then the Lord answered me and said:

“Write the vision
And make it plain on tablets,
That he may run who reads it.

For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.

Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.

“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.

Habakkuk 2:2-4 NKJV
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Again, what is the picture? 

The SOUL of the proud is fallen. 
AND the soul of the Lord's faithful remains bowed down in the witness of our lives. 
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Therefore, for the hope of the faithful know that the LORD pronounces many woes (and NOT blessings) on the proud who seem to be in charge of our mortal lives. And to name just a few:
- hell שְׁאוֹל
- death מָוֶת
- transgressions (treachery) בָּגַד
- evil רַע
- and the violation of several specific Commandments.
THEN the LORD closes his response to the Prophet with an authoritatively THUNDERING VOICE to humble worshipers bowed down in faithfulness:

“But the Lord is in His holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before Him.”

Habakkuk 2:20
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What would happen IF Common Era worshipers would put down our devices and our coffees and entered into WORSHIP like this? 

Let thos whw with eyes to see Christ's writing in the sand see God's zeal for faithful worshipers. 
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and now:

This prayer sung by the prophet Habakkuk:

O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:2 NKJV

God came from Teman,
The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah

And the earth was full of His praise.

4 His brightness was like the light;
He had rays flashing from His hand,
And there His power was hidden...

He looked and startled the nations.
And the everlasting mountains were scattered,
The perpetual hills bowed.

from the prayer of Habakkuk

GET THE IDEA?

all bowed down before the Lord – in HIS Presence everything else stood still or was swept away by the hidden power of HIS GLORY!

Your bow was made quite ready;
Oaths were sworn over Your arrows. Selah

The sun and the moon stood still
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Now returning to the context of our opening picture and illustration: 
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You divided the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw You and trembled;
The overflowing of the water passed by.
The deep uttered its voice,
And lifted its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;
At the light of Your arrows they went,
At the shining of Your glittering spear.

12 You marched through the land in indignation;
You trampled the nations in anger.
13 You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For salvation with Your Anointed.
You struck the head from the house of the wicked,
By laying bare from foundation to neck.

Selah

When I heard, my body trembled;
My lips quivered at the voice;
Rottenness entered my bones;
And I trembled in myself,
That I might rest in the day of trouble.

Habakkuk 3:16a NKJV
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Is THIS your reaction -- contemporary christian worshiper? 
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A Hymn of Faith
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NO hymns for OUR praise band! 
NO Old Testament Prophets and their drama that could SILENCE the applause and bring the CROWD to its knees.
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Who remembers Jesus cursing the fig tree as the Lord entered Jerusalem?

The unfamiliar picture and significant symbolism Jesus drew is the same as that of Habakkuk’s hymn of faith.

We examined this great symbolism in an earlier series.

for it was not the season for figs – prologue
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Even if you choose not to read the prologue above you will find these references from Habakkuk below -with which we will conclude.

AND consider our 2025 CE Lenten theme of contrition replanted in the hearts of 21st century worshipers:
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We stood there and did nothing
- Habakkuk and other Prophets of the Lord have warned us to WORSHIP the Lord our God.
- The Messiah JESUS — Son of the Living God — enters Jerusalem cursing a tree that bore no fruit (though thousands applaud Him).
- Crowds of worshipers enter a Common Era gathering little noticing a cursed fig tree as they bring their coffees and distracting devices toward the gate of the grand stage.
- LENT?
  - WE don’t do that anymore…
for it was not the season for figs – 7

O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine;

do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?

Habakkuk 3:

O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.

for it was not the season for figs – 7 – July 9, 2017 TalkofJESUS.com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
March 13, 2025
Psalms of a Contrite Heart Before Christ
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.
Psalm 51:17 LSB

Contrition: Bowed down before Almighty God

Last time on Ash Wednesday, we noted from the weeping Prophet, Jeremiah, our great sorrow in being CRUSHED by the enemy – in fact by the hand of GOD on the pestle of Jerusalem’s destruction.

Lamentations of our past in a Lenten path forward

Like Jeremiah we do NOT want to be CRUSHED by any — either the LORD or our enemy.

WE are unaccustomed to the pouring out of our spirit into a mortar of refinement.

YET it is the Lord’s will to refine those whom He will.

Be contrite or be crushed —

humble .. or humbled.

Sad Psalms of Lament

Lamentations, if sung, would be sorrowful elegies similar to some Psalms we would rather not sing. Regardless of the “how” – and we generally know our sin – contrition and humility often escape our notice on the stage of our praise.

Yet even in the Psalms we must observe the same words which the Lord has written for our worship.

Strong’s H1794 – dāḵâ – דָּכָה

to collapse (phys. or mentally):—break (sore), contrite, crouch.

We’ve all seen it — most have experienced it. And the Psalms remind us as the Lord refines us.

O Yahweh, reprove me not in Your wrath,

And discipline me not in Your burning anger.

I am faint and badly crushed;

I groan because of the agitation of my heart.

Psalm 38:1,8 LSB

Psalm 51:

51:17 (WLC 51:19) זִבְחֵי אֱלֹהִים רוּחַ נִשְׁבָּרָה לֵב־נִשְׁבָּר וְנִדְכֶּה אֱלֹהִים לֹא תִבְזֶה׃
- šāḇar rûaḥ
  - broken spirit
- šāḇar dāḵâ lēḇ
  - a broken and contrite heart
Psalm 51:17 from MASORETIC Text

IS that any way to open a post such as this or especially a WORSHIP service?
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IN FACT, the contrition of it's context pleads to Elohim for mercy. So was it ordered for corporate worship by the King.
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[[To the chief Musician,

A Psalm of David,

when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.]]

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

For I acknowledge my transgressions:

and my sin is ever before me.

Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken [crushed] may rejoice.

Psalm 51:1-3, 8 KJV

We have heard the whole story — confessed in a Psalm of worship!

And the King – David of Israel and Judah – before we reach v. 17 of our opening CALL to Worship today — continues with a more hopeful and familiar plea:

Create in me a clean heart, O God;
and renew a right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

Create in me a clean heart, O God – Psalm 51 stands as an enduring testament to the power of confession, the boundless mercy of God, and the potential for spiritual renewal and transformation.

It reminds us that even in our deepest frailty, God’s love is unfailing.

Psalm 51 commentary

a Plea of the Crushed – Psalm 143

A Psalm of David
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O Yahweh, hear my prayer,

Give ear to my supplications!

Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness! 

And do not enter into judgment with Your slave,

For no one living is righteous in Your sight. 

For the enemy has pursued my soul;

He has crushed my life to the ground;

He has made me inhabit dark places, like those who have long been dead... 
```
YET in our distress of being humbled (OPPRESSED, an adjective found in other Psalms) — crushed by the Lord we have hope — as nearly every Psalm ends.

Teach me to do thy will;

for thou art my God:

thy spirit is good;

lead me into the land of uprightness.

Quicken [revive] me, O LORD,

for thy name’s sake:

for thy righteousness’ sake

bring my soul out of trouble.

Psalm 143:9–10 KJV

Praying the Psalms in Gethsemane

Picture our Lord, having walked all the paths among evil men toward Gethsemane, full well knowing the charge of His Father in heaven to go forth into the valley of death…

a humble mortal, a crushed man, a prisoner to be betrayed and bound as a spectacle for evil men…

humiliated, struck on the cheek, beaten on the back and hung ignominiously on a tree by the rulers of this world and city.

.. “Sit here while I pray.” ,, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” ..

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping.

excerpt from the Gospel of Mark 14

Psalm 10

1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

2 In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak,

who are caught in the schemes he devises…

.. He lies in wait to catch the helpless;

he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

..10 His victims are crushed, they collapse; they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;

he covers his face and never sees.”

Psalm 10:12-11 NIV
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 The Hebrew word for "crushed" can also imply being broken in spirit, indicating the deep emotional and psychological impact of such suffering. 

This aligns with the broader biblical narrative where God is portrayed as a defender of the oppressed (Psalm 9:9). 

The imagery here can also be seen as a type of Christ, who was "crushed" for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5), highlighting the ultimate sacrifice for the redemption of humanity.
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BibleHub.com Study Bible commentary

JESUS, the Son of Man, Son of David and Son of God sang and prayed such Psalms in worship in the presence of God the Father.

Do YOU?

Talk of JESUS .com

Comment on Scripture + Share the Gospel
March 11, 2025