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*************** THE LION SYMBOL IN OLD TESTAMENT TYPE **************

One thing that confuses many people about the book of Revelation is
that many of the symbols do not seem to them to be consistent. That
is because they have not come to realize that while the basic
characteristics are consistent, there are TWO SIDES TO EVERY SYMBOL
just like two sides of a coin. We have already mentioned such
examples as GOOD and BAD water (i.e. polluted and non-polluted). Now
in this chapter we will take one more example of this SEEMING problem
with the symbols, and hopefully show the reader a clearer picture of
how to determine by the Bible the application of a symbol whether
GOOD or BAD.

The LION symbol is used in Revelation to portray JESUS as the LAMB of
God that has purchased the people of God and is worthy to open the
seven seals. However, the LION is also used to picture a PART of the
beast that rises from the "SEA" in Revelation 13, and I am sure the
reader is familiar with 1 Peter 5:8 which tells us that "the DEVIL"
(Beelzebub) goes about like a "roaring LION", seeking whom he may
devour. While this MAY seem at first like a contradiction of
symbolism, it is not. The LION symbol only portrays ROYAL POWER, and
since both Jesus and the DEVIL (as "god of this world" and "prince of
darkness") have such power, we must look to the context to determine
which KIND of "royal power" is being portrayed. IT IS VERY FITTING TO
REALIZE THAT EVEN THE WORLD CALLS THE LION THE "KING OF THE JUNGLE".
LET US LOOK AT HOW THIS "KINGLY" BEAST CAN GIVE US A GOOD LESSON IN
THE TYPES.

1 Kings 12:31
"And he made an house of high places, and made priests of the
lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi."

1 Kings 13:33b-34,
"...but made again of the lowest of the people priests of the high
places:  whosoever would, he consecrated him, and he became one of
the priests of the high places."
"And this thing became sin unto the house of Jeroboam, even to cut
it off, and to destroy it from off the face of the earth."

Jeroboam believed in making everyone a preacher that wanted to be
one.  He seemed to have the same idea as so many do today; "THE
MORE PREACHERS YOU CAN TURN OUT, THE BETTER YOUR RELIGION!"  Of
course God disproved that theory in 1 Kings 18 when Elijah had a
"spiritual battle" (though it happened literally) with 850 false
prophets.

This "type" during the life of Jeroboam will show us what God
thinks about this kind of religious system.  There are a lot of
religions today who do basically the same as Jeroboam did. The
"Levites" spiritually typify the true servants of God, so this type
shows us a king who makes ministers out of people who are not saved.
This happens in false systems of religion every day.  Many people are
looking for an easy occupation.  They see some ministers who work an
hour or two a day and spend the rest of their time at some hobby.
They think, "Wow, that's the life for me."  However, did you ever
read about the life of Paul (ie:  2nd Corinthians 11)?  Not exactly a
picnic was it?  That's one of the differences between true and false
religion.

1 Kings 13:1
"And behold there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the
lord unto Bethel:  and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn
incense."

Let's begin to unfold the symbolism in this "type" by examining the
name "Jeroboam."  Jeroboam is a Hebrew name that means "one who has
many people that are contentious."  Combining this with the fact that
Jeroboam was a king, we see that this makes a good picture of the
devil!  He is the king of all false religious systems!  Someone might
ask, "but do false religions fit that description?"

Matthew 7:13-14
"Enter ye in at the strait gate:  for wide is the gate, and broad
is the way, that leadeth to destruction and MANY there be which go
in thereat:  Because straight is the gate, and narrow is the way,
which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Matthew 7:21-23
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven.  MANY will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord have we not
prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and
in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you:  depart from me, ye that work
iniquity."

Each of these passages show us that the majority of religious
people (ie:  those who cry "Lord, we've lived for you") are HELL-
BOUND!  Certainly, this shows us that God's true people are not
some Catholic or Protestant denomination!  In 1 John 4:5-6 John is
showing us how to tell the difference between TRUTH and "false
prophets" preaching "error."

John 4:5-6
"They are of the world:  therefore speak they of the world, and the
world heareth them.  We are of God:  he that knoweth God heareth
us; he that is not of God heareth not us.  Hereby know we the
spirit of truth, and the spirit of error."

John shows us that ANY POPULAR RELIGION is FALSE RELIGION!  Any
kind of church system that you find common to most cities, states,
and countries is a system to beware!!  Why?  Because even in the
day of the main harvest of the church (ie:  the time of Paul's
ministry) THERE WERE NEITHER MULTITUDES OF TRUE PREACHERS, NOR MANY
TRUE CHURCHES IN EACH TOWN OR EACH PART OF THE COUNTRY!  We can
easily prove this statement by the scriptures!

Philippians 2:19-21
"But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timotheus shortly unto you,
that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.   For I
have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's."

This shows us that Paul found it very difficult to locate TRUE
PREACHERS (with the burden of the Lord) to assist him in his
ministry!  The Greek word translated "naturally" in verse 20, means
"truly" or "genuinely."  In other words, FALSE PREACHERS (as usual)
were plentiful; but not TRUE MEN OF GOD!

2 Corinthians 11:28
"Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me
daily, the care of all the churches."

Paul lets us know in this passage that he had to pastor (ie:
shepherd) most of the churches in his day.  For further proof of
this, notice that in his letters he commands them to follow him as
he follows Christ!  He could not ask them to follow him if they had
another shepherd (pastor)!  To the church at Philippi, he wrote,
"Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so
as ye have us for an ensample"  (Philippians 3:17).

To the church at Thessalonica, he wrote, "And ye became followers
of us,............" (1 Thessalonians 1:6).

To the Church of God at Corinth Paul wrote, "I write not these
things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.  For though
ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many
fathers:  for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the
gospel.  Wherefore beseech I you, be ye followers of me," (1st
Corinthians 4:14-16), and in 1st Corinthians 11:1 Paul said, "Be ye
followers of me, even as I also am of Christ!"

Friend, we would like to remind you that these scriptures were
written during the main harvest day of the church.  There was not
(even in that day) enough TRUE PREACHERS to have churches all over
town!  Many people seem to think we're blessed today to have so
many churches.  The fact of the matter is, we are CURSED by so MANY
FALSE, LITERAL, SOCIAL RELIGIONS, POSING as churches that claim to
SERVE Jesus Christ!

Today, if you needed to send a letter to God's people in a city, you
would need to know which one of the HUNDREDS of churches should
receive the letter.  In Paul's day when he wrote to the BIG CITY
of Corinth, he simply said "TO THE CHURCH OF GOD AT CORINTH" (1
Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1)!

When Paul spoke about God's people, he just referred to "the church
of God" (Acts 20:28, Galatians 1:13, etc.).  Today, we have hundreds
of different kinds of churches giving false hope to false professors
and dividing God's true people!  This is because Beelzebub (the
Biblical name of THE DEVIL), just like Jeroboam, is busy making
preachers out of everybody that wants to be one!!!  The Bible is FULL
of warnings such as we find in 2 Peter 2:1-3:

"But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there
shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in
damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction.  And many shall follow
their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be
evil spoken of.  And through covetousness shall they with feigned
words make merchandise of you; whose judgment now of a long time
lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not."

The word "privily" in verse 1 means "secretly" (ie:  without people
realizing it is taking place).  Today, damnable doctrines are being
preached all over the country by churches who pass them off as the
word of God!  The multitudes are rapidly following the devil's
counterfeits of God's true church right into the LAKE OF FIRE!
Nearly every funeral audience in the land is addressed by a
preacher who makes it seem that the departed loved one made it to
heaven.  What a trick of the devil, as people set back and think,
"well, if the preacher says that person made it, then I KNOW I'm
alright!  If he made it, everyone will!"

Friend, you may not like this kind of preaching but we cannot love
your soul and declare some false doctrine to you that will damn you.
God's ministers have NEVER been popular with the multitudes at ANY
time in history!  Some people may say, "Jesus had multitudes of
followers."  If you really believe that, you haven't studied your
Bible enough!  Whenever Jesus put the truth to the multitudes (of
curious sign seekers), they forsook him (John 6:26-66)!  Christ's
total number of true followers after his death and resurrection was
120 (Acts 1:15)!  Jesus had told his followers to be there and, if
they really BELIEVED on HIM, they would have!  The multitudes will
NEVER FOLLOW THE TRUTH!

1 Kings 13 tells us our "type" takes place at Bethel.  "Bethel" in
the Hebrew language means "House of God".  What was Jeroboam (type
of Beelzebub) doing in the house of God?  Polluting it!  Bethel was
originally the house of God, but now Satan was there corrupting
it.

This is a good picture of false churches today.  In the past, many
churches have stood for truth!  Then new light came, they rejected
it, and now they have fallen to the place where Satan uses them to
accomplish his purposes!  All churches claim Jesus as their founder.
However, Jesus wouldn't even recognize them!  They have become
churches of Satan.  Because of this, the Lord must send a true
preacher to bring judgment.  That's what our text says;  "And behold
there came a man of God out of Judah by the word of the Lord."

What did the man of God find at Bethel?  He found Jeroboam acting
very religious!  He found him offering incense. Revelation 8:3-4
shows us a picture of Jesus offering up incense (ie:  his prayers as
high priest) with the saint's prayers.  This and other scriptures
show us that incense represents prayer.  When the true man of God
found Jeroboam, he was praying and worshipping.  To use the common
terminology of today, we would say he was "having church services."
But who was he praying to?

If you read 1 Kings 12:28, you will find that he was praying to
golden calves and telling Israel that those were the true gods who
had delivered them from Egypt.  Since Egypt is a type of the SINFUL
WORLD, this pictures Satan deceiving SPIRITUAL ISRAEL (saved people)
today.  He still strives to get God's people wrapped up in the "gods"
of materialism and false religion!


1 Kings 13:2
"And he cried against the altar in the word of the Lord, and says,
O altar, altar, thus saith the Lord; Behold, a child shall be born
unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he
offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee,
and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee."

In this passage he is saying that the very men that preach this
type of religion shall lose their lives on their own altars.  We
realize that this prophecy was fulfilled literally by king Josiah
(read 2 Kings 23:15-20), but what does this mean for us today?  The
name Josiah is a Hebrew name meaning "spared" by God.  A good name
to typify Christ!  Remember, Jesus bore the sins of HIS ELECT.  He
could have been lost himself, but God "spared" him!  That is why
this name is a very significant aspect of this type.

Looking at our text, we see this man of God crying against the
altar "in the word of the Lord."  He isn't making a personal
judgment.  GOD TOLD HIM TO DO IT!!  The kind of judgment that is
forbidden in God's word is personal judgment.  Many people quote
Matthew 7:1 and say, "Jesus said not to judge!"  They totally
ignore verses 15-23.  These versus not only tell us TO judge false
religious systems, but verses 21-27 rain judgment upon the same!

When the word of the Lord comes to us and says, "This system is
false," it is our responsibility to pour judgment upon it or suffer
the wrath of God upon ourselves (read the book of Jonah)!  This is
serious business!  The Lord sent a man to judge false religion.  We
are in a battle; a battle against false doctrines and false spirits!

What then is symbolised in this altar that Jeroboam was crying
against?  Hebrew 13:10 says, "we have an altar, whereof they have no
right to eat which serve the tabernacle."  What altar is that?  It is
Christ!  Since Jesus is the "word of God" (Revelation 19:13, John
1:1, and many other verses), then a false altar is something set up
in the place of Christ or the word of God!

Someone might ask, "what does the word of God have to do with an
altar?"  An altar is a place of sacrifice.  In Moses day, the
sacrifices were offered on the altar.  Today, God is SICK of dead
sacrifices such as were used in the old covenant!  He wants "living
sacrifices!"

Romans 12:1-2
"I BESEECH you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service.  And be not conformed to this
world:  but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye
may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of
God."

Notice, Paul said that God wants our bodies to be sacrificed to him
WHILE WE'RE "LIVING!"  This is similar to what he said in 1st
Corinthians 6:19-20:

"What?  know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost
which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For
ye are bought with a price:  therefore glorify God in your body, and
in your spirit, which are God's."

Titus 2:12 and 14
"Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should
live soberly, righteously, and Godly, in this present world;" verse
14, "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all
iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of
good works."

All these scriptures and many others show us that God wants us to
live a sacrificial life IN THIS BODY AND IN THIS PRESENT WORLD!
What is the "altar" we bow down to in order to do this?  What MUST
we submit to?  JESUS, as he manifests himself and his will through
the word of God (which is truth preached from the WHOLE BIBLE!).

The whole world likes to hear about heaven, blessings, etc., BUT
THEY DON'T LIKE TO HEAR ABOUT SACRIFICE!  Friend, in order to serve
Christ, we must keep our body on the ALTAR of God's WORD IN TRUTH!
The Bible shows us that if we expect the Lord to give us ETERNITY,
we must give him our TIME (WILLINGLY)!!!  Let's look at just a few
of the MANY scriptures that teach us how to be "living sacrifices."

Luke 14:33
"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he
hath, he cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 10:34-37
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth:  I came not to
send peace, but a sword.  For I am come to set a man at variance
against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the
daughter in law against her mother in law.  And a man's foes shall
be they of his own household.  He that loveth father or mother more
than me is not worthy of me:  and he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me."

Mark 10:29-30
"And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no
man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or
mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the
gospel's, But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time,
houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and
lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life."

Luke 9:23
"And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

Briefly summarising the lessons in those passages, we learn that:

(1)  Our "cross" or sacrificing of ourselves (our wants), is to be
an EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE!!

(2)  There cannot be anything in our life that has not been
"forsaken," or (in other words) brought to the place in our life
that we keep it subdued in our affections, so we will always keep
the LORD'S WILL in first place.

(3)  Even our CHILDREN, PARENTS, COMPANIONS, BROTHERS, SISTERS, AND
OUR OWN LIVES MUST BE LOVED SO MUCH LESS THAN WE LOVE JESUS, that
in COMPARISON, our love for them is like hatred! Luke 14:26

(4)  The strongest means that the devil has to use to try to
destroy us spiritually (outside of our own self), is our family!
One of the main aspects of our sacrifice ("cross" or altar), is our
family (Matthew 10:37-38)!  Whenever we go through a real spiritual
battle with our family, it is only because WE ARE TOO CLOSE TO
THEM, and they stand as IDOLS in our life!

Many people find this hard to believe, but it is TRUE!!  Romans 8:28
shows us that God uses everything that happens to us to bring good
results in the end!  God would not have to allow troubles in our
family if we were not too close to them!  As Christians, He is
guiding our lives so that circumstances might mold us and make us
what He wants us to be!  We must take heed to the word of God and
allow it to be our altar or place of sacrifice.  We need to always
check to make sure that in trying not to offend our family, we don't
end up being offensive to God!

Some people skip church to go to family dinners or reunions.  They do
not want to miss, but are afraid of offending the family by not
going.  They don't stop to think that they are offending the Lord!
Sometimes people fail to measure up to the word of God because they
are afraid of what the family will think!  Friend, we need to get our
values straightened out!  Who created us? For whose pleasure were we
created (Revelation 4:11)? Who is our God; IS IT OUR FAMILY??
I love my family as much as anybody, and I would enjoy very much
getting to spend more time with them!  However, I want GOD to have
FIRST PLACE in my life (Don't you?)???

(5)  If we sacrifice all (even our families) in this life, we will
be persecuted (Mark 10:30), but the Lord will bless us for
enduring!  Some of our persecution may even come from well-meaning
Christians who either don't understand our situation, or who
perhaps oppose our sacrifice because (whether they realize it or
not) it puts conviction on them for not being sacrificial enough in
their own lives!

(6)  "Hating" our own "life" is a subject that covers a lot of
territory.  We can get somewhat of an idea of what our "life"
consists, if we look at SCRIPTURAL use of the term "LIFE".

Luke 12:22-23
 "And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, take no
thought for your life, what ye shall eat; neither for the body,
what ye shall put on.  The life is more than meat, and the body is
more than raiment."

This passage teaches us that our "life" consists of our eating, our
raiment, and much "more."  If we were to make a careful study of
this "life" in the Bible, we would find that it includes not only
our fleshly needs of eating, clothing, housing, etc., but also
EVERY aspect of our physical existence!

Someone might ask, "How do I "hate" my physical existence?"  We
must stress again that in this verse (Luke 14:26), the word "hate"
is used in a comparative sense!  In order to obey this passage, we
must be SO much more concerned with our spiritual life, and love it
SO MUCH, that in comparison, we "HATE" our physical life.

For example, if we had a choice of eating spiritual food or
physical food but could not have both, which would we choose?
Let's picture a possible situation.  What if the Lord were to give
the pastor a message that lasted all day.  Perhaps we didn't eat
breakfast and our stomach is letting us know about it.  Will we
keep the flesh on the altar of sacrifice and concentrate on feeding
on the spiritual food of God's word, or will we let our physical
"life" be the overcomer and get upset at the preacher for following
the Lord's leadership?

Someone might say, "the Lord wouldn't lead that way."  YOU ARE LYING
TO YOURSELF, FRIEND!  Paul and Jesus both preached that way (Mark
8:1-3 and Acts 20:7-11), and history shows that many others have done
the same.  The fact of the matter is, the Lord PURPOSELY puts us in
situations that will test us to see if our spiritual life is the one
we REALLY LOVE!

To "hate" our physical life is to keep our flesh under subjection
so that we eat what will keep us healthy and strong for the service
of the Lord; NOT JUST WHAT SATISFIES OUR LUSTS!  We will DRESS in
clothes that fulfill the Bible requirements for a satisfactory
spiritual life; NOT GARMENTS DICTATED BY THE "LUST OF THE EYE" (1st
John 2:15-16).  In order to "keep ourself on the altar of
sacrifice," we will strive to live all aspects of our physical life
in a manner that is always LOVING OUR SPIRITUAL LIFE and "hating"
the physical.

Every false church has a false altar!  False religion uses the
Bible, but corrupts it by mixing in the doctrines and commandments
of men. What are we to do about them?  We are to follow the example
of Josiah.  First, we (spiritually) burn the priests that are living;
then we burn the bones of the old priests. That means we must not
follow the theories of the "old priests" or "old brethren" as they
are often called. Today we are not to go around burning people with
physical fire!  We burn them with the fire of God!  That is why it
says in Psalms 104:34, "Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers
a flaming fire."

God told Jeremiah (Jeremiah 5:14) that because he spoke the TRUE word
of God, "...I will make my words in thy mouth FIRE, and this people
wood, and it shall devour them."  That is the fire we are to use
(read Luke 12:49)!  We burn them with the true word of God; we let
the word of God judge them! Hebrews 11:7 tells us that when Noah
built the ark, it brought condemnation on the whole world.  We must
realize that when we labor to build the spiritual ark (ie: the body
of Christ - the TRUE CHURCH) IT STILL BRINGS CONDEMNATION ON THOSE
WHO ARE NOT DOING THE SAME!  We need to see that when anyone in this
world receives light (SUCH AS NOAH DID WHEN GOD TOLD HIM THE PLANS
FOR THE ARK), and lives according to it, IT BRINGS CONDEMNATION (in
the eyes of God) UPON EVERY PERSON IN THIS WORLD WHO IS NOT RECEIVING
AND LIVING BY IT!

2 Chronicles 34:5
 34:1  Josiah [was] eight years old when he began to reign, and
he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
 34:5  And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars,
and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
 34:6  And [so did he] in the cities of Manasseh, and Ephraim,
and Simeon, even unto Naphtali, with their mattocks round
about.
 34:7  And when he had broken down the altars and the groves,
and had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all
the idols throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to
Jerusalem.

Josiah was only 20 years old when he did most of the "cleaning up" of
the religion of Judah and Jerusalem.  We need to take our stand for
the truth of God's word and not settle for anything less! It isn't a
matter of God disliking false religion; it's a matter of God HATING
false religion!  It's an abomination in the sight of God!  When you
start declaring the TRUTH of GOD'S WORD and it brings judgment
against false religious systems, some people are bound to take it
personal!  We cannot help this; it is part of the battle!  Just
remember, the very thing that is making these people mad is their
only hope!!

The entire Bible is concerned with the battle of true and false
religion.  When Jesus drove the money changers out of the temple, was
he judging?  Was Jesus judging the religious leaders in Matthew 23
when he called them "vipers" and "hypocrites?"  Was John the Baptist
judging in Matthew 3:7 when he called the religious hypocrites
"VIPERS?"  Was Paul judging the false preachers in 1 Timothy 1:19-20
and Acts 20:29-31?

I Kings 13:3
"And he gave a sign the same day, saying, This is the sign which
the Lord hath spoken; Behold, the altar shall be rent, and the
ashes that are upon it shall be poured out."

Now there is a true sign; the same sign the Lord uses today!  A lot
of people today don't realize it but their religious service has
gone on so long that they have a big heap of ashes built up on
their altar.  Remember, anything that they sacrifice to their false
gods ends up as ashes!  Let's use an example; suppose someone in a
false church decides to give some money; that becomes ashes!
Someone else works on the church building for a few days; more
ashes!  Everything that people in false churches do to sacrifice to
their false religion turns to ashes; sacred ashes!  If they are
truly saved, the Lord will try to get them to leave false religion
so they can stay saved, but their works will burn (1 Corinthians
3:11-15)!

They have been building on the wrong foundation!  They have been
sacrificing their lives for the sake of an enemy of Christ rather
than his true word!  They may have a HUGE AMOUNT of WORKS, but if
they have been done in behalf of false religion they have been
spiritually burned and are nothing but ashes! Everyone stands back
and looks with pride at their "ash pile."  Someone says, "Do you
realize I gave up watching a baseball game to come to church?"
Someone else says, "I drive a church bus."  Sacred ashes!  What does
God say to do with them?  Dump them out!

When you take the Bible and prove to people that what they believe is
wrong it accomplishes two major things.  One, it tears down their
false doctrines (rends their altar)!  Two, it shows them that the
labors they thought were for God were actually for Satan (this dumps
their ashes)!  This is the sign the Lord uses!  When you see a true
child of God tearing up some false doctrine (altar) and dumping out
their false works (ashes), you can be sure it is a sign from God that
His work is being accomplished!

Satan will strive to counterfeit this by getting people
to leave one false religion and go into another false religion!  The
REAL TEST is to check out the altar and see if it is really the TRUE
WORD OF GOD or a satanic counterfeit!  If truth tears down your
altar then it's time to change sides!  It doesn't matter how big
your altar or how deep your pile of ashes!  If you really want to
work for God He won't refuse you! However, if you're the person
doing the tearing down keep this in mind. If the person that you are
dealing with has an altar besides the true one and God has sent you
to tear it down, the soul of that person with whom you are dealing is
dependent upon how good a job you do in tearing down their altar!
Remember, that ash pile is what they are trusting in to get them to
heaven but it will land them in HELL!!

1 Kings 13:4
"And it came to pass, when king Jeroboam heard the saying of the
man of God, which had cried against the altar in Bethel, that he
put forth his hand from the altar, saying, "Lay hold on him.  And
his hand, which he had put forth against him, dried up, so that he
could not pull it in again to him."

For those of us that lack courage, the Lord included this verse.
We know from past studies throughout the Bible that a person's
hands always represent their actions in spiritual symbolism!  What
this verse is telling us is that the Lord did two things to
Jeroboam.  First, he caused his actions going forth from his false
altar to be "dried up."  Certainly Jeroboam's religion was
affected!  Secondly, by withering his hand, God prevented him from
doing any real harm to the prophet by causing his actions to "dry
up!"

An illustration might help to clear up the spiritual meaning of this
verse!  Let us assume that you are dealing with someone about their
altar. You show them from the Bible that the system of religion
that they are in is an abomination to God!  The first effect this
will have on someone is to cause them to "put forth their hand from
the altar," or cease (at least temporarily) from their "form" of
worship.  The truth, when delivered in the right spirit can cause a
person to be brought to a screeching halt in their form of religion!
(If someone came along and dumped your ash pile before you came into
truth you were probably upset too!)

The first reaction of the flesh to such a move is to strike back.
Naturally, this will be directed towards the one who is preaching
those things that cause a person to feel that their "altar" is under
attack. If you have a TRUE PASTOR, the devil will make certain that
he is called a "hypocrite" for judging!  The person may also be
inspired by Satan to call you by a few choice titles as well!  Since
most religions in the world today realize that "physical violence"
towards anyone is wrong, they will resort to words as weapons, the
most common type of which is "backbiting!"  The person whose ashes
are about to get dumped starts spreading the word:  "That bunch of
people that go to the church down at 851 South Elm Street in West
Carrollton, Ohio are a CULT!"  "That preacher is another JIM JONES"
(if you want information on what Jim Jones was really like read
our booklet entitled "What Is A Cult").

So what does the Lord do about all of this?  He "dries up" the
religious actions of the person spreading all of these rumors.  How?
The Lord has many ways of dealing with this.  He might only allow
this person to talk to people who are not really interested in the
truth, or He might allow something to happen in this person's life to
discredit them.  Whatever method He uses, the Lord will protect
both the man of God and any honest heart who might become involved!
For one moment of time, when king Jeroboam took his hands from the
altar, the situation must have looked pretty bad to the man of God;
but the Lord came through in time!  He ALWAYS does!

1 Kings 13:6
"And the king answered and said unto the man of God, Entreat now
the face of the Lord thy God, and pray for me, that my hand may be
restored me again.  And the man of God besought the Lord, and the
king's hand was restored him again, and became as it was before."

Isn't that amazing!!!  The very person who wanted to have this man
of God killed is now asking for prayer!!  Odd as it may seem this
is often the case!  People may mock and reject the truth, but let
them get in trouble and then who do they ask for help?

People can "play" at religion and profess to be anything, but down
in their hearts they know who can reach God and what truth really
is. If Jeroboam really believed HE was right, why did he say
"Entreat the Lord THY GOD?  Why didn't he pray to his own God?
Down in his heart he knew!  So, like a true Christian the man of
God prayed for Jeroboam and he was healed!

Would you have prayed for a man who wanted to see you dead?  Jesus
said in Matthew 5:44b, "...and pray for them which despitefully use
you and persecute you."  Loving our enemies is the only way to
win them!

1 Kings 13:7
"And the king said unto the man of God, Come home with me and
refresh thyself, and I will give thee a reward."

Here is where we must be so careful!  First, Jeroboam is ready to
kill this man and then he invites him home with him.  Should the
man of God accept?  Let's picture this type of situation as it
might involve us today.  Let's say for example that you have tried
to help someone to see the false religion they are in.  They get
mad at you, your preacher, and your church.  Perhaps a little time
passes and then one day they are sick or in trouble and they call
on you for help!  You help them or pray for them, and when they get
the help they need they feel grateful!  As a result, they say,
"Come to my church.  I want you to testify about how God answers
prayer."  Now, that sounds like opportunity to work for God!  But,
consider this carefully!  IF (WHILE YOU TELL OF GOD'S GOODNESS) YOU
DON'T SHOW THE FALSITY OF THE CHURCH WHERE YOU ARE SPEAKING, YOUR
PRESENCE AND TESTIMONY OF TRUTH CAUSE THE PEOPLE IN ATTENDANCE TO
FEEL THAT THEIR (FALSE) RELIGION HAS THE APPROVAL OF GOD!  (If the
man of God had eaten at Jeroboam's house, it would have been the
same as putting God's stamp of approval on that wicked place!)  GOD
WILL NOT PUT UP WITH THAT KIND OF THING!!!

1 Kings 13:8 and 9
"And the man of God said unto the king, If thou wilt give me half
thine house, I will not go in with thee, neither will I eat bread
nor drink water in this place.  For so was it charged me by the
word of the Lord, saying, Eat no bread, nor drink water, nor turn
again by the same way that thou camest."

Someone says, "but what was so bad about eating or drinking there?"
Let's recall what has happened so far.  We have a spiritual picture
of Satan and his false church.  A man of God is sent to cry out
against it!  The Lord tells him to eat no bread, nor drink water
there!  What does this mean and why is it so important?  Remember
the words that Jesus spake in John 6:34?  He said, "I am the bread
of life."  Then in verse 63b, he says, "...the words that I speak
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."  Bread symbolizes
the word of God and water (drinking) symbolizes the SPIRIT (John
7:37-39).

What then was the man of God typifying spiritually?  He is saying
(SYMBOLICALLY), "this place was once the house of God (Bethel), but
now it is a corrupted Bethel.  I cannot partake (eat) of any of the
doctrine's (bread) that are being preached here or take part in
(drink) the spirit (water) that is in this place!"

Who said so?  THE LORD SAID SO!!!!  (verse 9).  Anytime we as
Christians attend the services of a false church (other than to
preach against it), we are committing the worst possible sin!!
Throughout the scriptures fornication is described as being one of
the worst forms of sin.  However, we realize that as bad as any sin
is in the physical sense, it is even WORSE if committed spiritually!
For example, to murder someone PHYSICALLY is terrible, but to murder
someone SPIRITUALLY and cause them to be lost is FAR WORSE!!  Like
murder, fornication is the worst form of sin!  However, SPIRITUAL
FORNICATION IS FAR WORSE!!

Someone might ask, "How could anyone commit fornication spiritually?"
A detailed explanation is given elsewhere in this book, so for now
let's just review briefly. Perhaps the quickest way to explain would
be to remind the reader that the church is the BRIDE OF CHRIST!  If
you are saved you are married to Jesus.  (That is the ONLY WAY you
can bear children unto him!  Many false professors speak of their
"converts" but those are not truly born of God!)  When a saved person
attends a false religious "church service," they are actually
attending a SPIRITUAL HOUSE OF PROSTITUTION!

Babylon the Great (the harlot woman in Revelation 17 and 18) and her
harlot daughters are (as we have already shown in a previous chapter)
a picture of Catholicism and Protestantism. Just as it would be
hard to attend a literal house of prostitution without sinning
(Matthew 5:28), in the same manner it is hard for a true child of
God to attend a false church without committing horrible sin!

1 Corinthians 10:21-22
"Ye cannot drink of the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils:  ye
cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of
devils. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?  Are we stronger than
he?"

You can't feed on false doctrine and expect God to let you feed on
TRUTH.  You can't drink from a false spirit and still be refreshed
by GOD'S Spirit!  You'll never receive any help nor win anyone by
sitting in a false church!  NEVER!!

So far everything has gone smoothly for this man of God. He has
been a perfect example of Christian witnessing, but alas, the story
changes.  Here is where the snare of the devil becomes so subtle that
even good, God-fearing Christians can lose out!  This was a true man
of God!  The Lord called him and sent him.  God bore witness to his
testimony and when he was attacked, God defended him. This was as
much a man of God as any in the book!  He turned down half the king's
house, but STILL lost out in the end!  How could this be? Who could
persuade him?

Verse 11, "Now there dwelt an old prophet in Bethel;"
Let's stop right there!  What is the thing we as true Christians
must be doubly careful of?  OLD PROPHETS!  How many times have you
heard people refer back to what the "OLD BRETHREN" taught?  Sometimes
it might be worth our taking notice that Numbers 5 shows God set an
age limit on the priesthood, from 30 to 50 years old.  We realize,
and are thankful, that this is not bound upon us literally today (we
have known several fine men of God who were older or younger than
that)!  However, it definitely contains a spiritual lesson for us!
Certainly, any preacher who is no longer capable of fulfilling his
tasks in the word of God ought to step gracefully out of the work of
the ministry!

How do we know this "OLD PROPHET" was corrupt?  He was living in
Bethel and Bethel had become corrupted!  That is the key!  The Lord
in these final days has "NEW" light for us.  Beware of people who
point back to the OLD DAYS!  The light they had then can't get us
through today!  The "light" of the past still had large areas of
darkness (sun spots) from the traditions of men.  We live in the
day when the Lord is increasing spiritual light (Isaiah 30:26)!

1 Kings 13:13
"And he said unto his sons, Saddle me the ass.  So they saddled him
the ass:  and he rode thereon."

Here we have an old prophet who has become a false prophet (typically
speaking) by worshipping in a false religious system!  He hears about
a true man of God and wants to draw him into false religion.  Why?
To make his system look better!  So what is the first thing he does?
He saddles his ass. We have already shown in this book that the "ass"
is a "type" of the FLESH life (also pictured in "type" in Exodus
13:13). Essentially what this false prophet is doing (symbolically)
is getting control of his flesh long enough to deceive this man of
God.  Most false preachers do this to impress people!  This old
prophet has saddled and put the bridle and reins on his flesh so
away he goes to deceive the man of God.

1 Kings 13:14
"And went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak:
and he said unto him, Art thou the man of God that camest from
Judah? And he said, I am."

Amos 2:9 speaks of the oak as a "strong" tree.  Since righteous
people are symbolized by trees (Psalms 1; Isaiah 55:12; Isaiah
61:3; etc.), the mighty oak would represent a "strong" saint such
as Jesus or his spiritual "body", the church (1 Corinthians 12).
This shows that the false prophet found him in A STRONG, TRUE church.

1 Kings 13:15
"Then he said unto him, Come home with me, and eat bread."

Spiritually speaking, he is saying, "Why don't you come to our
church; we could use a fine man of God like you?  I'm an old
Christian myself.  I've been saved for 50 years!

Naturally, the younger man of God refused the offer (verses 16 and
17), but here is the turning point!  Verse 18, "He said unto him, I
am a prophet also as thou art; and an angel spake unto me by the word
of the Lord, saying, Bring him back with thee unto thine house, that
he may eat bread and drink water."

HE LIED UNTO HIM!!!  Any time the Lord tells us DEFINITELY through
His word that something is true, He NEVER, NEVER changes!!  Paul
said, "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)!  That is pretty strong language but very
necessary!  Why?  Look what happened to this man of God because he
didn't heed this warning!

1 Kings 13:19-22
"So he went back with him, and did eat bread in his house and drank
water.  And it came to pass, as they sat at the table, that the
word of the Lord came unto the prophet that brought him back.  And
he cried unto the man of God that came from Judah, saying, Thus
saith the Lord, Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the
Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord by God
commanded thee.  But camest back and hast eaten bread and drunk
water in the place, of which the Lord did say to thee, eat no
bread, and drink no water; thy carcase shall not come unto the
sepulchre of thy fathers."

Someone says, "You mean that this old false prophet, this liar,
received the word of God?  Friend, that is what makes it so
deceptive!  Even the devil's people know some things about the Bible!
In fact, even Beelzebub himself uses the word of God to tempt and
deceive.  He quoted the scriptures but misused them when he tempted
Jesus in the wilderness in Matthew the fourth chapter.  In one sense,
false prophets are busy working for God to provide a means of
deceiving those who do not love and live the truth!

Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12, "Even him, whose coming is after
the working of satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that PERISH;
BECAUSE THEY RECEIVED NOT THE LOVE OF THE TRUTH, THAT THEY MIGHT BE
SAVED.  And for this cause, GOD SHALL SEND THEM STRONG DELUSION, that
they should believe a LIE:  That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."

Someone might ask, "why punish this man so severely?  All he did was
eat bread and drink water in a wicked place!  There are a lot of
wicked cities in the world today!  Why doesn't God punish people for
eating in them?"  Simply because this is primarily a spiritual
picture!  The Lord sent this as a spiritual lesson for us today!
This prophet didn't just eat and drink in the wrong place!  What he
did typified or pictured a true child of God attending and feeding
upon a false church service.  SO, GOD KILLED HIM!!!!  Can't you see
why the punishment was so severe?  The Lord hates false churches!  He
had to punish the man of God to teach us not to disobey God and eat
and drink in places called the "house of God" that are corrupted with
false doctrines and traditions of men.

1 Kings 13:24
"And when he was gone, a lion met him by the way, and slew him:
and his carcase was cast in the way, and the ass stood by it, the
lion also stood by the carcase."

We know from 1 Peter 5:8 that a devouring "lion" is a symbol of the
devil.  This is the end result of taking part in false religion.
The devil will take your SPIRITUAL life!!  You can count on it!!
Remember, the Lord sent him!!

Notice that the latter part of the verse shows us the end result in a
fallen Christian's life!  In this picture we know the "ass"
represents the flesh life.  Thus, the carcase would picture the real
person (ie: the spirit) which is now "dead".  The Bible declares to
us that a lost person's spirit is dead, even though they still live
physically (ie:  Ephesians 2:1; 1st Timothy 5:6; John 5:24-25).  So
we see that even though a lost person's spirit (carcase) is dead, the
"ass" is still alive (their flesh is still alive) and the Devil (the
lion) just hangs around.

In most cases in the natural realm the lion would have eaten both
the man and the ass, but this is a spiritual picture!!  That is why
the Lord arranged it this way; this isn't a natural thing!

1 Kings 13:29
"And the prophet took up the carcase of the man of God and laid it
upon the ass, and brought it back:  and the old prophet came to the
city to mourn and to bury him."

The false prophet that caused this man's death now goes out to
claim his prize.  He is a false prophet, so he can't bring the man
of God's spirit back to life, but he sets his dead body (symbolizing
the man's spirit) back upon his mount (the ass).  Then he takes him
back to be buried in HIS OWN GRAVE.  In other words, he just won this
man of God to his system of religion (though it killed him), and now
he is taking him back to his permanent position in the graveyard in
Bethel (false church), to bury him (ie:  to totally cover him under
the earthly false doctrine) with the rest of his dead religious
professors!!!  What a sad, sad, picture!  What a terrible end to the
wonderful life that this man of God had enjoyed!  Yet, this very
situation happens quite often!  People in false religion lie
(knowingly or unknowingly) to people in order to get them into their
church, so they can all be buried (spiritually) in the same pit
(it is "bottomless" so it will hold everyone)!  Jesus taught this
very same truth in Matthew 15:14 where he spoke of false preachers
as "blind leaders of the blind."  He said they would all end up in
the same ditch (ie:  spiritual "PIT")!  There is no limit to what the
Devil will do in using false religion to kill a true Christian!  This
man of God loved the truth as much as we do!  What happened?  A
preacher lied to him!!  What was the end result?  He was SLAIN BY THE
LION!!  May God help us to always be ever so careful what and where
we eat and drink our spiritual food and water!!!

CAN YOU SEE HOW THIS "TYPE" GOES ALONG WITH THE MESSAGE OF THE BOOK
OF REVELATION? THE "REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST" IS PRIMARILY A
WARNING ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE INFLUENCES OF FALSE RELIGION THAT
PROFESSES TO BE CHRISTIANITY. MAY GOD HELP US EACH ONE TO LEARN THESE
PRINCIPLES WELL SO WE WILL NOT BE HINDERED BY THE WORK OF THE "BAD
LION". How do we know that this was a "bad lion"? Obviously as you
can already see, BY THE CONTEXT OF THE SCRIPTURE AND THE "TYPE".