This is Spoken Gospel.

We’re dedicated to seeing 
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s 
happening in a Biblical text

and how it sheds light
on Jesus and his gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Israel’s monarchy will
not bring God’s Kingdom.

Solomon, Israel’s most powerful king, is dead.

And now, God’s people are left in the middle of an 
inverted Exodus story where Israel is now Egypt.

You see, at Solomon’s death,
his son inherits the kingdom.

But a rival leader named Jeroboam 
returns from Egypt to save God’s people.

Many in Israel were enslaved under Solomon’s 
rule and now look to Jeroboam for relief.

Like Pharoah, Solomon’s son responds to
this threat by increasing the slaves’ workload.

But like Moses, Jeroboam leads ten of Israel’s tribes 
out of slavery and into the wilderness north of Jerusalem.

But as soon as they’re free, Jeroboam 
builds new golden calves and tells Israel,  

“Here are your gods, Israel,
who brought you up out of Egypt”.

Israel’s history has repeated itself, except Israel is the
oppressor and the man from Egypt is the liberator. 

Regardless, a prophet confronts Jeroboam and prophesies
that a new king, Josiah, will end his idolatrous cult.

As signs to prove his message is from God, God 
withers Jeroboam’s hand and his false altar splits in two.

But Jeroboam is stubborn and hard-hearted.

He rebuilds the golden calves and
paves the way for his dynasty’s destruction.

Then, in an inversion of the Passover
this time, Jeroboam's son is sick,

and he sends his wife
to a prophet for healing.

But while she is still in the prophet’s doorway, he
prophesies the deaths of both the boy and Jeroboam.

Like the firstborn sons of Egypt, as soon as 
she steps on her own doorstep her son dies.

Meanwhile Solomon’s son, in the 
other half of the divided kingdom,  

sets up his own idols and is 
plundered by the Egyptians.

It’s the exact reverse of Israel’s plunder of 
Egypt’s wealth in the days after the Passover.

And both sides in Israel’s civil war learn the same
thing: idolatry leads to slavery, loss, and death.

[music]

Solomon’s son and Jeroboam prove that a crown is not
enough to lead Israel out of their idolatrous preferences.

Like their ancestors, Israel just wants 
to do the right thing in their own eyes.

And for Israel, the consequences of doing 
evil in God’s eyes is going back to slavery.

Ironically, Jeroboam was the master 
of Israel’s slaves under Solomon.

And Israel trusts a slaver to liberate them and ends up
enslaved to new masters and new idols, and death.

Idols and images always lead to slavery.

Both golden calves and images of an ideal and fulfilled
life promise liberation but turn out to be nothing but slavers.

We sacrifice our relationships, our hopes, 
and our morality to what looks right  

in our own eyes but find
ourselves just as trapped as before.

That's because we’re still stuck in our own inverted
Exodus stories, enslaved by what we thought was right.

We don’t need an idol anymore.
We need God to liberate us.

And God has shown himself, not as an image carved
from wood or molded from gold but born in the flesh.

Jesus is the exact image of God
and the living imprint of his nature.  

Israel hoped Josiah would liberate them.

But Jesus is not only Josiah’s son, but God’s--
and those whom Jesus sets free are free forever.

Instead of making your own sacrifices to false gods,
hopes, and idols, trust that Jesus is both your God and

your sacrifice. He died as a Passover lamb to
invert the story of your idolatry and death.

By his blood on the doors of your heart, 
he liberates you from slavery to sin.

And by his resurrection, Jesus inverts
the grave and plunders death of its power.

Jesus is the only image worth bowing to.
Trust him alone, and he will set you free.

So, I pray that the Holy Spirit would open your eyes
to see the God who brings down wicked kings.

And may you see Jesus as the true King of Israel 
who leads all people who call to him out of slavery.