The Temple of God
Today’s Focus: Local Church vs. City Church: Consequences of Exalting the Local Church
Scripture: 1 Kings 13
Greetings Kingdom Citizens
When the local church or household of faith is exalted above the temple there are deep consequences. The major consequence is the delay in the building of the temple. Then we have distractions that come such as those from the major Christian networks such as TBN, The Word Network and Daystar that are pushing for the building of the physical temple in Israel. The Apostolic gifting is the gifting that brings order and foundational structure to the Body of Christ. As a part of that structure, the building of the temple in the city becomes the place where all the tribes can come together to drink of the graces of God within that city. When this happens there is empowerment within the city. Is it no wonder when issues arise in our city, state and federal governments it is hard to see the Body of Christ stand up as a complete unit and speak against the issues that our Lord tells us to speak out against? Now let me show you in scripture what happens when the local church comes the focal point. Let’s continue to look at Jeroboam.
1 Kings 13:1,2: And behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord unto Bethel: and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.
Now before this scripture in 1 Kings 12 we see the story of how Jeroboam created a local synagogue and false idols and feasts to keep the people from going to Jerusalem and celebrating the God-ordained feasts. Now of course God is very unhappy and angry and so God sends His word through a young prophet from Judah to come against the sin of Jeroboam. The altar at Bethel was torn into two pieces and ashes poured out from the altar as a sign from the prophecy of the young prophet (1 Kings 13:1-5). Now Jeroboam asks to be restored and was and then he invited the young prophet to come to his house and he will give him a reward (1 Kings 13:7). The young prophet responds with the charge that the Lord gave Him:
1 Kings 13:9: For so was it charged me by the word of the Lord, saying Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn again by the same way that thou camest.
So the young prophet departed from Bethel another way so he would not return. Now there was an old prophet in Bethel that had sons and he had his sons prepare an ass for him to go get the young prophet and bring him back to Bethel (1 Kings 13:11-13). Now he finds the young prophet under the tree and invites him back to Bethel to his house. The young prophet declines and RESTATES the word of the Lord to not return (1 Kings 13:16,17). The old man makes a statement and please pay attention to this:
1 Kings 13:18: he said unto him, I AM A PROPHET ALSO AS THOU ART: AND AN ANGEL SPAKE UNTO ME BY THE WORD OF THE LORD, SAYING, BRING HIM BACK WITH THEE INTO THINE HOUSE, THAT HE MAY EAT BREAD AND DRINK WATER. BUT HE LIED UNTO HIM
Do we see this! When the Word of the Lord comes to pass judgment and gives clear directions to the messenger, as the messenger, do not deviate from anything that the Lord said. Now this to the young prophet presented a quandary of thoughts. Here I have God telling me not to go back but then a man comes to me and says he is a prophet also and the angel told him to go back. Who should he listen to? Well the young man goes back to Bethel and does the exact thing the Lord tells him not to do. Now watch this, the word of the Lord comes to the man that brought the prophet back to Bethel, weird isn’t it, to pass judgment on the young prophet (1 Kings 13:20-22). Unfortunately the young prophet as he left the old prophet’s house was killed by a lion. Now word of this gets back to Jeroboam that the young prophet was killed by a lion. What do you think Jeroboam was thinking to why the young man was killed by a lion. I believe that Jeroboam perceived that the young prophet was killed for coming against him and God. Now in Jeroboam’s world everything looked right even though it was all wrong. 1 Kings 13:33,34 states that Jeroboam did not turn away from his sin and because of this his family would now suffer. 1 Kings 14 speaks of his son dying as well as Jeroboam himself being killed.
Now I said all of this to show that when the local church is exalted (Jeroboam) when the Lord brings correction to that local mentality to bring order and structure back to the Body of Christ, when you do not yield to that correction, the end result is death. We are watching local ministries die and are currently dying because the leaders are walking in the ways of Jeroboam and prevent the Body of Christ from coming together within the city. The ways of Jeroboam represent false doctrines and a lack of sound doctrine and exaltation of idolatry. It does not have to be golden calves but the thing that people are exalting is men themselves.
In the next message we will look at the specific prophecy that the prophet Ahijah brings against Jeroboam because this is the prophecy against the exaltation of the local church.
Peace, Love and Grace from the Father,
Calvin Calhoun, Jr.
