Prophetic Bad News

1 Kings 13:1-10
    1 And behold, a man of God went from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, and Jeroboam stood by the altar to burn incense. 2 Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.'" 3 And he gave a sign the same day, saying, "This is the sign which the LORD has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out."
    4 So it came to pass when King Jeroboam heard the saying of the man of God, who cried out against the altar in Bethel, that he stretched out his hand from the altar, saying, "Arrest him!" Then his hand, which he stretched out toward him, withered, so that he could not pull it back to himself. 5 The altar also was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the LORD. 6 Then the king answered and said to the man of God, "Please entreat the favor of the LORD your God, and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me."  So the man of God entreated the LORD, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before. 7 Then the king said to the man of God, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
    8 But the man of God said to the king, "If you were to give me half your house, I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. 9 For so it was commanded me by the word of the LORD, saying, You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.'" 10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he came to Bethel.

Here we find prophetic bad news to Israel in the presence of Jeroboam before the altar of sacrifice in a temple which was most definitely not of the LORD.  The messenger was sent the place where Jeroboam had one of the golden calves to sacrifice to (1 Kings 12:32-33) in Bethel, literally meaning “the house of God,” which added to the irony of the blasphemous sacrifices Jeroboam was making there.  The bad news given was that Josiah would be born of the lineage of king David who would sacrifice those ungodly priests on the altar and bones of the dead burned on the altar.  The sign to validate the message was from God was that the altar there was split, spilling ashes on the ground.  When Jeroboam refused to accept the bad news, he pointed from the blasphemous altar of the golden calf at the prophet to have him arrested, but came up short in God’s judgment on his withering hand to take back the rebellion against the bad tidings.  Jeroboam begged for mercy to restore his hand and found it, but had his heart really changed towards obedience and to take heed to the unpleasant message?  He even offered to reward the prophet as if money could buy the favor of the LORD (just as the Romans tried to buy forgiveness with indulgences in the 1500’s which sparked a Reformation of the church).  Of course the man of God refused even food or drink from him and went home another way.  We learn that not all news is good from God, especially when our sin earns judgment for us as it has (Romans 3:23, Hebrews 9:27, compare Romans 6:23 and Hebrews 9:28 for hope of the good news to answer the requisite bad).  When we hear bad news from God, confession and turning in heartfelt repentance is the answer lest a worse thing come upon us (John 5:14) in the form of due consequences of continuing in sin.  The good news of Jesus Christ delivers us now from the ultimate penalty of sin, but not its presence and results in this life (1 Corinthians 11:30, Acts 5:5, 9-10).  We therefore do not set up our own altars of ungodly worship of anything or anyone but the Lord our God and quickly confess and forsake sin in our conformity to Christ.  There is always good news in Him for the bad news of our sinful nature.