1 KINGS 13:11-31 TEXT: v31 "LAY MY BONES BESIDE HIS BONES"
And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying,
When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
Nothing incidental/Bible that can be dismissed as being of no relevance.
While somethings are undoubtedly there to supply the background and
should not be pushed too much nor read into, yet there are other things
which are supplied to stop and make us think:
Why are we being told this? What lessons are there to learn?
Man cannot live by bread alone but by every word/God that proceeds out of God's mouth (Matthew 4:4)
The main thrust of the passage before lies in the actions of the
prophet who went from Judah to Israel and denounced the false altar
which King Jeroboam had set up
He effectively got away with it because His stand was vindicated/God
On his way home, he was (literally) waylaid by the words/old prophet
who lived in Bethel and who tricked him into believing that his earlier
instructions to hasten home without tarrying had been replaced by a new
instruction to go with this old prophet for refreshment
It was perhaps with this incident in mind (i.e. where the old prophet
claimed that an angel had spoken to him with the new set/directions)
that Paul wrote: But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let
him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)
We cannot exchange the word/God for the word even of an angel
Well, the prophet heeded the word/older man and did go back
He paid an awful price for his compromise/disobedience
God miraculously took him out/scene altogether by the hand/death
This was no accident - but the hand/God who was much displeased by the compromise
Question: Why did the old prophet not suffer accordingly for his part?
Answer: It is not for us to dictate to God how He handles His
instruments and what appointments He makes in their individual lives
While the younger prophet undoubtedly did wrong, yet there is an element also of mercy being mingled with judgement:
The righteous perisheth, and no man
layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering
that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. (Isaiah 57:1)
However, even outwardly the man/God is still honoured and the old
prophet (who seems to be the biggest compromiser/all) expresses the
desire that on the occasion of his own death, that he wanted his bones
laid ion the same tomb as the younger man (text)
As said…nothing appears here without lessons/drawn:
3 main points:
1) THE REALITY AND CERTAINTY OF DEATH:
When I am dead…
A/ Here is a man who faced the reality/certainly of death
He speaks these words after the very harrowing events of a funeral
Despite the obvious questions that must be asked:
He had sat with a man with whom he was in the greatest sympathy
He had feasted with him at the table
Afterwards, upon death, it was he who went to the place/death and took
up the mangled body (for the man/God perished at the claw/lion)
It was he who brought it back and prepared it for burial
It was he (like Joseph/Arimathea) who gave up his own grave (v30)
It was he (although not specifically told) who said what needed to be said at the graveside to any who had cared to listen
Whether it was the throwing of soil on top of the bier or the
rolling over the great stone to seal/door or whatever will…all
fell to him
B/ Death has a very effective way of being able to help us focus our
minds on our own mortality - Perhaps this was why Solomon wrote:
It is better to go to the house of
mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of
all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. (Ecclesiastes 7:2 )
Although there is a time/season for the house/feasting (Luke 15:22-25)
Yet the house/feasting is designed to take away all recollection
The house/mourning, by contrast, makes the last scene real and felt
There can be no escaping of the reality of the situation
Solomon also said: The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; (v4)
A wise man not only has a collection of facts/data but has learned to apply them and that it in a most appropriate manner
This old prophet had done that
C/ Perhaps he saw himself on the slab as he lovingly prepared the table
The two men had much in common: Both prophets of God
Both of them obviously did a work/God
Both are unnamed in Scripture denoting a similar level in their standing
Did this old man see himself in a younger day - the youthful zeal etc.,
Did he then see himself laid out/slab in but a few years time? Or less?
Who cannot but think about it from time to time?
Bible reminds us of it in passages like this one
And clearer again:
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah (Psalm 89:46)
(I remind you that Selah means "Think of that!")
Again: it is appointed unto men, once to die (Hebrews 9:27)
David lamented that he must go the way of all the earth (1 Kings 2:2)
Theses are words which he gleaned from Joshua (23:15)
We may glean them from them both - 100 years from now (and considerably less) we will be away from this earth
Unless the Lord comes first, it will be by the means of death
2) THE DIVISION IN DEATH:
Bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is laid
A/ Not merely this young man or this prophet, but this man of God
The phrase itself is used quite a few times in both testaments/Bible:
First used of Moses (Deuteronomy 33:1)
Used again of others and then in the NT concerning Timothy
But thou, O man of God, flee these
things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
patience, meekness. (1 Timothy 6:11)
Again: 2 Timothy 3:17 where Scripture can make the man/God perfect
While there is room to argue that the phrase "man/God" might well have
a distinct reference to the office of the prophet/minister yet:
There is are general references to the people of God in the Bible
B/ We need not limit ourselves therefore to the stricter group
There are a people called the people/God and they stand in stark contra-distinction to those who cannot bear that name
C/ No one starts off in the group called the people/God
But ye are a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should
shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now
the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained
mercy. (1 Peter 2:9-10)
Nature/sin puts us into a different group where we are described as being: children/wrath even as others (Ephesians 2:3)
Perhaps our circumstances left us often in the company/Lord's people
That can often be the case - the child/wrath being able to say:
We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company. (Psalm 55:14)
We did many things together - even of a religious nature and bent:
But
yet, this in itself does not remove the distinction - the
great dividing line that is there
D/ How does come into this group called the people/God
How can you be defined as being a man/woman of God when your bodily
form lies cold and silent and the life's breath is forever gone?
When it becomes very appropriate to say of you:
Precious in the sight/the Lord is the death of His saints (Psalm 116:15)
Or again: Blessed are they that die in the Lord (Revelation 14:13)
E/ There is only one way to come into the family/God
How do you get into any family? Answer: You are born into it
Likewise, we must be born into God's family: John 3:3/1 Peter 1:23
We are not told anything about this young prophet outside his deeds
here
We assume that he was born/Judah, but his name and many other
helpful details are hidden from us for reasons best known/God
But we know this:
Somewhere, down the line, he came as a lost sinner to
the mercy/God and sought salvation by simple faith in God's word:
Re-echoed the words/David: Psalm 116:13 Cup/salvation and call etc.,
F/ Bible itself makes it clear that there are only two scenarios/death:
[i] Hebrews 11: 13 These all
died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them
afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed
that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.
These are the spirit born/blood-washed people of God
[ii] John 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
These are unbelievers - those who reject the gospel with its emphasis
on the work of Christ on the Cross as the only way to God and salvation
by grace alone etc.,
G/ We are dealing tonight in certainties here - the certainly/death
The certainty that we must prepare to meet our God (Amos 4:12)
The certainty that only the new birth (evidenced by faith/Christ alone)
fits the soul for heaven and anything less a forerunner/damnation
When I am dead, bury me in the sepulchre where the man/God is laid
3) THE CONQUEST OF DEATH:
Lay my bones beside his bones
A/ Some think that in light of the prophesy of v2 - was but securing a
quiet resting place: if so… he had his desire granted: 2 Kings
23:16-18
Or a superstitious desire to be buried beside the man/God
B/ I prefer the idea that the first mention/bones (as related to burial) in the Bible suggests: Genesis 50:25
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will
surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
What did it matter? We emphasise the soul do we not?
We speak of its immediate departure to be with Christ (Luke 23:43) - Why any worry about the bones?
Spirit/God commentates on this request/Joseph: Hebrews 11:22
By faith Joseph, when he died, made
mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave
commandment concerning his bones.
Joseph looked beyond this life - He saw the Promised Land
C/ When this man made his request, he was effectively saying:
Let me die the death of the righteous etc., (Numbers 23:10)
Why is this? Because there is a resurrection
It was in relation to the bones of another buried prophet (Elijah) that we read:
And it came to pass, as they were
burying a man, that, behold, they spied a band of men; and they cast
the man into the sepulchre of Elisha: and when the man was let down,
and touched the bones of Elisha, he revived, and stood up on his feet.
(2 Kings 13:21)
There is the connection with resurrection
We see the same in this passage
Of course, there is a resurrection for all men, wicked or otherwise:
And have hope toward God, which they
themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,
both of the just and unjust. (Acts 24:15)
But those who have been justified by faith have a glorious resurrection:
Enter into the glorified state and see the King in all his beauty
For our conversation is in heaven;
from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to
subdue all things unto himself.
(Philippians 3:20)
Will you have a part in that glorious resurrection unto life?
It will be one of the other - the value of your soul demands that
it should be that which is secured by faith in Jesus Christ alone
Appeal
THE END