He Did What Was Evil In The Sight Of The Lord

“Nadab the son of Jeroboam began to reign over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, and he reigned over Israel two years. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin which he made Israel to sin.”

These two verses are characteristic of all the kings of Israel (northern kingdom). Due to the folly of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, who would not listen to sound advice (1 Kings 12:1–16), he set in motion catastrophic events that divided the nation. Ten tribes asserted their independence and became the northern kingdom (Israel) and two tribes remained in the south (Judah). The northern kingdom was idolatrous from the start. Jeroboam who was appointed by God over the north feared that his people would venture south to Jerusalem to worship, so he set up two golden calves for worship and shut the border (1 Kings 12:25–33). One calf was set up in Dan in the north and the other in Bethel in the south—the extremities of the northern kingdom. Jeroboam set up his own priesthood. Thus he mimicked the true worship of Yahweh in Jerusalem in the Temple.

The epitaph of Jeroboam is written over every king of Israel’s tomb: “he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of Jeroboam and in his sin which he made Israel to sin” (1 Kings 15:34). The sins of Jeroboam would last throughout Israel’s history (931 B.C.) to the time of their captivity under Assyria in 722 B.C. But far worse was to come. Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who came before him. He considered it a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam (1 Kings 16:31) so he married Jezebel of the Sidonians, and “went and served Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kings 16:31). He made a house for Baal in Samaria and thus provoked the Lord.

Idolatry is counterfeit worship. It is false worship. Idolatry has the power to remove the true God from our minds and hearts by making him less than he really is. This reduction of God is taking place all over the world today. We see it more often in places of prosperity and comfort (such as we enjoy here). It is not merely that the unbeliever is idolatrous (he always is), but that the professing Church has become so. The reduction of God attacks the Scriptures through either a direct assault and denial of them, or through an indirect assault by ignoring them. Either we confess the God of Scripture as he has revealed himself, or we must reduce him or change him or deny him. This is happening in churches around the world. Since God cannot be changed, any attempt to change or deny God is a serious assault upon God. It is also, by extension, an assault on Scripture. Scripture has always been attacked throughout history. The idea that “thus says the Lord” applies to individuals is denied by them.

How do you attack the doctrine of creation? You deny it, change it or substitute it. How do you deny Noah’s flood? In the same way! How do you deny the deity of Christ? You say that Jesus is just a man (yes, a good man, perhaps a great man), but in the end, just a man. Therefore, you immediately eliminate the possibility of a sovereign intervention by God in human history and, at the same time, you destroy the need for an atonement for sin. And when you do this, you remove sin as far as possible from your mind, but never from your life, and demonstrate that you are truly an idolater. This was how the Reformers viewed the Roman Catholic Church and its idolatrous practices. It is important to remember that the Protestant Reformation was forged in the fire-hot furnaces of a contest in Rome. Luther tore down the abominable structure and Calvin established the believers in the faith, and both of them grew up as Roman Catholics. They knew idolatry when they saw it.

As Protestants today, we do not understand what it means to protest false doctrine. We protest peripheral things (such as our rights). We do not understand what it means to contend for the truth or the faith. We live in such luxury and have romantic ideals of the rest of the world in sin, unaware that like the church at Laodicea we too are “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked” (Rev. 3:17). When you look upon lost humanity in Africa or Asia, never forget that just down the road, or right next door, are exactly the same people who walk in exactly the same sins. You cannot care for the lost African or Asian unless you care for the lost Sarasotan down the road or next door. It is good to be concerned for the plight of others less fortunate, but the less fortunate are also right here.

Conversion is a life transforming reality. It does not sequester itself in a cocoon of comfort or a romantic ideology about missions, but is willing to explore and risk for Jesus here at home. We do this by a faithful life. Idolatry sees golden calves as better than true worship. We come into the presence of God when we gather as Christ’s Church, and we must eliminate all rivals in our hearts as we do so. The local church is not another kind of Christian club, perhaps on a similar plane as a homeschooling convention or gathering or Christian conference. There is no comparison. Our problem is that we have lost recognition of the authority of Christ in his Church on his day. We have idolatrously substituted other things on the Lord’s Day (certainly good and legitimate things) instead of meeting with the saints.

The kings of Israel lost all recognition of God’s authority. This is what substitution does. Put anything in God’s place and you no longer believe that God is absolutely sovereign. The entire history of the northern kingdom is shrouded in spiritual darkness. It is possible to be aware of the truth and be in living in spiritual darkness. The spiritually dead are always in darkness, but Scripture affirms that the believer is in the light, and as such, must walk in the light. This is what our Lord meant in Luke 11 when he said, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light” (Luke 11:33–36).

It is very interesting to note that Scripture records periods of darkness. This is for our instruction. Our hearts are very deceitful, and self-deception is the worst kind of deception. Idolatry covers the heart with a veneer of lies and falsity. That veneer can shine as if it is the brightness of the sun. Satan does this all the time. He masquerades as an angel of light when in reality there is no light in him, but a violent filthy darkness (2 Cor. 11:14). He is the prince of idolatry.

And so what epitaph shall we write over our church? Shall we say that we were faithful in all things or we were faithless? We loved to be with each other or not. We shared our joys and sorrows with one another or not. We loved the Word or not. We were loyal servants or not. We gave of our time or not. Just what shall distinguish us? Shall we be lovers of true and sound doctrine, reveling in the faith or not?

Shall we be a watching and waiting people for Jesus or not? What will you be in Bethel’s history? What will people remember about you? You cannot live the Christian life or faith in a vacuum. It cannot be hidden away. What reputation are you working on? What legacy will you leave behind in the church? Israel’s legacy was the sins of Jeroboam. Surely we will walk in Christ’s ways?