A Man Of God

Feature 3 –June 2016 – Grace & Truth Magazine

A MAN OF GOD
“Man of God” is a topic in the Bible that is wide in scope.

Even though Adam was placed by God to be a man representing Him, the Bible does not call Adam a man of God. Adam had great abilities, including naming the animals and caring for the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15-20). Sadly, he sinned. As a result Adam and Eve had to leave the garden, despite their restoration with God on the basis of the sacrifice (3:21-24). Because of their initial sin there was decay, deterioration and, ultimately, death. The human race became stained by sin, under Satanic oppression (6:1-5).

This led to the flood in Noah’s day, brought by God over the whole earth (2 Pet. 2:5). Lasting just over a year, it led to a new beginning (Gen. 6:7-8:22). On the basis of Noah’s sacrifice, God blessed the purified earth and its inhabitants, and promised that the yearly seasons would continue (8:21-22). God also instituted human government (9:1-7). Nevertheless, Noah failed to be a good steward and ruler, for he became drunk (v.21). In a short time Satan’s influence led to rampant idolatry (Rom. 1:21-25), culminating in the Tower of Babel (Gen. 11:1-8). Then God caused the human race to be scattered over the face of the earth and He let the nations go their own ways.

Calling Abram out of idolatry, God began something entirely new (Josh. 24:2-3) and developed a very close relationship with this man. Renamed Abraham, he was called “the friend of God” (Jas. 2:23 NKJV). But like those before him, Abraham was not called a man of God either, because in Scripture we find this term used when departure enters after God had established a special relationship with His own – when He had His man for the moment in that situation.

A Few Old Testament Examples
“Man of God” was first used many years after Abraham lived, when his descendants were slaves in Egypt. There we meet “Moses the man of God” (Ps. 90 heading), also called “the servant of the LORD” (Josh. 1:1). In Moses we see that a man of God was called and sent by Him. Such a man was fully committed to promoting God’s interests, going against the popular current like a fish swimming upstream. He also found his resources in God, standing firm for Him despite his own weakness and the opposition from others – even from God’s people. Moses was the man of God to bring God’s people out of the Egyptian bondage and lead them through the wilderness to the Promised Land. He set out to do all this with tremendous zeal and energy, casting himself entirely on God after he had learned not to rely on himself and his own strength or wisdom.

However, the people failed many times and in many ways, rebelling against God again and again during the wilderness journey. Moses also failed and disobeyed God’s voice, for He told him to speak to the rock that he had struck before. Instead, in anger, Moses hit it twice. Physically, the rocks in the two events were probably different rocks, but they both pointed to Christ and in that sense were one and the same (1 Cor. 10:4).

Pause for a moment and consider Paul’s review of Israel’s history as he drew lessons from it for the believers living now in the day of grace (1 Cor. 10:1-13). God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24) and what comes from Him is therefore spiritual food and drink (1 Cor. 10:3-4) – literal food of course, but with a spiritual meaning. The rock (Ex. 17:6) pointed to Christ who was smitten (Isa. 53:4-5), that the blessing of the water of God’s Word in the power of the Holy Spirit could come to us (Acts 2; Gal. 4:6). This is the typical meaning of the water that followed Israel throughout the wilderness journey, and it represents God’s provision for His people from Acts 2 to the Rapture. Christ was smitten once and, because of failure of God’s people, needs to be spoken to with the support of the priestly rod (Aaron) during the day of grace – not smitten again with Moses’ rod of judgment. Israel was well taken care of, yet they rebelled – an example also of the history of the Church.

Because of Moses’ disobedience in smiting the rock instead of speaking to it toward the end of the wilderness journey, he was not allowed to lead the new generation into the Promised Land. God gave this task to Joshua and Caleb, who were overcomers as well. Moses was a man of God and in many ways a true overcomer, but this one act of disobedience had tragic consequences (Num. 20:11-12). There is only one Man who never failed – the Lord Jesus Christ.

God showed Moses the Promised Land, but he never entered it (Dt. 34). However, David probably belonged to the seventh generation living in the land, the place where He wanted to dwell (Dt. 12:5). After many years in the land, the people asked for a king and God gave them one according to their desires: King Saul. Sadly, his interests were selfish. He did not seek God or the ark, nor did his people (1 Chr. 13:3). In contrast, David put God’s interests first when he was a youth. He had a very good testimony (1 Sam. 16:18) as he was seeking the place where God dwelled – where God wanted to have His people and the ark. David found it as he identified, in faith, with those who were of the same mind (Ps. 132:5-6).

David was the man after God’s heart (1 Sam. 13:14), really caring for the ark of God,1 which he brought to Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6). Despite his failures, he was able to lead the people to worship God and to give Him His rightful place in their midst. This led to Jerusalem being conquered by David, and to the building and inauguration of the temple under his son Solomon, whom God adopted as His beloved son (2 Sam. 12:25).

Soon after the glorious days of David and Solomon, God’s people fell into idolatry. Because of this, God allowed the people to be divided into two kingdoms, sending prophets to call them back to Himself. He sent an unnamed man of God to Bethel, meaning “house of God,” where Jeroboam had started a counterfeit service in order to keep the Ten Tribes, the northern kingdom, under his influence. This man of God, a prophet, spoke on God’s behalf and gave evidence of it (the altar split in two) when he spoke about a future king, Josiah. That king would destroy the false altar and all connected with it. Yet this man of God, like Moses, failed to obey God’s instructions for himself, causing him to die a premature death (1 Ki. 13).

There was further decay and idolatry among the Ten Tribes, so God sent to them Elijah, who was called “a man of God” (1 Ki. 17:18,24). Elijah brought the people back to the true God, despite Ahab and Jezebel’s opposition. Besides the existing idolatry since the days of Jeroboam (1 Ki. 13), while outwardly honoring the name of Jehovah, Jezebel introduced the worship of Baal, replacing or worsening the sin of the day. After the intervention of God’s grace through Elijah’s decisive actions, the people, sadly, resumed their idolatrous ways.

Then God sent Elisha, who had been Elijah’s helper and who succeeded him. Elisha was called a man of God more often than Elijah. God used Elisha to bring His provisions and solutions in grace, even though much failure within the nation characterized his days (2 Ki. 2-13).

Moses had laid the foundations for God’s people. Later, God sent these and other men of God to bring His people back to Himself, as He will do once more in the future (see Mal. 4:5-6). A remnant of true believers existed among the Ten Tribes, but eventually God had to send them into the Assyrian captivity (2 Ki. 17). Judah and Benjamin, the other two tribes or the southern kingdom, were directly linked to the temple of God in Jerusalem, but all kinds of failures developed among them, some even worse than with the other ten tribes. Therefore, God sent even more prophets. Second Chronicles in particular reviews the ministry of the prophets as they saw things from God’s perspective and addressed the kings and the people accordingly. Despite those prophets, who were true men of God, and wonderful revivals, God had to send these two tribes into the Babylonian captivity.

Remember, these things were all written for our instruction and encouragement (Rom. 15:1-7; 1 Cor. 10:1-13; 2 Tim. 3:17).

The Link With The New Testament
The apostles and prophets of the New Testament were men of God who laid the foundation of the Church as linked with the glorified Christ in heaven (Eph. 2:20-22, 4:1-16). However, God foresaw that there would be failure just as had been the case with His earthly people. Through the same apostles and prophets who had laid the foundation of the Church (1 Cor. 3:10-13), God teaches us what we should do today. In the midst of failure, even during the lifetime of the apostles, God used disciples such as Timothy to be “a man2 of God.”

Timothy learned many things from Paul (2 Tim. 3:14, 1 Cor. 4:17) and was fully committed to do God’s will despite his own weakness. His name means “honoring God” or possibly “honored by God” and he was called twice a “man of God” while facing various forms of opposition (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17). Paul sent him out as his representative on several occasions: to Thessalonica and Berea (Acts 17), to Philippi (Phil. 2:19-23), to Macedonia (Acts 20:4), to Corinth (1 Cor. 4:17, 16:10), to Ephesus (1-2 Timothy), and to Rome during Paul’s first imprisonment there (Heb. 13:23). When confined a second time in Rome, just before his execution, Paul asked Timothy to come “before winter” (2 Tim. 4:21). In both Paul and Timothy we see tremendous commitment and zeal.

Timothy functioned as an example and model for the believers in his days who were deviating from Paul’s instructions. Today he serves as an object lesson since many professing Christians reject Paul and his teachings, as was the case in those days (Acts 20:29-32). In doing so, they reject Paul’s heavenly Sender, who is also our and their Master. This is very serious!

The divine principles given through the New Testament men of God – the apostles and prophets – have not changed, even though these men are not with us on earth anymore. Let’s put into practice the teachings of these men of God who have laid the doctrinal foundations. Follow the object lessons given by God in His servants. They were living examples – an encouragement for us today. The characteristics of the men of God were written for our instruction and warning.

END NOTES
1. The ark was made of acacia wood which was considered incorruptible, representing Christ’s perfect humanity. Its inside and outside were covered with pure gold, illustrating His true divinity. Thus the ark was a beautiful type of the Lord Jesus. David, as a God-given leader, also was a type of the Lord Jesus, as He is the true and ultimate Leader (consider Hebrews 12:2).
2. The Old Testament has many expressions that are similar to “the man of God.” For instance, “a faithful man who can find?” (Prov. 20:6) – translated literally as “a man of faithfulness” and sometimes rendered as “a man of understanding.” Many other such parallels exist, especially in the Old Testament, and they are summed up in perfection in our Lord Jesus Christ. He was the true Man of God and at the same time – unfathomable mystery – the Son of God, God blessed over all.

By Alfred Bouter