Word Search

Faithful to the End—or Not!

        Our story begins in the town of Nob, on the eastern outskirts of Jerusalem.  It is the temporary home of the tabernacle and a large family of priests. King Saul’s head shepherd, Doeg the Edomite, is here on business when he catches sight of David being sheltered and fed by these priests. He reports his news to Saul who comes with his military and accuses the priests of treason. Ahimelech, the chief priest, maintains their innocence but, at Saul’s order, Doeg murders 85 of them, plus the women and children. One who escapes is Abiathar, Ahimelech’s son, who takes an ephod and joins David at Keilah (1 Samuel 21-23).

        In those early days, David has Abiathar the priest use the ephod at least twice—once to ask the Lord if he should leave Keilah, and once to ask about rescuing the families taken captive from Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:7).

        The next appearance of Abiathar is many years later, during Absalom’s rebellion. The priests (with Zadok, a fellow priest and contemporary) are carrying the ark of the covenant out of Jerusalem, across the Kidron Valley, and Abiathar offers sacrifices to the Lord (2 Samuel 15:24).  David then turns them around and sends the ark and the priests, along with their sons Jonathan and Ahimaaz, back into Jerusalem (2 Samuel 15:25-29). The plan is to have these two young men get news to David of Absalom’s plans. They do, at the risk of their lives, and the story reads like excerpts from a novel (see 2 Samuel 17:15-22).

        Years later, David is on his deathbed when he hears that Abiathar and Joab have conspired to make Adonijah king. This was never David’s intention and he had Solomon publicly crowned within hours, by Zadok the priest.

        After David’s death, Solomon tells Abiathar the priest, “Go back to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death now, because you carried the ark of the Sovereign Lord before my father David and shared all my father’s hardships.” (1 Kings 2:26) Then Solomon makes Zadok high priest in place of Abiathar.

        As Solomon said, Abiathar shared all David’s hardships. What made him turn against David’s wishes at the very last? Did he hope to gain anything? Was he just following the crowd, since Adonijah may have been the logical heir to the throne? Sad to say, one bad choice, carelessly made, lost him and his descendants the high priesthood, had him expelled from Jerusalem, and almost cost him his life.

        Is there a lesson for us today? It seems clear—we too have a King, and we need to serve Him faithfully. The Apostle Paul put it in a nutshell in Ephesians 5:10—“Find out what pleases the Lord!”

What is the Gospel?

        If we look at all the gospel presentations after the resurrection, we find that the preachers are always showing that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, even to Gentiles. The question then becomes, not “What is the Gospel?” but “Who is the Gospel?”

        On the very day of the resurrection Someone joined the two on the road to Emmaus and explained the entire Old Testament in terms of the Messiah (Luke 24:13-35), in the time it took to walk eleven kilometers. John, in his record, states, “these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” John 20:31.

        As we move into the book of Acts, we hear Peter say, on the Day of Pentecost, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs…God raised him from the dead.” Acts 2:22, 24.

        There are as many as two dozen places in the Acts where the message is unmistakable. For instance Philip “went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ.” (Acts 8:5) Later, speaking to the Ethiopian, he “told him the good news about Jesus.” (8:35) After Saul’s conversion in Damascus, the first thing he did was “to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” (9:20) In Caesarea, Peter stood up in front of Gentile Cornelius and his friends, “telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ.” (10:36) In Philippi, Paul’s cry to the jailer was “Believe in the Lord Jesus!” (16:31) In Athens, to more Gentiles, Paul’s word was still “the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.” (17:18)

        We could go on, because there are many more examples. We trust the point has been made—the Good News is Jesus— Jesus is the Gospel. But knowing this is not enough. We have to pray to Him directly. Tell Him you believe Him. Tell Him you trust Him. Only that will make Him real in your life.   Ì