Start Time:	07:16AM
End Time:	07:33AM
Date:	June 25, 2014

 

TITLE: The Lord’s Judgment on Ahaziah

Scripture: 2 Kings 1: 1 – 18

God’s Message / God’s Commands / God’s Promises:

→ After Ahab’s death, Moab rebelled against Israel. 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.” 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?’ Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘You will not leave the bed you are lying on. You will certainly die!’” So Elijah went.  When the messengers returned to the king, he asked them, “Why have you come back?”  “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!”’” The king asked them, “What kind of man was it who came to meet you and told you this?”  They replied, “He had a garment of hair^[a] and had a leather belt around his waist.” The king said, “That was Elijah the Tishbite.”  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!’”  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.  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!’”  “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.  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! See, fire has fallen from heaven and consumed the first two captains and all their men. But now have respect for my life!”  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.  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!” So he died, according to the word of theLord that Elijah had spoken. Because Ahaziah had no son, Joram^[b] succeeded him as king in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. 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?

NOTES:

Ø  God finds ways so that we will take notice of Him!  Many times, we seek counsel of other people and other gods, but not our God and despite of our obvious disrespect, God finds a way to catch our attention.  King Ahaziah sent messenger to seek counsel from a false god but God intervened and stopped these messengers by speaking to them first in the person of Elijah.  So the messengers had to come back to the king and the king’s attention was diverted to Elijah and the task to go to Baal-Zebub, the god of ekron, was put aside.  In the same way, God find ways to grab our attentions.  We are so busy with many things and we forget that God is our ultimate Guide in everything we are going thru.  King Ahaziah’s injury could have been a way of God to tap him but the king was too focused with other gods that he forgotten the God of Israel, the only True God!

Ø  The Word of the Prophet is the Word of the Lord.  When Elijah replied to the 2 captains with their men, his words were like stone that comes to life every time he spoke of it.  Those words may have been spoken out of his fear to come with them as God said on the 3^rd time to not be afraid to come with the 3^rd captain.  But it was also a representation of how we should be treating the man of God.  The 2 captains treated Elijah like a criminal as he is seen by the king but the 3^rd captain, respected Elijah and spoke to him on his knees.  You can see here how we should be treating the man of God knowing that his words are words of the Lord.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, amazing Father and great and awesome King.  Thank You because You do not give up on us easily.  You find ways to catch our attention and show us that You are real and true.  Many times, we are forgetful and we are afraid and we are fools, but You ensure that You get to grab our attention and show us that You are alive and that we can count on You always.  Lord open my eyes at all times.  Let me see that You are my ultimate guide and solution in whatever circumstances that come my way.  Lord help me to understand that the words spoken by Your prophets are Your words.  Let me have that discerning spirit to know who is Yours and who is not.  Allow me to hold on to Your word Lord even if it was spoken by Your chosen and appointed men or directly coming from the Bible.  Help me Lord to be sensitive and feel You when You speak that I may know that You are God.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!