1 Kings 15-16, 2 Corinthians 6
Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what portion does a believer share with an unbeliever? What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God. – 2 Corinthians 6:14-16 ESV
The people of Israel had been set apart by God to be His special possession. Moses had told them, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6 ESV). He went on to tell them that their choice by God was “because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers” (Deuteronomy 7:7 ESV). They had been the recipients of God's undeserved mercy and grace. But God's special favor required that they live faithfully. “You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today” (Deuteronomy 7:11 ESV). As long as they obeyed, God would bless. As long as they lived as who they were – God's treasured possession – they would experience God's continued love and abundant blessings. But 1 Kings is a sad reminder of just how poorly God's chosen people lived up to His expectations. Rather than remain set apart and distinct from the nations around them, they slowly compromised their convictions and became increasingly pagan in their practices. A long line of kings for both Israel and Judah reveals a predisposition on the part of God's elect to do “what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (1 Kings 16:34 ESV). The list includes Jeroboam, Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa, Nadab, Basha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, and Ahab. All but one would have a reign marked by unfaithfulness, idolatry, and rampant evil.
What does this passage reveal about God?
But in the midst of this written history of the unfaithfulness of the people of God, we see a glimpse of God's unfailing faithfulness. We read that Abijam inherited the throne of his father Jeroboam in Israel. Abijam is described as a man who “walked in all the sins that his father did before him, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father” (1 Kings 15:3 ESV). But the author quickly reminds us, “Nevertheless, for David's sake the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him, and establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” (1 Kings 15:4-5 ESV). God continued to keep His hand on the city of Jerusalem out of love for David. God had promised to give David a descendant who would help preserve the Davidic line. He would have a future heir who would rule and reign in Jerusalem as King of Israel. God would keep His promise. He would fulfill what He had committed to do. In spite of the rampant unfaithulness of the people of Israel, God would remain faithful and true. Yes, He would punish them. He would not tolerate their sin and open rebellion against Him, but He also would not completely give up on them. Their sinfulness would not stop His faithfulness. Their adultery and unfaithfulness would not keep Him from showing them continued love, mercy and grace.
What does this passage reveal about man?
Over and over again we read about men whose hearts were not wholly true to the Lord. Unlike David, who “did what was right the eyes of the Lord and did not turn aside from anything he commanded him all the days of his life” (1 Kings 15:5 ESV), these men regularly and repeatedly lived as if God didn't even exist. They worshiped other gods. They mimicked the pagan practices of the nations around them, leading the people of Israel and Judah to forsake God. And their actions provoked God to anger. This doesn't mean that God stopped loving them, but He would not and could not tolerate their blatant rebellion against His commands. He would not put up with their spiritual adultery and unfaithfulness. Their worship of other Gods, in spite of all that God had done for them over the years, was a slap in the face to the One who had chosen them in the first place. Their actions illustrated their lack of respect for and fear of God. Each king did what was right in their own eyes. God had become and afterthought.
How would I apply what I’ve read to my own life?
Over in 2 Corinthians 6, Paul quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures in order to make a point to his Gentile audience. Just as God had chosen the people of Israel as His special possession, believers in Christ are also the recipients of God's special attention. Paul reminds them that they are the temple of the living God. They share the same unique, one-of-a-kind relationship with God that the peoples of Israel and Judah had enjoyed and spurned. Paul writes, “as God said, ‘I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord’” (2 Corinthians 6:16-17 ESV). God had promised to be a father to the people of Israel. He had promised to treat them like His own sons and daughters. All He asked is that they live separate and set apart lives that reflected their distinctive position as His precious possession. And Paul is reminding the Corinthian believers to do the same. They are not to be “unequally yoked” with unbelievers. Paul uses terms like “partnership,” “fellowship,” “accord” and “portion” to describe the kind of relationship believers are to reject when it comes to the unbelieving world. He is not telling them to have nothing to do with the lost of the world, but to refrain from intimate and closely personal relationships with them. To be unequally yoked is to be in a close relationship with someone else where their actions and conduct end up having a potentially negative influence over your own life. If you were to put two different kinds of animals in a yoke and expect them to pull a load together, the results could be disastrous. Their different sizes, temperaments, and strengths would end up causing them to work against one another. There would be a lack of harmony and unity. When we attempt to unite ourselves with this world, we find that our efforts for God are hampered and hindered. We become easily distracted and forced off course. We are called to be separate. We are called to be distinctively different. We are the temple of the living God. We are his sons and daughters. And our lives should reflect our unique and undeserved position as His precious possession.
Father, we need to live as who we are – Your children. We desperately need to live distinctively and differently. Forgive us for blending in with the world and losing our uniqueness. Forgive us for trying to accomplish Your will as Your children while being unequally yoked with the world. Continue to call us apart. Open our eyes so that we can see the difference between compromise and conviction. Amen