The Bible by David Alley

The Bible by David Alley

por David Alley
Temporada 1

2 Kings 4 - Elisha and the Widow's Oil | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 2 Kings Chapter 4, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. 2 Kings Chapter 4 contains 5 ‘mercy’ miracles of Elisha. This is a foreshadowing of Christ. Later Christ would do these things and do them even more profoundly. People who knew the stories of Elijah and Elisha who had the spirit of Elijah in him, saw that same Holy Spirit at work in Christ, but in much greater ways. Multiplying of oil The pregnancy of the barren women The raising of the woman’s dead son - the second resurrection in scripture. The curing of the poison stew The multiplying of the food to feed 100 people. The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is in us… miracles are possible through us too by the power of Christ.

2 Kings 3 - Jehoram Reigns in Judah | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 2 Kings Chapter 3, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 2 Kings Chapter 3 we have King Jehoram and the battle with Moab and the account confirmed remarkably by the Mesha Stele discovery in the 1800’s. Moab rebels against Judah - who fights to retain it - with initial success but then the king of Moab resorts to spiritual tactics - sacrificing his son on the wall of the city. The Mesha stele and the Bible both agree that the Israel-Edom alliance was winning the battle until the king of Moab sacrificed his son. In our modern times, spiritual power derived from sacrifice seems mythical, and yet both nations who won and lost this battle agreed with the reality of this. Most commentators don’t understand the spiritual power of blood and sacrifice properly. Christ sacrificed himself and gave a greater better blood. Christ’s sacrifice was also voluntary and not forced. Christ’s sacrifice was able to turn the tables on Satan and redeem the world back to him, and also redeem its people. We also observe that the Mesha stele is in a type of phonecian script very similar to paleo-hebrew, showing that many of the people in the Levant area wrote a similar style.

2 Kings 2 - Ahaziah's Reign and Death | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 2 Kings Chapter 2, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 2 Kings Chapter 2 Elijah leaves to go to Heaven in a spectacular heavenly chariot. What is more remarkable is that this is an event in the even more spiritual reality - and Elisha sees it. In the process Elisha picks up double the anointing/power that Elijah had. Only three people go to heaven in miraculous circumstances… one here. In this video we will talk about what qualified Elisha to get the double anointing. We will talk about why Elisha left teh JOrdan and then doubled back to the same place before leaving. We will mention the Essenes, and Qumran and the School of the Prophets. And why does Elisha go to Mt Carmel afterwards? And finally what about obtaining a double portion for yourself?

2 Kings 1 - Elijah Taken Up to Heaven | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 2 Kings Chapter 1, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 2 Kings Chapter 1 King Ahaziah of Israel is sick and sends a messenger to Ekron, one of the cities of the Philistines to enquire of their god. Why is he going down to a PHilistine city, there to enquire of a false god? The result of this is that the Lord sends Elijah as a messenger to meet him on the way with a word of judgement. Ahaziah is only king for 2 years until he dies. Ahaziah is furious and wants to capture Elijah and sends a group of 50 men, who are very disrespectful to Elijah, and he calls down fire on them. This happens twice, but a third time the leader of the fifty men is humble and contrite and his life is spared. In the NT when James and John were annoyed with some of the people in Samaria, they wanted to call down fire on the village, but Jesus stopped them, and told them they were of another spirit. Their nickname “sons of thunder” comes from that moment. So why the difference? Why could Eliah call down fire, but Jesus didn’t allow it? There are differences which may explain. Firstly the Samaria in Elijah’s time was not indifferent, but antagonistic towards the Lord. They were intent on rescuing and destroying the Lord’s messenger. God had plans, and demonstrated his power through Elijah. But when Christ came, he came to demonstrate mercy. Christ wasn’t under threat, and the people of Samaria at that time were clueless about Jesus. Being antagonistic would have undermined their openness, which was considerable as demonstrated in John 4. The two circumstances were very different. Wisdom knows how to act in its time.

1 Kings 22 - The Death of Ahab | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 22, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 22 The year before this it seems - Ahab an an alliance of about ten other kings battled against Shalmaneser III at Qarqar in Syria. The Assyrians were endeavoring to build an empire, but the alliance of kings defeated him for the moment or at least held it at bay. Now Ahab wants to attack a previous ally, and use the southern nation for help. They consult 400 prophets. But, these are not prophets of God/Yahweh, but prophets of other gods. One prophet Micaiah is a prophet of the Lord. According to the Jewish Midrash, Micaiah is one of four student prophets trained by Elijah the prophet. So this is a part of the Elijah story and not a rabbit trail. The discussion between the true and false prophets has caused all sorts of academic chaos. Does God lie to his prophets? Does God endorse lying? Does God cooperate with false prophets? This video explains no to all these questions. In the leadup to Donal Trump (US Presidents) reelection bid in 2020, about 70 current prophets on youtube predicted his return to power. In the days after the election when it was clear he had lost, many of the same prophets predicted the result would be overthrown. How can so many be so confident and so wrong? This isn’t to say that prophecy is wrong or that God doesn’t use prophets, but it seems that the same type of situation in Ahab’s time is at work now. This video talks about “yes men” prophets, and the importance of being open to the Lord’s voice, even if hard to hear. We talk about the approach to prophecy at Peace. Finally this video discusses Ahab’s death and the 55 kilometre ride with his dead body in teh chariot to the pool of Samaria, which can be seen today. This video also mentions Ahab’s ivory palace and his successor Ahaziah.

1 Kings 21 - The Wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 21, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 21 despite following the baals, the northern nation, still acknowledges and has knowledge of the laws of God. This chapter outlines the story of Naboth’s vineyard in which the law of LEviticues 25:23 is broken by Ahab and Jezebel. Leviticus 25:23 says “the land must not be sold permanently.” Despite this, Jezebel forcibly takes this land of Naboth and gives it to her husband. Ahab’s great sin was in allowing Jezebel to do this. He “tolerated Jezebel” which the church in the city of Thyatira also did, in Revelations chapter 2. While he could not actually be responsible for her choices, because he could have resisted, he allowed it instead. He might have felt it was ok to do this by justifying that he hadn’t done anything wrong. Many people justify their actions. We saw earlier with King David, that he refused to participate in anything that even hinted of wrongdoing. Even cutting the corner off Saul’s robe grieved him. Imagine a church split where someone doesn't actively cause the split, but they celebrate it’s happening. Their love for the results indicate their heart was a participant and they approved of what happened. No amount of justification can make it ok. Repentance, humility and amends are required. Weirdly, he actually humbled himself and the Lord noticed. Ahab had the potential to be Israel’s only good king, but his humility didn’t seem to last.

1 Kings 20 - Elijah Meets God at Horeb | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 20, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 20 we have a funny chapter where God is working with Ahab out of patience for him, to show him who the true God is. He is however married to Jezebel which puts him in a tricky position. If Ahab wasn’t committed to Jezebel he may very well have become Israel’s only good king. Ahab is inside a besieged Samaria, but the Lord directs him to attack the sieging Syrians. It turns out they were drunk, so the Israelites win. After this the Lord continues to help Ahab. This isn’t only to demonstrate that he is God, but as Coffman suggests, because he is protecting Judah too, by retaining a buffer between them and the enemies of Israel. Many are not aware that God is the Lord of the nations. He is the Lord of all, and not only concerned with Israel only. Many Jews failed to realise this, but these chapters show that God was always wanting to teach the nations about himself, and provided many opportunities to do that. These nations and kings should have realised that there was something more to Yahweh than they thought, but at the same time Israel and Judah didn’t help the Lord out much by not following him wholeheartedly and thereby weakening the example. After the Lord gives Ahab a second great victory, he spares the life of King Ben-Hadad and makes a very generous treaty with him. Ahab is a strange king. It's hard to explain a number of his choices.... This video suggests that the key to his weird behaviour is could be Jezebel.

1 Kings 19 - Elijah Flees Jezebel | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 19, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 19 we properly meet the fiery Jezebel who wants to kill Elijah. Often in the NT we hear people refer to a Jezebel spirit and they think of this as some type of controlling influence, which Jezebel was. She however was determined and devoted to her false gods, just as Elijah was devoted to the Lord. Even after the sign of fire from the mountain she didn’t change her mind. Jezebel is the type of person who will fight the Lord regardless of what signs there are. In the NT in Revelation 2:20 in the letter to Thyatira, the Lord said “you tolerate Jezebel,” who leads people into sexual immorality. Sexual immorality was a part of the worship of those false gods. So Jezebel as a symbol is much more than control, but a devotion to immorality and idolatry, a devotion to false gods and serving them. What might JEzebel look like in the Body of Christ today? Elijah feels for his life, struggles with motivation, and wants God to kill him, just like Jonah, Jeremiah and Job. This video covers that, plus the five biblical suicides. Elijah handles his depression differently to many people as this video explains. We also discuss a conundrum. Why did it take Elijah 40 days to travel a distance of 400ish kilometres to get to Mt Sinai, normally a 12 day walk. We also discuss the voice of God and the three tasks Elijah was given, only one of which he completed, giving his successor the task of completing the other two.

1 Kings 18 - Elijah and the Prophets of Baal | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 18, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 18 is the confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. Actually it is really the confrontation between Yahweh and Baal and it is no contest. Elijah is one of the key characters in the entire Bible. Even though he doesn’t write scripture like Moses, he is up there with Moses because he is responsible for a key turning point in spiritual thinking. At this point the worship of Baal - that is canaanite idolatry - is a fully sanctioned state religion, with 850 prophets. The previous terrible sin of Jeroboam was to mix worshipping the Lord with local practices, but technically it was still ‘kind of’ worshipping the Lord. Now with Jezebel’s encouragement, they have endorsed the complete turning away from the Lord. Thus the famine is in full swing to show Baal and Asherah powerless. The nation gathers at the base of Carmel, not the top as is popularly assumed. Afterwards, Elijah climbs Carmel, at elevation 546m to pray. The question before the people is not “Is Baal a God.” But “If Baal is God,” worship him. Yahweh is proved to be God. So here is a moment where Elijah demonstrates true monotheism to Israel. There IS no other God except Yahweh, whereas up to this point they have believed in multiple Gods and accepted Yahweh as one of them. Elijah isn’t just extolling that God is better than the other gods, but that He IS God. The other gods are not gods. This is a key moment in the Bible where the Lord is introducing a new idea collectively, which may have been known to individuals before. With Elijah is introduced, a whole new way of seeing God. The book of James says “Elijah was a man like us.” (James 5:17) We are able to walk with Christ and obtain answers to prayer in just the same way. Moses and Elijah are the clear two examples of God’s power at work in the Old Testament.

1 Kings 17 - Asa's Reforms and Wars | Bible Podcast, David Alley, Peace Christian Church

In this video listen to 1 Kings Chapter 17, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer. In 1 Kings Chapter 17 against the backdrop of state sponsored canaanite idolatry, the Lord raises up Elijah. Baal worship was a worship of the “so called” god of storms. So the Lord sends a drought by Elijah’s word. The drought is severe so much so that God has to supernatural provide for Elijah. At first he goes to the brook Cherith, commonly believed to be Wadi Al Yabis in Jordan. Then he goes to Zarepheth in Sidon where he is cared for by a woman whose flour and oil miraculously fail to run out. Elijah foreshadows many of the incredible miracles that CHrist supercedes, such as the feeding of the 5000. While in Sidon, Elijah raises the woman’s boy back from death, the first resurrection in scripture. There are 8 normal resurrections in scripture, where people will die again, plus the resurrection of Christ which is a different type of resurrection. Christ never dies again. The number 8 represents new life, and is a fitting number to symbolised by how many resurrections there are. NOTE: According to some verbal traditions, the boy who was raised back to life, was the prophet Jonah who was to go to Nineveh, and the son of Amittai.
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