After the death of David and Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel gets divided and there is Judah (Southern Kingdom) and Israel (Northern Kingdom). The levels of spirituality and religious life as well change. In the Southern Kingdom, there is still some fear of the Lord while in the Northern Kingdom apostasy grows at a high rate.
The king in the Northern Kingdom is Jeroboam and due to his political suspicions, he bars people from going to Jerusalem (in the southern Kingdom) to worship. After he rules thus, he decides to install his version of worship and therefore, religion for his people.
The threefold Apostasy of Jeroboam
This king instituted three principles upon which he operated his apostasy from the worship system of God. Instead of sending the people to worship God at Jerusalem, this is what he did:
- He created new worship sites in Bethel and Dan.
2. He then made priests of anyone who wanted to be a priest,
3-He re-wrote the sacrificial calendar.
What this King did was not just rebellion but apostasy and he equally demonstrated the spirit of anti-Christ very early in the Bible.
It is no different today. Many worship systems are not biblically founded regardless of how much they claim to be Godly.
This Kind of Apostasy could not be addressed in Israel since most of the prophets of God were either compromised, not given an audience and some majority threatened. So God decided to send a prophet from the Southern region/Kingdom to address the same.
The Man of God
A prophet from the south is about to travel up north to address what the prophets in the north have failed to address. Amid this evil kingdom, God has sent forth a missionary.
And interestingly enough, we have no idea who he is.
His name is not given, but he does have a simple title. He is called “a man of God” A title reserved for only 8 men in Scripture.
It is mentioned 76 times in the Old Testament but only given to 7 men and these are Moses, Samuel, David, Shemaiah, Elijah, Elisha, and this man here.
It is only used twice in the New Testament, both times it is a title which Paul gives to Timothy.
It is a title that reveals a person whose very identity is bound up in the will of God. He is not a man of this world, nor is he a man who is looking out for his interests.
Instead, this man has God’s interests at heart, And his only concern is that God’s will be accomplished.
Why is he called the Man of God?
Here is why he was addressed as the man of God: he was obedient, and the phrase ‘the word of the LORD‘ occurs seven times within this portion of Scripture (1Kings 13:1-32), and many of the times it appears we see that that young prophet was obedient to it.
He was functioning according to God’s command, personally in his life – and because he was obedient, God’s power was manifest in his life and his ministry. He was obedient, the power of God was manifest in his life.
Verses 7 and 8 show that he was also uncompromising, for because of this good deed toward him, Jeroboam the King invited the young prophet back to feed him and to reward him, to share a meal with him.
To share a meal with someone was to imply intimate fellowship with them, the young man was discerning in that he realized that to do such would in some way show, perhaps, that God was accepting Jeroboam’s behaviour, and was being lenient on Jeroboam’s deviant worship and idolatry.
He would neither be bribed, as verse 9 says. He says: ‘It was 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‘.
This prophet, young though he was and at the beginning of his ministry, did not fear the King’s threats, nor did he succumb to the King’s bribes – both of which would have disqualified him from his ministry, and invalidated his prophetic preaching.
So we can see clearly that this young man, this young prophet was a man of God. He was on fire, obedient, powerful, uncompromising, discerning, full of integrity, courageous.
The Need of Men of God Today
It was an American writer who said:
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men-men who will not be bought or sold; men who in their inmost souls are true and honest; men who do not fear to call sin by its right name; men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole; men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.” (Education P.57)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 