(Continued from p. 147)

Now we have to face the "King of Beasts," an enemy of great power and cunning. "Your adversary the devil," says the Apostle Peter, "as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour'" (1 Peter 5:8).

The true child of God may "keep himself" so that "that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 John 5:18). Those in whom the Word of God abideth "overcome the wicked one" (1 John 2:14). But there are some who are in terrible danger from the lion's paw. We shall see what I mean if we recall the part a lion played in a tragedy of old-time Israel.

King Jeroboam had made two calves of gold and set them up to be worshiped, one in Bethel and the other in Dan. He had also ordained a feast "in the month which he had devised of his own heart," "like unto the feast that is in Judah." These imitations of, and substitutes for, the worship of God he sought to impose upon his people. But God sent a servant of His from Judah to Bethel to protest against these innovations and impudent variations of the divine order. He gave him implicit instructions not even to eat bread or drink water with those who had thus forsaken God's appointed center of worship in Jerusalem. To avoid temptation he was not even to pass over the same ground twice, but to return home by a different path.

His testimony, as such, was apparently an entire success, and when the king pressed him to come home with him for refreshment and a reward, he steadfastly refused and started off towards Judah by another route. All might have gone well, but unfortunately there was an old prophet, a backslider, living at Bethel, the very stronghold of Jeroboam's new-fangled religion. His testimony was powerless, and the Lord could apparently make no use of him, seeing that He brought another prophet all the way from Judah to deliver a message. Probably he held the ridiculous and illogical idea, the counterpart of which is so popular nowadays, that, by continuing hand-in-glove, with those who had forsaken the Word of the Lord, he might "have a good influence" on them. No one living in known disobedience to God ever did have an ultimately blessed influence on anyone. The Lord's attitude towards such conduct is made sufficiently clear by His instructions to His messenger from Judah, just as His mind for us nowadays is made sufficiently clear in such passages as 2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1 (which we trust the honest reader will take the trouble to look up, if not already familiar with it).

This old backsliding prophet heard of the mission of the man of God from Judah, and, like Balaam, saddled his ass and started off on an errand of self-will. Overtaking the visitor, he pressed him to come home with him for a meal. The man of God repeated his instructions, that he was to eat no bread and drink no water there, nor even return by the same road as he came.

"Oh, but I'm a prophet as well as you!" was the reply. "An angel spoke to me by the Word of the Lord, saying:Bring him back with thee into thine house, that he may eat bread and drink water."

"He lied unto him," is the brief but sufficient comment of the Holy Spirit.

Consider what is involved. If the old prophet's statement was true, then the man of God had entirely misunderstood what he had hitherto looked upon as the Word of the Lord, and which had only recently been confirmed by a striking sign. Nevertheless he went back with him, ate bread in his house and drank water As they sat at table, their meal was disturbed by a sudden prophetic impulse possessing the old backsliding prophet. The power that had apparently forsaken him returned, and he cried:"Thus saith the Lord:Forasmuch as thou hast disobeyed the mouth of the Lord, and hast not kept the commandment which the Lord thy God commanded thee.. .thy carcase shall not come into the sepulcher of thy fathers." The consternation that ensued and the unhappy ending of this ill-fated visit may well be imagined. "And when he had gone, a lion met him by the way and slew him."

This striking incident is recorded in Scripture (1 Kings 13) to warn us of our sure fate if we leave the plain teaching of the Word of God and have fellowship with religious substitutes that men have "devised of their own hearts." There are many "old prophets," inextricably tied up to modern variations from the simplicity of the Word of God, who are willing and anxious to press their spiritual hospitality on those who desire to stand by the Word of God alone. If we pay heed to them, we shall inevitably find ourselves side-tracked as far as real usefulness in God's sight is concerned.

Disobedience to the plain commands of Scripture is tantamount to putting one's head into the lion's mouth, instead of "resisting him steadfast in the faith." We must resist him; we must fight with this beast. If not, we shall deeply rue it in the resurrection life that is coming.

David began his career by meeting and overcoming the lion (1 Sam. 17:34-36). Then when Samson went down to the Philistines "a young lion roared against him." He slew it, but returned later on to its carcase and ate the honey that he found there. This strikes the keynote of Samson's life. He was a Nazarite who continually went back on his vows of separation.

How many-like a sow returning to her wallowing in the mire, like a dog to its vomit, like Samson to the lion's carcase-go back on their separation to God, and forget that they were cleansed from their old sins and inconsistencies.

Christ has overcome for us our adversary the devil, and we may overcome him through the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). Let us never go back to the lion's carcase, however much the honey may tempt us.

"Overcoming the Devil" is dealt with more exhaustively in Can a Young Man Overcome? by the same author. Arthur Gook

(Concluded in next number, D.V.)