21. Gideon - A True Worshipper

Gideon - A True Worshipper

"Then Gideon built an altar there unto the Lord, and called it Jehovah-shalom: unto this day it is yet in Ophrah of the Abiezrites. And it came to pass the same night, that the Lord said unto him, Take thy father’s young bullock, even the second bullock of seven years old, and throw down the altar of Baal that thy father hath, and cut down the grove that is by it: and build an altar unto the Lord thy God upon the top of this rock, in the ordered place, and take the second bullock, and offer a burnt sacrifice with the wood of the grove which thou shalt cut down. Then Gideon took ten men of his servants, and did as the Lord had said unto him: and so it was, because he feared his father’s household, and the men of the city, that he could not do it by, that he did it by night. And when the men of the city arose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was cast down, and the grove was cut down that was by it, and the second bullock was offered upon the altar that was built. And they said one to another, Who hath done this thing? And when they enquired and asked, they said, Gideon the son of Joash hath done this thing. Then the men of the city said unto Joash, Bring out thy son, that he may die: because he hath cast down the altar of Baal, and because he hath cut down the grove that was by it. And Joash said unto all that stood against him, Will ye plead for Baal? will ye save him? he that will plead for him, let him be put to death whilst it is yet morning: if he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down his altar. Therefore on that day he called him Jerubbaal, saying, Let Baal plead against him, because he hath thrown down his altar." (Judges 6:24-32)

Gideon knew something about peace in his heart. Certain things which had not been plain to him before were now very plain, also this commission that the Lord had given to him and the fact that the Lord had promised to be with him produced peace in his heart. There was this wonderful response before ever he was engaged in conflict with the enemy, he raised an altar to the Lord and worshipped. Worship is a very important part of Christian life. The Christian life is not all conflict, it is not always dealing with the difficulties and problems that beset us, worship is something to be done by each and every one of us, either individually or collectively, a responsive heart to the Lord who cares for us and who has blessed us in such a wonderful way. It is a remarkable thing that in the midst of a nation that had given itself up to idolatry here was one man who was immediately responding to the message he had received and he was worshipping the Lord.

Well, the altar of Baal cannot stand any longer. ’If I am going to worship the Lord’ says Gideon, ’I must get rid of anything that is offensive to the Lord’. Gideon had been instructed that this was a real canker that was in the heart of the nation, this was the real cause of all the trouble, this altar that was reared to Baal, it was there right in his father’s house, he knew about it only too well. So, at night, he knocked it down and destroyed it. There was great consternation the next morning, ’Who has done this awful thing, Knocked down the altar of Baal? Whoever it is needs to be punished!’ As ever, whenever a man takes a stand over the truth there is always someone who will come to support him. There is always fellowship, and this encouragement came from the right quarter, Gideon’s father supported him. ’There is no-one here going to get killed’ he said, ’Is it right or is it wrong that this altar should be thrown down, it is indisputable that it is an evil thing in our midst and my son has done right in throwing down this altar’.

Dear brethren, it is not enough just to do one thing and to be expert in what is right and proper before the Lord, it is also right to get rid of the offending things that God might not be offended, and this is exactly what Gideon did. He did what was right before the Lord in worshipping and he did that which was right before the Lord in removing the rival to the Lord’s affections in destroying the altar of Baal. There are certain things that we cannot have any tolerance of, indeed to have tolerance with this kind of thing is tantamount to treason to the Lord. We cannot trifle with Baal, he is in opposition to God; we cannot do anything with him in grace and love, it is impossible, he will never change. The Midianites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, all these enemies of the Lord will never change, they never get better, they are fixed in their determination to oppose the things of God. Showing grace and love never alters them, they have to be ruthlessly dealt with and removed, and this is what Gideon did, he threw down the altar of Baal and raised up a standard for the Lord.

Now in verse 34 we read that, "the Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon". It is quite interesting that in the book of Judges which deals with so much that is of a dark character there are more references to the Spirit of the Lord in it than in any other book in the Old Testament. Samson, Othniel, Gideon and many others had the Spirit of the Lord come upon them in times of difficulty. How thankful we are for the wonderful truth that we possess, that the Spirit of the Lord indwells us individually and is with us collectively, and He will never be taken from us, He is with us to the end, the Lord’s promise is that, "He shall abide with you forever" (John 14:16), right to the end of the Christian testimony. This is the real resource of the people of God at all times to deal with all that is offensive to God. He is the Spirit of truth, He in His Divine power and greatness and glory can detect error when we can be hoodwinked. He can reveal to us what is really wrong in teachings that are offensive to God and to Christ, and He is the power that enables us to stand for the Lord in an evil day when false doctrines are increasing on every hand.