Category: Commemoration

Today marks the commemoration of Elijah, who served as a prophet about 2,800 years ago, called by God during the reign of Ahab (and his pagan wife Jezebel) to bring a very hard word to bear on the northern kingdom of Israel and their idolatrous worship of Baal. The following passage is an old favorite from Sunday School, probably because it involves a prophet of God mocking the false priests of Baal with the suggestion that their god is too busy in the outhouse to answer the prayers of his followers:

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When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the Lord and followed the Baals. Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
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So Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, “How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I, even I only, am left a prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, he is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.” Then Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose for yourselves one bull and prepare it first, for you are many, and call upon the name of your god, but put no fire to it.” And they took the bull that was given them, and they prepared it and called upon the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “O Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice, and no one answered. And they limped around the altar that they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked them, saying, “Cry aloud, for he is a god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.” And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. And as midday passed, they raved on until the time of the offering of the oblation, but there was no voice. No one answered; no one paid attention.
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Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come near to me.” And all the people came near to him. And he repaired the altar of the Lord that had been thrown down. Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord came, saying, “Israel shall be your name,” and with the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord. And he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two seahs of seed. And he put the wood in order and cut the bull in pieces and laid it on the wood. And he said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it on the burnt offering and on the wood.” And he said, “Do it a second time.” And they did it a second time. And he said, “Do it a third time.” And they did it a third time. And the water ran around the altar and filled the trench also with water.
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And at the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, “The Lord, he is God; the Lord, he is God.” And Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.” And they seized them. And Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon and slaughtered them there.

1 Kings 18:17-40

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Though this very public miracle had spurred an immediate confession from the people watching, the feeling of triumph did not hold long. As soon as Jezebel heard of the slaying of her prophets, the pagan queen was once more out for Elijah’s blood, who fled, crying in despondence that God take his life away. The comforting admonition from God that followed still serves as a promise for all God’s people when we feel (falsely, always falsely) as though we are alone in the faith:
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“[Elijah] said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way…I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him'” (1 Kings 19:14, 15a and 18).
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The calling of Elisha to assist Elijah (to later serve in his stead) followed only a verse later.

Today is the commemoration of Ruth, King David’s great grandmother and ancestress of Jesus. She is arguably one of the most well-known women of the Old Testament, a Gentile who abandoned her own land and family after the death of her husband to stay with her mother-in-law Naomi, famously declaring in Ruth 1:16:

“For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.”

Ruth, in fact, makes it into the New Testament, listed in the genealogy of Jesus Christ as laid out in the first five verses of Matthew:

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram, and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David the king.

Ruth’s story of redemption (to “redeem” a widow at that time was an act that preserved the widow’s husband’s family line, should he have died before they had children) is one of God working through the laws He established in the Old Testament to continue the line that would lead to Christ. The genealogy as laid out by Matthew would have been a very compelling read – an apologetics lesson, in many ways – for the Jews raised on the Old Testament. You can see God’s hand in the words of the well-wishers upon Boaz’s declaration that he would take Ruth as his wife:

Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” Then all the people who were at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, and may your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, because of the offspring that the Lord will give you by this young woman.”

So Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. And he went in to her, and the Lord gave her conception, and she bore a son. Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Ruth 4:9-17

And he said to me, “on of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. And he said to me, “Son of man, I send you to the people of Israel, to nations of rebels, who have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day. The descendants also are impudent and stubborn: I send you to them, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God.’ And whether they hear or refuse to hear (for they are a rebellious house) they will know that a prophet has been among them. And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house. And you shall speak my words to them, whether they hear or refuse to hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Today is the commemoration of Isaiah, whose words appear more often than any other Old Testament prophet in the New Testament, either preceded or followed by some variation on the phrase “that the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.” The “Evangelist of the Old Testament” (as he is sometimes known) prophesied to the people of Jerusalem and Judah for about 40 years in the early 700’s (B.C.), about the coming Messiah, from His birth to His endless reign, from His public ministry to His suffering and death:

We just had three commemorations in a row: Jeremiah (June 26), Cyril of Alexandria (June 27), and Irenaeus of Lyons (June 28). So why do we remember these men?

JEREMIAH served as God’s prophet, first predicting then later living through the Babylonian siege and the destruction of Jerusalem. You may recognize these very familiar words from Jeremiah 1:4-10:

Today we commemorate the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession. The day’s “bio” (as it were) has been pulled from Dr. Wiley’s chapel sermon this morning. The Epistle Reading from 2 Timothy is woven throughout the following:
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“Our Epistle reading is very fitting for commemorating the Presentation of the Augsburg Confession – 488 years ago today. The princes gathered at Augsburg were not unlike Paul who wrote to young Pastor Timothy here a second time. They – and the theologians (Melanchthon and Luther) behind the document publicly confessed before the Holy Roman Emperor – were ready to undergo the persecution that comes with living a godly life in Christ Jesus. And, like Timothy, they firmly believed the God-breathed Scripture that had made them wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. They knew those sacred writings were profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. In Christ they were made complete, equipped for God’s kingdom by a righteousness that came from outside of them. And they tenaciously held to that righteousness in Christ.
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“The Holy Roman Emperor and the papacy had the appearance of godliness, about which Paul speaks in verse 5 before our text. But they were lovers of self and lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth because they were corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. The confessors at Augsburg were compelled to declare the truth even if it meant being put to death for their confession, like the faithful who had gone before them – including Paul and the prophets and even their Lord Jesus Christ Himself…
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“Like Paul and young Timothy and the presenters of the Augsburg Confession, you know and believe what the Scripture – and, therefore, what our confessions – teach about your salvation and justification before God. Hear how the Augsburg Confession summarizes our righteousness in Christ in article IV:
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‘Furthermore, it is taught that we cannot obtain forgiveness of sin and righteousness before God by our own merits, works, or satisfactions, but that we receive forgiveness of sin and become righteous before God by grace, for Christ’s sake, through faith, when we believe that Christ for us has suffered and that for His sake sins are forgiven and righteousness and eternal life are given. For God will regard and reckon this faith as righteousness before Him, as Paul says in Roman 3 and 4.’ (AC IV)”

So [Elijah] departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him. And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?” And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him…
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Now when the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me as far as Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he said, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
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Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho. The sons of the prophets who were at Jericho drew near to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that today the Lord will take away your master from over you?” And he answered, “Yes, I know it; keep quiet.”
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Then Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the Lord lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on. Fifty men of the sons of the prophets also went and stood at some distance from them, as they both were standing by the Jordan. Then Elijah took his cloak and rolled it up and struck the water, and the water was parted to the one side and to the other, till the two of them could go over on dry ground.
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When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.” And he said, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it shall be so for you, but if you do not see me, it shall not be so.” And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, “My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” And he saw him no more.
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Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.
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Now when the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
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1 Kings 19:19-21…2 Kings 2:1-15