1 Kings 13:1-34

Do you have lions waiting for you? I ask this with all seriousness, “Do you have lions waiting for you?”

The man of God in our story did.

23 When the man of God had finished eating and drinking, the prophet who had brought him back saddled his donkey for him. 24 As he went on his way, a lion met him on the road and killed him, and his body was thrown down on the road, with both the donkey and the lion standing beside it. 25 Some people who passed by saw the body thrown down there, with the lion standing beside the body, and they went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.

This man of God had a real lion waiting for him. It killed him. Do you have lions waiting for you? I am not talking about real lions. To explain we will have to get into the story.

The background of this lion attack is fascinating. A man of God comes to Jeroboam, who, as we heard least week, was installed as king of the northern ten tribes of Israel. He received the ten tribes because Solomon had followed after other gods. Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, mistreated the people so they rebelled and made Jeroboam king.

God sent this man of God, who is unnamed, from Judah, Rehoboam’s territory, to Bethel, the seat of worship for the northern ten tribes.

He came with a message. In front of Jeroboam, he told him that a future baby, Josiah, would sacrifice the priests that were participating in idol worship now on the same altar that was before them.

He came with a sign. After he spoke, the altar split in two and the ashes fell out.

He came with a miracle. Jeroboam reached out to grab the man. But his hand instantly shriveled up. Jeroboam pleads with the man to restore his hand. The man of God does perform a miracle and restores his hand.

What was the problem with Jeroboam? Everything. He disobeyed God. He erected golden calves and said that they were responsible for Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. He instituted pagan worship and allowed anyone to be a priest. God sent this man of God as a warning that he needed to change his ways.

So who meets the lion? The man of God. What happens to him?

Jeroboam invites him to a meal. This is what the man of God tells him.

8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you were to give me half your possessions, I would not go with you, nor would I eat bread or drink water here. 9 For I was commanded by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water or return by the way you came.’” 10 So he took another road and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.

What a courageous move. First, rebuking the king in a public place. Second, refusing to even come to a meal with him. Both of these were dangerous to do. So why did the man refuse to eat? Because he was under orders from God. He had things he could do and things he could not do. Eating bread, drinking the water, taking the same road home were all things that he could not do. This prophet of God had greater respect for God, a greater fear of God than he did respect or fear for Jeroboam.

So the man of God takes off on a different road than which he came. He is in complete compliance with all God told him. The story picks up in verse 11.

11 Now there was a certain old prophet living in Bethel, whose sons came and told him all that the man of God had done there that day. They also told their father what he had said to the king. 12 Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” And his sons showed him which road the man of God from Judah had taken. 13 So he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” And when they had saddled the donkey for him, he mounted it 14 and rode after the man of God. He found him sitting under an oak tree and asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he replied. 15 So the prophet said to him, “Come home with me and eat.” 16 The man of God said, “I cannot turn back and go with you, nor can I eat bread or drink water with you in this place. 17 I have been told by the word of the LORD: ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there or return by the way you came.’” 18 The old prophet answered, “I too am a prophet, as you are. And an angel said to me by the word of the LORD: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (But he was lying to him.) 19 So the man of God returned with him and ate and drank in his house.

What a story. The man of God is tricked into going to the home of an old prophet. This makes me ask two questions: 1) Why did the prophet trick him and 2) Why did he go to this man’s home in disobedience to the clear instruction of the Lord.

Question 1: Why did the prophet trick him?

The answer is clear: We don’t know. But the text gives us some hints.

When the man of God is found, the old prophet brings him back to his city, buries him in his own tomb and instructs his sons to bury him in the same grave in which the man of God is buried when he dies.

I am reading into the text, so you can judge whether or not I am giving it to you straight.

The old prophets actions show nothing less than a very high regard and respect for the man of God. You don’t give up your burial plot and ask to be buried in the same grave with someone that you do not hold in high regard.

Some commentators have speculated that what drove the old prophet to lie to the man of God was guilt and admiration.

The old prophets guilt would lie in the fact that the man of God did what he did not do, call down Jeroboam for his great sins. We do feel guilt when others do what we know we should have done. We know we should talk to someone but we give all sorts of excuses and we don’t. Someone else does and we are glad they did, but we feel guilt that we did not step forward when we had the chance.

The old prophet’s admiration would come from the face that the man of God had the courage to stand up to Jeroboam. This is the flip side of the guilt, this admiration for someone who would do what we are too afraid to do.

The old prophet was motivated by a desire for the man of God to come to his house. He might have wanted his courage, his holiness, his spirituality to rub off on him. So he lied to him about the angel’s message.

Here we see the clay feet of the old prophet. He was a prophet, but he had sin in his life. He was not afraid to tell a lie to get what he wanted. When he said it, it must have sounded good to him, but as he reflected on what he did after the man of God’s death at the jaws of the lion, that lie must not have sounded so good at that point.

The result was that the man of God believed the lie from the lips of the old prophet and came to eat and drink at his house.

Question 2: Why did he go to the prophet’s home?

First, he believed the lie. He thought the prophet was telling him the truth.

Second, he was hungry and thirsty. Food sounded good.

Third, I believe that he liked the old prophet. They had something in common. If I meet a pastor in my travels, I love to stop and talk and share war stories with them. After the hostile environment of dealing with Jeroboam, it would be good to share some time with a friend.

Right in the middle of the meal, a startling thing happened. The old prophet has a visit from God. He starts speaking and as he speaks, both the old prophet and the man of God know that it is not the old prophet speaking, but God speaking through the old prophet.

This is what he said.

21 He cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have defied the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. 22 You came back and ate bread and drank water in the place where he told you not to eat or drink. Therefore your body will not be buried in the tomb of your fathers.’”

This is why the man met the lion. When he finishes the meal he goes out and meets the lion. Was this a coincidence? The answer is no. The reason I say “no” is because of three unusual happenings. First, the lion does not eat the man. That is what lions normally do. Second, the lion stuck around. Lions would not stay by something that they had no intention of eating and would drag away anything that they might eat. Third, the lion leaves the donkey alone. An aggressive lion would have taken out both the man and the lion, but they are standing together. Why? To show that this was unusual, a fulfillment of what God had spoken through the old prophet.

Do you have lions waiting for you? You are probably saying, “I don’t get it. I don’t understand why God was so hard on this man of God and I don’t get the connection between this man and my situation.”

The old prophet gives the reason.

26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his journey heard of it, he said, “It is the man of God who defied the word of the LORD. The LORD has given him over to the lion, which has mauled him and killed him, as the word of the LORD had warned him.”

He met the lion because he knew the word of God and ignored it.

But, you say, “He was lied to by a prophet.” I would say to you, “So was Jeroboam. If Jeroboam had truly believe in God, he never would have allowed the worship of false gods.” What is the difference between Jeroboam who disobeyed God and this man of God? None.

So what is the connection with us? We have the word of God in the Bible. God is clear on what is right and what is wrong.

We live in a society that promotes homosexuality, abortion and people living together outside of marriage. God is clear on what is right and wrong.

We live in a world that worships wealth and social standing.

God is clear on what is right and wrong.

We live in a world that celebrates that crass and edginess. Look at shows like “The Simpsons” and the offshoots.

Tony Dungee, former coach for the Indianapolis Colts football team said that the Jets coach was wrong from swearing in a television program. You should have seen the hate mail that was sent his way for suggesting that decency is speech is something desirable for our society.

The lions we face are the consequences that come when we know the word of God and deliberately reject it.

But, you say, my parents said it was ok. My pastor said that I was ok. A person who is high up in the church said I could do what I did.

I will tell you that if anyone comes to you and says that breaking the word of God is acceptable, stand on the word of God.

The apostle Paul put it this way when it came to the gospel.

9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned! (Galatians 1:9, NIV).

Paul said that if he came and said, “I got it wrong. The gospel is not what you accepted.” You are to reject his new teaching.

So why was God so hard on this man of God? The man of God died so that the people of Israel would understand that the nation of Israel would really understand the importance of obeying God. Jeroboam did not get it as is indicated in verse 33.

Even after this, Jeroboam did not change his evil ways, but once more appointed priests for the high places from all sorts of people. Anyone who wanted to become a priest he consecrated for the high places. (1 Kings 13:33, NIV).

But when people saw a man of God dying for disobeying God, when they saw the lion and the donkey standing together, when they saw the respect the old prophet had for this man, this story circulated around and it circulated quickly. It made it’s point.

So when I ask you, “Are there lions waiting for you?” I am asking you right now, “Are there sins you are doing that you know are sins and you are defying the word of God and refusing to change?”

If you say “yes” to this question, I want to give you two choices today.

First, look out for lions. Be sure your sin will find you out. You are playing with fire. If you keep going you will be burnt. Look out for lions.

Second, why not change. Why not heed the word of the Lord to you this morning?

I don’t know what it will mean for your pride, your standing, or your outer appearance. But I do know that sin separates us from God. When we separate from sin, we end up closer to God.

The song writer said,

“I am thine O Lord, I have heard thy voice.

And it told thy love to me.

How I long to rise in the arms of faith

and be closer drawn to thee.

Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord,

to the cross where thou has died.

Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord

to thy precious bleeding side.”