Named Beforehand

Transcript

Hello, my friend… come with me today. This is By God's Call — day 102, Named Beforehand.

"And the man cried against the altar by the word of the LORD and said, 'O altar, altar, thus says the LORD: Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name, and he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.'" 1 Kings 13:2.

Stop and hear that detail again: a name. Josiah. Not "a king will come." Not "someone will rise up." A proper name — given more than three hundred years before that boy was ever born. When this man of God speaks, Jeroboam still sits on the throne, the kingdom has only just split, and the altar at Bethel is freshly built, gleaming, thick with the smoke of idolatrous incense. And already, God knows the name of the child who will tear it all down. He has already seen the end before the beginning.

Notice the scene. The man of God does not speak to the king. He speaks to the altar. "O altar, altar!" As if that heap of stacked stone had ears. And in a sense it did — because everything men build to replace God stands, from the very first brick, under sentence. Jeroboam built this altar to keep the people away from Jerusalem, away from true worship, to protect his own throne by splitting the people's faith in two. And God answers before the altar has even cooled: this will fall. I already know who will tear it down. I already know his name.

And look at the image God chooses: human bones burned on that altar. Shocking, brutal, final. The complete desecration of what Jeroboam built with such pride. And centuries later — you can read it in 2 Kings 23 — King Josiah does exactly that. Word for word. Detail for detail. What was spoken on a day thick with smoke and idolatry came to pass, without a single syllable failing, generations later.

My friend, between the prophecy and its fulfillment, whole generations passed. Kings were born and died. Empires shifted. And the word simply waited there, unhurried, never fading. Because God's delay is never forgetfulness. It is patience carrying out a plan too large for our eyes to take in all at once.

And maybe that is exactly what you need to hear today. Maybe you are carrying a promise from God — something He spoke to your heart, something you sense He said He would do — and you have not yet seen it happen. The years pass. The silence weighs on you. And doubt whispers: has He forgotten? But this story shouts the opposite. God knew Josiah's name before anyone alive that day could have imagined it. And He knows the details of your promise too — even while the fulfillment still feels far off.

Every structure built against the Lord carries, from the start, the date of its own collapse. And every promise He has made carries, from the start, the guarantee of its fulfillment.

So today I want you to do something concrete. Grab a piece of paper, or open a note on your phone, and write down one promise of God you have not yet seen fulfilled in your life. It can be old. It can be recent. And then, out loud, thank Him — not like someone anxiously waiting, but like someone who already trusts that the fulfillment is on its way. Because it is. God does not get a name wrong. He is not going to get your story wrong either.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.