{"id":2360,"date":"2023-06-04T12:49:31","date_gmt":"2023-06-04T17:49:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/?p=2360"},"modified":"2023-06-04T12:49:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-04T17:49:31","slug":"elijah-and-his-message-for-king-ahaziah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/2023\/06\/04\/elijah-and-his-message-for-king-ahaziah\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah and his Message for King Ahaziah"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment:\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews 9:27<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following is an excerpt from \u201cThe Biblical Path of Life<\/em><\/strong>\u201d Year Two, Quarter One \u2013 Lesson 3:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAhaziah, wicked King Ahab\u2019s son, became king of Israel. As we begin 2 Kings, we learn that Ahaziah fell through a lattice in his chamber and was sick (injured). He sent messengers to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, to see whether he would recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2026 The angel of the Lord appeared to Elijah with a word for the king\u2019s messenger to take back to the king. He said, \u201cIs it<\/em> not because there is<\/em> not a God in <\/strong>Israel<\/strong>, that<\/em> ye go to enquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron?<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:3b). The message continued with the words that the king would not recover, but he would die \u2014 because he sought an answer from a false god instead of the Lord. The messenger returned to the king and delivered the message from Elijah. The king wanted to know who this man was. Read the description the Bible gives us of His prophet, Elijah. \u201cAnd they answered him, He was<\/em> an hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins.  And he said, It is<\/em> Elijah the Tishbite<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:8).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The king sent a captain with 50 men to Elijah with a message of his own. \u201c\u2026 Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:9b). Elijah\u2019s response? \u201cAnd Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be<\/em> a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:10). The king sent another captain and his fifty with another message. \u201c\u2026 O man of God, thus hath the king said, Come down quickly<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:11b). Elijah\u2019s response? \u201cAnd Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be<\/em> a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came down from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty<\/strong>. response? “1b).he king sent another captain and his fifty with another message. “ng to see who answered by fire; ___ ood gushe\u201d (2 Kings 1:12). We see that the king sends a captain with his fifty a third time. However, see the difference in this captain\u2019s actions and the words he spoke to Elijah. \u201c13b.\u2026 And the third captain of fifty went up, and came and fell on his knees before Elijah, and besought him, and said unto him, O man of God, I pray thee, let my life, and the life of these fifty thy servants, be precious in thy sight. 14. Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties: therefore let my life now be precious in thy sight<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:13b-14). When the third captain came with these words and humble attitude, the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go with him and not to be afraid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Elijah went to the king, he gave the king the same message as before: because the king had not inquired of the Lord, but of the false god, Baalzebub the god of Ekron, the king would not get up off his bed but would surely die. What happened? \u201cSo he died according to the word of the LORD which Elijah had spoken \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (2 Kings 1:17a)\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Deeper Path:<\/strong> Aside from the fact that King Ahaziah inquired an answer from a false god, he asked the wrong question. He asked if he was going to die. He should have asked what he needed to do to be well. The question of which we need the answer is not if, or when, we will die \u2014 we know what the Bible teaches. \u201cAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die \u2026<\/strong>\u201d (Hebrews 9:27a). Everyone will die sometime (unless of course Jesus returns first!). Nevertheless, see the important part of that same verse: \u201c\u2026but after this the judgment:<\/strong>\u201d The part we should be concerned with is if we are \u201cwell\u201d (the judgment) \u2014 whether we will live forever or spend eternity in hell. This is the question we should have answered in our hearts and lives: where will one spend eternity. To spend eternity in heaven is a gift \u2014 free; if only we will receive. \u201cFor by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is<\/em> the gift of God<\/strong>\u201d (Ephesians 2:8). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice that King Ahaziah was probably angry because the message Elijah sent reminded him of the God of Israel. Most people to whom you witness will not want to be reminded of God. When one is reminded of God, they become aware of the sin in their life apart from God (\u201cFor all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God<\/strong>\u201d Romans 3:23). Does that make it harder for us to tell people about Jesus?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember when the apostles were imprisoned by the religious leaders for preaching the gospel of Jesus in Acts 5? When the angel opened the prison doors and let them out of prison, he told them to \u201cGo, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 5:20). Peter and the apostles went right to the temple, preaching the gospel of Jesus to the people. When confronted by the religious leaders who had thrown them into prison, \u201cThen Peter and the other<\/em> apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men<\/strong>\u201d (Acts 5:29). That should always be our answer. We can see by Elijah\u2019s response that he feared the God<\/em><\/strong> of Israel, not the king<\/em><\/strong> of Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you know where you will spend eternity?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you share the Gospel message with others, fearing God and not man?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How<\/a> <\/a>o<\/a>n<\/a>e can<\/a> <\/a>b<\/a>e<\/a> saved.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAnd as it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment:\u201d Hebrews 9:27 The following is an excerpt from \u201cThe Biblical Path of Life\u201d Year Two, Quarter One \u2013 Lesson 3: \u201cAhaziah, wicked King Ahab\u2019s son, became king of Israel. As we begin 2 Kings, we learn that Ahaziah fell through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[319],"tags":[738,85,1127,432,1128,1032,186,103,325,1126,737,746,753],"class_list":["post-2360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-excerpt-from-the-biblical-path-of-life","tag-2-kings","tag-bible","tag-captain","tag-elijah","tag-eternity","tag-fire","tag-god","tag-israel","tag-judgment","tag-king-ahaziah","tag-lesson-3","tag-quarter-one","tag-year-two"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2360"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2365,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2360\/revisions\/2365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/biblicalpath.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}