“Glory to the Precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ”

Psalms 51: 1

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen

We must safeguard our soul, the altar, the bride, the church so that the anger of God will not come upon us.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the portion of the Bible that we meditated upon in the past days, we meditated that our altar, the bride, the church is the body of the resurrected Christ.

Next what we are meditating upon is that 1 Kings 13: 1 – 6 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 

Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” 

And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.”

So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 

The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. 

Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, “O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men’s bones shall be burned on you.’” And he gave a sign the same day, saying, “This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.” So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, “Arrest him!” Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord. Then the king answered and said to the man of God, “Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.” So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him, and became as before.

My dear people, in the above-mentioned words altar means God is showing as a pattern for the church, the body of Christ. That is, when Jeroboam became king, he built the altar according to his desire and he made two golden calves and he made the people of Israel to lose their way and if this is in us then God will manifest as the one who judges that altar. Therefore, that altar shall split apart and as the Lord said the ashes on it shall be poured out. Also, in our soul if we give place to idols and offer sacrifice to us also in this manner the anger of the Lord will be aroused. If we will stand against this then our bride, the church will not possess any heavenly blessings and will stop working. Then due to our sin if we will lose the grace if we submit ourselves again at the feet of the Lord, then the Lord will correct us. Therefore we should destroy all the idols in our soul and we must cleanse ourselves and submit ourselves to the Lord.

Let us pray. May the Lord bless you all abundantly. 

       - To be continued