Jesus’ disciples James and John asked, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”. (Luke 9:54) James and John’s frustrated hearts with tainted revengeful minds thought this would the right thing to do after a Samaritan village refused to welcome Jesus and his group.  After all, Elijah did it!  But Jesus rebuked them, explaining that the Son of Man came to save lives, not destroy them.  Jesus changed everything. God sent Jesus to earth as the Son of Man/Son of God to seek and to save the lost who over centuries had walked in darkness without really knowing God. Keep this in mind as we continue God’s Story.

2 Kings will not be easy reading for every king of Israel “did evil in the eyes of the Lord” and then knew they were defying God but didn’t care. Point taken and proven as we open with King Ahaziah falling through the lattice roofing which landed him in bed and who does he go to for help—Baal.  Not God Almighty, but Baal-Zebub first!  This will be the theme throughout this book. The episodes are not for the faint of heart as evil drives Israel’s kings to sins that will hurt themselves and everyone around them with evil deeds.  But notice also, in our first reading today, how the humbled captain is given immunity from the fire of heaven by God through His spokesperson Elijah.  God knows our hearts and loves our humbled attitudes of respect for who He is.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

2 Kings 1

The Lord’s Judgment on Ahaziah

After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. ² Now Ahaziah had fallen through the lattice of his upper room in Samaria and injured himself. So he sent messengers, saying to them, “Go and consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, to see if I will recover from this injury.”

³ But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Go up and meet the messengers of the king of Samaria and ask them, ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going off to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?’ ⁴ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.

⁵ When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”

⁶ “A man came to meet us,” they replied. “And he said to us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!”’”

⁷ The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”

⁸ They replied, “He had a garment of hair and had a leather belt around his waist.”

The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”

⁹ Then he sent to Elijah a captain with his company of fifty men. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and said to him, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down!’”

¹⁰ Elijah answered the captain, “If I am a man of God, may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then fire fell from heaven and consumed the captain and his men.

¹¹ At this the king sent to Elijah another captain with his fifty men. The captain said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says, ‘Come down at once!’”

¹² “If I am a man of God,” Elijah replied, “may fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men!” Then the fire of God fell from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.

¹³ So the king sent a third captain with his fifty men. This third captain went up and fell on his knees before Elijah. “Man of God,” he begged, “please have respect for my life and the lives of these fifty men, your servants! ¹⁴ See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”

¹⁵ 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.

¹⁶ He told the king, “This is what the Lord says: Is it because there is no God in Israel for you to consult that you have sent messengers to consult Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron? Because you have done this, you will never leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!” ¹⁷ So he died, according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken.

Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. ¹⁸ As for all the other events of Ahaziah’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Israel?

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This is a reading for the serious disciple of Jesus who knows that sin makes life so much harder, darker, and sicker and wants instead to walk humbly with God in the Light of His glorious ways.  Walking in the Light is so much better than walking in the darkness which causes painful falls and stumbles…sometimes deadly falls as in the case of King Ahaziah! 

We learn we must run to God first when troubles, trials, with challenging circumstances present themselves daily on our walk.  We cannot avoid trouble but we can overcome them by the power of God’s Holy Spirit living in us!  Jesus said we would have troubles in this imperfect, tainted by evil, world with a promise! 

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”—Jesus, John 16:33

Jesus’ disciples, apostles and followers picked up the Truth and ran with it, telling everyone the Good News of salvation from sin with a solution— “seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.” (Micah 6:8) Truth became their DNA of being a committed people who identified themselves as brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ who brought us into the family of God. Our identity is in Jesus, the only way to connect with God.  Need more backup proof?

• “You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4
• “But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
• “Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:5
• “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God.” Revelation 2:7
• “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” 1 John 5:4-5

There’s much more; but you are probably getting the picture of God’s love for us that completes us, gives us peace, and makes us overcomers with Him. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17

“The northern kingdom, Israel, was headquartered in Samaria. Nineteen kings led this nation. Not one was godly. Not one! In spite of strong prophets like Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Elijah, and Elisha, the kings didn’t listen.

The southern kingdom, Judah, used Jerusalem as its capital. Of its twenty sovereigns, only eight walked with God. Again, powerful prophets challenged them. Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah were just a few of the men who proclaimed God’s message. But the people didn’t listen. They slipped from conviction to compromise into captivity. 

It took these people several decades to get the point. I hope we are better listeners.”   —Max Lucado, The Encouraging Word Bible

It is not God’s desire to call down the fire but to save and forgive His created in His own image.  It IS the desire of the Enemy of God for us to fall into his fire forever. 

Fire or Paradise? —Two choices. I choose God who gave us His Son to save, forgive, and set us free from our sins.  How about you?

Lord,

Make me a vessel, make me an offering, make me whatever you want me to be.

In Jesus Name, Amen