Will you please turn to 1 Kings?
Please turn to 1 Kings 4. We will read from verses 29 through 34.
1 Kings 4:29:
And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the seashore.
And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all the nations round about.
And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
And he spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of birds, and of creeping things, and of fishes.
And there came of all peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
Please turn also to 1 Kings 17:1.
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that, through Thy beloved Son, we can approach Thy throne of grace with boldness. We do praise and thank Thee, knowing that Thy presence is with us.
We desire that we may see Thy face. We pray that, as Thy Word is explained, Thy Holy Spirit will reveal Thy Son to us. To Thee be the glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We are now in 1 Kings. But before we get into this book, I think it will be necessary for us to have a little background.
First of all, we would like to see the connection between 1 Kings, 2 Kings, and Samuel. We know that 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings—these four books—give us the history of the kingdom of Israel.
In 1 Samuel, we see the transition: how the nation was transferred from the judges to the kings, and from the priests to the prophets.
Then in 2 Samuel, we see how the nation was established as a kingdom under the reign of David.
In 1 Kings, we begin to see the disruption of that kingdom. The kingdom was divided into two kingdoms.
Then finally, in 2 Kings, we see the downfall of both the kingdom of the north, Israel, and the kingdom of the south, Judah.
In the Hebrew Bible, 1 Kings and 2 Kings are one book. That book practically covers the whole history of kingly rule among the ancient people of Israel.
A kingdom is centered upon a king. The government of the king determines the fate of the kingdom. That is the reason why we find that the contents of the books of Kings are mainly the history of these kings. In knowing the history of these kings, we know the history of the kingdom.
We do not know for sure who was the writer, or the composer, of the books of Kings. Of course, we do know the Author: the Author is the Holy Spirit.
But most probably, this book was composed during the latter part of the Babylonian captivity.
We know this because, when you come to 2 Kings 25, at the end of that book, we find that the writer mentions how King Jehoiachin received his freedom after thirty-seven years as a prisoner from the hand of the Babylonian king Evil-merodach. That comes to about 562 B.C.
So it has to be in the latter part of the captivity that this book was composed.
This book of Kings gives us three different periods.
The first period is the forty years of the reign of King Solomon, approximately from 1015 B.C. to 975 B.C.
The second period is from the division of the kingdom to the termination of the northern kingdom of Israel. Roughly, it is from 975 B.C. to 721 B.C.
The third period is the remaining kingdom of the south, Judah: the history of the kingdom of Judah until the Babylonian captivity, roughly from 721 B.C. to 588 B.C.
So those are approximately the years covered in the books of Kings.
As I mentioned before, we do not know who the writer or composer really was. According to the Jewish Talmud, they believe that the composer was Jeremiah.
There seems to be some reason for it, because when you compare Jeremiah 52 with 2 Kings 25, you will find that they are the same.
Furthermore, when you read 2 Kings 17, which is the comment of the writer of the book, you do find expressions and sentiments that resemble those of Jeremiah.
However, we find a great difficulty, because Jeremiah was exiled into Egypt, not Babylon. This book evidently was composed in Babylon, because Egypt was not even mentioned.
The same difficulty will apply to Baruch the scribe. Some people think he might be the one, but we have the same difficulty.
Now, most English commentators, however, believe that this book was composed by Ezra.
Whoever the composer may be, we believe he was a kind of prophet, because you find that he drew his resources from three different books:
But when you compare this with Chronicles, you find that these sources are mentioned differently. Why? Because in Chronicles, they are mentioned as the writings of the prophets.
For instance, in 2 Chronicles 9:29, concerning Solomon, instead of mentioning the book of the acts of Solomon, it says that it is written in the writings of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer.
So when you compare Kings and Chronicles, you come to the conclusion that the books of acts or chronicles actually, or mainly, were the writings of the prophets.
It is generally agreed that the prophets were the historians in the nation of Israel. They were historians, but remember, they were prophets. Therefore, what they gave was not just history; what they gave was historical and prophetical in nature.
So we want to ask this question: Why were the books of Kings written?
The books of Kings were written not just as history. They were written to a people who were in captivity, with a specific purpose.
It was during the time when the children of God were in captivity. They were humiliated. They were captured as slaves away from their land.
So the prophet composed a history of the nation, beginning with the glorious time of Solomon and ending with the Babylonian captivity.
The reason why he presented this picture to the people in captivity was to remind them, to convince them, and to show them that they were the covenanted people of God.
When they were faithful to God, how God blessed them. But if they were unfaithful to God, then judgment followed.
In other words, the reason behind the writing was to convince the people of God and to show them the way back to God’s covenant blessing. The way is through repentance and a return to faithfulness to God.
That is the purpose behind this writing.
It is also interesting to see that in the books of Kings, not only are the stories of these kings told, but the prophets occupy a very prominent place in the history.
Brothers and sisters, this shows the love of God. The prophets become prominent when the nation is in declension.
In other words, God so loves His people that, when His people are falling away, He will raise a prophet and send him to His people, calling them to return and to repentance.
It is very interesting to see that, even though God did send prophets to the nation of Judah, all these prophets in the nation of Judah did no miracles.
All the miracles performed by the prophets were done in the nation of Israel. In other words, the lower the people fell, the greater the mercy and the love of God.
But unfortunately, even though God sent His prophets again and again to the children of Israel, they did not listen. Eventually, both the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom were destroyed.
Now, what is this history to us?
We already mentioned that this is not just pure history, secular history. This is prophecy. It is a revelation of God.
Therefore, through these books of Kings, God is saying something to us.
We, as God’s people today, are the people of the new covenant, just as the children of Israel were the people of the old covenant.
They were a people under law; we are a people under grace. But you find there is almost a similarity between the history of the ancient people of God and the history of God’s people today.
When we open the book of Acts, which is the history of the church—the people of God today—we find that it is so glorious.
From the day of Pentecost, we find how the Holy Spirit worked. We find the name of the Lord Jesus uplifted. We find God’s people being one, how they loved one another, and how God added to the church daily.
It was almost like the reign of Solomon, being that glorious time.
But then we find gradual declension.
Even when we read the last writings of the apostles, in the book of Revelation, in the letters to the seven churches, we find how God’s people began to leave their first love.
Because of that, you find all kinds of corruption began to come in.
Throughout the centuries, you find God’s people seem to be drifting further and further away from God. But God, in His mercy, sent His prophets. He gave us revivals, calling God’s people back.
From time to time, you do find revivals in the history of the Christian church. But revival came and revival went. It seems as if the people of God are sinking lower and lower.
We can certainly say that the church is in Babylonian captivity.
In other words, God has delivered the church out of the world. He has gathered us out of the world unto Himself. That is what the church is.
But we find that the church itself has gone into Babylonian captivity, which is falling into the religious world. It is still the world, but the religious world.
But even so, we find there is a way of coming back. The way is through repentance and a return to practical life. This is the lesson God is telling us.
The first book of Kings can be divided into four parts:
We are not able to get into all the kings and all the prophets within an hour. So what we will do is take up one king and one prophet. I know you know who the king will be and who the prophet is.
This morning, we would like to share together on King Solomon and Elijah the prophet.
Solomon means “peaceful.” He was born after David repented and was disciplined by God.
When he was born, God loved him very much and gave him a special name, Jedidiah, meaning “beloved of God.” Therefore, he was a son of grace.
David promised his mother, Bathsheba, that her son would sit upon his throne.
His elder brothers tried to seize the throne from him. Absalom and Adonijah both tried to take the throne away from Solomon, but God gave it to him.
He inherited the kingdom from his father. His father was a man of war who fought many battles, but Solomon was a man of peace.
He loved God. He sacrificed to God at Gibeon, and God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask what you would like to have.”
Solomon asked for an understanding heart, that he might judge the people and discern between good and evil.
Because he did not ask for riches, glory, or the lives of his enemies, but asked for an understanding heart, he did not ask anything for himself. He asked it for God, because God had put him on the throne.
He said that he was just a little boy. He did not know how to go in and come out among God’s people, how to rule God’s people according to God.
So, in other words, he only asked for an understanding heart, that he might rule God’s people for God. God was pleased with it.
God promised to give him wisdom and an understanding heart. God also said that He would give him riches, glory, and all the things that he did not even ask for.
Solomon became a synonym for wisdom. His wisdom exceeded the wisdom of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser even than Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda.
Now, we know that the wisdom of the east is philosophical, mystical, and speculative. The wisdom of Egypt is mechanical, scientific, and materialistic. The wisdom of Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Darda is poetical and spiritual.
But the wisdom of Solomon exceeded them all. His wisdom was divine wisdom.
God gave him an understanding heart. The original meaning of “an understanding heart” is a heart that hears. In other words, God gave him a heart that could hear God, and that is wisdom.
Do not think wisdom is a matter of the mind. That is knowledge. Wisdom is a matter of the heart. If your heart can hear God, you have the greatest wisdom in the whole world.
Solomon heard God.
He wrote three thousand proverbs and one thousand and five songs. He spoke of all the trees, from the cedar tree in Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall. He spoke also of cattle, fowls, creeping things, and fishes.
Now remember, he did not speak of all the trees as a botanist, nor of all the cattle as a zoologist. He spoke of all these things as a man of God. He could see God in everything. That is wisdom.
Solomon was not only a man of wisdom, but God gave him great wealth.
It was under Solomon that the promise of God to Abraham was fulfilled for a time, because his dominion extended from the great river Euphrates to the brook of Egypt.
He received tribute from all these different nations. His table was so rich. He made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars and sycamore trees in the lowland as abundant as common trees.
He was not only rich, but in his lifetime he did a work that nobody had ever done: he built the temple of God.
He had the wisdom to understand the pattern that God gave to his father David. He was able to mobilize so many people to build the house, and he had the wisdom to use all the various materials for the building.
After he finished the building and offered it to God, God accepted it. The glory of God filled the house, and fire came down from heaven to burn up the offering. That was the most glorious thing.
Now, unfortunately, in his old days, he loved many foreign women, and they enticed him to worship idols.
God was displeased with him. But for his father’s sake, God would not allow the nation to be divided under him, but under his son.
That is the history.
We know that King Solomon is a type of Christ, because Christ is the One Who is greater than Solomon.
You remember in the Gospel, it is said that the queen of Sheba came from the south and travelled a long distance to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But the Lord said, “Behold, a greater than Solomon is here.” But who will hear Him?
Our Lord Jesus is the Son of David, full of grace and truth. He is the Prince of Peace.
When He was born, you remember the angels saying:
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.
He was the beloved of the Father. Throughout His life, He pleased His Father. He did His Father’s will. Again and again, we find heaven opened, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.”
Who can compare with Him as to wisdom? He is wisdom. He is the wisdom of God.
How blessed it is for anyone who stands before Him and hears Him.
Who can compare with Him as to His riches? For all the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily, and we are complete in Him.
God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
Who has ever done such a marvelous work? He said, “I will build My church upon this rock; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
The one thing that Solomon did in his life was to build the temple. But he built a temple with dead stones—beautiful stones, massive stones, but dead. Eventually, the temple was completely destroyed, not one stone upon another.
But the Greater than Solomon built a living temple. He built with living stones, people such as we are.
Not beautiful in ourselves, but He made us beautiful in Christ. He built us together into a holy habitation of God for eternity, and it can never be destroyed.
What a work He has done.
Not like Solomon, who loved many foreign women, He has only one love. He loved His Father, and He loved His church and gave Himself for the church.
That is our Solomon. We know that one day He shall come back and establish His kingdom upon this earth, and righteousness shall rule over the whole earth.
In a small sense, Solomon can also represent us, because we are in union with Christ.
Are we not sons of grace? We are. Are we not children of peace? We are, because Christ is our peace.
He has made peace for us with God and with one another, and He has brought us together into one new man, one body.
Are we not called children, or sons, of wisdom? We are. Not because we are wise in ourselves, but because Christ is our wisdom.
Is it not true that the one work God has commissioned us to do is to build the house of God?
The foundation is laid, but everyone is building upon that foundation. Remember, we are building the house of God.
Therefore, do not build with wood, hay, and stubble. Build with gold, silver, and precious stones, so that our work may remain and God may be glorified.
Now we turn to the prophet Elijah.
The name Elijah means, “My God is the Lord.” This is very, very meaningful. Why? Because Elijah lived in the days of apostasy.
The whole nation of Israel apostatized under King Ahab, and he was under the influence of the Gentile woman, Jezebel. So the whole nation was led away from God.
But here was a man whose name was Elijah: “My God is the Lord.” His very name was a testimony. He stood alone in a nation of apostasy, standing for the rights of God.
Elijah the Tishbite, so far as we know, was probably a native of Upper Galilee. But we find that he became an inhabitant of Gilead, and Gilead is on the other side of Jordan.
Now, Elijah was born and reared in Galilee, but why did he flee to Gilead? It must be that his testimony was too hot for the nation.
He stood for God, but the king and the whole nation rebelled against God. He must have been persecuted, and he had to flee for his life.
When you read 1 Kings 17, it may look as if Elijah the Tishbite appeared suddenly out of nowhere, because we do not know his past history.
Suddenly, you find that man appearing, and he says to Ahab the king:
As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before Whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
But we know that, even though his past history was not given, we know what that history must have been. Here was a man zealous for God.
He was so hurt by what he saw. He cried against the abominations of the nation. Because of that, he had to flee for his life.
But did he give up? No. There, in Gilead, he was praying. How do we know?
We know it in the New Testament. You remember James 5:17-18. James said Elijah was a man of like passions with us, but he prayed earnestly.
There was no rain for three years and six months. Then he prayed again, and rain came, and the earth brought forth fruit.
So, in other words, here was a man who was zealous for God, who stood for God’s rights, who was hurt by what he saw in the nation, who cried against the sin and abomination of the nation, who had to flee for his life, but who did not give up.
He gave himself to prayer. He was a man of prayer. In his prayer, he was praying for God’s kingdom. He was praying for God’s rights.
As he prayed, he was so burdened that he even prayed to God and asked God to withhold the rain.
He had assurance that God had heard him, and God sent him to proclaim God’s judgment. There was a hidden history of that prophet with God.
He said to Ahab, “As the Lord liveth.” You think that the Lord is dead, that God is dead. But the Lord liveth. He is still living. He is God.
“Before Whom I stand.” I stand before God. I am a servant of God. I wait upon Him, and I do His errand.
“There will be no dew nor rain except by my word.” He was so one with God that he could say, “Except by my word.” That was Elijah.
But strangely, immediately after he made the proclamation, God hid him. God put him into the limelight, and God took him away into seclusion.
Of course, after that proclamation Ahab wanted his life, and God had to hide him. More than that, in praying that there would be no rain, Elijah forgot himself: he needed water too.
Now, brothers and sisters, do we ever pray to the extent of forgetting ourselves? Thank God if you do.
Unfortunately, we always think of ourselves, and that is why our prayer is impure. But Elijah was so zealous for God that he forgot himself completely. Yet God remembered him.
God sent him to a little stream, the brook Cherith, which flows toward the Jordan. You always go to the source for water.
God supplied him miraculously with ravens. Ravens certainly like meat, but these ravens brought meat to Elijah. Is that not wonderful?
God supported him through the years, not only with ravens, but with a widow in Zarephath, in a Gentile city—a Gentile woman.
God’s provision is always higher than what we think. Everybody should increase their faith.
After three years and six months, God said, “It is enough.” Not that the nation had repented, but God, as it were, repented. He changed His mind, because in judgment there is always mercy.
So God sent Elijah back. You remember the story of that confrontation on Mount Carmel.
Elijah gathered the whole nation together and said, “How long go ye limping between the two sides? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.”
There was a challenge, and you remember how fire came down and consumed the sacrifice that Elijah offered—not only the sacrifice, but the water and the stones.
So everybody said, “The Lord, He is God.” There was a great victory, as if the whole nation would now return to God.
But unfortunately, it was not so. The next day Jezebel threatened Elijah and said, “Before tomorrow, I will have your life.”
Elijah realized that the nation had not returned to God. He was so disappointed, and in his despair he fled.
But how merciful was God? God supplied him with angels’ food, so that he walked forty days and forty nights until he arrived at Mount Sinai and entered into that cave.
In the original, it is the cave, which is the cave where Moses was when he received the law. You always go back to the source.
So he went back to that cave, waiting to hear from God. What does it mean?
God appeared to him and said, “Elijah, what are you doing here?”
Elijah said, “I have been very zealous for Thee. But You find the nation: they killed the prophets, they tore down the altars, and they have forsaken Thee. I am the only one left, and it did not work.”
“So let me die. What is the sense of living anymore?”
How gracious was God! God did not blame him. God knew his heart.
God said, “Go back. Anoint Hazael as king of Syria, anoint Jehu as king of Israel, and anoint Elisha as prophet.”
God said, “I have left seven thousand who have not bowed their knees to Baal, nor kissed him.”
Do not think this is the end. I still have many agents around, and I am going to work on.
Well, that almost finishes the history of Elijah. He went back and did a few things, not much. But God, in His very gracious way, even took Elijah and raptured him away.
Why? Because Elijah’s job is not finished yet.
You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, Elijah appeared.
The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, ends with the promise that Elijah shall return to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest the land be smitten with a curse.
We know from prophecy that Elijah will yet come. John the Baptist came in the spirit of Elijah, but he was not Elijah, because he was not accepted.
But we know that Elijah is coming. Before the return of Christ, Elijah shall first come and prepare His way.
In the book of Revelation, you find the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah. So Elijah’s work has not finished yet. God has yet something for him to do.
Elijah will eventually finish all the work that God has sent him to do. That is the story of Elijah.
What do we learn from Elijah?
I think Elijah is the representation of prophetic ministry. Elijah is the representative of the prophets. He is the greatest prophet. He is representative of all the prophets.
That is the reason why, on the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses represented the law and Elijah represented the prophets. The Old Testament came together to discuss with the Lord Jesus concerning His departure.
But in Elijah, you do see the representation of prophetic ministry. You see in him the making of a prophet, how a prophetic ministry is made.
Here was a man zealous for God, a man who stood for God’s rights amid a scene of apostasy, a man of prayer, a man with a burden, a man who waited upon God, and a man who received a message from God.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in the end days.
It is prophesied in the Word of God that in the end days the whole church will go into apostasy.
This is the time when there is the tremendous need for prophetic ministry, that God will raise people with prophetic ministry to call God’s people back.
What is a prophet? What is prophecy?
A prophet not only foretells the future; a prophet forthtells the mind of God.
As a matter of fact, you find it is more a forthtelling of God’s mind than a foretelling of the future.
A prophet is one who receives a word from God for His people at the moment.
He will tell the people of God what God thinks about them, what God requires of them, and he will also reveal to them the ultimate purpose of God regarding His own people.
That is prophetic ministry.
In the life of Elijah, you do not see much foretelling of the future, but you see a great deal of forthtelling the mind of God.
Brothers and sisters, what we need today are people who hear from God and who can tell God’s people what is wrong.
What does God think about them? What does God require of them? Not only for the immediate, but also for the ultimate: telling them of the eternal will of God concerning His people.
That is prophetic ministry. That is the most needed thing in the church today. But where are the prophets?
We need people who are zealous for God, that is, for God’s rights.
We need people who are willing to lay down their lives for it. We need people who will be burdened into prevailing prayer.
We need people who, as they wait upon God, hear from God. We need such people.
The life of a prophet is a difficult life, because a prophet is lonely. He is against the tide. He will be rejected, ridiculed, persecuted, even killed.
But we need such people. God’s church needs such prophetic ministry.
A prophet is one who is selfless. God can put him into the limelight, and God can call him back into seclusion.
He is for God in public as well as in secret. There is no difference.
The reward of a prophet is not now and here. It is there and then.
Brothers and sisters, we need to pray that God will raise a prophetic ministry to the church today.
I feel this is the most needed thing in the church of today. Oh, that God will raise prophets, send them to His people, and call them back to repentance and to practical life.
Dear Heavenly Father, as we study the history of our ancient people, we are humbled.
Thou art ever so merciful, so gracious, so kind, so loving, so faithful; and yet we are always so selfish, so rebellious.
Oh, our Father, we do ask for forgiveness. We pray that there may be repentance among Thy people. We pray that there will be a return to first love.
Oh, how we do praise and thank Thee that even in the history of Thy people, Thou dost not end with Babylonian captivity. Thou endest with the freedom of King Jehoiachin.
Lord, Thou always givest us hope. We know that our freedom will come. We know that one day Thy kingdom shall come.
There will be the manifestation of the sons of God, and there will be freedom and liberty upon this whole earth.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy promise. We ask, Lord, that through the history of our ancient people, we may be encouraged to go on with Thee.
Thy will be done. Thy kingdom come. In Thy precious name. Amen.