Such Were Some of You

The good news of Jesus shows up in verses throughout the Bible, and sometimes during the least expected moments. For example, when Paul is writing about unrighteous people not inheriting the Kingdom of God, he speaks of fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, sodomites, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. But then, surprise, he adds, and such were some of you. [1]

Such WERE some of you. Praise God! Meaning that God no longer views them that way. Why? Paul continues, “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.” [2]

The past labels that previously defined them were no more. They no longer live under those shadows. When they believed in Jesus and professed Him as their Lord and Savior, God forgave their sin and redefined them as His children. Their sins are washed away. They are sanctified. Set apart for God. They are RIGHT before God because they believe in His Son and His Spirit lives in them. The Holy Spirit replaced servanthood to sinful flesh with servanthood to the Most High God! Praise the Lord!

“He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” [3] Now, we work in co-operation with God. The Holy Spirit helps us to co-operate with Christ and bring honor to our Heavenly Father. We no longer serve sin. We have privilege and power to help others and to glorify God!

“Your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” [4]

The “bought with the price” refers to the redeeming work of Christ our Savior on the cross. The perfectly sinless Son of God paid a great price to wipe out our sin and to make way for the Holy Spirit to live in us. Now, we glorify God as His Spirit leads, guides and empowers us.

This is vitally important because we live in a sinful world. Some of the same evil behaviors of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel are happening today. Leaders need people who are filled with the Holy Spirit to come alongside of them and redirect them in the way of the Lord.

That person could be you. It could be me. What does God’s Word say about Elijah? He was a man of like passions with us. God worked through him because he prayed.

“Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months. And he prayed again; and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” [5]

King Ahab wanted a neighbor’s property and offered to give him a better property or to pay him for it. The neighbor did not want to sell. When Queen Jezebel heard about it, she organized assassins to kill the neighbor and afterwards presented his property to her husband. [6]

“Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah.”

Who is the Word of the Lord? Jesus Christ is called God’s Word. [7] Now, Jesus did not come to Elijah in the flesh. He was not yet embodied in human flesh, but He came to Elijah by His Spirit. The Lord told Elijah what to say to King Ahab. When Elijah spoke to Ahab, he did not speak for himself. He spoke for the Lord. Elijah told his king, “Thus says the Lord.” Elijah told King Ahab his sin by the Spirit of the Lord.

“Ahab had sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up. And he behaved very abominably in following idols, according to all that the Amorites had done, whom the Lord had cast out before the children of Israel.” [8]

King Ahab lived in an ivory palace yet murdered and stole his neighbor’s property. He and his wife multiplied the number of false prophets in the land. False prophets spread fake news. They demanded faith in lies, and doubt of truth. [9]

The prophet Micaiah had both a vision and a word for Ahab. He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd.” Ahab rewarded Micaiah by having him thrown in prison and by giving him only water and bread to drink and eat. [10]

Rulers who practice propaganda, palace building, and perversion devalue their subjects. They defile a person. They ruin a person. Then, move onto their next victim. They are slaves to sin. They need to be set free. They need to hear the truth. They need someone sent to them by the Lord who will not be intimidated by their threats or punishments.

Who is better to approach an ungodly ruler than someone who was once enslaved to sin, but who is now washed clean by the blood of Jesus and filled with the Spirit of God. God used such people in the past. The Pharoah of Egypt noted that Joseph had the Spirit of the Lord. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon noted the Spirit of the Lord in Daniel. The Apostle Paul spoke to King Agrippa by the Spirit of the Lord. [11]

May God help us, the-such-were-some-of-you, to trust God that He can come alongside rulers through us and redirect them to take the path of the Good Shepherd.

[1] 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
[2] 1 Corinthians 6:11
[3] 1 Corinthians 6:17
[4] 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
[5] James 5:17-18
[6] 1 Kings 21:8-10
[7] John 1:1, 14
[8] 1 Kings 21:17-26
[9] 1 Kings 21:15; 22:6, 39
[10] 1 Kings 22:17, 27, 39
[11] Genesis 41:38; Daniel 4:9, 18; 5:11, 14; Acts 26:27-29