IN HOT WATER Larry W Peebles March 19, 2021 21.11
When I was a child, I knew I had gone too far when I heard my mother say I was about to get in “hot water”. That meant I was about to get into big trouble. I had stretched my growing wings of independence too much, and said or did something that demonstrated disrespect or rebellion. Perhaps I had exerted a little too much confidence, crossing over the line into being reckless and foolhardy. When she spoke those words, it was time to back away and rethink my position. If I continued in the direction I was headed, a severe correction was sure to come.
The most severe and embarrassing “hot water” I got into did not occur at home, it happened at school. In my ninth grade Spanish class, the teacher often led us in repetitive drills, where we would follow a recording that said a word in Spanish, and we were to repeat the Spanish word, attempting to learn the correct method of pronunciation. The recording would repeat several times, then we would move to the next word we were trying to learn. I was a good Spanish student, and learned quickly, but these drills were boring to me. I would purposely delay my response past the pause in the recording, so that my response began to interfere with the pronunciation of the next word. I was disrupting the class. My teacher asked me to stop, but I would rebel and repeat my act of selfish boredom the next day.
One day she left the class for a while, and a short time after returning, the principal of the school called me out of class and asked me to come by his office after school. He was a stern, no-nonsense man, friendly enough, but commanded respect. I did not want to go to his office, as I knew nothing good would happen there. I knew I was in “hot water”.
After school, I walked into the principal’s office. One of my favorite coaches, a tough man we all respected, was standing against the wall. He said nothing; he was there to observe. The principal asked me to take a seat, and began to dictate a note to my parents. I swallowed hard and started to write. The note explained to my parents how I had misbehaved in Spanish class, ignored my teacher’s request to stop, and continued to disrupt the class. It went on to say how I had been called into the principal’s office for discipline, and had received three “licks” with a wooden paddle in front of a witness. I was then instructed to sign the note, and bring it back tomorrow with my parent’s signature. The next day I was to apologize to my teacher.
The principal then bought out a long wooden paddle, maybe 3” wide and 24” long, with holes drilled through it. I had heard of this paddle, the kids referred to it as the “board of education”. I was asked to bend over and put my hands on his desk. He proceeded to apply the board three times to my bottom with force. The principal dismissed me, and I started the long walk home.
The note was self-explanatory. My parents signed the note without saying much. They didn’t have to; I was already embarrassed over my behavior, and sufficiently humiliated in front of them, my coach and principal. I delivered the note the next day and apologized to my teacher. I had learned a lesson. There were no more discipline problems. I completed Spanish with an A, and took two more years of Spanish in high school. I finished high school as a member of the National Honor Society, and completed college and a post- graduate master’s degree. The “hot water” episode was a turning point. I had to get control of myself, decide what was important, and what I wanted to stand for.
The Bible speaks of a similar incident where three men had gotten themselves into “hot water”. The consequences were of their own choosing, but unlike my example, they were on the right side of the issue. In Daniel, Chapter 3, we read that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had erected a huge (90’ tall by 9’ wide) golden image of himself that all the people were to bow down to when they heard the sound of certain music. Three Jewish men among those held in captivity in Babylon had risen to prominence, but took a stand and refused to worship the king’s image. They worshipped Yahweh alone.
Their insurrection was reported to the king, who ordered them to be brought before him. Their response to his threat to cast them into a fiery furnace was this-“If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand O king. But if not, let it be known to you. O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.” Daniel 3:17-18.
The three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, were in “hot water”. They had openly defied the order of the king. This was simply not done; the authority of the king was absolute. The king was furious, and had the furnace heated seven times hotter than usual. The fire was so hot it burned and killed the guards who put the three Jewish men into the furnace. When the king looked into the furnace, he saw not three, but four men waking around in the fire unharmed. He reported that one looked like the Son of God. (v.25) He ordered the men be brought out of the furnace. “They saw these men on whose bodies the fire had no power, the hair of their head was not singed nor were their garments affected, and the smell of fire was not on them.” Daniel 3:27.
This was a turning point for the king, at least temporarily. He retracted his previous order to worship the golden image, and issued a new decree that no one would speak against the God of these three men, lest they be cut to pieces and their houses burned. He admitted their God had sent an Angel (of the Lord) to deliver His servants. However, king Nebuchadnezzar continued to think more highly of himself than he did the Lord. He lost his mind for a period of seven years, eating grass like the cattle, until he acknowledged Yahweh. His sanity was then restored by God. (Daniel 4)
The prophet Jeremiah had prophesied that Babylon would invade Judah, destroy Jerusalem and the temple, and carry many Jews to Babylon as exiles (Jeremiah 21:4-10). The Lord had enough of Judah’s unfaithfulness to Him, and was moved to take disciplinary action. The exile would not be permanent, but would last 70 years. Because of the awful destruction, Babylon became the stereotype for the enemies of Yahweh and His people. Babylon is described as the ultimate enemy of God in the Book of Revelation. Revelation 17:3-6- “Then the angel carried me [John] away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a gold cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the Great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.”
Bible scholars believe this woman in Revelation 17 is the same woman (Jezebel) Jesus referred to in Revelation 2:18-29. He compared what was happening in the church at Thyatira to the infamous Jezebel, the one who influenced Israel into idolatry and sexual immorality. Her father was Ethbaal, king of Tyre/Sidon, and chief priest of the cult of Baal, whose worship included cruel sexual degradation and sensual lewdness. Jezebel married Ahab, king of Israel, and both led Israel into Baal worship. Israel never fully recovered from Jezebel’s influence. She ordered the extermination of all the prophets of the Lord (1 Kings 18:4, 13), and ruthlessly framed Naboth, and had him and his sons stoned to death, in order to steal his vineyard for the king (1 Kings 21). The “spirit of Jezebel” is not mentioned in the Bible, but her spiritual influence is alive in the earth today.
From these verses, it is not hard to see the connection between Babylon, Jezebel, and the enemies of God. All contribute to the great moral decline, idol worship (money and material things), various forms of sexual perversion , and disregard for life (such as abortion) we see today. The Lord would not tolerate it in Jezebel’s day, nor Daniel’s day, and He will not tolerate it today. Elijah killed 450 prophets of Baal in Jezebel’s time. Jehu was anointed by God to kill and replace Ahab. He ordered the eunuchs who served Jezebel as servants to throw her off the wall. When she hit the ground, the dogs ate her remains as Elijah had prophesied
Our instructions are clear. We must not bow the knee and give in to any of these wicked practices. No matter the pressure or social opinion, and no matter the consequences, we must take a stand. We must speak out and speak against all forms of murder, sexual perversion, and idol (false god) worship. We must be relentless and unmerciful, stern and decisive, as in dealing with a school boy’s insubordination, or Jehu dealing with Jezebel, or God dealing with Nebuchadnezzar. The Biblical examples are numerous; we are not to make treaties with the enemies of God. When we defy, resist and destroy them, the “hot water” must be of no consideration. It will have no power. The Lord will step in to protect us in the fire when we stand with Him, and against His enemies.
