The Wages of Sin is Death

1 Kings 13:11-34
    11 Now an old prophet dwelt in Bethel, and his sons came and told him all the works that the man of God had done that day in Bethel; they also told their father the words which he had spoken to the king. 12 And their father said to them, "Which way did he go?" For his sons had seen which way the man of God went who came from Judah. 13 Then he said to his sons, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled the donkey for him; and he rode on it, 14 and went after the man of God, and found him sitting under an oak. Then he said to him, "Are you the man of God who came from Judah?"  And he said, "I am."
    15 Then he said to him, "Come home with me and eat bread."  16 And he said, "I cannot return with you nor go in with you; neither can I eat bread nor drink water with you in this place. 17 For I have been told by the word of the LORD, 'You shall not eat bread nor drink water there, nor return by going the way you came.'"
    18 He said to him, "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" (He was lying to him.). 19 So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water.
    20 Now it happened, as they sat at the table, that the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back; 21 and he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, "Thus says the LORD: 'Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, 22 but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place of which the LORD said to you, "Eat no bread and drink no water," your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.'"
    23 So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. 24 When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. 25 And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.
    26 Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, "It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the LORD. Therefore the LORD has delivered him to the lion, which has torn him and killed him, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke to him." 27 And he spoke to his sons, saying, "Saddle the donkey for me." So they saddled it. 28 Then he went and found his corpse thrown on the road, and the donkey and the lion standing by the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse nor torn the donkey. 29 And the prophet took up the corpse of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. So the old prophet came to the city to mourn, and to bury him. 30 Then he laid the corpse in his own tomb; and they mourned over him, saying, "Alas, my brother!" 31 So it was, after he had buried him, that he spoke to his sons, saying, "When I am dead, then bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones. 32 For the saying which he cried out by the word of the LORD against the altar in Bethel, and against all the shrines on the high places which are in the cities of Samaria, will surely come to pass."
    33 After this event Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but again he made priests from every class of people for the high places; whoever wished, he consecrated him, and he became one of the priests of the high places. 34 And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it from the face of the earth.

This recollection teaches us that the price we pay and the wages we earn for disobedience to God (which is sin) is death.  This principle of truth is repeated clearly in Romans 6:23, given in multiple examples such as here in 1 Kings where the man of God who first refused to associate with the rebellious king now is easily talked into compromise.  The second prophet told the first that the LORD said it was good for the first to now come with him to eat and drink after having been clearly commanded by the LORD not to.  He believed the second at the expense of heeding the One above all.  The second made it sound good by claiming an angel told him it to him; the first should have remembered the voice of clear command and not of a lesser being.  This disobedience to the word of the LORD cost him his life, for the wages of sin is death.  The second prophet still grieved over the first who suffered for his sin and asked that his body be buried on top of the first when he would die, for the prophecy against the idolatrous altar in Bethel was from the LORD.  Jeroboam, however, sadly refused to turn to God after all this, for He was a vessel prepared for destruction by the LORD (Romans 9:22).  We all now know from the further explanation revealed in the New Testament scriptures that this principle fact that all are born in sin and need the Messiah to deliver us is the truth in shadow in stories such as the prophet here.  The need for redemption has been answered in the channel of redemption who is Christ our Lord.  Let us then remain true to His calling and not listen to false revelations of angels and those who would lead us away from the truth of the gospel.  We learn from these examples (1 Corinthians 10:11).