Thoughts on the Bible Readings (1 Kings 14; Jeremiah 40, Mark 14) for Aug 19th.

1 Kings 14 verses 1-3 tell of Jeroboam's son Abijam becoming desperately sick. Jeroboam sends his wife with gifts to enquire of Ahijah the prophet whether the child would live. Verses 4-11 tell of Yahweh telling the blind prophet of Jeroboam's wife's coming and of her pretending to be another person. The prophet is told to tell her of the LORD's actions in bringing Jeroboam to the throne. The message spoke of Jeroboam's great sin in taking the ten tribes away from their God. As a result of this judgment was to brought to Jeroboam's household by cutting off every male. Verses 12-16 speak of the Almighty's mercy in allowing the child to die. Verses 17-18 describe the death of the child and the nation's mourning for him. Verses 19-20 tell of Jeroboam's death after an evil reign of 22 years and Jeroboam's son Nadab's appointment to the throne of Israel. Verses 21-24 describe the perversions that Rehoboam brought to the southern kingdom of Judah. Verses 25-28 outline how Judah was invaded by Shishak king of Egypt as God's retribution to Judah. Rehoboam stripped the Temple of gold and paid a heavy tribute for Shishak to leave them alone. Verses 29-31 describe the continuing wars between Jeroboam and Rehoboam all their lives. Rehoboam died and was succeeded by his son Abijam. Jeremiah 40 verses :1-6 speaks of the prophet being given by Gedaliah, the Governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, the option of remaining in the land. Gedaliah says that the judgment that had been brought upon guilty Judah was just because the people had disobeyed the commands of God. The consequence of God's universal principle that we reap what we sow were shown to be unavoidable. Jeremiah chose to stay in Mizpah rather than journey to Babylon. Verses 7-12 tell of Gedaliah's instructions to the poor of the land who had been left to look after the land to live in peace and comply with Babylon's rule. Verses 13-16 say that the captains of the remnants of the forces which had rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar spake roughly with the Governor about their concerns. Gedaliah tells them that a rebel named Ishmael was not to be killed as those captains had failed to understand Ishmael. However chapter 41 tells us that Ishmael had deceived Gedaliah for the next chapter will describe Ishmael's murdering of Gedaliah. In the record of Mark 14 and 15, we have, what's believed to be, Peter's accounting of the most horrific few days of his life. The 14th chapter commenced 2 days before the Lord's crucifixion with his anointing in the home of Simon the leper, believed by some to be the father of the family, Mary, Martha, Lazarus and Judas and would be the home of Martha's deceased husband. It was this incident which incited Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Our Lord praises Mary's extravagant act of love and understanding. She alone among all of our Lord Jesus Christ's disciples understood that Christ would die during the Passover. Jesus sent Peter and John, to prepare the Lord's supper. All had been secretly prearranged to prevent any interruptions to his Passover. He needed every last moment to prepare his Apostles for his decease. These Apostles had to learn to live faithfully without our Lord's presence. During the memorial feast our Lord prophesied details of Peter's betrayal, much to Peter's bold protestation to the contrary. The supper having ended the Lord and now eleven of his chosen disciples went to Gethsemane where our Master's greatest trial occurs. In Gethsemane he begged his Father to find another way than the stake, where he would be shamefully exposed to men but each time Jesus was told there could be no alternative. Finally our Lord's resolve strengthened through angelic support and his intense struggle to subject his own will to that of the Father the Son of God was perfected through his sufferings: Hebrews 5 verses 7-9. Slowly read aloud those verses from Hebrews and meditate the intensity of his struggle and the greatness of the Son of God in submitting to his Father's will. Christ was strengthened by an angel to aid him in submitting humbly to death. Judas arrives with a band of heavily armed thugs from the temple. A young man, quite likely Mark himself, escapes them after having tried to warn Jesus. Verses 53-65 tell of Jesus before the Council and the accusation of blasphemy levelled at him (surely this had been Judas' doing) and the Master's rebuttal from Daniel 7 verses 13-14. The chapter finishes with Peter's threefold denial of his Lord. Peter was in great bitterness for denying Jesus. His repentance contrasts with Judas' remorse without any repentance. https://christadelphianvideo.org/christadelphian-daily-readings/ Penned by Warwick Rosser and his team, produced by Christadelphianvideo.org See more Thoughts from the Christadelphian Dialy Bible Reading Planner (By R.Roberts) here... https://christadelphianvideo.org/thoughts-on-the-bible-readings-1-kings-14-jeremiah-40-mark-14-for-aug-19th/?feed_id=98539&_unique_id=68a2a23b6e755