Jerusalem Stone.

In this past Sunday’s message, our pastor shared (and I paraphrase here) that those who belong exclusively to the Lord can’t belong to everybody else. The twelve disciples, represented by Simon Peter, made a confession of exclusive allegiance to Jesus: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!” (John 6:68-69) However, in spite of the confession of allegiance, the Lord made it clear that one of the twelve was not fully on board with His program. “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?” (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.) (John 6:70-71)

For some reason this reminds me of a famous Old Testament example of a man who received profound revelation from God, but who also lived in profound violation of God’s law: Solomon.

When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” you must select without fail a king whom the Lord your God chooses… he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so, for the Lord has said you must never again return that way. Furthermore, he must not marry many wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law on a scroll… he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. (see Deuteronomy 17:14-19)

Solomon accumulated chariots and horses. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horses. He kept them in assigned cities and in Jerusalem. The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones… Solomon acquired his horses from Egypt and from Que; the king’s traders purchased them from Que. They paid 600 silver pieces for each chariot from Egypt and 150 silver pieces for each horse… King Solomon fell in love with many foreign women (besides Pharaoh’s daughter), including Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites… Solomon was irresistibly attracted to them. He had 700 royal wives and 300 concubines; his wives had a powerful influence over him. When Solomon became old, his wives shifted his allegiance to other gods; he was not wholeheartedly devoted to the Lord his God, as his father David had been. (see First Kings 10:26- 11:4)

A recurring theme during this year of prayer at Bronx Bethany has been “all or nothing.” Solomon and Judas lived and died in infamy because of their divided loyalty. Their works for the Lord did not merit commendation, because their hearts were not exclusively devoted to Him.

What about us?