What a Difference a Week Can Make 1Kings 16: 15-19

INTRODUCTION:

·       Once again, we continue with the parade of kings in the northern Kingdom Israel following the failure of King Jeroboam their first king.

King Jeroboam:You behaved more wickedly than all who were before you. — 1 Kings 14:9 (CSB)

King Nadab:Nadab did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of his father and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. — 1 Kings 15:26 (CSB)

King Baasha: He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight and walked in the ways of Jeroboam and the sin he had caused Israel to commit. — 1 Kings 15:34 (CSB)

King Elah: This happened because of all the sins of Baasha and those of his son Elah, which they committed and caused Israel to commit, angering the Lord God of Israel with their worthless idols. — 1 Kings 16:13 (CSB)

·       This week’s king, Zimri, is the shortest reign in the Northern Kingdom of Israel, 7 days. 

·       King Zimri obtained the kingship by leading an organized conspiracy to assassinate King Elah. 

·       After the assassination and declaring himself king, King Zimri murdered the entire household of King Elah.

·       Would eliminating Elah’s household secure his position and power?

·       The larger question might be, where is God in all of this?  It seems that the northern kingdom has lost its way.  Will God intervene and put a stop to the obvious decline in the north?

SCENE 1: Crowned to .

1.     Where he came from. 

His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him while Elah was in Tirzah getting drunk in the house of Arza, who was in charge of the household at Tirzah.  — 1 Kings 16:9 (CSB)           

·       Zimri had been a mid-level military commander.

2.     Unwelcome news. (16)

·       Zimri made a miscalculation; he did not insure the support of the military.

·       Obviously, the news of a mid-level commander making himself king without consulting the military upset, “Omri along with all Israel”.

3.     Unwelcome response. (17)

4.     Unwelcome choice. (18-19)

·       Rather be captured, Zimri committed suicide.

·       Is suicide an unforgiveable sin?

Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. — Job 1:21 (CSB)

So God created man in his own image; he created him in the image of God; he created them male and female.  — Genesis 1:27 (CSB)

·       Does the Bible talk about an unforgiveable sin?

·       Matthew 12: 22-32 and Matthew 21: 33-45

o   Interpretation 1: Rejecting Jesus as Lord and dying becomes the unforgivable sin.

o   Interpretation 2: Unique sin committed by the religious leaders who saw Jesus’ miracles firsthand and knew who he was telling people he was empowered by Satan. 

BIBLICAL PRINCIPLE: Taking one’s life is a sin, but struggling with suicidal thoughts is a pain issue and not a sin issue.  The devil lies about emotional pain.  The devil tells anyone who will listen that emotional pain is permanent, that pain has no solution, that there is no one to help them.  The devil tells anyone who will listen it is better to end your life than continue to carry your emotional pain.  The devil is a liar. 

EMOTIONAL PAIN LADDER

1. Hurt

2. Pain

3. Frustration

4. Anger

5. Depression

6. Anxiety

7. Stop talking

8. Pull away from relationships

9. Lose your sense of personal identity

10. Impulsive decisions

11. Despair

12. Suicidal thoughts

BIBLICAL TRUTHS:

1.     Emotional pain is not permanent.

The Spirit of the Lord God is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, — Isaiah 61:1 (CSB)

2.     Emotional pain has a solution.

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” — Matthew 11:28-30 (CSB)

3.     There is someone who will help.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort. He comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any kind of affliction, through the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so also through Christ our comfort overflows. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation. If we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings that we suffer. And our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort. — 2 Corinthians 1:3-7 (CSB)

4.     Your life is precious.  You have tremendous value. 

For while we were still helpless, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. For rarely will someone die for a just person ​— ​though for a good person perhaps someone might even dare to die. But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. — Romans 5:6-8 (CSB)

EMERALD CITY:

1.     Zimri went from king to killed in one week.  Zimri’s death was just and payment for, “the sin he committed by doing evil in the LORDS’s sight”. 

2.     There was another man who to was ushered in as king and he also died 7 days later. 

Matthew 21: 1-10

Matthew 27: 37

Matthew 27: 45-56

·       If not for Chapter 28, Jesus would be a blip in history like Zimri.  Yet Chapter 28 did happen.

Matthew 28: 1-10

Table 1 — The Final Week of Jesus

Table 2 — The Forty Days (Resurrection to Ascension)