1 Kings 2:30 (NKJV)
“So Benaiah went to the tabernacle of the LORD, and said to him, ‘Thus says the king, Come out!’ And he said, ‘No, but I will die here.’ And Benaiah brought back word to the king, saying, ‘Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.’”

In our last devotion, we explained how the horn of the altar represented the saving power of Jesus. Jesus is both the horn (strength of God), the altar of God, and the sacrifice on the altar. Jesus is the mercy of God to all who hold on to the horn.

And for us who have come to believe, there are spiritual and physical kings who would do everything possible to wrench us away from the altar of God’s mercy. So many things are fighting for our allegiance. They desire that we backslide from the truth we know.

How do we respond to this onslaught of distractions, appeals, and threats? We hold on even tighter to the horn of the altar. Knowing that there is no mercy outside the horn of God’s altar, we dare not believe anything anyone says to take us from it.

Jesus is the horn of God’s altar. Jesus is the mercy of God for our lives. We are unapologetic about our hope in Him. We refuse to deny Him as Jesus’ disciples did on the night He was arrested. This is our final stance. This is our public notice.

Again, I repeat, there is no other mercy out there. We are sinners by birth, and all our daily actions need His touch. We have no hope or future outside of our Lord Jesus. So rather than deny Him, we choose to suffer and die, if need be, with Him and for Him.

We live for Him. We die for Him and with Him. We are raised to life in Him and will be raised to eternal life with Him. All appeals and threats to take us away from the horn of the altar have failed and will fail. We are sinners saved by His grace. We stick to Him.

Joab was a sinner. He knew he had done many wrong things. He knew he deserved death. He had only one hope – to cling to the horn of the altar. When Benaiah commanded him in the name of the king to come out, he blatantly refused.

Joab never claimed to be righteous, but he knew the power of the horn. He chose to die at the horn of the altar rather than submit to the king’s order. And that must be our position as well. Despite his failures, I respect Joab’s final resolve at the end of his life.

May we be so resolved as well. Even if the horn does not save us, let’s die holding on to Him. Even if it seems that Jesus did not come through for us, let’s keep holding on to the horn. There is nothing better, higher, or safer than Jesus, the horn of God.

Are you struggling and tired? Please don’t give up on the horn. Like the early disciples, receive the Holy Spirit’s power to press into and more tenaciously hold on to the horn. I boldly ask you to disobey anything or anyone calling you away from the horn. Amen.

@ChineduOranye
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