1 Kings 15:25 – 34 “In the second year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Nadab son of Jeroboam became king of Israel, and he reigned two years. And he did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.
Then Baasha son of Ahijah of the house of Issachar conspired against Nadab, and Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon of the Philistines while Nadab and all Israel were besieging the city. In the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha killed Nadab and reigned in his place.
As soon as Baasha became king, he struck down the entire household of Jeroboam. He did not leave to Jeroboam anyone that breathed, but destroyed them all according to the word that the LORD had spoken through His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, because of the sins Jeroboam had committed and had caused Israel to commit, and because he had provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.
As for the rest of the acts of Nadab, along with all his accomplishments, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? And there was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel throughout their days.
In the third year of Asa’s reign over Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king of all Israel, and he reigned in Tirzah twenty-four years. And Baasha did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin, which he had caused Israel to commit.”
Foolish Jeroboam! God gave Jeroboam the opportunity of a lifetime. If Jeroboam would just whole – heartedly worship God as David had done, God was prepared to establish a dynasty for Jeroboam and his descendants. This was a forever promise by the One True Living God…. And Jeroboam blew it! Rather than trusting in the God of Israel, Jeroboam settled for the expedient, fabricating his own religion, creating golden calves, building altars that God had never commanded, and ordaining men who were not Levites as priests. The results were truly disastrous; God warned Jeroboam that every one of his descendants would die horrible deaths, and their bodies would be eaten by dogs or by vultures, treated as carrion rather than as human beings worthy of honorable burial. Now God’s retribution was beginning to show itself.
The Israelites were fighting the Philistines at Gibbethon when Baasha, a man of the tribe of Issachar, killed Nadab, Jeroboam’s son in the midst of the battle. No doubt, Baasha probably hoped that the Israelites would blame the Philistines for Nadab’s death; however, everybody knew who was the actual murderer. Once king, Baasha proceeded to wipe out Jeroboam’s entire family, fulfilling the prophecy spoken over Jeroboam. But Baasha failed to learn anything from the fate of Jeroboam. Rather than repenting and turning to the God of Israel, Baasha persisted in idolatry for the entire 24 years of his reign. Obviously, Baasha learned absolutely nothing from the horrific fate of Jeroboam’s family.
APPLICATION: Baasha was a product of Jeroboam’s fake religion and the results were obvious. Ruled by passion alone, Baasha was more than willing to eradicate every member of Jeroboam’s family, neglecting to realize that if he behaved like Jeroboam, he and his family might suffer the very same fate.
Albert Einstein is quoted as having said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Obviously, Baasha was crazy; after wiping out Jeroboam’s family, he expected that his family would be fine, even though he was doing the very same things that Jeroboam had done. Never once in that twenty – four years of reign did Baasha ever stop to consider that his family and he could be wiped out as well.
Reading the accounts of some of these kings, we might feel a bit smug. After all, we have never set up a fake religion as did Jeroboam. But the question is one of holiness. The God of Israel, the One True Living God, is completely holy, and we are human and fallible. Born with sinful natures, there is nothing that we can do that will make up for that sin. Rather than face the question of holiness, Jeroboam created his own religion with his own pretend gods and his own rules, and Nadab and Baasha followed suit. It was easy for Jeroboam to feel that he was OK because he had already drawn up the rules by which he would achieve righteousness. But those rules bore no relationship to the One True God.
Many times, we want to think that if we do good deeds or dedicate ourselves to helping humanity, this will be enough for us to earn our way into heaven. But the prophet Isaiah nailed it when he said that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags.”
Isaiah 64:4 – 6 says, “For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him.
5 You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways.
You are indeed angry, for we have sinned— In these ways we continue; And we need to be saved.
6 But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;
We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (The filthy rags referred to here are the rags women used as menstrual pads.)
The reason that the Gospel is called good news is that Jesus Christ has done what we could never do for ourselves. Jesus was both God and man, and he died for our sins, shedding his blood on the cross at Calvary. Only the blood of a sinless man could possibly wipe out the sins of others. But we must truly believe that Jesus has done this for us. We cannot take this sacrifice lightly. When Paul and Silas were in jail at Philippi, God sent an earthquake that opened all the doors and removed all the chains from the prisoners. The jailer begged Paul and Silas to know what he had to do to be saved. The answer: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31) Nothing has changed. Only belief in the Lord Jesus Christ will bring salvation.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You for sending Your Son Jesus Christ to live as a man and to die for our sins. We confess that by ourselves, we have no purely righteous acts that could earn our way into heaven. We confess that we are sinners and that we fall short of Your holiness throughout our days. But we are trusting that the Blood of Jesus Christ is adequate to wipe out those sins, and that because of Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, our sins have been cancelled. We thank You that we can be with You for eternity because of that sacrifice. We thank You, we praise You, and we bless You. In the mighty and precious Name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen.
Burunche's Blog 
Leave a comment