In the Seat of Mockers
Hi Everyone,
I hope all is well. This is the first time I have received a vision about the topic of mocking. God shows us things that need to be addressed and changed, both things in our personal lives and things that affect the church and culture. Mocking must be one of those things. It is our sinful nature that shows itself in our behavior, when we are not walking in the spirit, but are indulging the flesh.
The Vision
The Two Stick Figures
I saw two stick figures, cartoon-like line drawings of people. Their heads, hands and feet were represented by ovals, and the arms, legs and torso represented by lines. The two figures were on their knees with their hands in the air. When I saw them with their hands over their heads, I was reminded of people who attempt to poke fun at someone who is acting in an arrogant manner by saying “We are not worthy!” while they pretend to bow down and pay homage to the “know-it-all.” This is an example of mockery.
As I prayed, I wanted to know if I was understanding the vision correctly, for what might be conveyed was the idea of true worship or surrendering to the will of God. So I asked Him to show me something in the Bible that would clarify its meaning. I opened the Bible to the page in 1 Kings 18:26-28 where Elijah was taunting the prophets of Baal! God is so good! I ask for clarification and it could not be made more clear– This was a very well know passage of scripture where Elijah has a show down with the 400 prophets of Baal. He tells them to prepare a sacrifice but do not light the fire. He would do the same and not light it either. Then the God who answered with fire was the true God. After the prophets had been calling on their god for half the day, with no fire — nothing, Elijah starts to tease them with his sarcasm. The first words at the top of the page were these:
“...they had made. And at noon Elijah mocked them saying, ‘Cry aloud, for he is god. Either he is musing, or he is relieving himself, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.’ And they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them.” 1 Kings 18:26-28
God confirmed his message with this very specific passage and the word “mocked.”
If you are unfamiliar with this story, it is a very dramatic demonstration of the power of God to answer with fire. The story continues
“ Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.
Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood. Do it again, he said, and they did it again. “Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.
At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”
Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”
Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don’t let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there. 1 Kings 18:29-40
Elijah had quite a personality and such a strong faith in God who backed him up. Not one of his words fell to the ground. When Ahab sent men to arrest Elijah and bring him to stand before him, Elijah called down fire to consume the captain and his 50 men.
After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel.
Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers and instructed them: “Go inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this injury.”
But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are on your way to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron?’ Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘You will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”
So Elijah departed.
When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you returned?”
They replied, “A man came up to meet us and said, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him that this is what the LORD says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending these men to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.’”
The king asked them, “What sort of man came up to meet you and spoke these words to you?”
“He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.”
“It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.
Then King Ahaziah sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. So the captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down!’”
Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”
And fire came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
So the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. And the captain said to Elijah, “Man of God, the king declares, ‘Come down at once!’”
Again Elijah replied, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.”
And the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed the captain and his fifty men.
So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. And the third captain went up, fell on his knees before Elijah, and begged him, “Man of God, may my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours please be precious in your sight. Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.”
Then the angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.”
So Elijah got up and went down with him to the king.
And Elijah said to King Ahaziah, “This is what the LORD says: Is there really no God in Israel for you to inquire of His word? Is that why you have sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not get up from the bed on which you are lying. You will surely die.”
So Ahaziah died according to the word of the LORD that Elijah had spoken.
Elijah trusted in God, and so he had no fear of the captains with their fifty men. When he called down fire, he was serious. He knew that the Lord was with him. This is an example of how one’s relationship with God and His authority go hand in hand.
“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” John 14:12-14
Now let’s return to the topic of mocking. Jesus was mocked by many people in the Bible: The Pharisees and teachers of the law mocked him.
But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Matthew 12:24
They did not want to acknowledge that Jesus had performed an awesome miracle by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit, so they mock him, and denied the power of God. But Jesus declared the truth in the matter:
And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
“Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. Matthew 12:27-32
The Pharisees, scribes and religious leaders who mocked and denied the power of the Holy Spirit, received their just punishment with the sword, famine and plague in the visitation of God’s wrath in the war between Rome and the Jews in AD 66-70, when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed. This occurred to and in the very generation that the Lord had prophesied against.
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Go ahead, then, and complete what your ancestors started!
“You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and sages and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I tell you, all this will come on this generation. Matthew 23:29-36
There are other examples of people mocking God’s prophets and anointed people in the Old Testament.
Goliath Mocked the Israelite Army
Goliath mocked the Israelite armies for 40 days. Then he mocked David and God and lost his head as a result.
And the Philistine moved forward and came near to David, with his shield-bearer in front of him. And when the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him, for he was but a youth, ruddy and handsome in appearance. And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field.”
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you down and cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand.”
Then the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone and slung it and struck the Philistine on his forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the ground.
So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. There was no sword in the hand of David. Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him and cut off his head with it.
When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. And the men of Israel and Judah rose with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as Gath and the gates of Ekron, so that the wounded Philistines fell on the way from Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron. And the people of Israel came back from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. And David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his armor in his tent. 1 Samuel 17:41-54
David trusted God and prophesied to Goliath and all within hearing, what he was about to do. And it happened just as he said it would. God backed up his words spoken by the Holy Spirit and in faith, so that everything was accomplished and God’s name was given honor. When the Israelites saw the God had delivered the champion into their hands, they were suddenly empowered by God with faith to pursue their enemies and put them to the sword.
Michal Mocked David
On another occasion, Michal, David’s wife, mocked him for his exuberant worship of the Lord. She had no love or fear of God, but valued the opinion of others. She was embarrassed by David’s lack of pomp and dignity. For her mockery of him and his worship of God, David left her to herself, and so she never bore a child. God was first in David’s eyes.
When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. 2 Samuel 6:20- 23
The Enemies of Judah Mocked Nehemiah
Sanballat and Tobiah mocked Nehemiah and those Jews who came back to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem saying:
“What are these feeble Jews doing? Are they going to restore it for themselves? Can they offer sacrifices? Can they complete it in a day? Can they bring the stones to life from the dusty rubble, though they are burned?”
Now Tobiah the Ammonite was near him and he said, “Even what they are building—if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!” Nehemiah 4:1-3
In spite of their threats and lies to discourage the reconstruction of the walls, it was finished in 52 days.
“When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.” Nehemiah 6:16
Elisha was Mocked by Youths
The Prophet Elisha was mocked by a gang of youths who were then mauled by 2 female bears:
From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Get out of here baldy! Get out of here Baldy!”
Then he turned around, looked at them, and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord.
Suddenly two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys. 2 Kings 2:23-24
What should be noted here are a few things. These were teen age youths probably 13 and up, so in the eyes of the Lord, they were accountable for their actions. They had a mob mentality, for they were acting in one accord. Elisha was a prophet of God and so he should have been treated with respect. But the situation was serious with the odds being 42 plus to one.
In addition, Bethel, the town in which this took place, was one of two locations in the northern kingdom where the former king of Israel had set up a golden calf to deflect its worshipers from heading south to worship in Jerusalem. Therefore this gang of youths from Bethel, having the same religious persuasion as their parents, threatened Elisha the prophet of God, telling him to “Get out of town!” Idolatry and shrine prostitution was the norm for the day, so Elisha was not welcomed.
God sent the two bears not to kill the boys, but to teach them a lesson to fear God and to not mock God’s anointed.
Psalm 1
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of mockers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night… for the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish. Psalm 1:1-2, 6
Jesus Subjected to Mockery
In the last hours of his life, Jesus received much mocking. The soldiers whipped him, spit on him and crowned him with a crown of thorns and hailed him as “King of the Jews!”
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole company around Him. They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. And they twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on His head. They put a staff in His right hand, knelt down before Him, and mocked Him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” Then they spit on Him and took the staff and struck Him on the head repeatedly.
After they had mocked Him, they removed the robe and put His own clothes back on Him. Then they led Him away to crucify Him. Matthew 27:27-31
Those that came to watch him suffer, taunted him with words such as these:
“And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads and saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
In the same way, the chief priests, scribes, and elders mocked Him, saying, “He saved others, but He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel! Let Him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God. Let God deliver Him now if He wants Him. For He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
In the same way, even the robbers who were crucified with Him berated Him. Matthew 27:30-44
In his dying moments, one thief mocked him, the other with a humble heart, understood who Jesus was and asked that Jesus remember him.
One of the criminals who hung there heaped abuse on Him. “Are You not the Christ?” he said. “Save Yourself and us!”
But the other one rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same judgment? We are punished justly, for we are receiving what our actions deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”
And Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43
What a precious reward for the one who acknowledged his sin before God. He was probably the first one to be redeemed by the blood of Jesus!
We have to know God, to fear God and to walk humbly before him. We must learn from his word and all these many examples, to not mock or ridicule God or his anointed. Our actions and our speech should bring him honor.
We must ask ourselves, is there any way in our behavior or speech that dishonors God? Do we dishonor each other by taunting, teasing or mocking? Are we overly critical and crush one another with our words?
Shouldn’t we give grace to others, as the Lord has given grace and mercy to us?
Shouldn’t we forgive others as Jesus forgave those who crucified him?
And Jesus said “Forgive them Father for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:24
Let us not be like those who merely give lip service to God:
“These people honor me with their words, but their hearts are far from me.” Matthew 15:8
Instead we are to love God and those around us.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
Let us not sit in the seat of mockers!
“So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12
Thanks for reading. I hope you are blessed and please share this post with others. God bless you all!
