The power of human reason is a wonderful thing, except when we rely on it to the point that we give it priority over the word of God. This is really at the heart of sin, is it not? Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, reasoned that God was holding out on them. Every transgression that you and I have ever committed is because we have reasoned that our lives would somehow be better, more complete, if we step away from what God has told us to do.
Jeroboam was an Ephraimite in whom Solomon had seen leadership ability, and had therefore put him in charge of a great deal of his labor force. In our text, we see Jeroboam going along, minding his own business, not politicking for anything, when all of a sudden he is met by Ahijah, the man of God, who told Jeroboam that God had chosen him to be king of Israel. Talk about promotion, this was it. Talk about divine favor, God’s sovereign grace, this was it. Then, look at the promise God made to him, in verses 35, 37-38. God said to Jeroboam, “I will give you ten of the twelve tribes, and you shall reign over all your heart desires, and you shall be king over Israel. Then it shall be if you heed all that I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in My sight, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as my servant David did, , then I will be with you and build for you an enduring house, as I built for David, and will give Israel to you.” Now, how could a fellow be more in the “cat-bird seat” than that?
The absolute worse thing Jeroboam could have done was exactly what he did do. Instead of saying, “Thank you, Lord! It is amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that made a king out of me,” 1 Kings 12:26 says, “Jeroboam said in his heart,” which means he started reasoning out his situation and disregarding the word of God. If he had simply determined himself to trust God in obedient faith, would he not have had absolute security in his throne? According to the promise of God, of whom Hebrews 6:18, not to mention plain old common sense, says, “...it is impossible for God to lie...,” he didn’t have a thing to worry about. Yet, he did worry. He worried to the point that he started taking action based on the power of human reasoning and discounting the word of God.
The following verses tell us that Jeroboam reasoned that if the people continued to go to Jerusalem to worship, which was in the kingdom of Judah, they would not continue giving their allegiance to him, but would give it to Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, king of Judah. So, with the help of some advisors, he had two golden calves built, and he placed one in Dan, the extreme northern part of his kingdom and the other at Bethel, the extreme southern boundary of his kingdom. Then, of all the dumb things he might have done, he told his people, “It’s too much trouble for you to go to Jerusalem to worship, here are the gods that brought you up out of Egypt!”
Now, I don’t want to labor this point, but Jeroboam knew he didn’t have any inherent right to the throne, and he knew that reason it had been given to him was because Solomon had built high places for pagan gods and had even sacrificed there, himself. He knew this false worship thing had cost Solomon’s son the kingdom, and here he was doing the same thing.
Before we become too critical of Jeroboam, however, let’s think about ourselves. Could it be that God’s people are physically weak and sickly for the same reason? Have we, like Jeroboam, become too smart for our own good? Perhaps, we have reasoned in our hearts that we can ignore biblical principles of health and not reap the consequences. Maybe our golden calves are the refrigerator and the couch, and we’ve said to ourselves, “It’s too much for you to direct your life by the word of God.” Could it be that God’s people live in financial bondage because they have reasoned in their hearts that it’s too much for them to obey God with their money, and they have set up golden calves of materialism, selfishness, and greed? Could it be that the family structure, even among Christians, is crumbling because they have reasoned in their hearts that’s it’s too much for them to obey the principles of God’s word and have set up the golden calves of I’ve got to work, on the one hand, and I need my pleasure, on the other? Proverbs 3:1-10 tells us that God has a better plan for us, but like Jeroboam, we have to trust God to make that plan ours.
Perhaps you think because you’ve been born again, everything is now automatic for you, that all you have to do now is sit down, eat a twinkie, and wait for Jesus to come. Please allow the Holy Spirit of God to anoint the word of God and burst that foolish bubble in which you are living! Much of the Bible is concerned with how we live after we get saved. Romans 12:1 says that we are to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service. Four times, the Bible says, “The just shall live by faith,” (Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38.) I think many people are praying, “Lord, please do something for me,” and He is saying, “I have! I have given you the promises of My word, the power of My Spirit, and the authority to use My name, but you have ignored them all.”
God sent a prophet to speak out against the sin of Jeroboam, and as is recorded in 1 Kings 13:4, Jeroboam became angry and called for the man of God to be arrested. Isn’t that the mark of a wicked heart, to get angry with the preacher who tells you the truth? Jeroboam had him some bought and paid for prophets, who would never say such things against him. He was like the folks now-a-days, who if they don’t like the message, they will just do whatever they have to do to have a different messenger. Well, when Jeroboam stretched out his hand against the man of God, God caused it to wither, so that he could no longer straighten it out. In verse 6, we see that he quickly changed his tune and begged the man of God to pray for him. The man of God did pray for him, and his hand was restored.
Jeroboam had a little boy named, Abijah, who became deathly ill. Jeroboam was like a lot of folks, he had no time for God when he thought things were going good in his life, but when the rug got pulled out from under him, he became real religious. He was also like a lot of folks, in that he had too much pride to humble himself and admit that he was wrong in what he had done. Instead, he told his wife to disguise herself and go see the man of God and ask him to pray for her son. Isn’t that silly? Jeroboam wanted religion without repentance. You can have religion without repentance, but you can’t have righteousness. The religion you will have will be empty and powerless. Chapter 14 tells how Jeroboam’s wife did what he said, but the man of God had already received insight from the Lord before she got there. The old preacher’s eyes had grown dim because of his age, verse 4 says, but when Jeroboam’s wife came to the door dressed in her disguise, the old prophet said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam!” Then, he told her not only would the child die, but that the kingdom would taken out of Jeroboam’s hand, and his entire family would be cut off.
What a tragic story this is, and it happened because Jeroboam failed to believe the word of God. Only eternity will reveal how many people will weep and wail and gnash their teeth in hell for all eternity, because they failed to believe the word of God. Only God knows the great number of people who needlessly suffer so many things tonight, because they refuse to believe the word of God. What will you do?
