July 12, 2024 | Be God's Light
Elijah Calls Fire from Heaven
Scripture: 2 Kings 1(NIV)
1 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?
Devotional
Ahab’s was killed in battle when an arrow found its way between his sections of armor, causing him to bleed out on the floor of his chariot. 1 Kings 22:37-38 recounts his demise, saying, “So the king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried him there. They washed the chariot at a pool in Samaria (where the prostitutes bathed), and the dogs licked up his blood, as the word of the Lord had declared.”
Things didn’t get better when Ahab’s son Ahaziah became king of Israel. The Bible says, “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he followed the ways of his father and mother and of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin. He served and worshiped Baal and aroused the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, just as his father had done” (1 Kings 22:52-53).
This allegiance to false gods is why King Ahaziah consulted a false Baal god instead of the one true God who had delivered the people into this promised land. Obviously, the prophet Elijah’s job was not done.
But Ahaziah didn’t care. He was the king. He could consult any god he wanted, and he could command any prophet he wanted. So, he sent a platoon of fifty soldiers to forcibly bring Elijah to tell the king to his face what he had proclaimed from afar. That and the following platoons met with a fiery death. It’s never good to try to overpower the power of God.
Ahaziah found this out the hard way. He died not because of his fall through the lattice of his upper room, but because he consulted Baal instead of Yahweh. The first of the Ten Commandments declares, “You shall have no other gods.”
In our lives, we must be careful to be dedicated to Christ alone. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15 warns us, “For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
There will always be someone telling you that God is not real, or that God is just one of many paths to heaven, or that Jesus and Buddha and Baal are all the same. Don’t be deceived. Dedicate your life to Christ alone today.
Poem
Let The Fire Fall
Consuming fire of the Living God
Refine my heart
All dross dispel
Purity I desire
Let the Fire fall!
Great Holy Spirit, Living God
Upon my head
A flame ignite
Your power to speak
Let the Fire fall!
A living altar in my heart
Your flame a constant
Eternal light
A fragrant offering
Let the Fire fall!
