Division of the
Nation
When Rehoboam, Solomon's son took over the throne of his
father, the ten tribes of
Rather than seeking the glory of God and the benefit of
his people, he followed his own selfish agenda and committed gross sin in the
sight of God.
1. He established a substitute worship for
his people, two new worship centers, one at Dan and another at
2. As symbols for the new places of worship, he made golden images of
calves.
3. His supposed aim was to worship Yahweh, but his real motive was
political and selfish.
4. He wanted to keep the people from going back to
5. He put his own desires ahead of God's will and the good of the
people. Of course, this was in direct
violation of the Law of Moses.
It set the people up for religious syncretism of the true
worship of God with the fertility cult of Baal.
Without doubt, this new worship of Jeroboam paved the way for the
introduction of Baal worship under Ahab and Jezebel in the time of Elijah. (Ahab 874 – 853)
In fact,
all eighteen of Jeroboam's successors continued his substitute form of worship
which God held against each as a serious sin.
With the
rise of Ahab in the time of Elijah, things had reached an all time low.
Fifty-eight
years had passed since the division of the kingdom. Seven kings had reigned and all were
evil.
Ahab married Jezebel, the famed princess from
The weak
Ahab allowed Jezebel to introduce the worship of the satanic and idolatrous
cult of Baal-Melqart into
David
rid the land of this dirge, but now it was resurrected on a new scale, larger
than ever, and this was done by the government, the king.
Jezebel
did not want Baalism to coexist with the worship of Yahweh. She wanted to
completely stamp out the worship of God.
People
are often broad-minded with the varying religions and philosophical ideas of
the world, but never with the truth.
Erwin Lutzer
and DeVries in their book, Satan's Evangelistic
Strategy for this New Age, page 151 state:
New
Agers are not naive enough to believe that everyone will accept the dawn of
this new day. Some will oppose the
emerging New Order. For these, there is
another solution: intimidation, starvation, and liquidation.
Make
no mistake: if and when the New Order
comes, it will not be because everyone will voluntary fall in line. Those religions that will not accept the lie
that man is God will be systematically eliminated by whatever means is necessary.
In
the New Age, disarmament will be the guise used to get the nations of the world
to surrender their sovereignty to an authoritative global political machine,
which will in turn use those weapons (if necessary) to force everyone,
especially the religious objectors, to get on board with the new agenda.
Understand
Satan's methodology: there is a vast difference between his advertising and the
product that the purchaser receives.
George Orwell called it newsspeak.
Baal, a Semitic word
that means "lord, master, or owner," was the chief god
worshipped by the Canaanites at the time of
The Ras
Shamrah text, an important archaeological find, praises Baal as the god who has
power over rain, wind, clouds, and therefore over fertility. Baal was worshipped as the weather god, the
god of storm, of rain and good crops.
Jezebel,
a Tyrian princess, was the one who introduced the worship of Baal-Melqart into
Baal
worship included the following:
(1) The offering of incense and burnt sacrifices (Jer.
7:9);
(2) Sometimes the offering of human sacrifices (Jer.
19:5);
(3) It especially included licentious sexual activity--including
homosexuality (cf. 1 Kgs.
An interesting historical reference is found in 1 Kings
16:32-34. First there is the statement
of how Ahab provoked the LORD
with his idolatry more than all the kings of
Here God
gave Israel a reminder to demonstrate emphatically that not only is God's Word
true, but God is involved in the life of the nations (including Israel), and
Israel was ripe for judgment.
Here God
gave Israel a reminder to demonstrate emphatically that not only is God's Word
true, but God is involved in the life of the nations (including Israel), and
that Israel was ripe for judgment.
This
confrontation comes about through God's prophet, Elijah, an obscure prophet who
suddenly, like lightening out of the blue, confronted a godless Ahab.
God was
dramatically challenging Baal, or the belief of the people in Baal, How? By
impacting the very thing they worshipped Baal for--RAIN!
It was a
question of authenticity and power. Who is God and is He real? What about Baal?
or YHWH?
Elijah
was not going out on a limb. He was
acting on the promises, or in this case, the warnings and principles of the
eternal Word of God.
Furthermore,
this prayer for the cessation of rain was designed to bring
It is
through God's work in Elijah, a man of like passions with us, that we can learn
how to handle our ups and downs, the fears, and times of discouragement in our
day of the crumbling and falling foundations.
Some Pertinent
Questions:
1. Do we really know God in such a
way that, as Daniel declared, we will display strength and take action?
2. Are we willing to pray like Elijah
and follow God's direction? Or are we
more concerned for our pleasure and business as usual than we are for God's
glory and revival in our nation?
3. Are
we willing to take a stand against the forces stacked against us because we are
standing on the promises of God and resting in the assurance of His presence
and provision regardless of how overwhelming the situation looks from our
viewpoint?
4. Are we like the men of Issachar, who joined
with David to form an army of God in a time of national need to serve the Lord
and their nation, because we understand the time and know what we should do? (1
Chr. 12:32)