1 Kings 15:14
Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.
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1 Kings 15:14
Although he did not remove the high places, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.
one verse, one week 
Good question! I think so, his heart was fully committed to God. The mention of him not removing the high places might fall in the bucket of works that will be burned up at judgement vs what would have remained if we would have had the high places removed (1 Co 3:12-15)
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Good point, Joel 🙂 I too agree that it is clear that being a believer isn’t synonymous with being perfect. Asa messed up and I’m sure Abel did also 🙂 Thanks for commenting… it’s a rare thing for me.
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Thanks Kimberly! 🙂 Great thoughts! Love the question too! I’m sorry, I missed the part about Abel. I saw it in the Title but didn’t understand the question with Asa.
What were your thoughts with that one?
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I’m sorry, I didn’t see your other comments below! WordPress just showed me this one until I scrolled down on the post. Let me read those and I’ll respond!
I always love discussing these things too! Thanks for responding! Not everyone does.
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Now just a quick note about the difference between being a believer and being saved. Even though people like Abel, Noah, Moses, David, Ezekiel – their “hearts were fully committed to the Lord” – even Asa, on up through Jesus’ mom Mary and John the Baptist… they all STILL needed His atonement for sins to gain access to Heaven.
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But my main comment on this verse is the assertion of some people that the supernatural event of being “born of the Spirit” is a dispensation that could only occur after the Holy Spirit came to us after Jesus’ Ascension or even later after Pentecost. I’m not even necessarily disagreeing with this viewpoint, but I am wondering if it was possible that people like Moses or Noah – was it possible that they were NOT born-again? That’s a tough one for me to swallow.
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So the question is if there was such a thing as being “Born-Again” back then, back during the old covenant? What exactly is being born-again? Simply it is when your eternal substance, your spirit, is born into truth, where the paradigm doesn’t just shift, it practically disappears… like, you know, when you’re born.
Is what Jesus describes in John 3 a new command or is he describing the nature of the way things have always been? This verse says that “Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord”… maybe that doesn’t automatically give him direct access to the Holy Spirit. My pastor said that after the dispensation of the Holy Spirit to go live in our hearts, we now have direct access to God… in contrast before Pentecost, unless you were a prophet like Noah or Ezekiel, you had to go find a prophet to seek the Lord. But the question still remains because in either age/time you must still seek Him.
Asa sought Him. Jehoshaphat sought Him. However, the two previous generations of Rehoboam and Abijah did not seek the Lord. We are all born here physically, not necessarily against our wills, but certainly without any conscious decision. But the births of our spirits is different. Our hearts are chosen and called to leave the womb, however this time we have the choice to reject birth.
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Great question! Ok, here’s my thoughts…I don’t think all followers of God in the OT had the Spirit. I think only a few people did have the Spirit. David had the Holy Spirit (cf Psalm 51). I think the reason for this is before the cross, God’s Spirit could not indwell in us because of our sin. After the cross, we are covered in his blood, the veil is torn and God leaves the temple all together because we are his temple now (1 Co 6:19). Our bodies are his temple. Which is what he had sought from the beginning (Eph 1:4), he wanted intimacy with us, to be one with us, that is imaged in marriage in this world (Eph, 5:30-32). He is too holy to do that without the blood of our Savior covering us. Which is why Jesus had to die and we have to eat his flesh and drink his blood for us to be filled with the Spirit – John 6:53. I don’t know how the mechanics worked out that David was able to have the Spirit in him. But he did and God chose to do that – it probably comes back to Roman 9 in that manner, he does with us, his clay vessels, as he wants to do.
Let me know what you think! God bless!
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Yes, wow, that whole thing about the work of the cross being directly linked to the indwelling of God in our hearts as the temple… yes, that so makes sense that there is now a new temple. And that must be the case for the few whose hearts loved God. Maybe there wasn’t an indwelling, but a desire for it.
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Yes I love that! I think that’s right. Maybe there wasn’t an indwelling beforehand, or maybe he was just near to David, the presence of his Spirit, but not in him? Or maybe he was in him? Not sure!
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John 3:10 Jesus asks the question? “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do you not understand these things?” Jesus points out that truly spiritual people should be born-again, or born from above.He expected this, even before the cross. What did He tell St. Peter? Matthew 16:17, …” not by man, but by my Father in Heaven.” I could say more, but……….
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Yes, in the very least, Jesus expected Nicodemus to be seeking this spiritual birth or to be expecting that God was going to make a Way through the Messiah to become Born-Again. And with Peter, that is another example of Holy Spirit revelation BEFORE Pentecost. I think the jury is in for me though… I’ve concluded at this time that something HUGE happened at the cross and the resurrection… and that God not only SAVED us, but also He made himself very, very accessible.
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